The Last Roman is the only biography about Romulus Augustulus. It focuses on the personalities behind this powerful story and reveals the world into which Romulus was born - an empire that was about to die. Author Adrian Murdoch explores how Romulus's father Orestes, secretary to Attila the Hun, rose through the ranks to become kingmaker; how all was lost to another usurper in an Italy wracked with civil war; and how Romulus found peace at last, founding a monastery. This dramatic and poignant story of politics, decline and loss has inspired. Drawing on extensive new archaeological and historical research and using numerous contemporary sources, many translated for the first time since the nineteenth century, The Last Roman is the vivid story of an empire breathing its last.
A definitive history of the great commanders of ancient Rome, from bestselling author Adrian Goldsworthy. “In his elegantly accessible style, Goldsworthy offers gripping and swiftly erudite accounts of Roman wars and the great captains who fought them. His heroes are never flavorless and generic, but magnificently Roman. And it is especially Goldsworthy's vision of commanders deftly surfing the giant, irresistible waves of Roman military tradition, while navigating the floating logs, reefs, and treacherous sandbanks of Roman civilian politics, that makes the book indispensable not only to those interested in Rome and her battles, but to anyone who finds it astounding that military men, at once driven and imperiled by the odd and idiosyncratic ways of their societies, can accomplish great deeds.” —J. E. Lendon, author of Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity
In AD376 large groups of Goths, seeking refuge from the Huns, sought admittance to the Eastern Roman Empire. Emperor Valens took the strategic decision to grant them entry, hoping to utilize them as a source of manpower for his campaigns against Persia. The Goths had been providing good warriors to Roman armies for decades. However, mistreatment of the refugees by Roman officials led them to take up arms against their hosts. ?The resultant battle near Adrianopolis in AD378, in which Valens lost his life, is regarded as one of the most significant defeats ever suffered by Roman arms. The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus called it the worst massacre since Cannae, nearly six hundred years previously. Modern historians have accorded it great significance both at a tactical level, due to the success of Gothic cavalry over the vaunted Roman infantry, and in strategic terms, often citing it as the beginning of the end for the Empire. Adrian Coombs-Hoar untangles the debate that still surrounds many aspects such claims with an insightful account that draws on the latest research.
The author discusses how the Roman Empire--an empire without a serious rival--rotted from within, its rulers and institutions putting short-term ambition and personal survival over the wider good of the state.
From an award-winning historian of ancient Rome, a concise and comprehensive history of the fighting forces that created the Roman Empire Roman warfare was relentless in its pursuit of victory. A ruthless approach to combat played a major part in Rome's history, creating an empire that eventually included much of Europe, the Near East and North Africa. What distinguished the Roman army from its opponents was the uncompromising and total destruction of its enemies. Yet this ferocity was combined with a genius for absorbing conquered peoples, creating one of the most enduring empires ever known. In Roman Warfare, celebrated historian Adrian Goldsworthy traces the history of Roman warfare from 753 BC, the traditional date of the founding of Rome by Romulus, to the eventual decline and fall of Roman Empire and attempts to recover Rome and Italy from the "barbarians" in the sixth century AD. It is the indispensable history of the most professional fighting force in ancient history, an army that created an Empire and changed the world.
The leading ancient world historian and author of Caesar presents “an engrossing account of how the Roman Empire grew and operated” (Kirkus). Renowned for his biographies of Julius Caesar and Augustus, Adrian Goldsworthy turns his attention to the Roman Empire as a whole during its height in the first and second centuries AD. Though this time is known as the Roman Peace, or Pax Romana, the Romans were fierce imperialists who took by force vast lands stretching from the Euphrates to the Atlantic coast. The Romans ruthlessly won peace not through coexistence but through dominance; millions died and were enslaved during the creation of their empire. Pax Romana examines how the Romans came to control so much of the world and asks whether traditionally favorable images of the Roman peace are true. Goldsworthy vividly recounts the rebellions of the conquered, examining why they broke out, why most failed, and how they became exceedingly rare. He reveals that hostility was just one reaction to the arrival of Rome and that from the outset, conquered peoples collaborated, formed alliances, and joined invaders, causing resistance movements to fade away.
The acclaimed historian and author of Caesar presents “a first-rate popular biography” of Rome’s first emperor, written “with a storyteller’s brio” (Washington Post). The story of Augustus’ life is filled with drama and contradiction, risky gambles and unexpected success. He began as a teenage warlord whose only claim to power was as the grand-nephew and heir of the murdered Julius Caesar. Mark Antony dubbed him “a boy who owes everything to a name,” but he soon outmaneuvered a host of more experienced politicians to become the last man standing in 30 BC. Over the next half century, Augustus created a new system of government—the Principate or rule of an emperor—which brought peace and stability to the vast Roman Empire. In this highly anticipated biography, Goldsworthy puts his deep knowledge of ancient sources to full use, recounting the events of Augustus’ long life in greater detail than ever before. Goldsworthy pins down the man behind the myths: a consummate manipulator, propagandist, and showman, both generous and ruthless. Under Augustus’ rule the empire prospered, yet his success was constantly under threat and his life was intensely unpredictable.
The first major biography in decades examines the full complexity of Julius Caesar's character in an incisive portrait that shows why his political and military leadership continues to resonate two thousand years following his death.
From bestselling historian Adrian Goldsworthy, a profoundly authentic, action-packed adventure set on Rome's Danubian frontier. AD 105: DACIA The Dacian kingdom and Rome are at peace, but no one thinks that it will last. Sent to command an isolated fort beyond the Danube, centurion Flavius Ferox can sense that war is coming, but also knows that enemies may be closer to home. Many of the Brigantes under his command are former rebels and convicts, as likely to kill him as obey an order. And then there is Hadrian, the emperor's cousin, and a man with plans of his own... Gritty, gripping and profoundly authentic, The Fort is the first book in a brand new trilogy set in the Roman empire from bestselling historian Adrian Goldsworthy. Reviews for the Vindolanda Trilogy: 'No one knows the Roman army better than Adrian Goldsworthy, and no one writes more convincing Roman fiction' Harry Sidebottom 'An authentic, enjoyable read' The Times 'Gritty and realistic... Goldsworthy's characters are authentically ancient and his descriptions of Roman Briton ring true' Daily Telegraph (Sydney)
This detailed examination of the way in which the Roman army operated during a war and how it fought a battle breaks away from existing studies, which mostly concentrate on the army in peacetime, and attempts to understand the army as an institution whose ultimate purpose was to wage war. Adrian Goldsworthy explores the influence of the Roman army's organization on its behaviour during a campaign, emphasizing its great flexibility in comparison to most of its opponents. He considers the factors determining the result of a conflict and proposes, contrary to orthodox opinion, that the Roman army was able to adapt successfully to any type of warfare. Following the technique pioneered by John Keegan in The Face of Battle (1976), Dr Goldsworthy builds up a precise picture of what happened during battle: tactics employed, weaponry, leadership, behaviour of individuals as well as groups of soldiers, and, of utmost importance, morale.
From bestselling historian Adrian Goldsworthy, a profoundly authentic, action-packed adventure set on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. AD 100: VINDOLANDA. A FORT ON THE EDGE OF THE ROMAN WORLD. Flavius Ferox, Briton turned Roman centurion, is charged with keeping Rome's empire safe. But from his base at the northern frontier of Britannia, he feels enemies closing in from all sides. Ambitious leaders await the chance to carve out empires of their own. While men nearer at hand speak in whispers of war and the destruction of Rome. And now more sinister threats are reaching Ferox's ears. Stories about the sea-dwelling men of the night, who have cursed the land and only come ashore to feast on men's flesh. These are just rumours for now. But Ferox knows that rumours stem from truth. And that no one on this isle is safe from the great, encircling sea... 'An instant classic of the genre' HARRY SIDEBOTTOM. 'An authentic, enjoyable read' THE TIMES.
Fully illustrated with colour maps and images, this is an accessible introduction to Julius Caesar's Civil War. Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great were two of the greatest generals Rome had ever produced. Together they had brought vast stretches of territory under Roman dominion. In 49 BC they turned against each other and plunged Rome into civil war. In this book, Adrian Goldsworthy relates the gripping story of this desperate power struggle. Drawing on original accounts of the war, he examines how legion was pitched against legion in a vicious battle for political domination of the vast Roman world. The armies were evenly matched, but in the end, Caesar's genius as a commander and his great good luck brought him victory in 45 BC. Updated and revised for the new edition, with full-colour maps and 40 new images, this is a detailed introduction to one of the last conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire.
Originally the Sarum Lectures delivered at the University of Oxford in 1960-61, this volume deals with the Hellenistic and Roman setting, and especially the legal, administrative, and municipal background, of the Acts of the Apostles and the synoptic gospels. Sherwin-White -- 'someone from the Roman side,' as he described himself -- brings his knowledge of Roman public law and administration and of city life in the eastern provinces to bear on these aspects of New Testament history. The first three lectures concern the trials of Jesus and of Paul in Jerusalem, addressing questions of the powers of Roman governors and the nature of their jurisdiction. Topics of the remaining lectures include the rights of Roman citizenship, the trial of Paul in Rome, and differences between the Galilean narrative and the Graeco-Roman world of the Acts.
In AD 9 half of Rome's Western army was ambushed in a German forest and annihilated. Three legions, three cavalry units and six auxiliary regiments - some 25,000 men - were wiped out. It dealt a body blow to the empire's imperial pretensions and was Rome's greatest defeat. No other battle stopped the Roman empire dead in its tracks. Although one of the most significant and dramatic battles in European history, this is also one which has been largely overlooked. Drawing on primary sources and a vast wealth of new archaeological evidence, Adrian Murdoch brings to life the battle itself, the historical background and the effects of the Roman defeat as well as exploring the personalities of those who took part.
The complete and definitive history of how Roman generals carved out the greatest and longest-lasting empire the world has ever seen. The Roman army was one of the most effective fighting forces in history. The legions and their commanders carved out an empire which eventually included the greater part of the known world. This was thanks largely to the generals who led the Roman army to victory after victory, and whose strategic and tactical decisions shaped the course of several centuries of warfare. This book, by the author of THE PUNIC WARS, concentrates on those Roman generals who displayed exceptional gifts of leadership and who won the greatest victories. With 26 chapters covering the entire span of the Roman Empire, it is a complete history of Roman warfare.
Gripping, authentic novel set in Roman Britain from bestselling historian, Adrian Goldsworthy. AD 98: VINDOLANDA. A FORT ON THE EDGE OF THE ROMAN WORLD. The bustling army base at Vindolanda lies on the northern frontier of Britannia and the entire Roman world. In just over twenty years time, the Emperor Hadrian will build his famous wall. But for now defences are weak as tribes rebel against Rome, and local druids preach the fiery destruction of the invaders. It falls to Flavius Ferox, Briton and Roman centurion, to keep the peace. But it will take more than just a soldier's courage to survive life in Roman Britain. This is a hugely authentic historical novel, written by one of Britain's leading historians. 'A thrilling and engrossing novel' HARRY SIDEBOTTOM.
The Roman poet Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 17) was a rock star of the newly-founded empire ruled by Caesar Augustus. A sensitive, artistic soul, his verse, focused on the art of love, attracted the Roman youth of his day and made him a celebrity in the imperial city. But while his erotic poems attracted a mass following, his profound masterpiece, Metamorphoses, deeply rooted in the legends and traditions of ancient Rome and Greece, confirmed his creative genius and established him as one of the leading literary voices of all of antiquity, forging an enduring legacy that has impacted world literature for over two millennia. At the pinnacle of his career, however, Ovid became embroiled in one of the great scandals of his day, the details of which remain shrouded in mystery, resulting in his sudden banishment from Rome in A.D. 8 at the order of the Emperor. Augustus sent the Roman bard to the farthest reaches of the empire, exiling him to the Greek port city of Tomis, on the Black Sea coast, to live out the remainder of his days.
This book, a classic guide to the celebration of the Church's ancient Gregorian Rite in the English-speaking world, will serve priests and seminarians of the twenty-first century-just as it served so many priests of the twentieth-in their pastoral mission, which now necessarily includes familiarity with and openness to the use of the older form of the sacred liturgy. I happily commend it to the clergy, seminarians and laity as a reliable tool for the preparation and celebration of the liturgical rites authoritatively granted by the Holy Father in Summorum Pontificum. 'I congratulate the distinguished liturgical scholar, Dr. Alcuin Reid, for his care and precision in ensuring that this revised edition conforms to the latest authoritative decisions with regard to these liturgical rites. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his letter which accompanied Summorum Pontificum: "In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture." The Gregorian Rite is today a living liturgical rite which will continue its progress without losing any of its riches handed on in tradition. For as the Holy Father continued, "What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behoves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church's faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place." May this book assist the Church of today and of tomorrow in realising Pope Benedict's vision.' Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos President, Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei This fifteenth edition, revised in the light of Pope Benedict XVI's reforms and expanded and corrected throughout, includes a new chapter on the music of solemn and sung Mass as well as clarifications of questions that have arisen in the light of recent experience. It gives descriptions of the rites of pontifical, solemn and low Mass, Vespers, the liturgical year including Holy Week, the sacraments, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, funerals, episcopal visitation and more.
John Wilkerson Tall Bear is selected to be the chosen one through ancient visitors from the past. While participating in an American Indian sweat lodge ceremony, elders and warriors from the past reveal that the spirits are angry. The magnificent white buffalo statue that stands in the lobby of the Choctaw Casino is crying blood tears and offers clues that something is wrong. The Choctaw Nation is nothing more than another white man's business. The Nation and its Chief have turned their back on their people. John Tall Bear must restore the once proud Choctaw Nation to one that takes care of all of the people instead of only a few.
From an award-winning historian of ancient Rome, the definitive history of Rome's most devastating defeat August 2, 216 BC was one of history's bloodiest single days of fighting. On a narrow plain near the Southern Italian town of Cannae, despite outnumbering their opponents almost two to one, a massive Roman army was crushed by the heterogeneous forces of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who had spectacularly crossed the Alps into Italy two years earlier. The scale of the losses at Cannae--50,000 Roman men killed--was unrivaled until the industrialized slaughter of the First World War. Although the Romans eventually recovered and Carthage lost the war, the Battle of Cannae became Romans' point of reference for all later military catastrophes. Ever since, military commanders confronting a superior force have attempted, and usually failed, to reproduce Hannibal's tactics and their overwhelming success. In Cannae, the celebrated historian Adrian Goldsworthy offers a concise and enthralling history of one of the most famous battles ever waged, setting Cannae within the larger contexts of the Second Punic War and the nature of warfare in the third century BC. It is a gripping read for historians, strategists, and anyone curious about warfare in antiquity and Rome's rise to power.
A descriptive study of the Roman Army, from its earliest origins through the later empire, details the Republican militia, the professional army of the emprie, daily lives of the soldiers, combat tactics, and infrastructure of the troops, accompanied by hundreds of photographs, diagrams, battle plans, and biographies of the great warriors and leaders of the time. 16,000 first printing.
The aim of this book is to devise a method for approaching the problem of presence in Hellenistic and Roman poetry. The problem of presence, as defined here, is the problem of the availability or accessibility to the reader of the fictional worlds disclosed by poetry. From Callimachus’ Hymns to the Odes of Horace, poets of this era repeatedly challenge readers by beckoning them to explore fictive spaces which are at once familiar and otherworldly, realms of the imagination which are nevertheless firmly rooted in the lived reality of the poets and their contemporaries. We too, when we read these poems, may feel simultaneously a sense of being transported to a world apart and of being seized upon by the poem’s address in the here and now of reading. The fiction of occasion is proposed as a new conceptual tool for understanding how these poems produce such problematic presences and what varieties of experience they make possible for their readers. The fiction of occasion is defined as a phenomenon whereby a poem is fictionally framed as part of a material event or ‘occasion’ with which the reader is invited to engage through the medium of the senses. The book explores this concept through close readings of key authors from the corpus of first-person poetry written in Greek and Latin between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE, with a focus on Callimachus, Bion, Catullus, Propertius, and Horace. The ultimate purpose of these readings is to move towards developing a new vocabulary for conceptualising ancient poetry as an embodied experience.
This informative resource is a fascinating compilation of the history, politics, and culture of every capital city from around the world, making this the only singular reference on the subject of its kind. Every country, even the world's youngest nations, has a capital city—a centralized location which houses the seat of government and acts as the hub of culture and history. But, what role do capital cities play in the global arena? Which factors have influenced the selection of a municipal center for each nation? This interesting encyclopedia explores the topic in great depth, providing an overview of each country's capital—its history and early inhabitants, ascension to prominence, infrastructure within the government, and influence on the world around them. The author considers the culture and society of the area, discussing the ethnic and religious groups among those who live there, the major issues the residents face, and other interesting cultural facts. Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture features the capital cities of 200 countries across the globe. Organized in alphabetical order by country, each profile combines social studies, geography, anthropology, world history, and political science to offer a fascinating survey of each location.
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A history of Julian, the grandson of Constantine, and his failed attempt to reverse the Christian tide that swept the Roman Empire • Portrays the “Apostate” as a poet-philosopher, arguing that had he survived, Christianity would have been checked in its rise • Details reforms enacted by Julian during his two-year reign that marginalized Christians, effectively limiting their role in the social and political life of the Empire • Shows how after Julian’s death the Church used paganism to represent evil and opposition to God, a tactic whose traces still linger The violent death of the emperor Julian (Flavius Claudius Julianus, AD 332-363) on a Persian battlefield has become synonymous with the death of paganism. Vilified throughout history as the “Apostate,” the young philosopher-warrior was the last and arguably the most potent threat to Christianity. The Last Pagan examines Julian’s journey from an aristocratic Christian childhood to his initiation into pagan cults and his mission to establish paganism as the dominant faith of the Roman world. Julian’s death, only two years into his reign, initiated a culture-wide suppression by the Church of all things it chose to identify as pagan. Only in recent decades, with the weakening of the Church’s influence and the resurgence of paganism, have the effects of that suppression begun to wane. Drawing upon more than 700 pages of Julian’s original writings, Adrian Murdoch shows that had Julian lived longer our history and our present-day culture would likely be very different.
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