Look no further than The Romans: A 2,000-Year History by Edward J. Watts. It starts off with the founding of Rome in 753 BC and ends with the sacking of Constantinople by the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in the year 1204. His argument for this date and not the more traditional date of 1453 (when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople) is that the Roman system of government, which had existed in a continuous line since the founding of the city that bears its name, was erased by the Crusaders when they took over the city and never really returned.

It's an interesting thesis and one which I'm currently enjoying. I'm very early into the book but I'm learning a lot that I had not previously known. For those of you who are looking for a good general history of Rome and the Roman Empire, this book is a decent place to start.

This post was edited on 12/24/25 at 2:31 am

3 ...

Report Post

Posted by beachdude

Member since Nov 2008

6312 posts

Posted on 12/26/25 at 11:37 pm to RollTide1987

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. Late 18th century.

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by GOP_Tiger

Baton Rouge

Member since Jan 2005

20775 posts

Posted on 12/27/25 at 9:35 am to RollTide1987

Thanks for the rec. I think that I will use an Audible credit next month to listen to it. I'm going to Rome next summer and am reading up. I see that the EBR library has two of his previous books, and I am checking them out:

The Final Pagan Generation , and
Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by shinerfan

Duckworld(Earth-616)

Member since Sep 2009

28187 posts

Posted on 12/28/25 at 2:54 pm to RollTide1987

Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series is amazing. It starts just after the Gracchii assasdinations and runs through the rise of Marius, his mentorship of both Sulla and Caesar and follows through to the ascension of Augustus. It's written in more of a novel format but with extensive footnotes to the source material so it's an easier read than a proper history tome. Marius and Sulla are both so vividly portrayed that they simply jump off the page. I think it's 7, maybe 8 books starting with The First Man in Rome.i believe HBO's Rome was nominally based on it as an adaptation but they started 3/4 of the way through. And they really didn't follow it beyond the well known events but they did own the rights.

And the complete series is in virtually every library in America.

This post was edited on 12/28/25 at 2:56 pm

Page 1