The Romans: A 2,000-Year History

The Romans by Edward J. Watts offers a sweeping, definitive history of the Roman state, revealing its remarkable resilience across more than two thousand years. Far from being defined solely by its collapse, Rome endured civil wars, plagues, invasions, and religious upheavals, evolving from a humble settlement on the Tiber to the dazzling court of Constantinople. Watts chronicles the full epic—from the Punic Wars and the fall of the republic to the rise of Christianity, Alaric’s sack of Rome, the emergence of Islam, and the Crusaders’ final blow. This is the Rome of emperors like Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, and Constantine, but also of Charlemagne, Justinian, Manuel Comnenus, and countless others—African rulers, Byzantine thinkers, and loyal citizens—who shaped the most enduring state in Western history. Expansive and eye-opening, this is the history of Rome as it has long deserved to be told.