An Illustrated Introduction to Ancient Rome

The history of ancient Rome is the history of a city, of its people, and of its empire which at its height encompassed all the lands around the Mediterranean Sea and which stretched from Britain in the west to Syria in the east. Roman civilisation relied on the wealth won in war and conquest and was dependent on slavery. While much of Rome’s history can be understood through the lives of its emperors, even more can be learned from the lives of its ordinary citizens and from the archaeological re