Compendium Of Roman History

• "Excellent wordsmith, always a fascinating and eloquent read. Highly recommend!" - CC
• "My husband approves. A great read!" - JS
• "One of my top five current favorite authors." - AD
• "Superb pub trivia, right there!" - JJ
• "Easy to read, funny and fascinating" - MR

In The Compendium of Roman History, an instant classic, James Coverley tells the history of the Roman Empire with passion, without academic jargon and with a wry humor.

He takes us from Rome's origins as a rather grubby sprawling slum, via the blood-soaked slaying of Julius Caesar and into the gloried marbled halls of the world's most spectacular city in the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD. Coverley brings alive the grand sweep and the intimate details that make the distant past burst into life in a way that will make you gasp in wonder and laugh out loud. Spanning nearly four hundred years of history, this highly informative and highly readable compendium of the best bits of Roman history work examines everything from how the famous and most glorious of Rome lived and died down to how the slaves lived and the beggars scrabbled in the dirt of ancient Rome. He takes the casual reader on a journey to Roman Britain to look at how the provinces adapted and coped with the sometimes rather brutal Roman 'peace' through crazy medical ideas, weird laws, strange religious rituals and displays of wealth that were utterly staggering.