The Shortest History of Ancient Rome: A Millennium of Western Civilization, from Kingdom to Republic to Empire - A Retelling for Our Times

by Ross King

Overview

From New York Times–bestselling author Ross King, the storied rise and reign of the greatest empire and most influential civilization of the ancient Western world

“For who is so indifferent or indolent as not to wish to know by what means the Romans succeeded in subjecting nearly the whole inhabited world to their sole government—a thing unique in history?”—Polybius, second century BCE

Ancient Rome gave rise to the Roman Empire, one of history’s greatest civilizations. It flourished for roughly five hundred years and, at its height, made up at least 20 percent of the world’s population. It left an indelible mark on the world, shaping politics, laws, philosophy, and architecture, and gave us Roman numerals, the calendar, aqueducts, and concrete. Alongside the Greeks, the Romans laid the groundwork for Western civilization.

In this fast-paced history, Ross King introduces the emperors and warriors, the madmen and upstarts, and the artists and gladiators responsible for the empire’s rise, reign, and ruin. King’s vivid narrative offers fresh context for key political and religious events and paints lively portraits of Rome’s most formidable and notorious leaders. Spanning over one thousand years of Roman history, The Shortest History of Ancient Rome brings an ancient civilization to vibrant life, elucidating why the Romans still matter to us today. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.

The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798893030587
Publisher:	The Experiment
Publication date:	09/09/2025
Series:	The Shortest History Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ross King is the author of The Shortest History of Italy and The Shortest History of Ancient Rome, along with many bestselling books on Italian art and history, including Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling and Brunelleschi’s Dome. He lectures widely on Renaissance art at museums, is a regular participant in Italian Renaissance seminars at the Aspen Institute such as at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Frick Collection, and the National Gallery.

Table of Contents

1. The City on the Hills: The Origins of Rome
2. “The Favor of Heaven”: The Rise of the Roman Republic
3. “Men of Violence”: Decline of the Roman Republic
4. Pax Romana: The Age of Augustus
5. The “Bad Emperors”: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius
6. “Let the Earth Be Consumed by Fire”: The Age of Nero
7. “Savage Victors”: The Height of Empire
8. “Revere the Gods, Save Mankind”: The Age of the Antonines
9. The Empire in Crisis
10. “There Will Never Be an End to the Power of Rome”

Editorial Reviews

"Praise for The Shortest History of Italy

"Known for his impeccable research and engaging style, King is the perfect Virgil to guide us from The Aeneid to COVID-19 in this densely packed volume of tantalizing details. . . . King has a keen eye for the provocative anecdote, ranging from the debauchery of the emperors to papal history and the origins of the Mafia. . . . Each page brims with Bill Bryson-like trivia that is sure to delight."

starred review Booklist

"King achieves an uncommonly dense work of compression, telescoping events and fashioning brief character studies in surveying the arc of ancient Rome . . . from the mythic folktale of Romulus and Remus to the fall of empire. Literary tradition tells one story, archaeology another. We get the emperors and chroniclers, generals and legions, builders and artists, stabilizers and insurrectionists, the mad and the bad responsible for rise and ruin—all written with a historian’s attention to detail and the fluid storytelling of a novelist. His is also a fascinating etymological tour of modern words derived from Latin. . . . Brisk but immersive."— Kirkus Reviews

"Praise for The Shortest History of Italy



"Known for his impeccable research and engaging style, King is the perfect Virgil to guide us from The Aeneid to COVID-19 in this densely packed volume of tantalizing details. . . . King has a keen eye for the provocative anecdote, ranging from the debauchery of the emperors to papal history and the origins of the Mafia. . . . Each page brims with Bill Bryson–like trivia that is sure to delight."— Booklist, starred review

"Terrific . . . a lucid, riveting history of a country that is both exquisitely old and painfully young at the same time."— Sarah Dunant, bestselling author of In the Name of the Family

"A remarkably readable whirlwind tour of Italian history over the millennia, replete with conquerors, emperors, slaves, popes, assorted invaders, and filled with juicy historical nuggets. There’s nothing quite like it."— David Kertzer, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Pope and Mussolini and The Pope at War

"A rollicking introduction to the history of a country that, until barely 150 years ago, was not one. Vibrant, admirably clear, and often wryly amusing, Ross King’s narrative benefits again and again from his eye for the telling detail—a splendid achievement."— John Hooper, author of The Italians and Italy correspondent for The Economist

"Jump into the Alfa Romeo and hold tight as Ross King speeds through Italian history with this effervescent and entertaining guide to the peninsula’s past."— Catherine Fletcher, author of The Beauty and the Terror and The Black Prince of Florence

"History exerts a force [in Italy] that is multifaceted and ambiguous, especially to the outsider—but The Shortest History of Italy helps to render the country coherent."— The Saturday Paper (Australia)

"Few have as much insight into the history of Italy as the author of Brunelleschi’s Dome, and here Ross King offers a masterful and perceptive account of Italian virtues—and sins—from the Romans to Berlusconi, as well as the country’s inimitable art and architecture. An ideal handbook for anyone who loves Italy and wants to dig a little deeper into the past of what Dante called il bel paese, or as Ross King puts it, Italy’s history of ‘resilience and rebirth.’"— Richard Owen, author of DH Lawrence in Italy, Hemingway in Italy, and Chaucer’s Italy

"Praise for Ross King



"King has made a career elucidating crucial episodes in the history of art and architecture."— Time

"King has the gift of clear, unpretentious exposition, and an instinctive narrative flair."— The Guardian

"[King’s] scrupulous excavation of social, political and religious texts, as well as art historical sources, permits him to tell a familiar story as though it had never been told before."— Financial Times

"King is a deft storyteller."— Telegraph

From the Publisher

2025-06-26
Even the mightiest empires fall.

In this latest installment in the Shortest History series, King achieves an uncommonly dense work of compression, telescoping events and fashioning brief character studies in surveying the arc of ancient Rome, from its origins to its collapse. But he also demonstrates how the facets of empire still inform the West: in our politics, cultures, laws, and self-image. Author of numerous books on Italian, French, and Canadian art and history, King opens with a quote from the second-century-B.C.E. historian Polybius, who wondered how anyone would not want to know how Rome rose to such unprecedented power and reach. The question is just as relevant today, says King, who sets about answering it, from the mythic folktale of Romulus and Remus to the fall of empire. Literary tradition tells one story, archaeology another. We get the emperors and chroniclers, generals and legions, builders and artists, stabilizers and insurrectionists, the mad and the bad responsible for rise and ruin—all written with a historian’s attention to detail and the fluid storytelling of a novelist. His is also a fascinating etymological tour of modern words derived from Latin. Although King is arguably inconsistent when it comes to accepting the evaluations of men’s characters drawn from traditional sources, most often he views these traditions with a skeptical eye. He is well aware of the pitfalls of judging early cultures through the lens of modern sensibilities. The range of contradictory accounts by contemporaries—not unlike today’s polarized biases—underscores just how unreliable is much of the tradition we have of Rome specifically and the ancient world in general. However, the author does his best to parse the probable from the improbable and rarely takes things at face value.

A brisk but immersive historical account.

Kirkus Reviews