Customer Reviews

The Grandeur That Was Rome (Sidgwick & Jackson Great Civilization Series)

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I was able to get my hands on a 1938 printing of this book from the UK. It has to be one of the best books written on the Augustan period of Rome's history. Stobart wrote this book as sort of a rebellion against 19th century scholarship on ancient Rome. The 19th century writings on Rome concentrated almost exclusively on "Classical Latin" or Rome prior to Augustus and the subsequent emperors. 19th century historians saw the Republic as the glory days of Rome and the Empire as a beginning of the end. Stobart argues that the Republic was merely a preface to what would become the greatest civilization the world had ever seen. The Roman Empire gave more to future civilizations than the Republic ever did. Stobart does not hold back any punches and even criticizes Edward Gibbon as seeing the Empire from "the standpoint of 18th century liberalism." Stobart uses all primary source material to get his point across. Chapters include The Last Century of the Republic, Augustus, Augustan Rome, and The Growth of the Empire. A big part of his story is conveying the "grandeur" of ancient Rome. It's hard to do, but Stobart does his best by selecting some of the best plates I have ever seen. I have never seen any other books use such plates and this book is really old. The subject of my review is the name of a Roman general during the time of Augustus. I've seen him mentioned in other books, but no other author put in a picture of him from a cameo. Stobart does just that. Germanicus was a Roman statesman and much admired by his peers, but I'd never seen a picture of him in any book until this one. These pictures are great, but you don't get a feeling of how "grand" Rome really was until you step into the Coliseum or stand under the Arch of Constantine or walk along Hadrian's Wall. Good luck finding a copy of this book.