Ancient Rome cover

Ancient Rome

by Christopher S. Mackay

"This book provides a short but comprehensive political history of ancient Rome from the origins of the city in the Italian Iron Age to the deposition of the last emperor in A.D. 476. The reasons for Rome's conquest and absorption of Italy, and how this gave the Romans a manpower reserve that allowed them to conquer the Mediterranean in half a century, are described. The military responsibilities attendant upon these conquests undermined the political institutions of the Republic, with the Emperor Augustus managing to set up surreptitiously a monarchical form of government, in effect securing two centuries of peace. New military pressures then caused a significant change in the structure of the Imperial government, which eventually succumbed in the west to invasion. The influence on the imperial government of the adoption of Christianity as the state religion is also discussed."--Jacket.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?