Customer Reviews

Empire of Honour: The Art of Government in the Roman World

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In the 21st century, the culture of the aristocrat is largely a faded memory, and noble values--such as "honor" are largely viewed with suspicion as having fallen into disregard. This book is a serious attempt to reimagine Rome's alien culture, and to refine and revive conceptions of honor as people now dead 2000 years regarded it.

Unrepentantly a book for experts, yet written with a verve and sheer joy in language that makes it accessible to the more casual reader. As Lendon begins: "On what was to be the last day of his life, the Emperor Nero awoke to find that the palace sentries had abandoned their posts." The reader is--on some level at least <g>--in for a wild and glorious ride from that point forward!

Whether the author himself would appreciate this or not, this book would do well in the library of the fantasy role-playing expert, looking to build a convincing scenario around a "Gladiator" style setting!

This is a fascinating book about the ways in which status, recognition, and the conferral of distinctions were used to govern the Roman empire and a compelling explanation of such methods' genesis in Greco-Roman culture. It assumes a high degree of familiarity with Roman history, but complete familiarity with the book's historical references is not necessary to appreciate the basic argument being made. Also, for the first time for me, this book makes sense of a great deal of the seemingly gassy Roman letters and inscriptions praising various people.