Ancient Rome: An Introductory History

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University of Oklahoma Press, 2020 M05 18 - 312 pages

In this revised and expanded edition of Ancient Rome, author Paul A. Zoch presents the history and mythology of Rome, from its legendary progenitor Aeneas to the death of the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius in 180 c.e. Zoch guides readers through the military campaigns and political developments that shaped Rome’s rise from a small Italian city to the greatest imperial power the world had ever known, and he includes stories about its protagonists—such as Romulus and Remus, Horatius, and Nero—that are often omitted from more specialized studies.

In Zoch’s retelling, the events and personalities of ancient Rome spring to life. We witness the long struggle against the enemy city of Carthage. We follow Caesar as he campaigns in Britain, and we observe the ebb and flow of Rome’s fortunes in the Hellenistic East.

Emphasizing both the political and moral lessons to be learned from Roman history—and that remain relevant today—Zoch gives readers a narrative that is both entertaining and informative. An afterword takes the history to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 476 c.e.
 
 

Contents

The Beginning of the End of the Res Publica
The War against Jugurtha and the Rise of Marius
The Italian Wars and the Career of Sulla
The Rise of Pompey
The First Triumvirate
Civil
Renewed Civil War and the Rise of Octavian
The Principate

Class Conflict in Rome
Coriolanus Cincinnatus and Camillus
The Gauls Sack Rome
The Wars with the Samnites
King Pyrrhus Pyrrhic Victories
The First Punic
The Second Punic
Rome Encounters the East
The JulioClaudian Emperors
The Flavian Emperors
The Culmination of the Pax Romana
The Disintegration of the Empire
Bibliography
Index
Copyright

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About the author (2020)

Paul A. Zoch, a Houston-based educator with thirty-one years of experience teaching Latin and ancient Roman history, is the author of Doomed to Fail: The Built-In Defects of American Education.

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