Summary
HOW did an insignificant cluster of Latin hill villages on the edge of the civilised world become the greatest empire the world has known? Bigger even than Stokeon-Trent City Council? Archaeologist and historian Richard Miles examines the phenomenon of the Roman Republic from its fratricidal mythical beginnings with the legend of Romulus and Remus, to the all too real violence of its end, dragged to destruction by warlords such as Pompey The Great and Julius Caesar. Although the ambitions of ruthless rivals finally exposed the internal divisions of the Republic, the resilience and pragmatism of the Roman system had by this time been amply demonstrated. Rome was something new in the history of the ancient world - a brand of civilisation built on the tangible benefits of infrastructure, from roads to viaducts, and a coherent legal system that granted protections and rights, even to slaves. Let's face it, they'd have had no trouble salting the roads.
Miles traces the story of Rome's remarkable rise to power as it first fought, then absorbed, its neighbours, turning former enemies into fellow citizens and swelling the ranks of its conscript armies.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Fall of the Roman Empire
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