What are good books to read about Roman History and Mythology?

best books roman history image

John

I picked up Edith Hamilton's "Mythology". Is there any other book on Roman mythology that is a must-read? And as for history I'm lost. I've considered Livy, but I heard he's unreliable, and I've considered Gibbon but I heard his writing style is horrific. Both Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Livy's The Early History of Rome are a couple thousand pages, which I could overlook if not for their aforementioned flaws. So what do I read?

Answer
If your looking for fiction then read The Hereos of Olympus but I start with the prequel series Percy Jackson

And if your not looking for fiction than go to Goodreads for reviews of books and people opinions or/and Amazon

Is there an english translation available of Mommsen's Romische Geschichte?

pallavm

Theodor Mommsen's work, Romische Geschichte won the 1902 Nobel Prize for literature. It is considered by many as the definitive book on Roman history, and many major writers of early 20th century, including GB Shaw, claimed to have been influenced by his works. However, I only find the german original in Project Gutenberg and other free-ebook sites. Therefore, wanted to check if there is a translated version of this book available at all?

Answer
Yes. You can even read it online:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search.html/?default_prefix=author_id&sort_order=downloads&query=1105

It's there. I just double-checked/

If this link fails, just go to www.gutenberg.org main page and type Mommsen in the Author Search Box.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers