Help me (a dumb dumb) understand the Roman Empire
October 20, 2019 11:11 PM   Subscribe

It’s a massive topic but there has to be some way in for me

I want to get this. I want a way in. But so many things I’ve read on the subject read to me like “Guy with long name lived in Ancient City. Then he fought in the battle of X and went to Rome and became Title” and then they are onto the next, virtually identical (to me) passage. I guess what I want is some text or film that explains to me the why as much as the what. I was stunned to find out that “plebeians” does not at all mean what modern derisive slang would suggest to us it means but the book I’m reading that told me that spent like half a graph on it before descending back into “this guy did this thing and then took this position” List Of Things that Happened stuff.
So please help me, a doofus, find a digestible means to understand the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
posted by Senor Cardgage to Education (17 answers total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
Depends on how much time you have. I passively absorbed a massive knowledge and insight treasure trove in Ancient Rome from listening to the History of Rome podcast over several years.
posted by micketymoc at 11:16 PM on October 20, 2019 [20 favorites]


I'd also recommend Mary Beard's SPQR. It's a history of Rome that focuses more on the people and the wider political climate than "great people" and "great deeds" and does a pretty good job laying out what information historians actually have and why she and other historians make the conclusions, and, frankly, guesses that they do. I really enjoyed reading it.
posted by Zalzidrax at 11:31 PM on October 20, 2019 [23 favorites]


Seconding the History Of Rome podcast. It is a time commitment but it got an understanding of Roman history into my thick skull where numerous books had failed.
posted by arha at 11:33 PM on October 20, 2019


Depending on the way you like to absorb information, I'd recommend the "Roma Sub Rosa" series of historical fiction (starting with Roman Blood). The gimmick is that they're hard-boiled detective novels set in the late republic / early empire. The detective-y bits are fictional of course, but the social and historical bits are fairly well-researched, and the series is commonly suggested as reading in classics classes.

I also second Zalzidrax's suggestion of SPQR as a straight history book.
posted by The Notorious B.F.G. at 11:33 PM on October 20, 2019 [7 favorites]


Have I got a book for you: 24 Hours in Ancient Rome. I always have difficulty with history because I want to know the context of Great Men doing what they did -- what were people's lives like? This book, though only a snapshot view of one point in Roman history, scratches that itch exactly. I found it fascinating.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 12:23 AM on October 21, 2019 [4 favorites]


roma sub rosa is great and also it extremely accurately and correctly portrays cicero as a huge self-aggrandizing dickwad which is very important factual information.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:08 AM on October 21, 2019 [8 favorites]


The Cartoon History Of The Universe Part II provides a very incomplete but also very engaging account of the Roman Empire.

Well worth the $15 for someone who hates the grind of a normal history book.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:33 AM on October 21, 2019 [4 favorites]


I think you would enjoy Totalus Rankium, in which two British guys rank all the Roman emperors by a completely arbitrary scale that they made up, ala RexFactor. It focuses much more on the major personalities of Rome than the minutia of Senate politics or daily lives of the ordinary people, but it's lots of fun and great overview.
posted by backwards compatible at 5:59 AM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


Another vote for SPQR, but you can also find Mary Beard's documentaries in the video sites (Meet the Romans and Ultimate Rome: Empire without Limit are rather generalistic but they introduce Roman people and their history quite well).

Another historical detective fiction series you might like is the Marcus Didius Falco books by Lindsey Davis, which are set in the times of Vespasian and his sons.
posted by sukeban at 6:00 AM on October 21, 2019 [2 favorites]


SPQR is very accessible, but incredibly well-researched and Mary Beard does an excellent job of emphasizing how much we know about ancient Rome while still being clear about what we don't know. It is truly a masterpiece, and I wish I could find other writers like her for other times and places in history.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:43 AM on October 21, 2019 [3 favorites]


SPQR is the first book I'd rec. if you're thirsty for more, the second book is 'The Roman Search for Wisdom' by Michael Kellogg. It's a quick overview of the most influential authors in Roman literature, and a lot of the politics and culture of the times gets sketched into the summaries.
posted by ovvl at 8:17 AM on October 21, 2019


Search for Mary Beard on youtube and watch her videos.
posted by kawelch at 8:45 AM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


Seconding the Cartoon History of the Universe book mentioned above. Note that the Roman-Empire stuff is only a section of that book, which itself is only part of a far more comprehensive five-volume graphic novel about global history (that title is more accurate than you think!), but I think it will still hit your sweet spot of "easy to understand the content" and "comprehensive enough that I can also understand the larger context".

I'd actually get all five volumes of the series because of sheer awesomeness. But the parts that address the Roman Empire are in volume 2, but you may also want to check out volume 3 for some of the post-fall-of-Rome stuff as well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:51 AM on October 21, 2019


also i got a lot of good answers on two previous asks of mine that might be relevant to your interests here and here

oh i see one of them is already in the Related Questions below but anyway send post
posted by poffin boffin at 11:50 AM on October 21, 2019


I’ve been enjoying Told In Stone by Dr. Garrett Ryan, who has a PhD in Ancient Greek and Roman history. It’s less formal but so engaging.
posted by gemutlichkeit at 2:43 PM on October 21, 2019


If you don't want to plow quite as much time into it, TVTropes has some pretty decent high-level UsefulNotes on The Roman Republic and The Roman Empire written in the site's characteristic style.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:48 PM on October 21, 2019


If you are a visual learner, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome is a brilliantly pithy primer.

Usefulcharts' Roman Emperors Family Tree is good for keeping track of those many names.
posted by freya_lamb at 11:46 AM on October 22, 2019


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