Ancient Rome was one of the greatest states in the history of mankind. Its cultural heritage was subsequently used by both European countries and the East. Therefore, an educated person needs to know the history of this civilization.
You can learn basic information about Roman history from books by contemporaries of events - ancient authors. Historical writing in the form familiar to modern man appeared in Greece. and this tradition was inherited by Rome. The history of the state, especially of its republican stage and the early empire, is set out quite fully in the work of Titus Livy, "The History of Rome from the Founding of the City." It should be borne in mind that the early period of the country's history is presented in this book in a mythologized form.
The later, imperial period, is captured by the book of Guy Suetonius Tranquill "The Life of the Twelve Caesars." It concerns the life and reign of the twelve first Roman emperors, from Gaius Julius Caesar to Domitian. In this study, the author used the state archives, which increases the reliability of his information. In addition to political history, you can find in this work a lot of information about what the Roman emperors and their entourage were, what were the customs of the highest nobility of that time.
The works of the famous Roman historian Tacitus are also of interest. His "History" and "Annals" summarized the existing at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. e. historical knowledge of the Romans.
Works of art can provide a lot of information about the history and culture of Rome. Apuleius' Golden Donkey and Petronius Arbitra's Satyricon provide invaluable information on the life of wide sections of Roman society, including ordinary citizens and slaves.
Numerous authors of later eras were engaged in the study of the history of Ancient Rome. One of the first studies carried out taking into account the requirements of modern historical science was the work of Theodor Mommsen "History of Rome". Since this book was written in the 19th century, a number of information given in it is considered outdated by modern historians. Nevertheless, it is of considerable interest not only for specialists, but also for amateurs - it is written in good literary language.
