a whole new approach to ancient history - Thomas Hodgkinson * Spectator * This is exemplary popular history, engaging but never dumbed down, providing both the grand sweep and the intimate details that bring the distant past vividly to life * Economist * SPQR is consistently enlivened by Beard's eye for detail and her excellent sense of humour. Sustaining the energy that such a topic demands for more than 600 pages, while providing a coherent answer to the question of why Rome expanded so spectacularly, is hugely ambitious. a tremendously enjoyable and scholarly read. SPQR is the Romans' own abbreviation for their state: Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'the Senate and People of Rome'.įast-moving, exciting, psychologically acute, warmly sceptical - Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times * Covering 1,000 years of history, and casting fresh light on the basics of Roman culture from slavery to running water, as well as exploring democracy, migration, religious controversy, social mobility and exploitation in the larger context of the empire, this is a definitive history of ancient Rome. It explores not only how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy to a power that controlled territory from Spain to Syria, but also how the Romans thought about themselves and their achievements, and why they are still important to us. SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the Rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us.

Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves.

Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller Shortlisted for a British Book Industry Book of the Year Award 2016 The new series Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit is on BBC2 now Ancient Rome matters.

Spqr book