The History Book Club discussion

*********************SPOILER THREAD*********************

This thread is a "spoiler thread" and is a bibliography thread which identifies many of the books which were referenced or used as primary documents or are relevant to the subject matter of the book: SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.

Please feel free to add properly cited books (book covers, author's photo, and author's links). Add a review or a few words why this book is important to the subject matter, etc.; but remember there is no self promotion, etc.

Any self promotion links or posts are removed.

by Mary Beard

I have also added some older bibliography links to the SPQR folder that you can refer to for additional reference material which related to other books on Roman History including many valuable sources related to Rome and the Masters of Rome series and Rubicon.

Here is the link to the bibliography thread which dealt with the Master of Rome Series:

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Here is the link to the bibliography thread which dealt with the book Rubicon.

by Colleen McCullough

General

Online texts and references
(From the book:) "Increasingly, texts are available free online. The most useful sites are Lacus Curtius
(http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E...)
and the Perseus Digital Library
(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/c...).
Both include a mixture of the original language and translations, and often have both."
Corpus Inscriptum Latinarum
http://cil.bbaw.de/cil_en/index_en.html
Oxford Center for the Study of Ancient Documents
http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/
Orbis
http://orbis.stanford.edu/orbis2012/

by Edward Gibbon

by Tim J. Cornell (no photo)

by Martin Goodman (no photo)

by Nathan Rosenstein (no photo)

by Catherine Steel (no photo)

by J.S. Richardson (no photo)

by Clifford Ando (no photo)

by Frank William Walbank (no photo)
by A.E. Astin (no photo)
(no image) The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 9, the Roman Republic 133 44 by M.P. Charlesworth (no photo)
by Alan K. Bowman (no photo)
by Alan K. Bowman (no photo)

by Christopher Kelly (no photo)

by Simon Price (no photo)

by Brian Campbell (no photo)

by Greg Woolf (no photo)

by Peter Garnsey (no photo)

by Mary Beard

by Mary Beard

by Ian Morris

by Simon Hornblower

by Richard J.A. Talbert (no photo)

by Amanda Claridge (no photo)

Prologue

by Galen, edited by P. N. Singer (no photo)

by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (no photo)

Chapter 1

by Elizabeth Rawson (no photo)

by Catherine Steel (no photo)

by Thomas N. Habinek (no photo)

by John R. Patterson (no photo)

by John E. Stambaugh (no photo)

by Sallust and Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Quintilian (no photo)

by Sander M. Goldberg (no photo)

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Christopher Howgego (no photo)

(not in Goodreads) Invective Against Cicero by Pseudo-Sallust
http://www.loebclassics.com/view/sall...

Fiction About Catilina

The Wikipedia article about Catilina has an interesting section on fiction about Catilina.

"At least two major dramatists have written tragedies about Catilina: Ben Jonson, the English Jacobean playwright, wrote Catiline His Conspiracy in 1611; Catiline was the first play by the Norwegian 'father of modern drama' Henrik Ibsen, written in 1850.

Antonio Salieri wrote an opera tragicomica in two acts on the subject of the Catiline Conspiracy entitled Catilina to a libretto by Giambattista Casti in 1792. The work was left unperformed until 1994 due to its political implications during the French Revolution. Here serious drama and politics were blended with high and low comedy; the plot centered on a love affair between Catiline and a daughter of Cicero as well as the historic political situation.

Steven Saylor has written the novel Catilina's Riddle, where the plot evolves around the intrigue between Catilina and Cicero in 63 BC.

Catilina's conspiracy and Cicero's actions as Consul figure prominently in the novel Caesar's Women by Colleen McCullough as a part of her Masters of Rome series.

SPQR II: The Catiline Conspiracy, by John Maddox Roberts discusses Catiline's conspiracy.

Robert Harris' book Imperium, based on Cicero's letters, covers the developing career of Cicero with many references to his increasing interactions with Catiline. The sequel, Lustrum (issued in the United States as Conspirata), deals with the five years surrounding the Catiline Conspiracy.

The Roman Traitor or the Days of Cicero, Cato and Catiline: A True Tale of the Republic by Henry William Herbert originally published in 1853 in two volumes.

A Pillar of Iron by Taylor Caldwell, published in 1965, tells of the life of Cicero, especially in relation to Catilina and his conspiracy against Rome.

A Slave Of Catiline is a book by Poul Anderson that tells of a slave who helps and then hinders Catilina's conspiracy to overthrow Rome."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catilin...

by Ben Jonson
by Henrik Ibsen
by Steven Saylor
by Colleen McCullough
by John Maddox Roberts
and by Robert Harris
(no image) The Roman Traitor by Henry William Herbert (no photo)
by Taylor Caldwell
by P.L. Anderson (no photo)

Chapter 2

by Ross R. Holloway (no photo)

by Christopher John Smith (no photo)

by Gary Forsythe (no photo)

by T.P. Wiseman (no photo)

by T.P. Wiseman (no photo)

by Andrew Erskine (no photo)

by Gary B. Miles (no photo)

by Emma Dench (no photo)

by Ann Vasaly (no photo)

by Anna Maria Carruba (no photo)

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Ennius

by Plutarch

by Sallust

by Aulus Gellius

by Ovid

by T.J. Cornell (no photo)

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (no photo)

(no image) Augustus to Nero: A Sourcebook on Roman History, 31 BC-AD 68 by David C. Braund (no photo)

by Michel Austin (no photo)

by Juvenal

by Catharine Edwards (no photo)

by Denis Feeney (no photo)

by Plutarch

by Marcus Terentius Varro (no photo)

Chapter 3

by James H. Richardson (no photo)

by Jörg Rüpke (no photo)

by Christopher Smith (no photo)

by Jean Macintosh Turfa (no photo)

by Valentina Arena (no photo)

by Ian Donaldson (no photo)

by Georges Dumézil

by Ettore Pais (no photo)

by John Franklin Hall (no photo)

by Roger Brock (no photo)

by Peter J. Holliday (no photo)

by Pliny the Elder

by Marcus Valerius Martialis

by Augustine of Hippo

by Harriet I. Flower (no photo)

Chapter 4

by Nathan Rosenstein (no photo)

by Kurt A. Raaflaub (no photo)

by Hans Beck (no photo)

by Claude Nicolet

by Filippo Coarelli (no photo)

by Harriet I. Flower (no photo)

by Diodorus Siculus (no photo)

by Marcus Terentius Varro (no photo)

by David Braund (no photo)

by Ennius

(no image) Roman Statutes by Michael Hewson Crawford (no photo)

by British School at Rome (no photo)

by Roberta Cascino (no photo)

by Thomas Blagg (no photo)

Chapter 5

by William V. Harris

by Arthur M. Eckstein (no photo)

by Erich S. Gruen (no photo)

by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (no photo)

by A.E. Astin (no photo)

by Adrian Goldsworthy

by Dexter Hoyos (no photo)

by Philip Kay (no photo)

by Harriet I. Flower (no photo)

by Robin Osborne (no photo)

by Fergus Millar (no photo)

by Henrik Mouritsen (no photo)

by Robert Morstein-Marx (no photo)

by Polybius (no photo)

by Plutarch

by Cassius Dio (no photo)

by Valerius Maximus (no photo)

by Virgil

by Robert K. Sherk (no photo)

by John Richardson (no photo)

by Robert Kallet-Marx (no photo)

by Plautus

by Alan E. Astin (no photo)

Chapters 6 and 7

by Mary Beard

by Tom Holland

by Brent D. Shaw (no photo)

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Plutarch

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Andrew William Lintott (no photo)

by P.A. Brunt (no photo)

by Plutarch

by Horace

by Plutarch

by Plutarch

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

by Gaius Iulius Caesar

by Plutarch

by Strabo

by Karl Galinsky (no photo)

Chapter 8

by Jane F. Gardner (no photo)

by Florence Dupont (no photo)

by David Stone Potter (no photo)

by Augusto Fraschetti (no photo)

by Keith Bradley (no photo)

by Christian Laes (no photo)

by Mary Beard

by Susan Treggiari (no photo)

by Gore Vidal

by Susan Treggiari (no photo)

by Mary Lefkowitz (no photo)

by Suetonius

by Marilyn B. Skinner (no photo)

by Jonathan Powell (no photo)

by Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius (no photo)

by John M. Riddle (no photo)

by Jane Rowlandson (no photo)

by Richard P. Saller (no photo)

by Elizabeth Rawson (no photo)

by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (no photo)

by Catharine Edwards (no photo)

(no image) The Antikythera Shipwreck: the Ship, the Treasures, the Mechanism by Nikolaos Kaltsas (no photo)

(no image) Commerce And Social Standing In Ancient Rome by John H. D'Arms (no photo)

by Seneca

by T.P. Wiseman (no photo)

Chapter 9

by Fergus Millar (no photo)

by Paul Zanker (no photo)

by Josiah Osgood (no photo)

by Augustus (no photo)

by T.P. Wiseman (no photo)

by James I. Porter (no photo)

by William A. Edward (no photo)

by Appian (no photo)

by Josiah Osgood (no photo)

by Plutarch

by Claude Nicolet

by Jaś Elsner (no photo)

by Peter S. Wells

by Kurt A. Raaflaub (no photo)

by Alisdair Gibson (no photo)

by Jonathan Edmondson (no photo)

Chapter 10

by Fergus Millar (no photo)

by P.A. Brunt (no photo)

by Richard J.A. Talbert (no photo)

by Keith Hopkins

by Aloys Winterling (no photo)

by Edward Champlin (no photo)

by Barbara Levick (no photo)

by Miriam T. Griffin (no photo)

by Anthony Richard Birley (no photo)

by T.P. Wiseman (no photo)

by Eric R. Varner (no photo)

by Suetonius

by Tacitus

by Fergus Millar (no photo)

by Mary Beard

by Simon Goldhill (no photo)

by Keith Hopkins

by Tacitus

by Hugh Lindsay (no photo)

by J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps (no photo)

by Scriptores Historiae Augustae (no photo)

by Alain M. Gowing (no photo)

by S.R.F. Price (no photo)

Chapter 11

by Jerry Toner (no photo)

by Robert Knapp

by Andrea Giardina (no photo)

by William F. Hansen (no photo)

by John R. Clarke (no photo)

by William V. Harris

by Roy Gibson (no photo)

by Lomas Kathryn (no photo)

by Tim J. Cornell (no photo)

by Marcus Cornelius Fronto (no photo)

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

(no image) My Roman Britain by Richard Reece (no photo)

by Valerie M. Hope

by Jon Coulston (no photo)

by Sandra R. Joshel (no photo)

(no image) Image And Status: Roman Working Women In Ostia by Natalie Kampen (no photo)

by Lauren Hackworth Petersen (no photo)

by Barbara Levick (no photo)

by Mary Beard

by Miko Flohr (no photo)

by Jerry Toner (no photo)

by Benjamin Kelly (no photo)

by Ari Z. Bryen (no photo)

by Stanley Ireland (no photo)

by Phaedrus (no photo)

by Phaedrus (no photo)

by Philostratus (no photo)

by Kristina Milnor (no photo)

by John R. Clarke (no photo)

Chapter 12

by Pliny the Younger

by Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen (no photo)

by Diarmaid MacCulloch (no photo)

by David Stone Potter (no photo)

by Tim Whitmarsh

by Simon Goldhill (no photo)

by Greg Woolf (no photo)

by Lucian of Samosata

by David J. Breeze (no photo)

by Suetonius

by Keith Hopkins

by Alan K. Bowman (no photo)

by Peter Rush (no photo)

by Martin Millett (no photo)

by David Mattingly (no photo)

by James Noel Adams (no photo)

by Horace

by Tod A. Marder (no photo)

by Roger S. Bagnall (no photo)

by Peter Thonemann (no photo)

by Hella Eckhardt (no photo)

by Alex Mullen (no photo)

by Thomas J. Heffernan (no photo)

(no image) The monument of C. Julius Zoilos by R.R.R. Smith (no photo)

Epilogue

(no image) Constantinople In The Early Eighth Century: The Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai by Averil Cameron

Fiction about early Rome

I’ve read three novels about early Rome that I really liked. Children of the Wolf tells the story of Romulus’ reign from the viewpoints of four characters from different parts of Italy. Lavinia is about the Latin woman Aeneas ultimately marries. Roma covers Roman history down to the end of the Republic, with the first three chapters dealing with pre-history and Romulus and Remus. All of them are very interesting and well worth reading.

by Alfred Duggan
by Ursula K. Le Guin
by Steven Saylor

Additional book that is good background reading:

Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome

by Lesley Adkins

Provides full access to 1,200 years of Roman civilisation from the 8th century BCE to the fifth CE. Organised thematically, nine chapters provide in-depth analysis of all aspects of Roman life.

Book on the Roman Legions!

Legionary: The Roman Soldier's (Unofficial) Manual

by Philip Matyszak (no photo)

Your emperor needs you for the Roman army! The year is AD 100 and Rome stands supreme and unconquerable from the desert sands of Mesopotamia to the misty highlands of Caledonia. Yet the might of Rome rests completely on the armored shoulders of the legionaries who hold back the barbarian hordes and push forward the frontiers of empire.

This carefully researched yet entertainingly nonacademic book tells you how to join the Roman legions, the best places to serve, and how to keep your armor from getting rusty. Learn to march under the eagles of Rome, from training, campaigns, and battle to the glory of a Roman Triumph and retirement with a pension plan. Every aspect of army life is discussed, from drill to diet, with handy tips on topics such as how to select the best boots or how to avoid being skewered by enemy spears. Combining the latest archaeological discoveries with the written records of those who actually saw the Roman legions in action, this book provides a vivid picture of what it meant to be a Roman legionary.

Additional reading:

Vesuvius, A.D. 79: The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum



Mount Vesuvius, in what is now southern Italy, erupted in AD 79, spewing volcanic rock, clouds of fine ash, and deadly gases over surrounding towns and farms, burying every trace of their existence. In nearby Pompeii, nearly 2000 people died. Rain falling with the ash formed a kind of cement that encased everything and everyone in an airtight seal.

Chap. 12 additional reading:

The Real Lives of Roman Britain

by Guy de la Bedoyere

The Britain of the Roman Occupation is, in a way, an age that is dark to us. While the main events from 55 BC to AD 410 are little disputed, and the archaeological remains of villas, forts, walls, and cities explain a great deal, we lack a clear sense of individual lives. This book is the first to infuse the story of Britannia with a beating heart, the first to describe in detail who its inhabitants were and their place in our history.

A lifelong specialist in Romano-British history, Guy de la Bédoyère is the first to recover the period exclusively as a human experience. He focuses not on military campaigns and imperial politics but on individual, personal stories. Roman Britain is revealed as a place where the ambitious scramble for power and prestige, the devout seek solace and security through religion, men and women eke out existences in a provincial frontier land. De la Bédoyère introduces Fortunata the slave girl, Emeritus the frustrated centurion, the grieving father Quintus Corellius Fortis, and the brilliant metal worker Boduogenus, among numerous others. Through a wide array of records and artifacts, the author introduces the colourful cast of immigrants who arrived during the Roman era while offering an unusual glimpse of indigenous Britons, until now nearly invisible in histories of Roman Britain.

Thanks for the additions, Michele. I think you could read a book a week about Rome and never finish.

That's probably true Vicki!

Here's a book I used for my Art History class final paper, years ago. The book uses clear overlays to show what buildings in Rome probably looked like back during the Empire and these go over the modern day photo.

Ancient Rome: Monuments Past and Present

by Romolo Augusto Staccioli (no photo)

The Monuments Past and Present series explores the ancient regions of Rome, Greece, and Pompeii with an eye toward contrasting what they were with what they are today. Important monuments and districts are presented with overlays that clearly depict how these notable ancient sites look today and how
they may have appeared when first built. These titles are excellent resources for travelers, students, and anyone else interested in the fascinating histories of these ancient regions.

Beginning with the Colosseum, the symbol of "The Eternal City," this volume explores twenty-four significant ancient landmarks such as the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, the Pantheon, and the Appain Way.

Additional Reading:

Gladiator: The Roman Fighter's [Unofficial] Manual

by Philip Matyszak (no photo)

So you think you’d like to be a gladiator? Find out how to get thousands to idolize you as the strongest, meanest fighter in the Roman empire. Win fame and fortune in one of Rome’s most glamorous locations, in the presence of the emperor himself. Who wouldn’t kill for a job like that?

This handy guide tells you everything you need to know before you step out to fight for your life in front of a roaring crowd:

Why you should become a gladiator
How to join the most glamorous—yet lethal—profession on earth
Who will try to kill you, and with what
Which arena of the empire is the right one for you
When and how often you will fight
What happens before, during, and after a duel

Combining the latest research with modern reconstructions, Gladiator helps you experience firsthand the spectacular yet brutal life and death of the most iconic figure of ancient Rome.

Historical fiction

I can recommend a few novels that take place during the period we've been reading about. Winter Quarters is about some Celtic noblemen who join Crassus' war against Parthia and what happens to them. Three's Company by the same author is about the Second Triumvirate. And Augustus is an epistolary novel in three sections, about Octavian's rise to power and subsequent important periods of his life.

by Alfred Duggan
by Alfred Duggan
by John Williams

Chap. 12 additional reading:

Life in Year One: What The World Was Like in First-Century Palestine

by Scott Korb (no photo)

What did people eat? Whom did they marry? How did they keep themselves clean? What did their cities and towns look like? What did they believe?

The answers, it turns out, are surprising. This simple question is not so simple after all. With a historian's insight and a reporter's curiosity, Scott Korb gives us a backstage pass to the unexpected and sometimes down-and-dirty truth about what everyday life was like in first-century Palestine, that tumultuous era when the Roman Empire was at its zenith and a new religion-Christianity-was born.