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Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

byMary Beard

Mary Beard investigates what Roman emperors actually did, how they exercised authority, and how subjects imagined life near supreme power. Moving from Julius Caesar and Augustus through later rulers, she examines palaces, banquets, correspondence, travel, succession, administration, spectacle, and violence. Beard separates evidence from familiar stories about madness and decadence, asking who created those tales and what purposes they served. The book presents the emperor less as an all-powerful individual than as the center of a vast system of expectations, petitions, servants, advisers, soldiers, and carefully managed appearances.

Publisher

Liveright Publishing Corporation

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

493

ISBN

9780871404220