Just Finished Reading: The Roman Empire – A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Kelly (FP: 2006)

If you asked the average person to name an empire chances are they’ve either name the British or the Roman one. The Roman Empire – the focus here was mainly on the Western bit – at its height covered the entire Mediterranean region, up to the Scottish border in the north, France, Spain and a good chunk of Germany, Egypt and points East, Greece and beyond. No wonder its inhabitants thought they controlled ‘the known world’. Certainly nothing like it had been seen in Europe before (or for long afterwards).

Naturally much has been written about the Romans and the author was very conscious of not following down that, largely chronological, route. His approach was a rather different one looking at how the empire began and grew to the extent it did (conquest pretty much), what it meant for both Romans and their enemies to have and to use imperial power, how elites in the occupied territories colluded with the Empire for good reasons – resistance to Rome was shown again and again until the fall to be essentially futile. A revolt against Rome was a suicidal proposition as tribes, peoples and nations found to their cost. He then looked at how the Empire had been treated throughout history by scholars from Roman commentators themselves to the Middle Ages and on to today where arguments still rage about Roman brutality and their civilising mission (purely on Roman terms of course). Naturally the rise of Christianity cannot be ignored as it is inexorably tied to the Roman Empire and its response to a subversive sect in its midst. Then there is the lived experience in the Empire where the author probably most surprised me – I’m no expert on all things Roman but did think I had a pretty good handle on things – as it seems that most of my mental image of Rome comes from (generally historically inaccurate) movies. For one thing – not unlike ‘3rd World’ countries in the all too recent past – infant mortality was extremely high which resulted in the average age of Roman citizens to be 25. What’s more about 60% of Romans at age 17 served in the military and not just for a 2 year tour. Military spending in the Empire was staggering. It really was a fully militarised society with spending being the equivalent of 10 times the present US military expenditure. Now considering the US outspends the next 30 countries combined you can imagine the cost of running the Roman military machine. Another interesting fact the author brought to my attention was the lack of anything like a Civil Service. For an imperial population of 60 million the Empire had around 10,000 bureaucrats to run things. The UK with a similar population has about 500,000 bureaucrats.

Finally (naturally) the author ended with Rome’s representation in movies and print as well its cultural highlights (and low lights) being presented in everything from bubble bath to boxer shorts. Images and echoes of Rome are everywhere from our language, laws, architecture, forms of government, philosophy, religion and much else besides. Rome is all things to all people and still 2,000 years after it fell resounds in western culture probably unlike anything else. This is a fascinating little book full of interesting aspects of the Empire that is either loved or reviled but hardly ever ignored. Definitely recommended for a quick and fun read.