Free Books on Ancient Rome PDF

“This book deals with the life of the common people, with their language and literature, their occupations and amusements, and with their social, political, and economic conditions. We are interested in the common people of Rome because they made the Roman Empire what it was. They carried the Roman standards to the Euphrates and the Atlantic; they lived abroad as traders, farmers, and soldiers to hold and Romanize the provinces, or they stayed at home, working as carpenters, masons, or bakers, to supply the daily needs of the capital.” -Author’s Preface.

Society and Politics in Ancient Rome: Essays and Sketches

Abbott, Frank F.

Scribner’s Sons 1909

A collection of papers written by the author over a period of “ten or fifteen years”.

Contents: Municipal Politics in Pompeii – The Story of Two Oligarchies – Women and Public Affairs under the Roman Republic – Roman Women in the Trades and Professions – The Theatre as a Factor in Roman Politics under the Republic – Petronius: A Study in Ancient Realism – A Roman Puritan – Petrarch’s Letters to Cicero – Literature and the Common People of Rome – The Career of a Roman Student – Some Spurious Inscriptions and their Authors – The Evolution of the Modern Forms of the Letters of our Alphabet.

The Legacy of Rome

Bailey, Cyril, ed.

Clarendon 1924

Essays by various authors on Empire, Administration, Communications and Commerce, Law, Family and Social Life, Religion and Philosophy, Science, Literature, Language, Architecture and Art, Building and Engineering, and Agriculture. Free book on ancient Rome.

A History of Rome to 565 AD

Boak, Arthur E.R.

MacMillan 1922

“This sketch of the History of Rome to 565 A.D. is primarily intended to meet the needs of introductory college courses in Roman History. However, it is hoped that it may also prove of service as a handbook for students of Roman life and literature in general.” -Author’s Preface.

A Syllabus of Roman History

Botsford, George W.

MacMillan 1915

“This Syllabus, which has arisen from the needs of my own classroom, is offered to the public in the hope that it may prove useful to students of college and university grade in other institutions. Its aim is not to convey information but
to present a scheme for the organization of the facts and ideas essential to a good knowledge of Roman history, whether obtained by lectures or by reading. The books recommended fairly cover the topics ; so that, even without lectures, a student with the Syllabus and a few shelves of books may make himself substantially acquainted with the subject.” -Author’s Preface.

An Economic History of Rome to the End of the Republic

Frank, Tenney

Johns Hopkins 1920

Contents: Agriculture in early Latium – The early trade of Latium and Etruria – The rise of the peasantry – New lands for old – Roman coinage – The establishment of the plantation – Industry and commerce – The Gracchan Revolution – public finances – The Plebs Urbana – Industry at the end of the Republic – Industry, continued – Capital – Commerce – The laborer – The exhaustion of the soil.

A History Of Rome

Frank , Tenney

Henry Holt 1923

“This book is intended primarily for general readers who are interested in the political and cultural fortunes of the ancient republic which in so many respects did pioneer work in democratic government… [Our concern is with Rome’s] attempts at developing an effective government while trying to preserve democratic institutions.” – Author’s Preface. Free book on the Roman Empire.

Roman Imperialism

Frank , Tenney

MacMillan 1914

“My purpose in the following pages has been to analyze, so far as the fragmentary sources permit, the precise influences that urged the Roman republic toward territorial expansion… In the days of the early republic the Mediterranean world consisted of hundreds of independent city-states, and in the second century Rome numbered more than a hundred allies in her federation and perhaps as many more states in her circle of ” friends,” while on the periphery were countless semi-barbaric tribes ever ready to serve as catalytic agents of war… One is surprised not at the number of wars Rome fought but at the great number of states with which she lived in peace.” -Author’s Preface.

Lectures on the History of Roman Religion from Numa to Augustus

Halliday, William R.

University Press of Liverpool 1922

This book was written out from “a course of lectures, which were actually delivered as public lectures in our Institute of Archaeology, but were primarily designed for students in the first or second year of study in the Honours School of Classics in Liverpool University. Their aim was to summarise very briefly the character and the historical development of Roman religion up to the death of Augustus.” -Author’s Preface. Free book on ancient Rome.

The Roman Empire, B.C. 29 – A.D. 476

Jones, H. Stuart

Putnam’s Sons 1908

Contents: Augustus – The Julio-Claudian dynasty – The year of four emperors – The Flavian dynasty – Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian – The age of the Antonines – The dynasty of the Severi – The disintegration of the empire – The restoration of imperial unity – Diocletian and Constantine – Epilogue.

Latin Literature

Mackail, J.W.

John Murray 1896

Contents: Part I: The Republic: Origins of Latin Literature: Early epic and tragedy – Comedy: Plautus and Terence – Early Prose: The Satura, or mixed mode – Lucretius – Lyric poetry: Catullus – Cdicero -Prose of the Ciceronian age.
Part II: The Augustan Age: Virgil – Horace – Propertius and the Elegists – Ovid – Livy – The lesser Augustans.
Part III: The Empire: The Rome of Nero – The silver age – Tacitus – Juvenal, the younger Pliny, Suetonius: Decay of classical Latin – The ‘Elocutio Novella’ – Early Latin Christianity – The fourth century – The beginnings of the Middle Ages.

The Founding of the Roman Empire

Marsh, Frank B.

University of Texas – Austin 1922

Contents: The administrative problem of the Republic – The development of the military system – The supremacy of Pompey – The first Triumvirate – Caesar – The destruction of the Republicans – The triumph of Octavian – The restoration of the Republic – The transformation of the Principate.

A Source Book of Roman History

Munro, Dana C., ed.

Heath 1904

This volume of extracts from original sources was intended for use by students along with a textbook; apparently any of the widely-used introductory textbooks of that time for students of the classics.

The Grandeur that was Rome: A Survey of Roman Culture and Civilization

Stobart, J.C.

Sidgwick & Jackson 1920

Contents: Introduction – The beginnings of Rome – Conquest – The last century of the Republic – Augustus – Augustan Rome – The growth of the Empire – Epilogue.

Teuffel’s History of Roman Literature; the Republican Period, Vol 1 – Roman Empire Books PDF

Volume 2

Teuffel, Wilhelm

George Bell & Sons 1891

Vol. 1: The Republican Period, Vol. 2: The Imperial Period.

The Art of the Romans

Walters, H.B.

Methuen 1928

With 72 plates and 10 illustrations.

Contents: Roman art, its origin and character – Roman architecture – Roman sculpture-1. The Augustan age – Later Roman sculpture (Vespasian to Constantine) – Roman painting and mosaic – Roman gem-engraving and metal-work – Roman fictile work – Roman art in the provinces.

The Religious Experience of the Roman People: From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus

The Gifford Lectures for 1909-10 delivered in Edinburgh University

Warde, Fowler W.

1911

Titles of Lectures: Introductory – On the threshold of religion: survivals – On the threshold of religion: magic – The religion of the family – The calendar of Numa – The divine objects of worship – The deities of the earliest religion: general characteristics – Ritual of the Ius Divinum Ritual – The first arrival of new cults in Rome – Contact of the old and new in religion – The Pontifices and the secularisation of religion – The Augus and the art of divination – The Hannibalic war – After the Hannibalic war – Greek philosophy and Roman religion – Mysticism-ideas of a futre life – Religious feeling in the poems of Virgil – The Augustan revival – Conclusion.