Customer Reviews

The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine

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Having enjoyed the authors LATE ROMAN ARMY, I was pleasantly surprised to discover this volume on a recent visit to Rome. Of course any author benefits when writing about the likes of Diocletian, Septimus Severus and Constantine the Great. Southerns highly readable text, buttressed with extensive illuminating notes and a sound examination of the sources, brings the period alive. I find Southerns writing to be clear and understandable ---very well-crafted. I found the authors well-developed bibliography particularly helpful. Passable maps, interesting illustrations and the obligatory, colossal head of Constantine accompany the text as well as a number of numismatological sketches of the eras coinage. Chester Starr in his brief but excellent THE ROMAN EMPIRE delineates this time period as The First Test ---a massive turning point for the empire. Southern does a masterful job examining the evolving threats to the empire including themes such as depopulation, barbarization, succession, usurpation. I also liked her analysis of the mobile, multiethnic war bands of the era as well as her defense of the Emperor Gallienus (not too surprising as she co-authored THE ROMAN CAVALRY). I thoroughly enjoyed this work, in all three readings. I recommend following this up with Birleys SEVERUS and Williams DIOCLETIAN. The old standby, AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, is still available in an affordable Penguin abridgment.