| Description |
1 online resource (383 pages) |
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text file |
| Contents |
The whole story -- Empires of the mind -- Rulers of Italy -- Imperial ecology -- Mediterranean hegemony -- Slavery and empire -- Crisis -- At heaven's command? -- The generals -- The enjoyment of empire -- Emperors -- Resourcing empire -- War -- Imperial identities -- Recovery and collapse -- A Christian empire -- Things fall apart -- The Roman past and the Roman future. |
| Summary |
The idea of empire was created in ancient Rome and even today the Roman Empire offers a touchstone for thinking about imperialism. Traces of its monuments, literature, and institutions can be found across Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, and sometimes even further afield. In this work, the author, a historian recounts how this mammoth empire was created, how it was sustained in crisis, and how it shaped the world of its rulers and subjects, a story spanning a millennium and a half of history. The personalities and events of Roman history have become part of the West's cultural lexicon, and the author provides retellings of each of these, from the war with Carthage to Octavian's victory over Cleopatra, from the height of territorial expansion under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian to the founding of Constantinople and the barbarian invasions which resulted in Rome's ultimate collapse. Throughout, he considers the conditions that made Rome's success possible and so durable, covering topics as diverse as ecology, slavery, and religion. He also compares Rome to other ancient empires and to its many later imitators, bringing into vivid relief the Empire's most distinctive and enduring features. As is demonstrated, nobody ever planned to create a state that would last more than a millennium and a half, yet Rome was able, in the end, to survive barbarian migrations, economic collapse and even the conflicts between a series of world religions that had grown up within its borders, in the process generating an image and a myth of empire that is apparently indestructible. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Rome -- Politics and government -- 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
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Imperialism -- History -- To 1500.
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Imperialism. |
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History. |
| Chronological Term |
To 1500 |
| Subject |
Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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Electronic books.
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History.
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Geschiedenis (vorm)
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Woolf, Greg. Rome : An Empire's Story. Oxford : Oxford University Press, USA, ©2012 9780199775293 |
| ISBN |
9780199777501 |
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0199777500 |
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1280782544 |
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9781280782541 |
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9780191626852 (electronic book) |
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0191626856 (electronic book) |
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9780199775293 (cloth) |
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019977529X (cloth) |
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