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 Customer Reviews
Brilliant and Readable look at Classical Civilisation, 03 Aug 2008
I first came across Robin Lane Fox's work when I read his brilliant biography of Alexander the Great. In this book, Lane Fox takes a broader brush to paint a picture of the Classical worlds of Greece and Rome, from the age of Homer to the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
The early sections on the Archaic Greek World are a bit of struggle. Most of our evidence for this period comes from the archaeological record, leaving a lot of speculation about the events of the age, which only comes down to us in fragments from later Greek writers. These chapters help set the scene, but they are not as exciting as the later sections simply because they lack the human dimension. Lane Fox is at his finest when he describes the struggles and achievements of the individual, and not the physical remains of the Classical World.
It is in when the book reaches the period of the 5th century BC that the book really starts to shine. Lane Fox gives us a vivid view of men like Socrates and Pericles, and also the everyday lives of the classical Athenians, including a look at the lives of the Greek women and children.
He also provides brilliant chapters on the Julio-Claudians, the Punic Wars, and the Hellenistic World. Yet he also covers subjects as diverse as the Roman Army, diplomacy, Greek philosophy, technology, sports and a dozen other subjects.
One of the strengths of this book is Robin Lane Fox's text, which is lucid and very readable. He is a great writer who is able to impart a lot of information in short chunks. Most chapters only run for a few pages ( on average 13 pages) which makes them readable and accessible, and especially good if you want to read a few chapters at a time. I found this book both good to read from cover to cover, and also good to just pick up and select a random chapter.
Some have argued that Lane Fox's book is rather old fashioned in that it does not cover the Persians, Celts, or other classical peoples. I personally don't find this much of a problem, as I only expected to read about the Greeks and Romans when I picked this book up, but others might be disappointed by these omissions. What I did find odd was Lane Fox's rather politically incorrect asides, for instance he mentions that the Emperor Claudius was a 'susceptible spastic'.
With a number of excellent and well selected photographs of busts, coins and paintings, as well as a few good maps, this book is definately worth getting. This book should give you a broad, although not detailed overview of the greatest achievements and failures of the Classical World. It might be heavy going at first, but the deeper you get into it the more readable and rewarding it gets. One of the finest books on the Classical World that I have ever read. Highly Recommended!
Ambitious sweeping view of many different periods, 08 Jul 2008
Broad strokes indeed from the historical brush of Robin Lane Fox as he describes the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. If you know nothing about this kind of history then this is a good a place as any to start. The book begins with the world of Homer and the Dark Ages before Classical Greece began and moves swiftly forward until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian some eight hundred odd years later.
Hadrian might seem a strange place to stop telling the story seeing as there are still many more things to be said about the Roman Empire after him. In another way however this is a natural place to stop. Quite apart from the fact that any more to this book would make it longer than its almost seven hundred pages, Hadrian was a huge philhellene and so he neatly brings the two worlds together. Many of the pages refer to Hadrian and what his opinion must also have been looking back on this history.
This is truly an ambitious undertaking by Lane Fox. I dread to think how he must have agonised over what to leave out. He does indeed omit some things that I really wanted to know more about such as the Theban Epaminondas and his place in the overall scheme of the Greek world. Having said this the author manages to cover all the major points very well while also finding time to address important areas such as politics, culture, art and society. One of the best achievements of the book is that it is not simply a list of big historical events as it could so easily have been. Instead we feel that we have some real insight into people in some ways similar to ourselves and in other ways vastly different.
If you know anything about any of the periods presented here you may find that part of the book very brief and unrewarding. Even so there were a few surprising facts that I had not previously known. This is a good book for beginning a journey into the ancient world and then continuing once you have finished it with more detailed reading on the points that interest you the most.
Informative but a tiny bit tedious, 24 Oct 2007
This is a very informative and suitably brief history of ancient Greece and Rome. It covers a massive amount of ground in a short space of time and provides enough insight to instill the desire for more in particular areas.
However, it is very heavy on the political and military history - and very light on the social and cultural. This means that it often gets a bit dull, to be honest. There is also much left unsaid about why things were the way they were; or how particular practices evolved and developed.
All in all, though, quite a good read.
Comprehensive, but a bit dull, 23 Sep 2007
The prologue immediately launches into a bizarre screed about what defines classicism, which sets the tone for the book; painstakingly researched, but not light reading.
Enthusiasts only.
standard 'history' of Greece and Rome, 13 May 2007
This is undeniably a good, light read, but in some ways it is almost out of touch with the actual research occupying classicists working academically in the field. Yes, I do know that Lane Fox is a hugely respected Oxford academic, but all the same there is something very traditional and almost wistful about this simple reading of the history of Greece and Rome. As a previous reviwer has mentioned (accurately) this concentrates on 'events' rather than analysis, and given the huge scope of the book, treats them fairly simply and reductively (the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty, for example, is covered in one short chapter).
I suppose the major problem for me is the dismissal of classical literary culture to the margins: Athenian tragedy for example has a paragraph, and even there Lane Fox regards it as being 'timeless' and completely divorced from the institutions of democracy. Not just does this assume a huge coincidence that tragedy appears and disappears precisely in the years coinciding with 5th century democracy in Athens (and nowhere else), it also evades the political discussions and negotiations that take place in the plays about the very ideology of democracy which make the plays so important.
Similarly there is little discussion of Roman, especially Augustan literature, that engages so closely with the political transformation from Roman republic to principate.
That aside, the end point was slightly odd, in that Lane Fox chooses to end with Hadrian, rather than continuing to the collapse of Rome, thus ending on a high note rather than following through to the , perhaps, more appropriate conclusion.
If you know nothing about the classical world, then this is an excellent starting point but it's just the beginning...
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Customer Reviews
Brilliant and Readable look at Classical Civilisation, 03 Aug 2008
I first came across Robin Lane Fox's work when I read his brilliant biography of Alexander the Great. In this book, Lane Fox takes a broader brush to paint a picture of the Classical worlds of Greece and Rome, from the age of Homer to the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
The early sections on the Archaic Greek World are a bit of struggle. Most of our evidence for this period comes from the archaeological record, leaving a lot of speculation about the events of the age, which only comes down to us in fragments from later Greek writers. These chapters help set the scene, but they are not as exciting as the later sections simply because they lack the human dimension. Lane Fox is at his finest when he describes the struggles and achievements of the individual, and not the physical remains of the Classical World.
It is in when the book reaches the period of the 5th century BC that the book really starts to shine. Lane Fox gives us a vivid view of men like Socrates and Pericles, and also the everyday lives of the classical Athenians, including a look at the lives of the Greek women and children.
He also provides brilliant chapters on the Julio-Claudians, the Punic Wars, and the Hellenistic World. Yet he also covers subjects as diverse as the Roman Army, diplomacy, Greek philosophy, technology, sports and a dozen other subjects.
One of the strengths of this book is Robin Lane Fox's text, which is lucid and very readable. He is a great writer who is able to impart a lot of information in short chunks. Most chapters only run for a few pages ( on average 13 pages) which makes them readable and accessible, and especially good if you want to read a few chapters at a time. I found this book both good to read from cover to cover, and also good to just pick up and select a random chapter.
Some have argued that Lane Fox's book is rather old fashioned in that it does not cover the Persians, Celts, or other classical peoples. I personally don't find this much of a problem, as I only expected to read about the Greeks and Romans when I picked this book up, but others might be disappointed by these omissions. What I did find odd was Lane Fox's rather politically incorrect asides, for instance he mentions that the Emperor Claudius was a 'susceptible spastic'.
With a number of excellent and well selected photographs of busts, coins and paintings, as well as a few good maps, this book is definately worth getting. This book should give you a broad, although not detailed overview of the greatest achievements and failures of the Classical World. It might be heavy going at first, but the deeper you get into it the more readable and rewarding it gets. One of the finest books on the Classical World that I have ever read. Highly Recommended!
Ambitious sweeping view of many different periods, 08 Jul 2008
Broad strokes indeed from the historical brush of Robin Lane Fox as he describes the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. If you know nothing about this kind of history then this is a good a place as any to start. The book begins with the world of Homer and the Dark Ages before Classical Greece began and moves swiftly forward until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian some eight hundred odd years later.
Hadrian might seem a strange place to stop telling the story seeing as there are still many more things to be said about the Roman Empire after him. In another way however this is a natural place to stop. Quite apart from the fact that any more to this book would make it longer than its almost seven hundred pages, Hadrian was a huge philhellene and so he neatly brings the two worlds together. Many of the pages refer to Hadrian and what his opinion must also have been looking back on this history.
This is truly an ambitious undertaking by Lane Fox. I dread to think how he must have agonised over what to leave out. He does indeed omit some things that I really wanted to know more about such as the Theban Epaminondas and his place in the overall scheme of the Greek world. Having said this the author manages to cover all the major points very well while also finding time to address important areas such as politics, culture, art and society. One of the best achievements of the book is that it is not simply a list of big historical events as it could so easily have been. Instead we feel that we have some real insight into people in some ways similar to ourselves and in other ways vastly different.
If you know anything about any of the periods presented here you may find that part of the book very brief and unrewarding. Even so there were a few surprising facts that I had not previously known. This is a good book for beginning a journey into the ancient world and then continuing once you have finished it with more detailed reading on the points that interest you the most.
Informative but a tiny bit tedious, 24 Oct 2007
This is a very informative and suitably brief history of ancient Greece and Rome. It covers a massive amount of ground in a short space of time and provides enough insight to instill the desire for more in particular areas.
However, it is very heavy on the political and military history - and very light on the social and cultural. This means that it often gets a bit dull, to be honest. There is also much left unsaid about why things were the way they were; or how particular practices evolved and developed.
All in all, though, quite a good read.
Comprehensive, but a bit dull, 23 Sep 2007
The prologue immediately launches into a bizarre screed about what defines classicism, which sets the tone for the book; painstakingly researched, but not light reading.
Enthusiasts only.
standard 'history' of Greece and Rome, 13 May 2007
This is undeniably a good, light read, but in some ways it is almost out of touch with the actual research occupying classicists working academically in the field. Yes, I do know that Lane Fox is a hugely respected Oxford academic, but all the same there is something very traditional and almost wistful about this simple reading of the history of Greece and Rome. As a previous reviwer has mentioned (accurately) this concentrates on 'events' rather than analysis, and given the huge scope of the book, treats them fairly simply and reductively (the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty, for example, is covered in one short chapter).
I suppose the major problem for me is the dismissal of classical literary culture to the margins: Athenian tragedy for example has a paragraph, and even there Lane Fox regards it as being 'timeless' and completely divorced from the institutions of democracy. Not just does this assume a huge coincidence that tragedy appears and disappears precisely in the years coinciding with 5th century democracy in Athens (and nowhere else), it also evades the political discussions and negotiations that take place in the plays about the very ideology of democracy which make the plays so important.
Similarly there is little discussion of Roman, especially Augustan literature, that engages so closely with the political transformation from Roman republic to principate.
That aside, the end point was slightly odd, in that Lane Fox chooses to end with Hadrian, rather than continuing to the collapse of Rome, thus ending on a high note rather than following through to the , perhaps, more appropriate conclusion.
If you know nothing about the classical world, then this is an excellent starting point but it's just the beginning...
Probably the best book on the subject, 22 Nov 2008
I've been interested in this period of the history for a while but never found a book good enough to explain all the events. This book is thoroughly researched, scholarly yet written in a style and language easy to follow. A couple of reviewers have put foward the point that this book is more about the rise of the barbarians than the fall of the Roman empire. I'm afraid this is not correct as the two are inextricably intertwined. This book comes with the highest recommendation.
An enthralling account of the fall of Rome, 04 Sep 2008
This is a book which is as every bit of epic as its subject matter. Peter Heather writes in an accessible, easy-to-follow manner making this book ideal for the layperson, scholar and student. Rather than seeing the end of the western Roman Empire as a result of internal decline and internecine warfare (the Edward Gibbon approach), Heather argues that the Empire fell due to the rise of the Germanic tribes north of the Danube, both economically and politically into supergroups, which became too strong for the western resources to ovecome. Coupled with this, argues Heather, the movement of the Huns in the 370s, forcing the Greuthungi and Tervingi Goths onto Roman territory, and again between 395-420 onto the Great Hungarian Plain, forcing this time more Goths, Burgundians and Alans etc, provided the catalyst for barbarian encroachment upon Roman territory. Each loss of teritory meant loss of revenue with which to pay the diminishing legions. The most telling of losses were the rich African provinces to the Vandals. Really, it is not so much as the decline of the west, but the rise of the barbarians, caused by the sudden appearance, and disappearance, of the Huns.
Other reviewers have provided more in-depth looks at the pros and cons of this book - with which I would agree (in particular some of the contemporary language and jokes would seem out of place)- therefore I will not repeat them here. Suffice to say this is an excellent, informative account of one of the world's most important events.
Thoroughly recommended.
Contemporary but flawed, 21 Oct 2007
While this is not a bad history I would echo some points made by other reviewers here; not so much about The Fall of Rome as The Rise of the Barbarians and marred by some inaccuracies, would-be hip phrases and chapter headings and particularly by suppositions being referred to as facts. It is also over-long and suffers a tendency to digression in places. For those wishing to delve into the fall of the empire in the west it would be preferable to begin with Michael Grant's excellent 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' and Arthur Ferrill's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire - The Military Explanation'. Heather is particularly weak on military aspects and an understanding of these is crucial as to why the Western Roman Empire fell. Incidentally, Ferrill and Grant are both conspicuously absent from Heather's bibliography...now why is that I wonder? All that aside, as a history of the rise of the barbarians this is still quite good and as such is not so much a new history as a return to older theories that the empire fell primarily due to external rather than internal pressures. Do read this by all means - but after Grant and Ferrill!
Excellent Account of a Monumental Event, 28 Jul 2007
The "Fall of the Roman Empire" casts a huge shadow. A vast Empire, one of the "great civilisations" of history, went in barely a century from being the "sole superpower" to a mere plaything of barbarian tribes.
Why did it happen? All sorts of reasons can be offered, and Heather offers several, but what it comes down to is that this is simply what empires do - they rise, they exist for a time - years, decades or (as in Romes's case) centuries - and then they fall. Rome had already had a better "innings" than most, and in the fifth century its luck ran out.
It is usual to blame the Fall on the Empire's internal problems, and say that it became "decadent" or whatever. Heather, probably rightly, focuses more on what was happening outside Rome's borders. The Barbarian tribes, living for centuries with that 800 pound Roman "gorilla" next door, combined into larger units like the Frankish or Gothic kingdoms, which were a tougher proposition for Rome to cope with. Everlasting warfare with these states gradually wore the Empire down, and finally another barbarian, Attila, drove many tribes from their old homes and forced them to try their luck migrating into Roman territory. This proved more than Rome (or at least its western half) could cope with. So down the tubes it went.
No doubt, had Rome not fallen from this cause, it would eventually have fallen another way. Empires are usually longer lived than individuals, but are no more immortal. But Heather does a magnificent job of showing how and why it fell as and when it did.
One minor regret. Perhaps a little more "afterword" about post-Roman Europe might have been in order. For the significant thing about the Roman Empire is not that it fell (which was bound to happen sometime) but that it was never rebuilt. By contrast, China fell to Mongol "barbarians" in the 13C, an invasion probably as devastating as anything Western Rome underwent, yet within a century had gotten its breath back, expelled the invaders, and installed a native Ming Dynasty. Similarly, Egypt was able to spit out the Hyksos and other intruders. Yet Rome's former subjects not only didn't do this, but (unless the Arthurian legends count) seem never to have even tried. Rather, they appear to have largely shrugged their shoulders and made the best of things under barbarian rule. While purely external factors can explain the fall itself, they can't explain this apparent acceptance of it. Even when Roman lands were "liberated" by Justinian, the inhabitants seldom rallied round, and when Byzantium's grip loosened they just flopped back into barbarian hands. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that, however traumatic the Empire's fall had been, a lot of its subjects soon found they didn't really miss it all that much. This calls for explanation.
Still, that's quibbling. Heather has written a great book (even if his 21C idioms can irritate at times) and it needs to be read by anyone interested in this subject.
I loved this, 04 Jul 2007
To start off with I thought his language was irritatingly contemporary. I hate it when historians talk about "spin doctors". I read history to escape from, not to be reminded of, Alistair Campbell and co. However, I soon got over this because the book was telling me just the sort of thing I really wanted to know.
Some books take the stories from the ancient sources, put them in order and iron out the discrepancies, but give very little elaboration. I'm particularly thinking of the book I was previously reading, Byzantium: The Early Centuries by J. J. Norwich. This is okay as far as it goes, in fact it's quite readable, but it can get a bit boring. All the repeated usurpations, murders and civil wars don't seem to have much significance, and there are so many questions unanswered, along the lines of, "but what was it actually like? And how did that work?"
Heather covers a much shorter time-span so he has much more room for analysis and explanation. And at the end I really felt I'd learnt a lot. Why, I was wondering, if Attila was a nomad does he have such beautiful clothes in the pictures in Osprey books? (Whenever I go camping I become filthy in a couple of weeks!) Heather gives a reasonable explanation of the the Huns' lifestyle. And if you want to know who the Goths were, I recommend this book. He reminded me of the most enthusiastic lecturers at university - the ones I actually made an effort to get up for, which is another reason why I ended up liking his informal style.
The maps could be brushed up a bit though. On map 13 the towns on the Moselle look a bit wrong to me. And the text refers to several places which aren't marked, so you can't follow the story easily. It helps to have an atlas handy.
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Customer Reviews
Brilliant and Readable look at Classical Civilisation, 03 Aug 2008
I first came across Robin Lane Fox's work when I read his brilliant biography of Alexander the Great. In this book, Lane Fox takes a broader brush to paint a picture of the Classical worlds of Greece and Rome, from the age of Homer to the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
The early sections on the Archaic Greek World are a bit of struggle. Most of our evidence for this period comes from the archaeological record, leaving a lot of speculation about the events of the age, which only comes down to us in fragments from later Greek writers. These chapters help set the scene, but they are not as exciting as the later sections simply because they lack the human dimension. Lane Fox is at his finest when he describes the struggles and achievements of the individual, and not the physical remains of the Classical World.
It is in when the book reaches the period of the 5th century BC that the book really starts to shine. Lane Fox gives us a vivid view of men like Socrates and Pericles, and also the everyday lives of the classical Athenians, including a look at the lives of the Greek women and children.
He also provides brilliant chapters on the Julio-Claudians, the Punic Wars, and the Hellenistic World. Yet he also covers subjects as diverse as the Roman Army, diplomacy, Greek philosophy, technology, sports and a dozen other subjects.
One of the strengths of this book is Robin Lane Fox's text, which is lucid and very readable. He is a great writer who is able to impart a lot of information in short chunks. Most chapters only run for a few pages ( on average 13 pages) which makes them readable and accessible, and especially good if you want to read a few chapters at a time. I found this book both good to read from cover to cover, and also good to just pick up and select a random chapter.
Some have argued that Lane Fox's book is rather old fashioned in that it does not cover the Persians, Celts, or other classical peoples. I personally don't find this much of a problem, as I only expected to read about the Greeks and Romans when I picked this book up, but others might be disappointed by these omissions. What I did find odd was Lane Fox's rather politically incorrect asides, for instance he mentions that the Emperor Claudius was a 'susceptible spastic'.
With a number of excellent and well selected photographs of busts, coins and paintings, as well as a few good maps, this book is definately worth getting. This book should give you a broad, although not detailed overview of the greatest achievements and failures of the Classical World. It might be heavy going at first, but the deeper you get into it the more readable and rewarding it gets. One of the finest books on the Classical World that I have ever read. Highly Recommended!
Ambitious sweeping view of many different periods, 08 Jul 2008
Broad strokes indeed from the historical brush of Robin Lane Fox as he describes the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. If you know nothing about this kind of history then this is a good a place as any to start. The book begins with the world of Homer and the Dark Ages before Classical Greece began and moves swiftly forward until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian some eight hundred odd years later.
Hadrian might seem a strange place to stop telling the story seeing as there are still many more things to be said about the Roman Empire after him. In another way however this is a natural place to stop. Quite apart from the fact that any more to this book would make it longer than its almost seven hundred pages, Hadrian was a huge philhellene and so he neatly brings the two worlds together. Many of the pages refer to Hadrian and what his opinion must also have been looking back on this history.
This is truly an ambitious undertaking by Lane Fox. I dread to think how he must have agonised over what to leave out. He does indeed omit some things that I really wanted to know more about such as the Theban Epaminondas and his place in the overall scheme of the Greek world. Having said this the author manages to cover all the major points very well while also finding time to address important areas such as politics, culture, art and society. One of the best achievements of the book is that it is not simply a list of big historical events as it could so easily have been. Instead we feel that we have some real insight into people in some ways similar to ourselves and in other ways vastly different.
If you know anything about any of the periods presented here you may find that part of the book very brief and unrewarding. Even so there were a few surprising facts that I had not previously known. This is a good book for beginning a journey into the ancient world and then continuing once you have finished it with more detailed reading on the points that interest you the most.
Informative but a tiny bit tedious, 24 Oct 2007
This is a very informative and suitably brief history of ancient Greece and Rome. It covers a massive amount of ground in a short space of time and provides enough insight to instill the desire for more in particular areas.
However, it is very heavy on the political and military history - and very light on the social and cultural. This means that it often gets a bit dull, to be honest. There is also much left unsaid about why things were the way they were; or how particular practices evolved and developed.
All in all, though, quite a good read.
Comprehensive, but a bit dull, 23 Sep 2007
The prologue immediately launches into a bizarre screed about what defines classicism, which sets the tone for the book; painstakingly researched, but not light reading.
Enthusiasts only.
standard 'history' of Greece and Rome, 13 May 2007
This is undeniably a good, light read, but in some ways it is almost out of touch with the actual research occupying classicists working academically in the field. Yes, I do know that Lane Fox is a hugely respected Oxford academic, but all the same there is something very traditional and almost wistful about this simple reading of the history of Greece and Rome. As a previous reviwer has mentioned (accurately) this concentrates on 'events' rather than analysis, and given the huge scope of the book, treats them fairly simply and reductively (the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty, for example, is covered in one short chapter).
I suppose the major problem for me is the dismissal of classical literary culture to the margins: Athenian tragedy for example has a paragraph, and even there Lane Fox regards it as being 'timeless' and completely divorced from the institutions of democracy. Not just does this assume a huge coincidence that tragedy appears and disappears precisely in the years coinciding with 5th century democracy in Athens (and nowhere else), it also evades the political discussions and negotiations that take place in the plays about the very ideology of democracy which make the plays so important.
Similarly there is little discussion of Roman, especially Augustan literature, that engages so closely with the political transformation from Roman republic to principate.
That aside, the end point was slightly odd, in that Lane Fox chooses to end with Hadrian, rather than continuing to the collapse of Rome, thus ending on a high note rather than following through to the , perhaps, more appropriate conclusion.
If you know nothing about the classical world, then this is an excellent starting point but it's just the beginning...
Probably the best book on the subject, 22 Nov 2008
I've been interested in this period of the history for a while but never found a book good enough to explain all the events. This book is thoroughly researched, scholarly yet written in a style and language easy to follow. A couple of reviewers have put foward the point that this book is more about the rise of the barbarians than the fall of the Roman empire. I'm afraid this is not correct as the two are inextricably intertwined. This book comes with the highest recommendation.
An enthralling account of the fall of Rome, 04 Sep 2008
This is a book which is as every bit of epic as its subject matter. Peter Heather writes in an accessible, easy-to-follow manner making this book ideal for the layperson, scholar and student. Rather than seeing the end of the western Roman Empire as a result of internal decline and internecine warfare (the Edward Gibbon approach), Heather argues that the Empire fell due to the rise of the Germanic tribes north of the Danube, both economically and politically into supergroups, which became too strong for the western resources to ovecome. Coupled with this, argues Heather, the movement of the Huns in the 370s, forcing the Greuthungi and Tervingi Goths onto Roman territory, and again between 395-420 onto the Great Hungarian Plain, forcing this time more Goths, Burgundians and Alans etc, provided the catalyst for barbarian encroachment upon Roman territory. Each loss of teritory meant loss of revenue with which to pay the diminishing legions. The most telling of losses were the rich African provinces to the Vandals. Really, it is not so much as the decline of the west, but the rise of the barbarians, caused by the sudden appearance, and disappearance, of the Huns.
Other reviewers have provided more in-depth looks at the pros and cons of this book - with which I would agree (in particular some of the contemporary language and jokes would seem out of place)- therefore I will not repeat them here. Suffice to say this is an excellent, informative account of one of the world's most important events.
Thoroughly recommended.
Contemporary but flawed, 21 Oct 2007
While this is not a bad history I would echo some points made by other reviewers here; not so much about The Fall of Rome as The Rise of the Barbarians and marred by some inaccuracies, would-be hip phrases and chapter headings and particularly by suppositions being referred to as facts. It is also over-long and suffers a tendency to digression in places. For those wishing to delve into the fall of the empire in the west it would be preferable to begin with Michael Grant's excellent 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' and Arthur Ferrill's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire - The Military Explanation'. Heather is particularly weak on military aspects and an understanding of these is crucial as to why the Western Roman Empire fell. Incidentally, Ferrill and Grant are both conspicuously absent from Heather's bibliography...now why is that I wonder? All that aside, as a history of the rise of the barbarians this is still quite good and as such is not so much a new history as a return to older theories that the empire fell primarily due to external rather than internal pressures. Do read this by all means - but after Grant and Ferrill!
Excellent Account of a Monumental Event, 28 Jul 2007
The "Fall of the Roman Empire" casts a huge shadow. A vast Empire, one of the "great civilisations" of history, went in barely a century from being the "sole superpower" to a mere plaything of barbarian tribes.
Why did it happen? All sorts of reasons can be offered, and Heather offers several, but what it comes down to is that this is simply what empires do - they rise, they exist for a time - years, decades or (as in Romes's case) centuries - and then they fall. Rome had already had a better "innings" than most, and in the fifth century its luck ran out.
It is usual to blame the Fall on the Empire's internal problems, and say that it became "decadent" or whatever. Heather, probably rightly, focuses more on what was happening outside Rome's borders. The Barbarian tribes, living for centuries with that 800 pound Roman "gorilla" next door, combined into larger units like the Frankish or Gothic kingdoms, which were a tougher proposition for Rome to cope with. Everlasting warfare with these states gradually wore the Empire down, and finally another barbarian, Attila, drove many tribes from their old homes and forced them to try their luck migrating into Roman territory. This proved more than Rome (or at least its western half) could cope with. So down the tubes it went.
No doubt, had Rome not fallen from this cause, it would eventually have fallen another way. Empires are usually longer lived than individuals, but are no more immortal. But Heather does a magnificent job of showing how and why it fell as and when it did.
One minor regret. Perhaps a little more "afterword" about post-Roman Europe might have been in order. For the significant thing about the Roman Empire is not that it fell (which was bound to happen sometime) but that it was never rebuilt. By contrast, China fell to Mongol "barbarians" in the 13C, an invasion probably as devastating as anything Western Rome underwent, yet within a century had gotten its breath back, expelled the invaders, and installed a native Ming Dynasty. Similarly, Egypt was able to spit out the Hyksos and other intruders. Yet Rome's former subjects not only didn't do this, but (unless the Arthurian legends count) seem never to have even tried. Rather, they appear to have largely shrugged their shoulders and made the best of things under barbarian rule. While purely external factors can explain the fall itself, they can't explain this apparent acceptance of it. Even when Roman lands were "liberated" by Justinian, the inhabitants seldom rallied round, and when Byzantium's grip loosened they just flopped back into barbarian hands. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that, however traumatic the Empire's fall had been, a lot of its subjects soon found they didn't really miss it all that much. This calls for explanation.
Still, that's quibbling. Heather has written a great book (even if his 21C idioms can irritate at times) and it needs to be read by anyone interested in this subject.
I loved this, 04 Jul 2007
To start off with I thought his language was irritatingly contemporary. I hate it when historians talk about "spin doctors". I read history to escape from, not to be reminded of, Alistair Campbell and co. However, I soon got over this because the book was telling me just the sort of thing I really wanted to know.
Some books take the stories from the ancient sources, put them in order and iron out the discrepancies, but give very little elaboration. I'm particularly thinking of the book I was previously reading, Byzantium: The Early Centuries by J. J. Norwich. This is okay as far as it goes, in fact it's quite readable, but it can get a bit boring. All the repeated usurpations, murders and civil wars don't seem to have much significance, and there are so many questions unanswered, along the lines of, "but what was it actually like? And how did that work?"
Heather covers a much shorter time-span so he has much more room for analysis and explanation. And at the end I really felt I'd learnt a lot. Why, I was wondering, if Attila was a nomad does he have such beautiful clothes in the pictures in Osprey books? (Whenever I go camping I become filthy in a couple of weeks!) Heather gives a reasonable explanation of the the Huns' lifestyle. And if you want to know who the Goths were, I recommend this book. He reminded me of the most enthusiastic lecturers at university - the ones I actually made an effort to get up for, which is another reason why I ended up liking his informal style.
The maps could be brushed up a bit though. On map 13 the towns on the Moselle look a bit wrong to me. And the text refers to several places which aren't marked, so you can't follow the story easily. It helps to have an atlas handy.
Splendidly readable stuff, 09 Aug 2008
Well researched and very readable account of the archaeology of pre-Roman Britain. I found the early chapters especially interesting, e.g. the Boxgrove site showing the earliest evidence of human habitation in Britain 500,000 years ago, and the remarkable inventiveness of early hunter-gatherers. It did get a bit dry and technical at times in discussing the details of Neolithic and later monuments. The author also sometimes gets a little carried away in describing his or others' theories which seem to me perhaps a bit simplistic, e.g. the wood=life and stone=death theory of late Neolithic/early Bronze age monuments, verging on interpreting facts to fit the theory; the design of Iron age roundhouses mirroring the rising and setting sun also sounded too rigid to me. The author is quite convincing in dismissing the idea of a mass invasion of Neolithic farmers and prefers the theory that it was the idea of farming that swept across Europe to Britain. He cites as evidence DNA from Palaeolithic bones in Cheddar Gorge natching DNA from some modern inhabitants of the same area; on the other hand, there is also DNA evidence from the descendants of "Jasmine, the younger daughter of Eve" from Syria making up a sizeable slice of the British farming population in Neolithic and later society. All in all, a wonderful read that could get almost anyone interested in archaeology and pre-history.
informative but................, 19 Jan 2008
enjoyed this book as far as it went BUT in to many chapters it is a celebration of Priors own field of expertise i.e. Flag Fen -whilst I appreciate that one has to write about what one knows best the constant referals to Flag Fen and its surroundings detracted from the overall read
At last, honest History., 23 Nov 2007
The author gives an unbiased account of what IMO our pre-history is all about. One reviewer said 'this is an attempt to air brush the celts out' not so if if actually took the time to study what he is saying, if anyone is guilty of air brushing it was the Victorians who ignored pre-history altogether and there is the fact he starts off by saying celtic traders from the Basque region in Spain were likely to have been the first people to come to our shores. There is a lot of rubbish about the Celts and Saxons of course which is really questioned and in my view very believable. The term 'Celts' was not used to mean people here untill 400 years or so ago so there are a few myths to be questioned and thrown out.
Coupled with the Britain AD book this is compelling stuff, unless of course you like romantic stuff like some other reviewers.
Interesting Read, 19 Oct 2007
Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans is a good read. As are all of the books written by Francis Pryor.
It is possible to see how keen the author is for his subject, that comes across clearly. By beening so keen the reader does also start to feel the same away about this history, which is the history of all peoples of these Islands.
One comment is that I was taught and have always understood that the Romans never really visited Ireland.
why the antagonism?, 13 Jul 2007
This is a landmark book in terms of understanding Britain(ie the British Islands) in prehistory. All this talk of "missing celts" and "making Britain = England" is kind of missing the point somewhat. There WERE no celts in this period. No Welsh. No Scottish. No Cornish. Just BRITONS. Just lots of tribes and family groups living on this island. It wasn't until the Romans shut the Northern Britons off behind Hadrians wall that you get a notion of a "Scottish" country, land of the Picts. It wasn't until later again when the Saxons forced the Britons into the west, that you get a notion of Wales (Walas included modern-day Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall back then). As such, the notion of "celts" is a subject for Britain AD. They simply didn't exist in Britain BC. "Celt" is style of art of the period, found all across Europe. Not a type of people.
Francis has, and is doing, brilliant work in this field, this book should be required reading for anyone doing British history and/or archaeology. Also should be read by anyone with an interest in "celtic" spirituality and religion - everything the ancient Britons do has a religious aspect, and Francis is making the connections no-one else seems to be making (even though they seem obvious after he explains them)
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Customer Reviews
Brilliant and Readable look at Classical Civilisation, 03 Aug 2008
I first came across Robin Lane Fox's work when I read his brilliant biography of Alexander the Great. In this book, Lane Fox takes a broader brush to paint a picture of the Classical worlds of Greece and Rome, from the age of Homer to the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
The early sections on the Archaic Greek World are a bit of struggle. Most of our evidence for this period comes from the archaeological record, leaving a lot of speculation about the events of the age, which only comes down to us in fragments from later Greek writers. These chapters help set the scene, but they are not as exciting as the later sections simply because they lack the human dimension. Lane Fox is at his finest when he describes the struggles and achievements of the individual, and not the physical remains of the Classical World.
It is in when the book reaches the period of the 5th century BC that the book really starts to shine. Lane Fox gives us a vivid view of men like Socrates and Pericles, and also the everyday lives of the classical Athenians, including a look at the lives of the Greek women and children.
He also provides brilliant chapters on the Julio-Claudians, the Punic Wars, and the Hellenistic World. Yet he also covers subjects as diverse as the Roman Army, diplomacy, Greek philosophy, technology, sports and a dozen other subjects.
One of the strengths of this book is Robin Lane Fox's text, which is lucid and very readable. He is a great writer who is able to impart a lot of information in short chunks. Most chapters only run for a few pages ( on average 13 pages) which makes them readable and accessible, and especially good if you want to read a few chapters at a time. I found this book both good to read from cover to cover, and also good to just pick up and select a random chapter.
Some have argued that Lane Fox's book is rather old fashioned in that it does not cover the Persians, Celts, or other classical peoples. I personally don't find this much of a problem, as I only expected to read about the Greeks and Romans when I picked this book up, but others might be disappointed by these omissions. What I did find odd was Lane Fox's rather politically incorrect asides, for instance he mentions that the Emperor Claudius was a 'susceptible spastic'.
With a number of excellent and well selected photographs of busts, coins and paintings, as well as a few good maps, this book is definately worth getting. This book should give you a broad, although not detailed overview of the greatest achievements and failures of the Classical World. It might be heavy going at first, but the deeper you get into it the more readable and rewarding it gets. One of the finest books on the Classical World that I have ever read. Highly Recommended!
Ambitious sweeping view of many different periods, 08 Jul 2008
Broad strokes indeed from the historical brush of Robin Lane Fox as he describes the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. If you know nothing about this kind of history then this is a good a place as any to start. The book begins with the world of Homer and the Dark Ages before Classical Greece began and moves swiftly forward until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian some eight hundred odd years later.
Hadrian might seem a strange place to stop telling the story seeing as there are still many more things to be said about the Roman Empire after him. In another way however this is a natural place to stop. Quite apart from the fact that any more to this book would make it longer than its almost seven hundred pages, Hadrian was a huge philhellene and so he neatly brings the two worlds together. Many of the pages refer to Hadrian and what his opinion must also have been looking back on this history.
This is truly an ambitious undertaking by Lane Fox. I dread to think how he must have agonised over what to leave out. He does indeed omit some things that I really wanted to know more about such as the Theban Epaminondas and his place in the overall scheme of the Greek world. Having said this the author manages to cover all the major points very well while also finding time to address important areas such as politics, culture, art and society. One of the best achievements of the book is that it is not simply a list of big historical events as it could so easily have been. Instead we feel that we have some real insight into people in some ways similar to ourselves and in other ways vastly different.
If you know anything about any of the periods presented here you may find that part of the book very brief and unrewarding. Even so there were a few surprising facts that I had not previously known. This is a good book for beginning a journey into the ancient world and then continuing once you have finished it with more detailed reading on the points that interest you the most.
Informative but a tiny bit tedious, 24 Oct 2007
This is a very informative and suitably brief history of ancient Greece and Rome. It covers a massive amount of ground in a short space of time and provides enough insight to instill the desire for more in particular areas.
However, it is very heavy on the political and military history - and very light on the social and cultural. This means that it often gets a bit dull, to be honest. There is also much left unsaid about why things were the way they were; or how particular practices evolved and developed.
All in all, though, quite a good read.
Comprehensive, but a bit dull, 23 Sep 2007
The prologue immediately launches into a bizarre screed about what defines classicism, which sets the tone for the book; painstakingly researched, but not light reading.
Enthusiasts only.
standard 'history' of Greece and Rome, 13 May 2007
This is undeniably a good, light read, but in some ways it is almost out of touch with the actual research occupying classicists working academically in the field. Yes, I do know that Lane Fox is a hugely respected Oxford academic, but all the same there is something very traditional and almost wistful about this simple reading of the history of Greece and Rome. As a previous reviwer has mentioned (accurately) this concentrates on 'events' rather than analysis, and given the huge scope of the book, treats them fairly simply and reductively (the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty, for example, is covered in one short chapter).
I suppose the major problem for me is the dismissal of classical literary culture to the margins: Athenian tragedy for example has a paragraph, and even there Lane Fox regards it as being 'timeless' and completely divorced from the institutions of democracy. Not just does this assume a huge coincidence that tragedy appears and disappears precisely in the years coinciding with 5th century democracy in Athens (and nowhere else), it also evades the political discussions and negotiations that take place in the plays about the very ideology of democracy which make the plays so important.
Similarly there is little discussion of Roman, especially Augustan literature, that engages so closely with the political transformation from Roman republic to principate.
That aside, the end point was slightly odd, in that Lane Fox chooses to end with Hadrian, rather than continuing to the collapse of Rome, thus ending on a high note rather than following through to the , perhaps, more appropriate conclusion.
If you know nothing about the classical world, then this is an excellent starting point but it's just the beginning...
Probably the best book on the subject, 22 Nov 2008
I've been interested in this period of the history for a while but never found a book good enough to explain all the events. This book is thoroughly researched, scholarly yet written in a style and language easy to follow. A couple of reviewers have put foward the point that this book is more about the rise of the barbarians than the fall of the Roman empire. I'm afraid this is not correct as the two are inextricably intertwined. This book comes with the highest recommendation.
An enthralling account of the fall of Rome, 04 Sep 2008
This is a book which is as every bit of epic as its subject matter. Peter Heather writes in an accessible, easy-to-follow manner making this book ideal for the layperson, scholar and student. Rather than seeing the end of the western Roman Empire as a result of internal decline and internecine warfare (the Edward Gibbon approach), Heather argues that the Empire fell due to the rise of the Germanic tribes north of the Danube, both economically and politically into supergroups, which became too strong for the western resources to ovecome. Coupled with this, argues Heather, the movement of the Huns in the 370s, forcing the Greuthungi and Tervingi Goths onto Roman territory, and again between 395-420 onto the Great Hungarian Plain, forcing this time more Goths, Burgundians and Alans etc, provided the catalyst for barbarian encroachment upon Roman territory. Each loss of teritory meant loss of revenue with which to pay the diminishing legions. The most telling of losses were the rich African provinces to the Vandals. Really, it is not so much as the decline of the west, but the rise of the barbarians, caused by the sudden appearance, and disappearance, of the Huns.
Other reviewers have provided more in-depth looks at the pros and cons of this book - with which I would agree (in particular some of the contemporary language and jokes would seem out of place)- therefore I will not repeat them here. Suffice to say this is an excellent, informative account of one of the world's most important events.
Thoroughly recommended.
Contemporary but flawed, 21 Oct 2007
While this is not a bad history I would echo some points made by other reviewers here; not so much about The Fall of Rome as The Rise of the Barbarians and marred by some inaccuracies, would-be hip phrases and chapter headings and particularly by suppositions being referred to as facts. It is also over-long and suffers a tendency to digression in places. For those wishing to delve into the fall of the empire in the west it would be preferable to begin with Michael Grant's excellent 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' and Arthur Ferrill's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire - The Military Explanation'. Heather is particularly weak on military aspects and an understanding of these is crucial as to why the Western Roman Empire fell. Incidentally, Ferrill and Grant are both conspicuously absent from Heather's bibliography...now why is that I wonder? All that aside, as a history of the rise of the barbarians this is still quite good and as such is not so much a new history as a return to older theories that the empire fell primarily due to external rather than internal pressures. Do read this by all means - but after Grant and Ferrill!
Excellent Account of a Monumental Event, 28 Jul 2007
The "Fall of the Roman Empire" casts a huge shadow. A vast Empire, one of the "great civilisations" of history, went in barely a century from being the "sole superpower" to a mere plaything of barbarian tribes.
Why did it happen? All sorts of reasons can be offered, and Heather offers several, but what it comes down to is that this is simply what empires do - they rise, they exist for a time - years, decades or (as in Romes's case) centuries - and then they fall. Rome had already had a better "innings" than most, and in the fifth century its luck ran out.
It is usual to blame the Fall on the Empire's internal problems, and say that it became "decadent" or whatever. Heather, probably rightly, focuses more on what was happening outside Rome's borders. The Barbarian tribes, living for centuries with that 800 pound Roman "gorilla" next door, combined into larger units like the Frankish or Gothic kingdoms, which were a tougher proposition for Rome to cope with. Everlasting warfare with these states gradually wore the Empire down, and finally another barbarian, Attila, drove many tribes from their old homes and forced them to try their luck migrating into Roman territory. This proved more than Rome (or at least its western half) could cope with. So down the tubes it went.
No doubt, had Rome not fallen from this cause, it would eventually have fallen another way. Empires are usually longer lived than individuals, but are no more immortal. But Heather does a magnificent job of showing how and why it fell as and when it did.
One minor regret. Perhaps a little more "afterword" about post-Roman Europe might have been in order. For the significant thing about the Roman Empire is not that it fell (which was bound to happen sometime) but that it was never rebuilt. By contrast, China fell to Mongol "barbarians" in the 13C, an invasion probably as devastating as anything Western Rome underwent, yet within a century had gotten its breath back, expelled the invaders, and installed a native Ming Dynasty. Similarly, Egypt was able to spit out the Hyksos and other intruders. Yet Rome's former subjects not only didn't do this, but (unless the Arthurian legends count) seem never to have even tried. Rather, they appear to have largely shrugged their shoulders and made the best of things under barbarian rule. While purely external factors can explain the fall itself, they can't explain this apparent acceptance of it. Even when Roman lands were "liberated" by Justinian, the inhabitants seldom rallied round, and when Byzantium's grip loosened they just flopped back into barbarian hands. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that, however traumatic the Empire's fall had been, a lot of its subjects soon found they didn't really miss it all that much. This calls for explanation.
Still, that's quibbling. Heather has written a great book (even if his 21C idioms can irritate at times) and it needs to be read by anyone interested in this subject.
I loved this, 04 Jul 2007
To start off with I thought his language was irritatingly contemporary. I hate it when historians talk about "spin doctors". I read history to escape from, not to be reminded of, Alistair Campbell and co. However, I soon got over this because the book was telling me just the sort of thing I really wanted to know.
Some books take the stories from the ancient sources, put them in order and iron out the discrepancies, but give very little elaboration. I'm particularly thinking of the book I was previously reading, Byzantium: The Early Centuries by J. J. Norwich. This is okay as far as it goes, in fact it's quite readable, but it can get a bit boring. All the repeated usurpations, murders and civil wars don't seem to have much significance, and there are so many questions unanswered, along the lines of, "but what was it actually like? And how did that work?"
Heather covers a much shorter time-span so he has much more room for analysis and explanation. And at the end I really felt I'd learnt a lot. Why, I was wondering, if Attila was a nomad does he have such beautiful clothes in the pictures in Osprey books? (Whenever I go camping I become filthy in a couple of weeks!) Heather gives a reasonable explanation of the the Huns' lifestyle. And if you want to know who the Goths were, I recommend this book. He reminded me of the most enthusiastic lecturers at university - the ones I actually made an effort to get up for, which is another reason why I ended up liking his informal style.
The maps could be brushed up a bit though. On map 13 the towns on the Moselle look a bit wrong to me. And the text refers to several places which aren't marked, so you can't follow the story easily. It helps to have an atlas handy.
Splendidly readable stuff, 09 Aug 2008
Well researched and very readable account of the archaeology of pre-Roman Britain. I found the early chapters especially interesting, e.g. the Boxgrove site showing the earliest evidence of human habitation in Britain 500,000 years ago, and the remarkable inventiveness of early hunter-gatherers. It did get a bit dry and technical at times in discussing the details of Neolithic and later monuments. The author also sometimes gets a little carried away in describing his or others' theories which seem to me perhaps a bit simplistic, e.g. the wood=life and stone=death theory of late Neolithic/early Bronze age monuments, verging on interpreting facts to fit the theory; the design of Iron age roundhouses mirroring the rising and setting sun also sounded too rigid to me. The author is quite convincing in dismissing the idea of a mass invasion of Neolithic farmers and prefers the theory that it was the idea of farming that swept across Europe to Britain. He cites as evidence DNA from Palaeolithic bones in Cheddar Gorge natching DNA from some modern inhabitants of the same area; on the other hand, there is also DNA evidence from the descendants of "Jasmine, the younger daughter of Eve" from Syria making up a sizeable slice of the British farming population in Neolithic and later society. All in all, a wonderful read that could get almost anyone interested in archaeology and pre-history.
informative but................, 19 Jan 2008
enjoyed this book as far as it went BUT in to many chapters it is a celebration of Priors own field of expertise i.e. Flag Fen -whilst I appreciate that one has to write about what one knows best the constant referals to Flag Fen and its surroundings detracted from the overall read
At last, honest History., 23 Nov 2007
The author gives an unbiased account of what IMO our pre-history is all about. One reviewer said 'this is an attempt to air brush the celts out' not so if if actually took the time to study what he is saying, if anyone is guilty of air brushing it was the Victorians who ignored pre-history altogether and there is the fact he starts off by saying celtic traders from the Basque region in Spain were likely to have been the first people to come to our shores. There is a lot of rubbish about the Celts and Saxons of course which is really questioned and in my view very believable. The term 'Celts' was not used to mean people here untill 400 years or so ago so there are a few myths to be questioned and thrown out.
Coupled with the Britain AD book this is compelling stuff, unless of course you like romantic stuff like some other reviewers.
Interesting Read, 19 Oct 2007
Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans is a good read. As are all of the books written by Francis Pryor.
It is possible to see how keen the author is for his subject, that comes across clearly. By beening so keen the reader does also start to feel the same away about this history, which is the history of all peoples of these Islands.
One comment is that I was taught and have always understood that the Romans never really visited Ireland.
why the antagonism?, 13 Jul 2007
This is a landmark book in terms of understanding Britain(ie the British Islands) in prehistory. All this talk of "missing celts" and "making Britain = England" is kind of missing the point somewhat. There WERE no celts in this period. No Welsh. No Scottish. No Cornish. Just BRITONS. Just lots of tribes and family groups living on this island. It wasn't until the Romans shut the Northern Britons off behind Hadrians wall that you get a notion of a "Scottish" country, land of the Picts. It wasn't until later again when the Saxons forced the Britons into the west, that you get a notion of Wales (Walas included modern-day Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall back then). As such, the notion of "celts" is a subject for Britain AD. They simply didn't exist in Britain BC. "Celt" is style of art of the period, found all across Europe. Not a type of people.
Francis has, and is doing, brilliant work in this field, this book should be required reading for anyone doing British history and/or archaeology. Also should be read by anyone with an interest in "celtic" spirituality and religion - everything the ancient Britons do has a religious aspect, and Francis is making the connections no-one else seems to be making (even though they seem obvious after he explains them)
a cheap and accessible alternative to the oxford classical dictionary, 30 Mar 2007
Admittedly there's no beating the OCD but this is a brilliant alternative. The entries come from the OCD itself but it excludes the bibliographies per subject - which frankly are out of date anyway. As the other reviewer here has mentioned, the entries are wide ranging and eclectic, but always informative, readable and stimulating. I have the hardback version (necessary for the amount of referencing it gets!) and the book itself is nicely produced with good weight paper and excellent illustrations. Whether you're a serious student or an interested amateur, this is a brilliant buy.
an excellent review of the classical world, 30 Mar 2001
This dictionary is a must have for any classics student, or teachers for that matter! It covers a wide variety of topics from Roman empire to magic, and from literature to cookery in antiquity. It has an easy to read format, contains over two dozen maps and colour plates and many more black and white plates. It is suitable for anyone studying this subject, and I would recommend it especially to those of you who are studying at A-Level and degree (ie, 16+). The 'Companion' takes the most important entries, in full, from its sister book, the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed) to create a cheaper and less weighty version, great for those who are on a budget. Topics that require a little more explainaiton are given longer articles so that this extra detail can be added. The excellent editing means that only the best information is supplied by the best authors in the business. This truely is a vital companion for anyone who about to venture classical civilization.
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Customer Reviews
Brilliant and Readable look at Classical Civilisation, 03 Aug 2008
I first came across Robin Lane Fox's work when I read his brilliant biography of Alexander the Great. In this book, Lane Fox takes a broader brush to paint a picture of the Classical worlds of Greece and Rome, from the age of Homer to the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
The early sections on the Archaic Greek World are a bit of struggle. Most of our evidence for this period comes from the archaeological record, leaving a lot of speculation about the events of the age, which only comes down to us in fragments from later Greek writers. These chapters help set the scene, but they are not as exciting as the later sections simply because they lack the human dimension. Lane Fox is at his finest when he describes the struggles and achievements of the individual, and not the physical remains of the Classical World.
It is in when the book reaches the period of the 5th century BC that the book really starts to shine. Lane Fox gives us a vivid view of men like Socrates and Pericles, and also the everyday lives of the classical Athenians, including a look at the lives of the Greek women and children.
He also provides brilliant chapters on the Julio-Claudians, the Punic Wars, and the Hellenistic World. Yet he also covers subjects as diverse as the Roman Army, diplomacy, Greek philosophy, technology, sports and a dozen other subjects.
One of the strengths of this book is Robin Lane Fox's text, which is lucid and very readable. He is a great writer who is able to impart a lot of information in short chunks. Most chapters only run for a few pages ( on average 13 pages) which makes them readable and accessible, and especially good if you want to read a few chapters at a time. I found this book both good to read from cover to cover, and also good to just pick up and select a random chapter.
Some have argued that Lane Fox's book is rather old fashioned in that it does not cover the Persians, Celts, or other classical peoples. I personally don't find this much of a problem, as I only expected to read about the Greeks and Romans when I picked this book up, but others might be disappointed by these omissions. What I did find odd was Lane Fox's rather politically incorrect asides, for instance he mentions that the Emperor Claudius was a 'susceptible spastic'.
With a number of excellent and well selected photographs of busts, coins and paintings, as well as a few good maps, this book is definately worth getting. This book should give you a broad, although not detailed overview of the greatest achievements and failures of the Classical World. It might be heavy going at first, but the deeper you get into it the more readable and rewarding it gets. One of the finest books on the Classical World that I have ever read. Highly Recommended!
Ambitious sweeping view of many different periods, 08 Jul 2008
Broad strokes indeed from the historical brush of Robin Lane Fox as he describes the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. If you know nothing about this kind of history then this is a good a place as any to start. The book begins with the world of Homer and the Dark Ages before Classical Greece began and moves swiftly forward until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian some eight hundred odd years later.
Hadrian might seem a strange place to stop telling the story seeing as there are still many more things to be said about the Roman Empire after him. In another way however this is a natural place to stop. Quite apart from the fact that any more to this book would make it longer than its almost seven hundred pages, Hadrian was a huge philhellene and so he neatly brings the two worlds together. Many of the pages refer to Hadrian and what his opinion must also have been looking back on this history.
This is truly an ambitious undertaking by Lane Fox. I dread to think how he must have agonised over what to leave out. He does indeed omit some things that I really wanted to know more about such as the Theban Epaminondas and his place in the overall scheme of the Greek world. Having said this the author manages to cover all the major points very well while also finding time to address important areas such as politics, culture, art and society. One of the best achievements of the book is that it is not simply a list of big historical events as it could so easily have been. Instead we feel that we have some real insight into people in some ways similar to ourselves and in other ways vastly different.
If you know anything about any of the periods presented here you may find that part of the book very brief and unrewarding. Even so there were a few surprising facts that I had not previously known. This is a good book for beginning a journey into the ancient world and then continuing once you have finished it with more detailed reading on the points that interest you the most.
Informative but a tiny bit tedious, 24 Oct 2007
This is a very informative and suitably brief history of ancient Greece and Rome. It covers a massive amount of ground in a short space of time and provides enough insight to instill the desire for more in particular areas.
However, it is very heavy on the political and military history - and very light on the social and cultural. This means that it often gets a bit dull, to be honest. There is also much left unsaid about why things were the way they were; or how particular practices evolved and developed.
All in all, though, quite a good read.
Comprehensive, but a bit dull, 23 Sep 2007
The prologue immediately launches into a bizarre screed about what defines classicism, which sets the tone for the book; painstakingly researched, but not light reading.
Enthusiasts only.
standard 'history' of Greece and Rome, 13 May 2007
This is undeniably a good, light read, but in some ways it is almost out of touch with the actual research occupying classicists working academically in the field. Yes, I do know that Lane Fox is a hugely respected Oxford academic, but all the same there is something very traditional and almost wistful about this simple reading of the history of Greece and Rome. As a previous reviwer has mentioned (accurately) this concentrates on 'events' rather than analysis, and given the huge scope of the book, treats them fairly simply and reductively (the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty, for example, is covered in one short chapter).
I suppose the major problem for me is the dismissal of classical literary culture to the margins: Athenian tragedy for example has a paragraph, and even there Lane Fox regards it as being 'timeless' and completely divorced from the institutions of democracy. Not just does this assume a huge coincidence that tragedy appears and disappears precisely in the years coinciding with 5th century democracy in Athens (and nowhere else), it also evades the political discussions and negotiations that take place in the plays about the very ideology of democracy which make the plays so important.
Similarly there is little discussion of Roman, especially Augustan literature, that engages so closely with the political transformation from Roman republic to principate.
That aside, the end point was slightly odd, in that Lane Fox chooses to end with Hadrian, rather than continuing to the collapse of Rome, thus ending on a high note rather than following through to the , perhaps, more appropriate conclusion.
If you know nothing about the classical world, then this is an excellent starting point but it's just the beginning...
Probably the best book on the subject, 22 Nov 2008
I've been interested in this period of the history for a while but never found a book good enough to explain all the events. This book is thoroughly researched, scholarly yet written in a style and language easy to follow. A couple of reviewers have put foward the point that this book is more about the rise of the barbarians than the fall of the Roman empire. I'm afraid this is not correct as the two are inextricably intertwined. This book comes with the highest recommendation.
An enthralling account of the fall of Rome, 04 Sep 2008
This is a book which is as every bit of epic as its subject matter. Peter Heather writes in an accessible, easy-to-follow manner making this book ideal for the layperson, scholar and student. Rather than seeing the end of the western Roman Empire as a result of internal decline and internecine warfare (the Edward Gibbon approach), Heather argues that the Empire fell due to the rise of the Germanic tribes north of the Danube, both economically and politically into supergroups, which became too strong for the western resources to ovecome. Coupled with this, argues Heather, the movement of the Huns in the 370s, forcing the Greuthungi and Tervingi Goths onto Roman territory, and again between 395-420 onto the Great Hungarian Plain, forcing this time more Goths, Burgundians and Alans etc, provided the catalyst for barbarian encroachment upon Roman territory. Each loss of teritory meant loss of revenue with which to pay the diminishing legions. The most telling of losses were the rich African provinces to the Vandals. Really, it is not so much as the decline of the west, but the rise of the barbarians, caused by the sudden appearance, and disappearance, of the Huns.
Other reviewers have provided more in-depth looks at the pros and cons of this book - with which I would agree (in particular some of the contemporary language and jokes would seem out of place)- therefore I will not repeat them here. Suffice to say this is an excellent, informative account of one of the world's most important events.
Thoroughly recommended.
Contemporary but flawed, 21 Oct 2007
While this is not a bad history I would echo some points made by other reviewers here; not so much about The Fall of Rome as The Rise of the Barbarians and marred by some inaccuracies, would-be hip phrases and chapter headings and particularly by suppositions being referred to as facts. It is also over-long and suffers a tendency to digression in places. For those wishing to delve into the fall of the empire in the west it would be preferable to begin with Michael Grant's excellent 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' and Arthur Ferrill's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire - The Military Explanation'. Heather is particularly weak on military aspects and an understanding of these is crucial as to why the Western Roman Empire fell. Incidentally, Ferrill and Grant are both conspicuously absent from Heather's bibliography...now why is that I wonder? All that aside, as a history of the rise of the barbarians this is still quite good and as such is not so much a new history as a return to older theories that the empire fell primarily due to external rather than internal pressures. Do read this by all means - but after Grant and Ferrill!
Excellent Account of a Monumental Event, 28 Jul 2007
The "Fall of the Roman Empire" casts a huge shadow. A vast Empire, one of the "great civilisations" of history, went in barely a century from being the "sole superpower" to a mere plaything of barbarian tribes.
Why did it happen? All sorts of reasons can be offered, and Heather offers several, but what it comes down to is that this is simply what empires do - they rise, they exist for a time - years, decades or (as in Romes's case) centuries - and then they fall. Rome had already had a better "innings" than most, and in the fifth century its luck ran out.
It is usual to blame the Fall on the Empire's internal problems, and say that it became "decadent" or whatever. Heather, probably rightly, focuses more on what was happening outside Rome's borders. The Barbarian tribes, living for centuries with that 800 pound Roman "gorilla" next door, combined into larger units like the Frankish or Gothic kingdoms, which were a tougher proposition for Rome to cope with. Everlasting warfare with these states gradually wore the Empire down, and finally another barbarian, Attila, drove many tribes from their old homes and forced them to try their luck migrating into Roman territory. This proved more than Rome (or at least its western half) could cope with. So down the tubes it went.
No doubt, had Rome not fallen from this cause, it would eventually have fallen another way. Empires are usually longer lived than individuals, but are no more immortal. But Heather does a magnificent job of showing how and why it fell as and when it did.
One minor regret. Perhaps a little more "afterword" about post-Roman Europe might have been in order. For the significant thing about the Roman Empire is not that it fell (which was bound to happen sometime) but that it was never rebuilt. By contrast, China fell to Mongol "barbarians" in the 13C, an invasion probably as devastating as anything Western Rome underwent, yet within a century had gotten its breath back, expelled the invaders, and installed a native Ming Dynasty. Similarly, Egypt was able to spit out the Hyksos and other intruders. Yet Rome's former subjects not only didn't do this, but (unless the Arthurian legends count) seem never to have even tried. Rather, they appear to have largely shrugged their shoulders and made the best of things under barbarian rule. While purely external factors can explain the fall itself, they can't explain this apparent acceptance of it. Even when Roman lands were "liberated" by Justinian, the inhabitants seldom rallied round, and when Byzantium's grip loosened they just flopped back into barbarian hands. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that, however traumatic the Empire's fall had been, a lot of its subjects soon found they didn't really miss it all that much. This calls for explanation.
Still, that's quibbling. Heather has written a great book (even if his 21C idioms can irritate at times) and it needs to be read by anyone interested in this subject.
I loved this, 04 Jul 2007
To start off with I thought his language was irritatingly contemporary. I hate it when historians talk about "spin doctors". I read history to escape from, not to be reminded of, Alistair Campbell and co. However, I soon got over this because the book was telling me just the sort of thing I really wanted to know.
Some books take the stories from the ancient sources, put them in order and iron out the discrepancies, but give very little elaboration. I'm particularly thinking of the book I was previously reading, Byzantium: The Early Centuries by J. J. Norwich. This is okay as far as it goes, in fact it's quite readable, but it can get a bit boring. All the repeated usurpations, murders and civil wars don't seem to have much significance, and there are so many questions unanswered, along the lines of, "but what was it actually like? And how did that work?"
Heather covers a much shorter time-span so he has much more room for analysis and explanation. And at the end I really felt I'd learnt a lot. Why, I was wondering, if Attila was a nomad does he have such beautiful clothes in the pictures in Osprey books? (Whenever I go camping I become filthy in a couple of weeks!) Heather gives a reasonable explanation of the the Huns' lifestyle. And if you want to know who the Goths were, I recommend this book. He reminded me of the most enthusiastic lecturers at university - the ones I actually made an effort to get up for, which is another reason why I ended up liking his informal style.
The maps could be brushed up a bit though. On map 13 the towns on the Moselle look a bit wrong to me. And the text refers to several places which aren't marked, so you can't follow the story easily. It helps to have an atlas handy.
Splendidly readable stuff, 09 Aug 2008
Well researched and very readable account of the archaeology of pre-Roman Britain. I found the early chapters especially interesting, e.g. the Boxgrove site showing the earliest evidence of human habitation in Britain 500,000 years ago, and the remarkable inventiveness of early hunter-gatherers. It did get a bit dry and technical at times in discussing the details of Neolithic and later monuments. The author also sometimes gets a little carried away in describing his or others' theories which seem to me perhaps a bit simplistic, e.g. the wood=life and stone=death theory of late Neolithic/early Bronze age monuments, verging on interpreting facts to fit the theory; the design of Iron age roundhouses mirroring the rising and setting sun also sounded too rigid to me. The author is quite convincing in dismissing the idea of a mass invasion of Neolithic farmers and prefers the theory that it was the idea of farming that swept across Europe to Britain. He cites as evidence DNA from Palaeolithic bones in Cheddar Gorge natching DNA from some modern inhabitants of the same area; on the other hand, there is also DNA evidence from the descendants of "Jasmine, the younger daughter of Eve" from Syria making up a sizeable slice of the British farming population in Neolithic and later society. All in all, a wonderful read that could get almost anyone interested in archaeology and pre-history.
informative but................, 19 Jan 2008
enjoyed this book as far as it went BUT in to many chapters it is a celebration of Priors own field of expertise i.e. Flag Fen -whilst I appreciate that one has to write about what one knows best the constant referals to Flag Fen and its surroundings detracted from the overall read
At last, honest History., 23 Nov 2007
The author gives an unbiased account of what IMO our pre-history is all about. One reviewer said 'this is an attempt to air brush the celts out' not so if if actually took the time to study what he is saying, if anyone is guilty of air brushing it was the Victorians who ignored pre-history altogether and there is the fact he starts off by saying celtic traders from the Basque region in Spain were likely to have been the first people to come to our shores. There is a lot of rubbish about the Celts and Saxons of course which is really questioned and in my view very believable. The term 'Celts' was not used to mean people here untill 400 years or so ago so there are a few myths to be questioned and thrown out.
Coupled with the Britain AD book this is compelling stuff, unless of course you like romantic stuff like some other reviewers.
Interesting Read, 19 Oct 2007
Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans is a good read. As are all of the books written by Francis Pryor.
It is possible to see how keen the author is for his subject, that comes across clearly. By beening so keen the reader does also start to feel the same away about this history, which is the history of all peoples of these Islands.
One comment is that I was taught and have always understood that the Romans never really visited Ireland.
why the antagonism?, 13 Jul 2007
This is a landmark book in terms of understanding Britain(ie the British Islands) in prehistory. All this talk of "missing celts" and "making Britain = England" is kind of missing the point somewhat. There WERE no celts in this period. No Welsh. No Scottish. No Cornish. Just BRITONS. Just lots of tribes and family groups living on this island. It wasn't until the Romans shut the Northern Britons off behind Hadrians wall that you get a notion of a "Scottish" country, land of the Picts. It wasn't until later again when the Saxons forced the Britons into the west, that you get a notion of Wales (Walas included modern-day Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall back then). As such, the notion of "celts" is a subject for Britain AD. They simply didn't exist in Britain BC. "Celt" is style of art of the period, found all across Europe. Not a type of people.
Francis has, and is doing, brilliant work in this field, this book should be required reading for anyone doing British history and/or archaeology. Also should be read by anyone with an interest in "celtic" spirituality and religion - everything the ancient Britons do has a religious aspect, and Francis is making the connections no-one else seems to be making (even though they seem obvious after he explains them)
a cheap and accessible alternative to the oxford classical dictionary, 30 Mar 2007
Admittedly there's no beating the OCD but this is a brilliant alternative. The entries come from the OCD itself but it excludes the bibliographies per subject - which frankly are out of date anyway. As the other reviewer here has mentioned, the entries are wide ranging and eclectic, but always informative, readable and stimulating. I have the hardback version (necessary for the amount of referencing it gets!) and the book itself is nicely produced with good weight paper and excellent illustrations. Whether you're a serious student or an interested amateur, this is a brilliant buy.
an excellent review of the classical world, 30 Mar 2001
This dictionary is a must have for any classics student, or teachers for that matter! It covers a wide variety of topics from Roman empire to magic, and from literature to cookery in antiquity. It has an easy to read format, contains over two dozen maps and colour plates and many more black and white plates. It is suitable for anyone studying this subject, and I would recommend it especially to those of you who are studying at A-Level and degree (ie, 16+). The 'Companion' takes the most important entries, in full, from its sister book, the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed) to create a cheaper and less weighty version, great for those who are on a budget. Topics that require a little more explainaiton are given longer articles so that this extra detail can be added. The excellent editing means that only the best information is supplied by the best authors in the business. This truely is a vital companion for anyone who about to venture classical civilization.
A masterpiece!, 27 Oct 2008
This is a masterpiece and is the best and most authoratative book on the end of days I have encountered to date. It's all here with historical evidence to back it all up ~ What will happen in the future, we will only have to wait and see, but this book gives a good indication ~ See for yourself!
Excellent summary of BIG PICTURE, as Sitchin sees it..., 22 Jun 2007
Sitchin always avoided straight answers in his books, always being impartial, just sugesting...but in this (I guess, final book...legacy book)book, he is honestly answering on BIG questions, like questions about THE SHIFT and RETURN=INVASION of E.T.s and bunch a more things. This books summarizes everything he ever wrote in one big honest opinion about ending...to be more exact, a DIRECT WARNING about chaos that will reign soon. This book is simply brilliant and is written like an interview in which author is in the same time the interogator and the man who is giving answers...THIS BOOK IS A MUST HAVE FOR EVERYONE THAT "KNOW" WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN REALLY SOON...
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Customer Reviews
Brilliant and Readable look at Classical Civilisation, 03 Aug 2008
I first came across Robin Lane Fox's work when I read his brilliant biography of Alexander the Great. In this book, Lane Fox takes a broader brush to paint a picture of the Classical worlds of Greece and Rome, from the age of Homer to the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
The early sections on the Archaic Greek World are a bit of struggle. Most of our evidence for this period comes from the archaeological record, leaving a lot of speculation about the events of the age, which only comes down to us in fragments from later Greek writers. These chapters help set the scene, but they are not as exciting as the later sections simply because they lack the human dimension. Lane Fox is at his finest when he describes the struggles and achievements of the individual, and not the physical remains of the Classical World.
It is in when the book reaches the period of the 5th century BC that the book really starts to shine. Lane Fox gives us a vivid view of men like Socrates and Pericles, and also the everyday lives of the classical Athenians, including a look at the lives of the Greek women and children.
He also provides brilliant chapters on the Julio-Claudians, the Punic Wars, and the Hellenistic World. Yet he also covers subjects as diverse as the Roman Army, diplomacy, Greek philosophy, technology, sports and a dozen other subjects.
One of the strengths of this book is Robin Lane Fox's text, which is lucid and very readable. He is a great writer who is able to impart a lot of information in short chunks. Most chapters only run for a few pages ( on average 13 pages) which makes them readable and accessible, and especially good if you want to read a few chapters at a time. I found this book both good to read from cover to cover, and also good to just pick up and select a random chapter.
Some have argued that Lane Fox's book is rather old fashioned in that it does not cover the Persians, Celts, or other classical peoples. I personally don't find this much of a problem, as I only expected to read about the Greeks and Romans when I picked this book up, but others might be disappointed by these omissions. What I did find odd was Lane Fox's rather politically incorrect asides, for instance he mentions that the Emperor Claudius was a 'susceptible spastic'.
With a number of excellent and well selected photographs of busts, coins and paintings, as well as a few good maps, this book is definately worth getting. This book should give you a broad, although not detailed overview of the greatest achievements and failures of the Classical World. It might be heavy going at first, but the deeper you get into it the more readable and rewarding it gets. One of the finest books on the Classical World that I have ever read. Highly Recommended!
Ambitious sweeping view of many different periods, 08 Jul 2008
Broad strokes indeed from the historical brush of Robin Lane Fox as he describes the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. If you know nothing about this kind of history then this is a good a place as any to start. The book begins with the world of Homer and the Dark Ages before Classical Greece began and moves swiftly forward until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian some eight hundred odd years later.
Hadrian might seem a strange place to stop telling the story seeing as there are still many more things to be said about the Roman Empire after him. In another way however this is a natural place to stop. Quite apart from the fact that any more to this book would make it longer than its almost seven hundred pages, Hadrian was a huge philhellene and so he neatly brings the two worlds together. Many of the pages refer to Hadrian and what his opinion must also have been looking back on this history.
This is truly an ambitious undertaking by Lane Fox. I dread to think how he must have agonised over what to leave out. He does indeed omit some things that I really wanted to know more about such as the Theban Epaminondas and his place in the overall scheme of the Greek world. Having said this the author manages to cover all the major points very well while also finding time to address important areas such as politics, culture, art and society. One of the best achievements of the book is that it is not simply a list of big historical events as it could so easily have been. Instead we feel that we have some real insight into people in some ways similar to ourselves and in other ways vastly different.
If you know anything about any of the periods presented here you may find that part of the book very brief and unrewarding. Even so there were a few surprising facts that I had not previously known. This is a good book for beginning a journey into the ancient world and then continuing once you have finished it with more detailed reading on the points that interest you the most.
Informative but a tiny bit tedious, 24 Oct 2007
This is a very informative and suitably brief history of ancient Greece and Rome. It covers a massive amount of ground in a short space of time and provides enough insight to instill the desire for more in particular areas.
However, it is very heavy on the political and military history - and very light on the social and cultural. This means that it often gets a bit dull, to be honest. There is also much left unsaid about why things were the way they were; or how particular practices evolved and developed.
All in all, though, quite a good read.
Comprehensive, but a bit dull, 23 Sep 2007
The prologue immediately launches into a bizarre screed about what defines classicism, which sets the tone for the book; painstakingly researched, but not light reading.
Enthusiasts only.
standard 'history' of Greece and Rome, 13 May 2007
This is undeniably a good, light read, but in some ways it is almost out of touch with the actual research occupying classicists working academically in the field. Yes, I do know that Lane Fox is a hugely respected Oxford academic, but all the same there is something very traditional and almost wistful about this simple reading of the history of Greece and Rome. As a previous reviwer has mentioned (accurately) this concentrates on 'events' rather than analysis, and given the huge scope of the book, treats them fairly simply and reductively (the entire Julio-Claudian dynasty, for example, is covered in one short chapter).
I suppose the major problem for me is the dismissal of classical literary culture to the margins: Athenian tragedy for example has a paragraph, and even there Lane Fox regards it as being 'timeless' and completely divorced from the institutions of democracy. Not just does this assume a huge coincidence that tragedy appears and disappears precisely in the years coinciding with 5th century democracy in Athens (and nowhere else), it also evades the political discussions and negotiations that take place in the plays about the very ideology of democracy which make the plays so important.
Similarly there is little discussion of Roman, especially Augustan literature, that engages so closely with the political transformation from Roman republic to principate.
That aside, the end point was slightly odd, in that Lane Fox chooses to end with Hadrian, rather than continuing to the collapse of Rome, thus ending on a high note rather than following through to the , perhaps, more appropriate conclusion.
If you know nothing about the classical world, then this is an excellent starting point but it's just the beginning...
Probably the best book on the subject, 22 Nov 2008
I've been interested in this period of the history for a while but never found a book good enough to explain all the events. This book is thoroughly researched, scholarly yet written in a style and language easy to follow. A couple of reviewers have put foward the point that this book is more about the rise of the barbarians than the fall of the Roman empire. I'm afraid this is not correct as the two are inextricably intertwined. This book comes with the highest recommendation.
An enthralling account of the fall of Rome, 04 Sep 2008
This is a book which is as every bit of epic as its subject matter. Peter Heather writes in an accessible, easy-to-follow manner making this book ideal for the layperson, scholar and student. Rather than seeing the end of the western Roman Empir | | |