2024 the best roman emperors review

Price: $0.00
(as of Dec 17, 2024 17:18:07 UTC - Details)

A sweeping account of the social and political world of the Roman emperors by “the world’s most famous classicist” (Guardian).

In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome. Now she shines her spotlight on the emperors who ruled the Roman empire, from Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE). Emperor of Rome is not your usual chronological account of Roman rulers, one after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Beard asks bigger questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? She tracks down the emperor at home, at the races, on his travels, even on his way to heaven. She introduces his wives and lovers, rivals and slaves, court jesters and soldiers—and the ordinary people who pressed begging letters into his hands. Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman (and our own) fantasies about what it was to be Roman, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Reviewer: doc peterson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: "The emperor in flesh and blood"
Review: Contrary to what one might expect given the title, Dr. Beard's _Emperor of Rome_ is neither a biography nor a summary of the rule of Roman emperors; rather, it is a brilliant examination of the conventions of imperial rule: the expectations (what made one a "good" emperor"? what was the criteria for a "bad" emperor"), the idea of "emperorship" writ large (how it was understood by not just the Roman elite, but by workaday citizens as well) in addition to an insightful exploration of the difficulties wading through contemporary Roman accounts given the tendency to either suck-up to the current emperor or run-down predecessors.Beard has a difficult task seeking to understand the persons at the center of the empire: what was administration like, what was expected of these people, how were decisions made and communicated and executed - and of particular interest to me, what was the perception and role of the women behind the throne? Beard writes that Roman emperors "present an extreme case of the historian's dilemma. How do we understand the Roman emperor on his own terms, and yet not lose sight of our own moral compass, and our obligation to evaluate, as well as to describe, the past?" I think she has hit the sweet spot in addressing this problem.Writing with humor, expertise and incisive analysis _Emperor of Rome_ is a marvelous history showing the complex and complicated nature of governance as well as providing unique insights into its political culture. Highly recommended, as is her _SPQR_ on the Roman republic.

Reviewer: GeoffDantes09
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Pretty good
Review: Beard is always enjoyable. I find other books to be a bit more informative, but Beard does a great job of bringing humor and wit to her exploration of the Romans. Worth a read.

Reviewer: R. Weiss
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: a scholarly study, eminently readable
Review: The author’s deep study of this era is evident throughout. She combines scholarship with wit to create a very readable narrative. Like all scholars she is quite ready to include areas and subjects which remain uncertain or controversial. A pleasure for this non-scholar. Having read two other books by this author were an equal pleasure.

Reviewer: M. T. Philipps
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: My favorite book by Mary Beard
Review: The author is truly sharing a lifetime of insights into the Roman world. Incredibly well organized, and a joy to read, this book is a valuable gem worthy of being in anyone’s library, especially those like myself who are inveterately curious and studious. The book is written in such a way to be interesting not only to scholarly readers like myself, but also to the average reader who has some curiosity about the Roman Empire, even those readers who enjoyed films like ‘Gladiator’, but who have never read any history about the Roman Republic, or the Roman Empire.M. T. Philipps, author of Keeping Calm’

Reviewer: John
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Written well and informative but there are problems
Review: Mary Beard does a good job of organizing the book where it flows and is very easy to understand.Writing about the roles and intricacies of a Roman emperor can easily become boring so kudos to Beard for avoiding this problem.My biggest issue is much of what she writes about is what an emperor isn’t versus what it is. She will often point out anecdotes and say why that isn’t likely and reliable and continues to do this page after page.Almost everything she brings up, she counters immediately by saying we can’t really trust the source because of this or that. And to be fair, she is right. She’s not saying anything wrong but this style eventually wears you down as a readerI get tired of reading about why we can’t trust sources and just want to be told what is actually accurate.After 300 pages it just starts to feel negative and you can already sense where she is headed as soon as she goes to a new topic.It’s a good book but does start to feel exhausting towards the last few chapters

Reviewer: Richard M.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good Read
Review: Informative, entertaining, great illustrations. (Only wish it showed us how to pronounce all those Roman names.)

Reviewer: Jon Shemitz
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Perhaps not the best introduction to Mary Beard
Review: I bought this book because I've liked a couple of Mary Beard's short pieces and because she is such a Big Name. The thing is, Beard didn't seem to like this subject - I really wonder whether she only wrote it because the publisher wanted it. We get a wide-ranging look at Roman life that's marred, imho, by some rather juvenile Attitude.Augustus' _Res Gestae_ - which Google translates as "Accomplishments" - is repeatedly (and I mean like Very Very Often) rendered as _What I Did_ which, to an American, has connotations of dutiful homework assignments. Aurelius' _Meditations_ are inexplicably - and equally often - rendered as _Jottings To Myself_ despite Beard's telling us that they were very much meant to be shared. (These translations feel sort of like chiseling Hadrian Was Here on Egyptian statues, even if the damage is only visible to Beard's readers.) The _Younger Pliny_ becomes just Pliny, even though his Elder uncle is mentioned once.I might have liked _SPQR_ better, but after this book I'm not very likely to try the experiment. It's great to read history that doesn't exalt those who were born to power, but this doesn't feel like the model of the books that should replace that old hagiography. It seems to spend too much energy showing that it's not buying into any Great Man theories without really offering any alternative framework. We get some of the juiciest stories about 'bad' emperors but with the cautions that 1) much of what we know comes from books written by aristocratic writers 2) they define 'good' and 'bad' emperors as good or bad *for the Roman upper classes* and so 3) we can't really know whether the stories are true, so Beard skips the 'good' stories.

Reviewer: Rick K
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very enjoyable read. So well written and researched by Prof. Beard. More than military campaigns or gossipy excessive indulgences. A text on how a great empire was run or expected to be run by great and not so great men and their staff, no matter the obstacles. I felt that I was allowed to walk in the background and observe. Recommended.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The book is educational and entertaining; I read it in one sitting.

Reviewer: Alien
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Boek is erg mooi, heb het natuurlijk nog niet (uit)gelezen.Maar wat me opviel, dat het niet verzonden wordt in plastic of papieren verpakking.Allen verzenddoosje erom heen. Het boek was vochtig verzonden 🙁

Reviewer: lao hang
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: une analyse du fonctionnement de l'empire romain très instructive qui donne à penser concernant les régimes “présidentiels“ actuels

Reviewer: Geoman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A fresh take on Emperors of Rome by an accomplished academic in this field. Mary structures her writing in a cohesive and coherent academic style that ensures the reader can follow. Her writing conveys the same bounce, clarity and enthusiasm as on TV and you can hear her voice speaking to you in the text. I wish Mary had been my teacher at school and I would have been captivated and never given up on History in my teens.