The Romans: A 2,000-Year History by Edward J. Watts
The author Roman empire had a start date around 800 BC to the fourth crusade in the 1200s AD. He argues that Rome had a continues political system for the 2000 years, even as it moved the base from Rome to Constantinople. The "Byzantines" considered themselves to be Romans, with only us in the future retroactively adding different names. However, he sacking of Constantinople put an end to this continuous government. Despite going through many different rulers and types of government, a common history could be traced. The changes were incremental rather than revolutionary.
The book is not poorly written, but it is too long. The coverage is focussed on the times that we have the most data. It rockets through the early history, then slows down as it goes through more popular events. IT would be better served by shortening the narrative to have a large scale overview.
No comments:
Post a Comment