Roman History: Imperial, 31 BCE–284 CE
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 May 2011
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 May 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0024
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 May 2011
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 May 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0024
Introduction
The history of the Roman Empire is the history of one of the largest and most enduring multiethnic states in the history of the world, making it an area of study that continues to have great relevance to the modern world. Principal areas of investigation for those drawn to the study of the Roman Empire include the development of institutions needed to govern such a state, the behavior of those institutions, the dialogue of cultures within the empire (especially issues of assimilation, resistance, and evolution between dominant and subaltern groups), and the relationship between Rome and its neighbors. It is also a period that saw significant developments in art, literature, and the history of thought, shaping the heritage of classical Antiquity that has survived through the Middle Ages to help shape the Western tradition of rational thought. It is also a very colorful period, whose leading figures, ranging from Marcus Aurelius and Jesus of Nazareth to Nero and Commodus, continue to excite great interest for their own sake.
General Overviews
Volumes 10–12 of the second edition of the Cambridge Ancient History (Bowman, et al. 1996–2006) cover the period between the death of Cicero and the accession of Constantine. The standard is generally very high, but Volume 11 sets an overall standard of excellence, especially in its treatment of issues connected with institutional and social history. There are two one-volume histories that cover the period: Goodman 1997, for the 1st and 2nd centuries, and Potter 2004 for the 3rd and 4th. Kelly 2006 offers a very good, very short introduction; Wolff 2003 a somewhat longer one. For somewhat more detail, Potter 2009 and Boatwright, et al. 2004 offer somewhat different takes on the subject. Potter 2006 offers introductions to the state of research in many areas that are geared to the nonspecialist.
Boatwright, Mary T., Daniel J. Gargola, and Richard J. A. Talbert. 2004. The Romans: From village to empire. New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press
A very good, lucid survey of Roman history from the earliest times to the time of Constantine, paying significant attention to the sources.
Bowman, A. K., A. Cameron, E. J. Champlin, E. J. Garnsel, A. J. Lintott, and D. Rathbone, eds. 1996–2006. The Cambridge ancient history. Vols. 10–12. New York and Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
Each of the three volumes opens with a narrative section (43 BCE–69 CE for Volume 10, The Augustan Empire; 70 CE–192 CE for Volume 11, The High Empire; and 193 CE–337 CE for Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire) followed by chapters on the administration, thematic and regional discussions of developments in the imperial periods, and surveys of culture and society. Chapters draw upon the full range of available evidence and scholarship at the time that they were written.
Goodman, Martin. 1997. The Roman world, 44 BC–AD 180. London and New York: Routledge
Goodman offers a narrative of the Roman Empire over the period in question, followed by a series of chapters offering regional and institutional studies.
Jacques, François, and John Scheid. 1990–1998. Rome et l’integration de l’Empire: 44 av. J.-C.–260 ap. J.-C. 2 vols. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France
Volume 1, Les structures de l’empire romain, treats the political structures of the empire, looking at such topics as the position of the emperor, the role of the emperor in the state, religion, the army, provincial administration, the status of persons and communities, the economy, and society. Volume 2, Approches régionales du Haut-Empire romain 44 av. J-C.–260 ap, consists of a series of regional studies. Volume 1 is in its seventh edition as of 2010 (first edition, 1990); volume 2 appeared in 1998.
Kelly, Christopher. 2006. The Roman Empire: A very short introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press
Kelly treats the period from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, examining the empire’s political, religious, cultural, and social structures as well as the techniques of government. The book also considers the depiction of the Roman Empire in the modern world.
Potter, David S. 2004. The Roman Empire at bay: AD 180–395. New York: Routledge
Potter offers a narrative overview of the period from 180 to 395 with extensive bibliography. The narrative looks to link political, social, and intellectual history to provide a balanced picture of the Roman world.
Potter, David S. 2006. A companion to the Roman Empire. Malden, MA: Blackwell
The thirty chapters in this volume offer readable introductions to many topics ranging from the administration of the empire to spectacle, leisure, family life, food, thought, and religion.
Potter, David. 2009. Ancient Rome: A new history. New York: Thames & Hudson.
A broad (and lavishly illustrated) account of Roman history from the foundation of the city to the Arab conquest that draws on much recent scholarship.
Wolff, Greg, ed. 2003. The Cambridge illustrated history of the Roman world. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
A lavishly illustrated and readily accessible introduction to the Roman world with chapters that offer lucid introductions to the structures of power, the city of Rome, religion, and intellectual history.
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- Academy, The
- Acropolis of Athens, The
- Aeschylus
- Aeschylus’s Oresteia
- Aesthetics, Greek and Roman
- Africa, Roman
- Agathias
- Agriculture in the Classical World
- Agriculture, Roman
- Alcibiades
- Alexander of Aphrodisias
- Alexander the Great
- Amicitia
- Ammianus Marcellinus
- Amyklaion
- Anatolian, Greek and
- Anaxagoras
- Ancient Classical Scholarship
- Ancient Greek and Latin Grammarians
- Ancient Greek Terracotta Sculpture
- Ancient Mediterranean Baths and Bathing
- Ancient Olympia
- Ancient Skepticism
- Ancient Thebes
- Antisthenes
- Antonines, The
- Aphrodite
- Apollodorus
- Apollonius of Rhodes
- Appendix Vergiliana
- Apuleius
- Apuleius's Platonism
- Ara Pacis Augustae
- Arabic “Theology of Aristotle”, The
- Aratus
- Archaeology, Greek
- Archaeology, Roman
- Archaic Latin
- Architecture, Etruscan
- Architecture, Greek
- Architecture, Roman
- Arena Spectacles
- Aristophanes
- Aristophanes’ Clouds
- Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
- Aristotle
- Aristotle, Ancient Commentators on
- Aristotle's Categories
- Aristotle's Ethics
- Aristotle's Metaphysics
- Aristotle's Philosophy of Mind
- Aristotle’s Physics
- Aristotle's Politics
- Art and Archaeology, Research Resources for Classical
- Art, Etruscan
- Art, Greek
- Art, Late Antique
- Artemis
- Asconius
- Athena
- Athenaeus of Naucratis
- Athenian Agora
- Athenian Economy
- Attic Middle Comic Fragments
- Augustine
- Augustus
- Aulularia, Plautus’s
- Aulus Gellius
- Ausonius
- Bacchylides
- Banking in the Roman World
- Bilingualism and Multilingualism in the Roman World
- Biography, Greek and Latin
- Birds, Aristophanes'
- Boethius
- Britain, Roman
- Bronze Age Aegean, Death and Burial in the
- Caecilius Statius
- Caere/Cerveteri
- Callimachus of Cyrene
- Carthage, Punic
- Casina, Plautus’s
- Cato the Censor
- Cato the Younger
- Catullus
- Christianity, Early
- Chronicles
- Cicero
- Cicero’s Philosophical Works
- Cicero's Pro Archia
- Cicero's Rhetorical Works
- Cicero's Speeches: Individual Speeches
- Cicero's Speeches: Overviews and Themes
- Cities in the Roman World
- Classical Architecture in Europe and North America since 1...
- Classical Architecture in Renaissance and Early Modern Eur...
- Classical Art History, History of Scholarship of
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- Classics and Dance
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- Colonization in the Roman Empire
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- Constantine
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- Corpus Tibullianum Book Three
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- Crete, Ancient
- Critias of Athens
- Death
- Death and Burial in the Roman Age
- Declamation
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- Demography, Ancient
- Demosthenes
- Dio, Cassius
- Diodorus Siculus
- Diogenes Laertius
- Dionysus
- Donatus
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- Drama, Latin
- Economy, Roman
- Education
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- Emotions
- Empedocles
- Ennius
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- Epicureanism
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- Epigrams, Greek Poetry
- Epigraphy, Greek
- Epigraphy, Latin
- Eratosthenes of Cyrene
- Etruscans
- Etymology, Greek Lexicon and
- Euripides
- Euripides' Alcestis
- Euripides’ Bacchae
- Euripides’ Electra
- Euripides' Orestes
- Euripides’ Trojan Women
- Fabius Pictor
- Family, Roman
- Federal States, Greek
- Festus
- Fishing and Aquaculture, Roman
- Flavian Literature
- Fragments, Greek Old Comic
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire
- Galen
- Gardens, Greek and Roman
- Gaul, Roman
- Geography
- Gracchi Brothers, The
- Greek and Roman Logic
- Greek Colonization
- Greek Domestic Architecture c. 800 bce to c. 100 bce
- Greek Epic, The Language of the
- Greek New Comic Fragments
- Greek Originals and Roman Copies
- Greek Prehistory Through the Bronze Age
- Greek Vase Painting
- Hellenistic Tragedy
- Heracles
- Heraclitus
- Herculaneum (Modern Ercolano)
- Herculaneum Papyri
- Heritage Management
- Hermes
- Herodas
- Herodotus
- Hesiod
- Historia Augusta
- Historiography, Greek
- Historiography, Latin
- History, Greek: Archaic to Classical Age
- History, Greek: Hellenistic
- History of Modern Classical Scholarship (Since 1750), The
- History, Roman: Early to the Republic
- History, Roman: Imperial, 31 BCE–284 CE
- History, Roman: Late Antiquity
- Homer
- Homeric Hymns
- Homo novus/New man
- Horace
- Horace's Epistles and Ars Poetica
- Horace’s Epodes
- Horace’s Odes
- Horace's Satires
- Imperialism, Roman
- Indo-European, Greek and
- Indo-European, Latin and
- Intertextuality in Latin Poetry
- Isocrates
- Isthmia
- Jews and Judaism
- Juvenal
- Knossos, Prehistoric
- Koine, The
- Lactantius
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- Latin, Medieval
- Latin Paleography, Editing, and the Transmission of Classi...
- Latin Particles and Word Order
- Latin Poetry, Epigrams and Satire in
- Law, Greek
- Law, Roman
- Lexicography, Greek
- Lexicography, Latin
- Linguistics, Indo-European
- Literary Criticism, Ancient
- Literary Languages of Greek, The
- Literary Letters, Greek
- Literary Letters, Roman
- Literature, Hellenistic
- Literature, Neo-Latin
- Livy
- Looting and the Antiquities Market
- Lucan
- Lucilius
- Lucretius
- Lysias
- Macedonia
- Macrobius
- Maecenas
- Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World
- Maps
- Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
- Marcus Cornelius Fronto
- Marcus Manilius
- Maritime Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean
- Marius and Sulla
- Martial
- Maximianus
- Mechanics
- Medea, Seneca's
- Menander of Athens
- Metaphysics, Greek and Roman
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- Middle Platonism
- Military, Greek
- Military, Roman
- Miltiades of Cimon
- Minor Socratics
- Mosaics, Greek and Roman
- Mythography
- Mythology
- Narratology and the Classics
- Neoplatonism
- Neoteric Poets, The
- Nepos, Cornelius
- Nonius Marcellus
- Nonnus
- Novel, Roman
- Novel, The Greek
- Numismatics, Greek and Roman
- Onomastics
- Optimates/Populares
- Orosius
- Orpheus and Orphism
- Ovid
- Ovid’s Exile Poetry
- Ovid’s Love Poetry
- Ovid's Metamorphoses
- Painting, Greek
- Panaetius of Rhodes
- Panathenaic Festival, the
- Pantheon
- Papyrology: Literary and Documentary
- Parmenides
- Parthenon
- Parthian Empire, The
- Pausanias
- Performance Culture, Greek
- Perikles (Pericles)
- Petronius
- Philo of Alexandria
- Philodemus of Gadara
- Philoponus
- Philosophy, Dialectic in Ancient Greek and Roman
- Philosophy, Greek
- Philosophy of Language, Ancient
- Philosophy, Presocratic
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- Philostratus, Lucius Flavius
- Pindar
- Plato
- Plato’s Apology of Socrates
- Plato’s Crito
- Plato's Laws
- Plato’s Metaphysics
- Plato’s Phaedo
- Plato’s Philebus
- Plato’s Sophist
- Plato's Symposium
- Plato’s Theaetetus
- Plato's Timaeus
- Plautus
- Plautus’s Amphitruo
- Plautus’s Curculio
- Plautus’s Miles Gloriosus
- Pliny the Elder
- Pliny the Younger
- Plotinus
- Plutarch's Moralia
- Poetic Meter, Latin
- Poetry, Greek: Elegiac and Lyric
- Poetry, Greek: Iambos
- Poetry, Greek: Pre-Hellenistic
- Poetry, Latin: From the Beginnings through the End of the ...
- Poetry, Latin: Imperial
- Polis
- Political Philosophy, Greek and Roman
- Polybius
- Pompeii
- Porphyry
- Posidippus of Pella
- Posidonius
- Poverty in the Roman World
- Proclus
- Prometheus
- Prometheus, Aeschylus'
- Propertius
- Prosopography
- Protagoras
- Prudentius
- Pyrrho of Elis
- Pythagoreanism
- Quintilian
- Religion, Greek
- Religion, Roman
- Rhetoric, Greek
- Rhetoric, Latin
- Roman Agricultural Writers, The
- Roman Consulship, The
- Roman Italy, 4th Century bce to 3rd Century ce
- Roman Kingship
- Roman Patronage
- Roman Roads and Transport
- Sacrifice
- Sallust
- Samnites
- Samothrace
- Sappho
- Sardis, Ancient
- Scholia
- Science, Greek and Roman
- Sculpture, Etruscan
- Sculpture, Greek
- Sculpture, Roman
- Seneca the Elder
- Seneca the Younger's Philosophical Works
- Seneca’s Oedipus
- Seneca's Phaedra
- Seneca's Tragedies
- Severans, The
- Sexuality
- Silius Italicus
- Slavery, Greek
- Slavery, Roman
- Socrates
- Solon
- Sophocles
- Sophocles’ Ajax
- Sophocles’ Antigone
- Sophocles’ Electra
- Sophocles’ Fragments
- Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus
- Sophocles’ Oedipus the King
- Sophocles’ Philoctetes
- Sophocles’ Trachiniae
- Sosipatra
- Spain, Roman
- Sparta
- Sport
- Statius
- Stesichorus of Himera
- Stoicism
- Strabo
- Suetonius
- Symposion, Greek
- Tacitus
- Technology, Greek and Roman
- Terence
- Terence’s Adelphoe
- Terence’s Eunuchus
- Tertullian
- The Sophists
- The Tabula Peutingeriana (Peutinger Map)
- Theater Production, Greek
- Theocritus of Syracuse
- Theoderic the Great and Ostrogothic Italy
- Theophrastus of Eresus
- Thucydides
- Tibullus
- Topography of Athens
- Topography of Rome
- Tragic Chorus, The
- Translation and Classical Reception
- Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature
- Valerius Flaccus
- Valerius Maximus
- Varro, Marcus Terentius
- Veii
- Velleius Paterculus
- Virgil
- Vitruvius
- Wall Painting, Etruscan
- Xenophanes
- Xenophon
- Zeno of Elea
- Zeus