Roman Civilization: Sourcebook 1-The Republic, Sourcebook 2-The Empire

This anthology of original sources contains excerpts both from classical historians (generally writing during the early Empire) and from letters, monuments, governmental decrees, laws and inscriptions. This isn't an introduction to Roman Civilization: the editorial comments help set the context but you need to know the political history and the geography in broad outline already, or be learning it as you read this book. The selections fill in the details, and give you some sense of how the Romans and their subject peoples of various periods throughout Rome's hundreds of years of history thought of themselves and their times, on matters of foreign and domestic policy, social order, religion, and Rome's place in the world.

Although I was required to purchase and use this book for my Roman History course, I found it to be absolutely amazing in quality and detailed and compelling in content.No enthusiast of Classical civilization, amature or professional, should be without this book.