Generally speaking, Beard covers ancient Rome chronologically from what is known, surmised, or unknowable from the earliest years of the city’s founding to the rule of Caracalla in 212 CE. (As an aside, some white nationalist groups have recently tried to co-opt this by using it in some of their materials, not unlike the way Hitler tried to hearken back to some Roman traditions as a way to gain historic legitimacy.)
The English translation is “The Senate and People of Rome,” and represents the two main pillars of society. REVIEW OF Spqr: A History of Ancient rome BY mary beardįirst, for those wondering what on earth SPQR means: this is an abbreviation what was commonly used in ancient Rome (and is still used today in the city of Rome) and stands for “Senatus Populusque Romanus” in Latin. She has also had her fair share of controversies for her outspokenness on various topics of modern society.īut what she is known for in relation to her portrayal of Roman history is her ability to cut through the glint and glitter often assigned to ancient societies and has sought to present the Romans as a complex and nuanced group, who were trying to figure things out as they went, did not have a perfect solution for most things, and cannot be presented in a linear fashion they way history likes to present things as having foregone conclusions when in fact Romans were simply humans, as flawed then as we are now.
In a field not known for wide public renown, Mary Beard has made a name for herself through appearances on television or in documentaries where she serves as an expert on this ancient society. Her career as a Classicist has had a specific focus on ancient Rome, and today she is, among other things, a professor of classics at Cambridge University in England. Starting in her late teens, she spent time on some archaeological digs, which cemented her love for the ancient.
As Mary Beard describes it herself in the book’s epilogue, this book was 50 years in the making.
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