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A review by drollgorg
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
As a wide-ranging treatment of a historical subject that I've heard about through all kinds of other historical writing, or political writing, or philosophical writing, or anything really, but which I myself don't have anywhere near a fluency in, I can't really speak to any "takes" I had on this book. Beard makes arguments here, but I can't assess them. What I can assess is how well Beard answers the question that she poses as the reason for this book- what made Rome go from a small, unremarkable village to the center of THE Roman Empire?
Beard is sure to try and make it clear just how much is uncertain or difficult to be known from the historical evidence, and sometimes it feels like she feels such a need to dispel the idea that earlier historians knew what they were talking about that she is too cautious to put forward her own conclusions. However, I most enjoyed the sections where she examines the basis for much of the self-created mythology about the founding and kingly period of Rome and sorts through possible interpretations of the fragmentary narratives and evidence we have for the formation of Rome as a political entity.
The sheer density of events and figures makes it necessary to pay attention as you read, and this increases as the book moves forward through time and the historical record becomes more solid. Something Beard makes sure to drive home is the fact that most of the information that the Romans intentionally recorded about their own society was written by and reflective of the wealthiest and most powerful, and she works through the material culture and much more ephemeral written evidence of the lives of women, foreign subjects, poor citizens, and slaves. Her insistence upon mythbusting, of making sure to cast Roman culture neither as uniquely elevated nor as specially evil, helps created a rounded picture of how this society ended up casting such a large shadow across the history that has continued after they faded away.
Beard is sure to try and make it clear just how much is uncertain or difficult to be known from the historical evidence, and sometimes it feels like she feels such a need to dispel the idea that earlier historians knew what they were talking about that she is too cautious to put forward her own conclusions. However, I most enjoyed the sections where she examines the basis for much of the self-created mythology about the founding and kingly period of Rome and sorts through possible interpretations of the fragmentary narratives and evidence we have for the formation of Rome as a political entity.
The sheer density of events and figures makes it necessary to pay attention as you read, and this increases as the book moves forward through time and the historical record becomes more solid. Something Beard makes sure to drive home is the fact that most of the information that the Romans intentionally recorded about their own society was written by and reflective of the wealthiest and most powerful, and she works through the material culture and much more ephemeral written evidence of the lives of women, foreign subjects, poor citizens, and slaves. Her insistence upon mythbusting, of making sure to cast Roman culture neither as uniquely elevated nor as specially evil, helps created a rounded picture of how this society ended up casting such a large shadow across the history that has continued after they faded away.