Hey /his/. Are there any good books to read about Roman history, culture, etc.? If so tell me.
>>1220684
No, there actually are none at all.
>>1220684
Start with the Aeneid.
For context to it, start with the Iliad and Odyssey.
If you read between the lines there's a series called SPQR that I like a lot. It's a mystery fiction though, so like I said, read between the lines.
The Histories of Herodotus
>>1223139
this, famalam. before this nobody even had the concept of history or recording events in an unbiased (for the time) manner.
Aeneid is their legendary tale, although difficult to understand if you read it entirely.
Likewise, Metamorphoses by Ovid is an excellent work. Ovid wrote non-fiction essays as well which are interesting.
Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War is excellent.
Cicero has the speeches to read
Livy was their historian
Michael Grant writes an excellent secondary/tertiary history of Rome.
>>1220824
blinks
>Roman history and culture
hmm, saying the people who "had those works eventually were Roman citizens" doesn't cut it, anon
>>1223149
>because Herodotus was never biased or categorically fucking wrong
>because Herodotus lived in a time to discuss the Roman empire
mm'k. Seems legit.
You fucking people. Not Herodotus or Homer.
Cicero.
up
>>1220684
Good general guide, textbook style (good for learning):
> The Romans, from Village to Empire
I want to learn more about the Roman Empires/post-republic history
> Chronicle of the Roman Emperors
I want to learn about the late Republic
> there is a shit ton of stuff about the late Republic, but I would start with the book Rubicon. Also go watch HBO Rome, there's a lot of made up stuff (Octavian's mom was a picture of matronly virtue probably) but its based
Why did the Roman Empire fall/ the late Empire?
> Adrian Goldsworthy's How Rome Fell, probably the best book on this list
Other good stuff:
> Julius Caesar by Grant
> The Roman Army at War by Goldsworthy
> Anthony Everitt's biographies
Also, the Gallic Wars by Caesar is fucking awesome, pick that up.
>>1225962
>The Romans, from Village to Empire
oh this was awful
I am starting a book soon called "roman honor," which is about exactly what it says on the tin
>>1220684
Roman history and culture are not constant. What, specifically, are you trying to learn about? The Roman kingdom? Early Republic? Middle Republic? Late Republic? Early Principate? Age of the Antonines? Crisis of the third century? The Dominate? The late Western empire? The Byzantine empire?
>>1225974
I know people who read a ton of narrative style history with elegant prose who don't know shit at the end of the day. Textbook style lets you walk away with more actual knowledge.
I have a relative who love's Churchill's history of World War II but couldn't tell you the operational purpose of Market Garden vs Barbarossa. You could probably get a better grasp of World War II by starting with seriously reading the Wikipedia article.
The best way is to combine them- read something that is a bit more stiff and simple like a textbook, then move onto a narrative-style history.
>>1220684
Yeah, probably tens of thousands. What do you want to read about, I could find you 20 books on early Roman religion alone, 10x as much about Republican ideals, even more on history of each period and every day life of the Romans, perhaps private lives of the Emperors or Roman plumbing systems? Sex in Rome, Romans and Greek art, Romans in Germania, Roman haircuts of the time of Antoninus?
