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I love Mary Beard. Not that I've read any of her books, but her articles are great. Rebekah Send a noteboard - 12/01/2016 03:23:12 PM

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View original postI'm about halfway through First Man of Rome (hard to tell on a Kindle, mind you) and I'm wondering how historically accurate it is.


View original postIt's a good few years since I read Robin Lane Fox's excellent book The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian and I've forgotten a lot.


View original postI might also need recommendations for a good factual book on that time period - possibly from 200BC to AD100 or something like that. Any suggestions?




View original postcovering the period. She is a professor of history at Cambridge so the book should also be available in the UK.

~adds to birthday list~
View original postI agree with the above comments. The books on Marius and Sulla were the best. I haven't read beyond the fifth book, Caesar.

I'm really enjoying the book on Marius.
View original postIf you want more history books, Tom Holland's book are good, quick reads on the subject. Meant for the popular audience, which means he is not some dry academic who thinks his book should read only to other dry academics. He wrote Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic and more recently Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar.

I've got Tom Holland's Persian book so will definitely look out the others.
View original postThe second century BCE is a hard period to write about honestly since the documentation is not as good as it is for the lst century BCE.


View original postAnd lastly, a more general history of the era, The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Troy to Augustine is another good place to focus on the chapters on Rome. Chapters 6 and 7 are what you would want.

Grand, thanks very much.
*MySmiley*

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
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Who has read Colleen McCullough's Rome series? - 10/01/2016 08:43:03 PM 1077 Views
Sort of - 11/01/2016 11:15:48 AM 783 Views
Re: Sort of - 12/01/2016 03:24:59 PM 969 Views
I liked it a lot, but Cannoli is right re: Caesar. - 11/01/2016 05:49:10 PM 766 Views
Re: I liked it a lot, but Cannoli is right re: Caesar. - 12/01/2016 03:26:56 PM 994 Views
Suetonius at least is far from dry - he has all the juicy stories. - 12/01/2016 06:26:53 PM 823 Views
haven't read book but kindle tells you how much is left *NM* - 11/01/2016 05:57:08 PM 385 Views
Yes, I found that last night. I'm only 1/4 through! - 11/01/2016 06:06:47 PM 1050 Views
Mary Beard's SPQR is the book of the moment - 12/01/2016 02:00:32 PM 940 Views
I love Mary Beard. Not that I've read any of her books, but her articles are great. - 12/01/2016 03:23:12 PM 1112 Views

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