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The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction

by Christopher Kelly (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 253 ratings
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The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates, and from the Rhine to the North African coast. It was, above all else, an empire of force--employing a mixture of violence, suppression, order, and tactical use of power to develop an astonishingly uniform culture.

Here, historian Christopher Kelly covers the history of the Empire from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, describing the empire's formation, and its political, religious, cultural, and social structures. It looks at the daily lives of the Empire's people: both those in Rome as well as those living in its furthest colonies. Romans used astonishing logistical feats, political savvy, and military oppression to rule their vast empire. This Very Short Introduction examines how they "romanised" the cultures they conquered, imposing their own culture in order to subsume them completely. The book also looks at how the Roman Empire has been considered and depicted in more recent times, from the writings of Edward Gibbon to the Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator. It will prove a valuable introduction for readers interested in classical history.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0192803913
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0192803917
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    September 14, 2006
  5. Part of series
    Very Short Introductions
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.9 x 0.39 x 4.42 inches
  8. Print length
    176 pages
  9. See all details
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From the Publisher

very short introducations, introductions, comprehensive
very short introductions, VSI, key features, concise, exper authors, analysis, grow your knowledge
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christopher Kelly is a University Lecturer in Classics and a Fellow and Senior Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He is a major contributor to Harvard University Press' Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World and The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (September 14, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0192803913
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0192803917
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.9 x 0.39 x 4.42 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 253 ratings

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Christopher Kelly

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
253 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jonathan Hyslop
5.0 out of 5 stars A brillant introduction
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2018
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This is a stunningly good book: fluently written and accessible, but with great analytical depth for such a short work. It is especially strong on the daily life of the Empire's citizens and subjects, and on religion. It makes excellent use of archaeological findings and inscriptions, giving you a good sense of how scholars use these sources. Mary Beard highly praises Kelly, and the reader will quickly understand why she does.
2 people found this helpful
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Vance A. Hays
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2016
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Great introduction for readers like myself, curious about the subject and looking for a quick overview. I think the best thing is that this book gives you some idea of where to go next in studying the Roman Empire. I bought this to get a look at the mechanical and scientific advances the Romans are responsible for, but ended up wanting to see more of the parallels between us and them in the political realm. Quick read and worth the time. Buy this book.
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Jon Jacobs
5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Fine Book
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2010
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This is an exceedingly well written book on many levels.

The writing is quite witty at times and always easy to understand. It covers a lot of stuff that I've studied already but the way the material is written gives me a new and profoundly inciteful perspective.

There is a Chapter entitled: "Christians to the lions" with the first heading called: "Blood on the sand".......This book is a rip-roaring good read!!

There is, in several spots, nods to the great wit of the great Edward Gibbon that are quite fine.

The colors of the cover are beautiful which makes it a good book for one to be seen with. With the right beach ensemble (a well made pink shirt and khaki shorts is something I'm often seen in) one can cut quite a figure sitting in a beach chair with this book.
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mauroruiz
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introductory book to Roman history
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2016
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I would recommend this book to people trying to understand the basic aspects of the Roman Empire. I liked it a lot because it left me with even more questions and desire to expand my knowledge, and that is exactly what an introduction is about: giving pieces of knowledge that you can then use to dig deeper using more focused literature. Now I can dive into the branches of roman studies that caught my attention by using this book's references.
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Greg Taylor
3.0 out of 5 stars Depends on what you want.
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2010
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This really should be named A very short, selective and somewhat odd social history of The Roman Empire. If you are looking for a political/military history of the roman empire (hereafter RE) then go elsewhere. There is almost none to be found here. Whatever discussion there is of the emperors is only in the contexts of other subjects. Kelly does provide you with a chronology. Big deal. That I can get off the web.

What he gives us with is six chapters of social history (think sociology applied to an historical subject). That's okay but even there what he chooses to talk about and what he chooses to leave out is never really explained. There is next to nothing about slavery, the only discussion of women is in regards to birth rates (more on this later- that is one part of the book I found really useful) and no discussion of sexuality.

Even the stuff he does discuss is oddly focused and organized. His chapter on Christianity starts off with a discussion of gladiators and the arenas where they slaughtered the Christians. Kelly then segues into a discussion of the early Christian attitude toward martyrdom then veers into a reflection on how the RE shifted focus from torturing individual Christians to destroying their sacred texts.
Kelly muses that if only the RE had done that earlier they might have been able to squelch those pesky Christians (yes, I did write pesky and, yes, that usage is part of my war against Christmas). That is the extent of Kelly's discussion. I would have wanted to present something about how this minority creed managed to eventually challenge the established religious beliefs of the ruling classes throughout the RE. That might have been relevant to a social history of the RE.
And I think the last chapter on the history of scholarly reaction to the RE during the British Empire and the quick tour of the RE through the eyes of Hollywood is in the wrong book. That space could have been better used looking at some of the other social issues of the RE.

In fairness, Kelly does some stuff really really well. His discussion of the demographics of the RE is very interesting. His discussion results in a picture of the RE populace that is summarized on p.109- very few old people, very high number of teenagers, many orphans and a high infant mortality rate. What I found fascinating about this is how different this is from the impression that I get from reading Livy or Plutarch. Those books are full of the deeds and accomplishments of older men who obviously lived far far longer than the average life span.
Kelly's book also contains good discussions of some of the literature that we have that has survived. He gives quick good summaries of some of the major themes of Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius. And, as always with the VSI series, there is a good Suggested Readings section.

If I had known what kind of book this was, I probably would have enjoyed it more. If you don't come to this book expecting a political history but instead expect a selective social history you may think more highly of it than I do.
As always, with the VSI series, you can read it in one good sitting. And you can easily carry it around in your back pocket for those odd moments during the day when you want to contemplate, e.g. elite Greek reaction to Roman dominance.
20 people found this helpful
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Eagle Eye
4.0 out of 5 stars Outlines Debates within the Empire, Engenders a Realistic Understanding of It
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2007
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The author highlights some distinguishing aspects of the Roman Empire that are quite interesting. Among these: the bureaucracy that governed the huge geographic area of the Empire was astonishingly small, compared to later empires. The chapter on Christians is quite interesting, particularly the "martyr complex" of the early communities of the faithful and their belief that the world's end was imminent.

There is a good outline of debates within the Roman empire at the time, about how civilized an empire that used brutal means to establish and maintain its authority really was.
13 people found this helpful
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Peter Reeve
5.0 out of 5 stars Excursions through Imperial Rome
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2007
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This Very Short Introduction is blessedly free of the typos that usually infect this otherwise excellent series, and for once, the illustrations are relevant, indeed central, to the text. There is a timeline and a very useful map at the end of the book, but the text itself is not a conventional, chronological narrative of the rise of Empire. It is rather a series of essays on a selection of topics, covering the period from Augustus to Commodus, that is, from around 30 BC to about AD 190. These excursions through aspects of the subject are concerned almost as much with how history is rewritten and reinterpreted as it is with the actual facts of history. There is an emphasis on architecture, particularly as an expression of social status and political ideology, an emphasis that will suit the taste of some readers more than others. The prose is clear and very readable, with the occasional topical, colloquial flourish ("The Empire writes back", "Through the keyhole") which can seem somewhat forced. Authoritative and illuminating, this little book is an essential addition to the reading list of anyone interested in ancient history.
38 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Victor
5.0 out of 5 stars Bom
Reviewed in Brazil on April 21, 2020
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bom
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DHRUBA KUMAR BHUNIA
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on January 16, 2018
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Excellent book for understanding the mith and history
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Fernando GCV
5.0 out of 5 stars Otra aproximación al Imperio Romano
Reviewed in Spain on October 20, 2017
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Un buen libro que acerca el Imperio Romano de manera amena y con espíritu crítico. Es una visión diferente a la habitual en la que se suceden los emperadores y las batallas.
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Jon Chambers
5.0 out of 5 stars Slim but powerful Introduction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2008
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This excellent introduction to the Roman Empire is succinct and selective rather than superficial. Its compass ranges from the iconography of the Imperial cult to contemporary perceptions of Rome in the cinema.

Far from being a conventional, political history centred on the Roman elite, Kelly is most impressive when trying to recreate the ordinary lives of the silent and all but invisible majority, who have left no historical trace and only the faintest of impressions in the archaeological record. He is especially interesting and perceptive when writing about elusive topics like population studies within the Empire. Hard evidence on such matters is, naturally, very scant. Kelly uses statistical models and contemporary demographic studies of the developing world to reach his conclusions, some of which are startling - for example, the life expectancy at birth for emperors who died from natural causes between the 1st and 7th centuries: 26.3 years (no greater, therefore, than the life expectancy of people in much poorer and less privileged social groups).

This slim volume manages to be authoritative, concise and thought-provoking. Anyone wanting to investigate further, meanwhile, can make good use of its extensive bibliography.
14 people found this helpful
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Amazon Kunde
2.0 out of 5 stars superficial and patchy anecdotes, no context
Reviewed in Germany on July 31, 2022
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Lots of examples and occasionally interesting and colourful anecdotes describing life in the Roman Empire.

However, no "big picture" and zero context are provided, and after reading the book I still have no idea (1) how the Roman empire was born, (2) why it's military became so powerful, (3) how it became (for its time) so scientifically, economically and culturally advanced, or (4) how the Romans came to dominate the known world and (5) keep this rule for several centuries, and (6) why the empire eventually collapsed?

All these (obvious!) questions for an "introduction" remain a complete mystery and stay unanswered, showing that the author somehow failed in his task.

Dear publisher: it would be great if you could create a new edition, one that actually gives a brief introduction to the Roman Empire.
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