The Romans FOR DUMmIES‰ The Romans FOR DUMmIES‰ by Guy de la Bédoyère The Romans For Dummies® Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd The Atrium Southern Gate Chichester West Sussex PO19 8SQ England E-mail (for orders and customer service enquires): [email protected] Visit our Home Page on www.wiley.com Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or other- wise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. 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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978-0-470-03077-6 ISBN-10: 0-470-03077-1 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 About the Author Guy de la Bédoyèreis a freelance writer and broadcaster who took a history and archaeology degree at Durham University, followed by a history degree at the University of London specialising in Roman history, with papers in US history. Next came an MA in Roman Empire archaeology at University College, London. He has written many books on his specialist field of Roman Britain and is well-known for his numerous appearances on television, espe- cially Channel 4’s Time Teamin Britain. He has also written books on a vari- ety of other historical subjects, including the papers of Samuel Pepys, and is a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society. His other interests include playing the piano, travelling in the United States, and studying genealogy. He lives in Lincolnshire, England. Author’s Acknowledgements I can’t list all the Roman experts I’ve met and talked to over the years who have made a difference to this book whether they know it or not, but I would like to make a special mention of Richard Reece and Neil Faulkner, both of whose idiosyncratic and original perspectives on Roman history have made me think more than they know. I’d also like to thank Daniel Mersey, Samantha Clapp, and Martin Tribe at Wiley for their comments along the way on assem- bling the text, and Wejdan Ismail for her help. Special mention for Tracy Barr for her editorial work in developing the text through to its final form. I’m also grateful to all those people I’ve worked with in television archaeology and history, and the viewers, for their comments and observations which have helped me cut through the waffle to see things more clearly. Finally to my wife who endured several fourteen-hour days tramping round Rome and Ostia during the research for this book, and who has put up with the Roman Empire for nearly thirty years. Publisher’s Acknowledgements We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Media Development Project Coordinator: Jennifer Theriot Project Editor: Daniel Mersey Layout and Graphics: Lavonne Cook, Development Editor: Tracy Barr Stephanie D. Jumper, Barbara Moore, Barry Offringa, Heather Ryan, Alicia South Content Editor:Steve Edwards Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Charles Spencer Commissioning Editor: Samantha Clapp Indexer: Techbooks Copy Editor: Christine Lea Brand Reviewers: Zoë Wykes, Jan Withers Proofreader: Charlie Wilson Technical Editor: Cassian Hall Executive Editor: Jason Dunne Executive Project Editor: Martin Tribe Cover Photos: Caesar: Bettmann/ CORBIS; Hadrian’s Wall: The National Trust Photolibrary/ Alamy; gladiator: Christie’s Images/ CORBIS; clock face: Jupiterimages; all other images Guy de la Bédoyère. Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan,Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings,Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey,Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey,Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance Introduction.................................................................1 Part I: Romans – The Big Boys of the Ancient World.......7 Chapter 1: The Romans: Shaping Their World and Ours.............................................9 Chapter 2: It’s the Cash That Counts: Roman Social Classes.....................................29 Chapter 3: Stairway to the Stars: The Greasy Path to Power.....................................47 Chapter 4: Rural Bliss – Roman Dreamland..................................................................61 Chapter 5: When We Were Soldiers................................................................................71 Part II: Living the Good Life........................................87 Chapter 6: The Urban Jungle..........................................................................................89 Chapter 7: Making the Roman Machine Work............................................................103 Chapter 8: Entertainments: Epic and Domestic.........................................................121 Chapter 9: Divine Intervention.....................................................................................143 Part III: The Rise of Rome.........................................165 Chapter 10: Kings? No, Maybe Not – Republicans.....................................................167 Chapter 11: This Town Isn’t Big Enough for All of Us – Seizing Italy.......................185 Chapter 12: Carthage and the First Two Punic Wars.................................................199 Chapter 13: While We’re at It – Let’s Conquer Everywhere Else, Too.....................215 Part IV: When Romans Ruled the World .....................225 Chapter 14: Reform and Civil War................................................................................227 Chapter 15: Daggers Drawn – The Fall of the Republic.............................................255 Chapter 16: Augustus and the Caesars – Plots, Perverts, and Paranoia ................271 Chapter 17: The Five Good Emperors..........................................................................303 Part V: Throwing the Empire Away.............................317 Chapter 18: More Civil War, Auctioning the Empire, and Paranoid Lunatics.........319 Chapter 19: The Age of the Thug – The Third Century’s Soldier Emperors...........331 Chapter 20: East Is East and West Is West: Diocletian and Constantine.................347 Chapter 21: The Barbarians Are Coming! The End of Rome.....................................369