Reddit mentions of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

It wasn't a matter of "corruption." Julius was just the latest in a series of political strong men who were given dictatorial or near-dictatorial powers by an increasingly weakened Senate, following the example of Sulla and Marius. And he was eventually followed by Octavian, whom we regard retroactively as the first "emperor" (Augustus), but he never claimed that title. Octavian was simply more successful at doing the same thing than his predecessors.

None of them "killed the Senate." The Senate had been declining in power for several generations. It was a probably inevitable evolutionary thing. Augustus maintained the public fiction that he was only doing the Senate's bidding, but everyone knew better. And later emperors dropped the pretense.

And all high-level politicians in Rome were "power-hungry." It went with the territory, and still does.

Mary Beard does a very good job of explaining this extended process in SPQR.

EDIT: missing

I have a particular fondness for BBC documentaries, ancient Rome & Greece and also the history of art. So here's my rather eclectic mix, including all previously mentioned topics and one or two interesting outliers.

Meet the Romans by Mary Beard - Mary Beard is the renowned Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, and author of the recent best-sellers Pompeii and SPQR.

Whilst talking about the wonderful Mary Beard, you should also check out Caligula and Pompeii - Life and Death in a Roman Town. Beard recently broadcast a new documentary on the latest research - Pompeii - New Secrets Revealed.

For an interesting comparison, check out Life and Death in Herculaneum by Prof Wallace-Hadrill.

Another particular favourite is Who Were the Greeks by Professor Michael Scott.

Then check out The Greatest Show on Earth, a three part series on the importance and influence of Greek theatre & tragedy on Western culture.

Life and Death in Ancient Egypt is a really interesting two part series on... well, on life and death in ancient Egypt. :)

 

 

Bronowski's seminal The Ascent of Man is old but gripping none-the-less. I guess it suffers a little from being only available in SD so it looks kind of dated, but the content is amazing. Along the same lines, over forty years ago Kenneth Clark aired a wonderful 13 part series Civilisation - A Personal View. It is still well worth watching.


More recent topics include The French Revolution - Tearing Up History, The Great War for a comprehensive look at the First World War, the already mentioned [World At War] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYVb37GdQa0&list=PLLvOGyTQQoqziO-Uobw49bDRT2Lel0t3R) (a must see), the sobering but essential The Nazis - A Warning from History, Vietnam - The Ten Thousand Day War, and then The Cold War (I like Kenneth Brannagh's narration).

I also love A history of Art in Three Colours, the long-running Private Life of a Masterpiece (there are nearly 30 different episodes produced over several years, and you will have to Google/YouTube them yourself, as there doesn't seem to be a single repository of them online).

Of course when talking about television documentaries we can't really ignore Ken Burns. Love him or loathe him (I'm firmly in the former camp), there is no arguing over his influence on this gentre. Start with his most famous, The Civil War, then The West, then Jazz, then perhaps The National Parks (I haven't watched these yet). There are many more, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Dustbown, The Roosevelts, Baseball and of course New York.


I could go on and on, but I'm probably boring you now. :)

Happy watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh7rdCYCQ_U

Poslusaj video ukoliko imas vremena.

Svi izvori upotrebljeni u ovom videu:

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307700763/?tag=freedradio-20



Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire by Simon Baker
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1846072840/?tag=freedradio-20


The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer
http://www.amazon.com/dp/039305974X/?tag=freedradio-20


The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World's Greatest Empire by Anthony Everitt
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812978153/?tag=freedradio-20


A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0871404230/?tag=freedradio-20


Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1400078970/?tag=freedradio-20


The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0195325419/?tag=freedradio-20


The Twilight of American Culture by Morris Berman
http://www.amazon.com/dp/039332169X/?tag=freedradio-20


The Fate Of Empires by Sir John Glubb
http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/glubb.pdf