From zoot@zotikos.com Sun Jun 24 10:29:01 2001 Received: from mxu3.u.washington.edu (mxu3.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.7]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f5OHT0095442 for ; Sun, 24 Jun 2001 10:29:00 -0700 Received: from ganymede.jtan.com (ganymede.jtan.com [207.106.84.133]) by mxu3.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f5OHSxX05705 for ; Sun, 24 Jun 2001 10:28:59 -0700 Received: from io.jtan.com (kno@io.jtan.com [207.106.84.135]) by ganymede.jtan.com (8.11.0/8.11.0) with ESMTP id f5OHS6L12220 for ; Sun, 24 Jun 2001 13:28:06 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from kno@localhost) by io.jtan.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA17773 for classics@u.washington.edu; Sun, 24 Jun 2001 13:28:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 13:28:03 -0400 From: Matt Dunford To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: Re: Roman History Message-ID: <20010624132803.E11129@io.jtan.com> References: <85.c1220a0.28652e46@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: X-pgp-key: http://www.zotikos.com/downloads/pgpkey X-Uptime: 17 days * Christopher Robbins [010623 00:37]: > ASVibrato@aol.com inquires: > > >What books would you suggest for one to read who has a very > >small knowledge of Roman history but who seeks to further > >that knowledge greatly over the course of the summer? > > The potential sources are virtually countless, and one can become easily > overwhelmed, whatever the "summer reading" attention span. There is also > the matter of focus. It has rather seemed to me that the popular > imagination is infused by the "Empire" (the Western one, at least) and > perhaps the Julio-Claudians in particular - though the recent film brought > us, in its own odd way, to the close of the Antonines (and the choir will > ever sing Constantine). You're right about the "summer reading" attention span. ;-) I'd suggest "The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome: A.D. 31-A.D. 476" by Michael Grant. It dedicates a few pages to each emperor. A very nice read for those of us lolling in the summer heat. Plus it puts the empire into perspective and isn't burdened w/ unnecessary details. :)) -- "How quickly do we grow accustomed to wonders." -- .