Trailing the introduction to my upcoming book. See below to pre-order!
Archaeologists believe that the area around the ancient foundations of Rome, bounded by the seven hills to the east of the River Tiber, was settled by at least the Bronze Age (c. 2,400–800 BC). It was unattractive land; a large mosquito-infested flood plain frequently inundated by the river up until 1880s when the Tiber was permanently banked. Throughout this early period shepherds grazed their flocks in the valleys and lived in huts on the hills that offered protection against foes and refuge from flooding.
At some point in the late Bronze Age the legendary sources announce the arrival of a diaspora of Trojans, seeking a new home after the fall of Troy. Settling in hills near Rome, legend and scant fact intertwined to produce a wishful legacy that these early Romans were descended from the gods Venus and Mars. The fledging settlement, seeking to build up its population and means of defence, offered refuge and proto-citizenship to any who arrived at its rudimentary walled boundaries – soon becoming an asylum for the poor, criminals and slaves on the run.
A long monarchical period followed when Rome may have integrated with other local tribes. After around 250 years, monarchy was replaced by a democratic society led by representatives of those having the highest stake in the society, mainly landowners and military champions. This was the Roman Republic, where the Senators (S) and People (P) of (Q) Rome (R) were portrayed as joint owners of a system that would later be known by the initials SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus).
As Rome and its empire grew, the spoils of conquest flowed into the centre and the power dynamics changed. Personal ambition and greed overtook an aspiration for the common good – facets of human behaviour that would eventually be the death knell of the Republic.
The Imperial period followed, retaining the old democratic instruments of government but in a much-neutered state and replaced by the executive power of emperors, the imperial family and military commanders. The autocracy was characterised by a more aggressive personal desire for political office, command and wealth, but above all public acclamation with a military triumph through the streets of Rome.
Initially, imperial rule was light of touch and required some degree of approval by the people, a period known as the Principate. But after 200 years this collapsed and was replaced by a sterner more totalitarian form of imperial leadership, that we now call the Dominate.
Northern tribes (collectively known as barbarians) eager to share the riches and good life available to Romans, the resentment of subject peoples, internal power plays by imperial candidates and commanders and even climate change caused Rome’s western borders to come under ever increasing pressure – until they burst. Throughout the fourth and fifth century AD the city of Rome was progressively abandoned in favour of a new Christian centre in the Eastern Roman Empire at Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Rome eventually fell to barbarian forces under Odoacer; its final gasp traditionally being dated as AD 476.
The story of ancient Rome is a human story, centred on safety, reward and recognition. For most people it was just about wanting peace and a fair share of the spoils, but some were catapulted into a spiral of greed and recrimination, recalling the saying coined by Lord Acton in 1887: ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. However, lest we frown at the brutal nature of Rome, Mary Beard reminds us that the world was not a peace-loving place in those times, so we ought not judge it too harshly.
For most of us, and despite popular interest in the subject, there is patchy understanding about ancient Rome and the reasons for its rise, decline and fall which is unfortunate because humans have changed little since these days, other than being slightly more civilised and having access to advanced technology. The strategies and outcomes of the past can still guide our decisions today.
This short book aims to provide an accessible story of the main events, their causes and the drivers of change that saw Rome rise to a population of over one million people, before being reduced to just 30,000, effectively disappearing from human memory. In the 1500s, the Italian Renaissance energised a few souls to enquire about the country’s past, but it took until the late 1800s for excavations to start in earnest under the new Italian state.
Everything we know about ancient Rome comes from either archaeology or the ancient written sources, chiefly the historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. But we have two key limitations in interpreting the true course of events. These writers based their work on earlier, mostly lost, accounts by others and they wrote their versions both wary of perception and seeking personal advancement and sponsorship – belittling past emperors but praising the incumbents. Albeit entertaining, objective writing in the practice of modern historiography it was not.
Today, the landscape where these developments played out in central Rome can be best seen from several outstanding vantage points, principally the Palatine Hill in the Roman Forum, the Aventine Hill, Capitoline Hill and the ramparts of Castel Sant’Angelo. We shall explore these and other sites in our journey through the Eternal City.
Pre-order my book below! With 150 original photographs. Photos CM 2024-26.
