
best books roman history image
J
Where do these accounts come from and how did they survive from antiquity? Were they written on paper? Do archaeologists discover Roman history books when excavating ruins?
Answer
The Romans were great builders,and left a lot of inscriptions in stone in things they built,and stone memorial inscriptions in their own right on or near things they built.
So,a lot of our info about Roman history comes from their architecture - for example Trajan's Column - and inscriptions.
The Romans themselves were great and prolific writers - letters,memoirs,histories.A lot of these were copied and recopied,some survived to be copied by Medieval scholars,many were preserved in the Byzantine empire after the fal of the Roman empire in the West,and others survived as copies in monasteries and churches.
The Romans also kept state archives - historians such as Livy and Suetonius had access to these archives,and did extensive research in them to write their works.Their works were later copied,and much of their content survived into the modern era.
Roman civilization lasted a long time - the various sources we have for their history listed above were just a small portion of what the Romans produced,and there are still considerable gaps in the record.For example,it's only relatively recently that the construction of Hadrian's Wall was conclusively attributed to Hadrian's reign,due to the discovery of a Roman inscription at a milecastle on the Wall definitively dating its construction.Previously,considerable scholarly debate had put forward both Antoninus Pius and Septimius Severus as the likely originators of the wall as much as Hadrian.
The Romans were great builders,and left a lot of inscriptions in stone in things they built,and stone memorial inscriptions in their own right on or near things they built.
So,a lot of our info about Roman history comes from their architecture - for example Trajan's Column - and inscriptions.
The Romans themselves were great and prolific writers - letters,memoirs,histories.A lot of these were copied and recopied,some survived to be copied by Medieval scholars,many were preserved in the Byzantine empire after the fal of the Roman empire in the West,and others survived as copies in monasteries and churches.
The Romans also kept state archives - historians such as Livy and Suetonius had access to these archives,and did extensive research in them to write their works.Their works were later copied,and much of their content survived into the modern era.
Roman civilization lasted a long time - the various sources we have for their history listed above were just a small portion of what the Romans produced,and there are still considerable gaps in the record.For example,it's only relatively recently that the construction of Hadrian's Wall was conclusively attributed to Hadrian's reign,due to the discovery of a Roman inscription at a milecastle on the Wall definitively dating its construction.Previously,considerable scholarly debate had put forward both Antoninus Pius and Septimius Severus as the likely originators of the wall as much as Hadrian.
Any ideas on good Roman or Greek History books for a book report?
Steve S
I have to do two book reports both due before June 20th on Western Civilization. I need two non fiction books on any topic concerning Greek history or Roman history. I would prefer it to be no more than 200 pages so I can actually get both of these reports finished. Thanks for the help!
Answer
Try
Tom Holland's Rubicon, probably the best book on Rome. It has about 35 books on Greek and Roman history.
Try
Tom Holland's Rubicon, probably the best book on Rome. It has about 35 books on Greek and Roman history.
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