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Title details for The Rise of Rome by Anthony Everitt - Available

The Rise of Rome

The Making of the World's Greatest Empire

by Anthony Everitt
Clive Chafer
Audiobook
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4 of 4 copies available
Emerging as a market town from a cluster of hill villages in the eighth
and seventh centuries B.C., Rome grew to become the ancient world's
preeminent power. Everitt fashions the story of Rome's rise to glory
into an erudite book filled with lasting lessons for our time. He
chronicles the clash between patricians and plebeians that defined the
politics of the Republic. He shows how Rome's shrewd strategy of
offering citizenship to her defeated subjects was instrumental in
expanding the reach of her burgeoning empire. And he outlines the
corrosion of constitutional norms that accompanied Rome's imperial
expansion, as old habits of political compromise gave way, leading to
violence and civil war. In the end, unimaginable wealth and power
corrupted the traditional virtues of the Republic, and Rome was left
triumphant everywhere except within its own borders.

Everitt
paints indelible portraits of the great Romans—and non-Romans—who left
their mark on the world out of which the mighty empire grew:
Cincinnatus, Rome's George Washington, the very model of the patrician
warrior/aristocrat; the brilliant general Scipio Africanus, who turned
back a challenge from the Carthaginian legend Hannibal; and Alexander
the Great, the invincible Macedonian conqueror who became a role model
for generations of would-be Roman rulers. Here also are the intellectual
and philosophical leaders whose observations on the art of government
and "the good life" have inspired every Western power from antiquity to
the present: Cato the Elder, the famously incorruptible statesman who
spoke out against the decadence of his times, and Cicero, the consummate
orator whose championing of republican institutions put him on a
collision course with Julius Caesar and whose writings on justice and
liberty continue to inform our political discourse today.


Rome's decline and fall have long fascinated historians, but the story
of how the empire was won is every bit as compelling. With The Rise of Rome,
one of our most revered chroniclers of the ancient world tells that
tale in a way that will galvanize, inform, and enlighten modern listeners.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 17, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781452629483
      • File size: 411910 KB
      • Duration: 14:18:08

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Beginning with mythical accounts of the great city-state's creation, Everitt proceeds through historical documentation of the development of one of Europe's most significant empires. These accounts may surprise many with their wit, insight, and comparisons to modern-day politics. Clive Chafer's erudite narration often misses the mark when it comes to the humorous passages, falling instead on the side of reverence for historical portent. He draws out the endings of words in an almost musical way, as though he were chanting, rather than telling a rip-roaring story, which Everitt's work clearly is. But once listeners accustom themselves to the rhythm of the narration, the overall work is worth the time. R.L.L. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 14, 2012
      Unlike its decline and fall, Rome’s rise enjoys no literary tradition, but this fine history will satisfy curious readers. After dutifully recounting the founding legends, historian Everitt introduces the Republic. Born, according to tradition, in 509 B.C.E., after the overthrow of a monarchy, the Republic was an oligarchy ruled by elected consuls and a nonelected Senate. While violent conflicts occurred between the dominant patricians and plebeians (the Republic was designed “not to remove royal power but to tame it”), this was a surprisingly pragmatic system, less inclined to despotism and civil war than traditional monarchies. Soldiering was considered a privilege of citizenship. Almost continual wars led to the conquest of Italy and then most Mediterranean lands by 200 B.C.E. Reforms around 100 B.C.E. created a professional army, opening enlistment to the landless poor. This improved its fighting capacity, but shifted soldiers’ loyalty away from the Republic and toward their commanders, who took advantage, resulting in bloody civil wars led by such ambitious generals as Marius, Sulla, and finally Julius Caesar, whose victory in ended the republic. Sensibly avoiding parallels with today’s geopolitics, Everitt delivers an often unsettling account of a stubbornly belligerent nation-state that became the West’s first superpower. Photos, maps. Agent: Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson (U.K.).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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