SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome in The Roundtable

Oct 27, 2015 Susanna - Censored by GoodReads rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The tale of not how Rome fell, but how it rose.

Recommended.

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Sep 01, 2021 Camelia Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, audio

During the pandemic lockdown last year, to kill time I attended an online course of ancient Greek and Roman literature and learned a little bit of Virgil's Aeneid, the epic poem of Aeneas, the founder of Rome. Of course, it was a myth, says Mary Beard in SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. SPQR stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the Roman people). True to the title, the focus of the book is the Roman Senate and the Roman people.

The book begins with Cicero and his senatorial speec During the pandemic lockdown last year, to kill time I attended an online course of ancient Greek and Roman literature and learned a little bit of Virgil's Aeneid, the epic poem of Aeneas, the founder of Rome. Of course, it was a myth, says Mary Beard in SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. SPQR stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the Roman people). True to the title, the focus of the book is the Roman Senate and the Roman people.

The book begins with Cicero and his senatorial speech against Lucius Sergius Catilina (which happened in 63 BCE during the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire), goes back to the founding of Rome, then continues chronologically until 212 CE, when the Emperor Caracalla declared all residents of the Empire Roman citizens (which was 264 years before the fall of the Roman empire).

For many years I heard that the Romans invented democracy, but in recent years, many different things have been said by different parties on this topic. At one end, some on the left side of political spectrum, when not denying the relationship, put a distance as far as possible between modern democracy and the political system of ancient Rome. At the other end, today's White Nationalist groups adopt SPQR as their symbol and pledge to “restore” the original glory of ancient Rome, which is not new--Mussolini had himself painted in front of a SPQR plate.

Mary Beard’s book is a good education on how the political system of the Roman Republic worked. The meaning of words changes over time. According to the author, the word the Romans used to describe their system is liberty, not democracy. Here is my understanding of the liberty of the Roman Republic: the Roman senate was made of wealthy men only. A yearly election was held to elect two consuls from the senators. Consuls were like dual presidents of the Republic. Rules were put in place to reduce power-buildup among individuals. Only Roman citizens were allowed to vote. Women and slaves were excluded from citizenship. Voting took place in the city of Rome only. It is estimated that only 10% of the population had the right to vote. So, it becomes clear that the ancient Roman liberty is indeed different from modern democracy in many ways, but it is also wrong to say that the election did not represent the people of Rome at all. I’d say modern democracy is seeded from ancient Rome, but it has been reinvented.

How the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire is fascinating. Many historical lessons can be drawn from that. Although senators still existed in the Empire, their role had changed. They became the ministers of the emperor. The architecture grandeurs of ancient Rome were mostly created during the Roman Empire, but I’d agree that the politics of the Empire is less interesting. It is just another one-man rule among many ancient or modern one-man rules.

In the second half of the book, Mary Beard tells about the emperors and the life of the ordinary people, as well as the rise of Christanity and what the Roman Empire meant for the people of the conquered land. Her primary resources are not only the writings of ancient historians but also the thousands of epitaphs discovered in archaeological sites and those buried under Pompeii and its neighbouring towns. It is fascinating that Roman women, although still very restricted, enjoyed better freedom than their Greek women counterparts. The slaves were born, bought or conquered, but it was not rare that a slave was freed. Ex-slaves could become Roman citizens. The discussion of what meant to be “Roman” is another theme throughout the book. The concept of patrician and plebeian were all new to me. The author confirmed what I knew: the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was a relatively open society. ...more

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Mar 20, 2020 Nadine in California rated it really liked it

I read this over the course of about two months - reading anywhere from 20 to 100 pages a day, and setting it aside for weeks at a time. It's the kind of book that works either way. I loved burying myself in it, and I had no trouble picking up from where I left off. I am so grateful when scholars write for the rest of us. ...more

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Sep 24, 2016 Gill marked it as unfinished · review of another edition

I've recently watched an excellent TV series by Mary Beard about Rome, and now realise that I don't want to read this book, in addition to the series.

It's not often that watching something very good on TV stops me reading about it! ...more

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