Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller
Shortlisted for a British Book Industry Book of the Year Award 2016
Ancient Rome matters.
Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the Rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today.
SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists. 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.
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.
SPQR is the Romans' own abbreviation for their state: Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'the Senate and People of Rome'.
Masterful ... 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 (
The Economist)
Ground-breaking ... invigorating ... revolutionary ... a whole new approach to ancient history (Thomas Hodgkinson
Spectator)
Fast-moving, exciting, psychologically acute, warmly sceptical (Bryan Appleyard
Sunday Times)
Vastly engaging ... a tremendously enjoyable and scholarly read (Natalie Haynes
Observer)
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. Beard succeeds triumphantly (Peter Heather
Sunday Times)
Masterful...Structures and institutions are the dominant concern in Beard's compelling analysis but it is constantly enlivened by gripping episodes...a subtle and engaging interrogation of the complex and contradictory textual and material traces of the Roman world. (Catharine Edwards
The Guardian 2015-10-28)
An accomplished scholar and lively debunker...Beard informs and entertains without ever patronising her readers. What she touches turns to light ... SPQR is pacy, weighty, relevant and iconoclastic. Who knew classics could be so enthralling? Lucky are the students of Mary Beard. (Yasmin Alibhai Brown
Independent)
Always alive to the contemporary relevance of its subject...a refreshing rethink of a very old topic (Shadi Bartsch
FT)
Beard guides you on an enthralling journey through the Roman world. However well you think you know the country, she gives different views, new aspects...Even those who know a lot about Rome will learn more, and find themselves questioning much of which they were previously certain. SPQR does what history should do. (Allan Massie
Scotsman)
Praise for Mary Beard:
'She's pulled off that rare trick of becoming a don with a high media profile who hasn't sold out, who is absolutely respected by the academy for her scholarship ... what she says is always powerful and interesting
(
The Guardian)
