SPQR History of Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome matters. To this day, we judge ourselves against the backdrop of this empire's history, its military triumphs, and its various extravagances. Its debates on citizenship, terrorism, and individual rights influence how we think about civil liberties.

SPQR covers a thousand years of Roman history and reveals in colourful detail how Rome grew from an insignificant settlement in central Italy to the world's first global superpower. It also sheds new light on Roman culture, from water distribution to democracy and from slavery to migration. Mary Beard explains how the Romans themselves viewed themselves and their achievements.

“A masterpiece… An exemplary work of popular history, engaging but not simplistic, which offers both a grand, sweeping perspective and intimate details that vividly bring the distant past to life.”
Economist

“Beard dissects the secrets of this city's success with a fresh and relentless clarity that one rarely encounters elsewhere.”
New York Times

Mary Beard is a professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Newnham College, and the classics editor of the TLS. She is acclaimed worldwide in academic circles and is a fellow of both the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.