Vol. 40, No. 13
07/15/2024
The Review
Resurveying Roman One-man Rule
Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World, by Mary Beard, New York: Liveright, 2023, 512 pages, hardcover.
History that is shy to embellish a bit is liable to be dreary. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World, both erudite and entertaining, is decidedly not dull.
When there are facts and eyewitnesses, they are mentioned. But this is ancient Rome — and that also means absurdities and scandalous behavior are rampant. When some of the conclusions of sources from the period seem suspect, author Mary Beard — who has been called “the world’s most famous classicist” — says so directly. But she doesn’t abandon such accounts altogether.
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