The Civil Wars (Penguin Classics) |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Gallic Wars > Item 45
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The Civil Wars (Penguin Classics)
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by Appian and John Carter
Sales Rank: 50836
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List Price: $16.00
$10.88
At Amazon
on 9-16-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 480 pages
Published by: Penguin Classics December 1, 1996
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0140445099
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0140445091
Book Dimensions:
7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
Weighs: 8.5 ounces
Reader Reviews
Ancient Mediterranean history seems to have entered a revival period in 2007 (...or, at least, this was what TIME magazine informed me a few months ago). Copies of the *Illiad* and *Odyssey* gain new shiny covers and return to prominence on upper-middle coffee tables. Frank Millar's *300* captivated millions of college kids with its bald and rather bad triune-stroke. Vin Diesel (!!) is apparently scripting a version of Hannibal Barca's trek across the Alps. And HBO concluded its visually-magnificent-if-liberally-altered account of the fall of the Roman Republic with style and aplomb and certainly no lack of visceral carnality. I imagine, after the fact, that certain curious consumers interested in the fall of the Roman Republic / rise of the Roman Empire searched amazon.com and like retailers for the "real" story behind the lurid invention. Thus it is rather surprising that this tome - Appian's *The Civil Wars* - has been reviewed two times, considering it is the only surviving *continuous* history of the period, detailing the fall from beginning to end without serious lacunas or missing chapters. Fans of HBO's Rome, casual neophytes of Latin history - this is what you are looking for. Appian chronicles the `good / bad old days' of the Roman Republic with taut precision, outlining the central conflict (land ownership, upper class greed - how times change, how... ) that eventually led to the rabble-rousing and subsequent murder of the Gracci Bros, the Catiline conspiracy, the rise and messy fall of the tyrants Sulla and Marus, the rise of Pompey and Caesar and the formation of the First Triumvirate, the assassination of Caesar, the struggles of Antony and Octavian to retain power in war-torn Italy, the creation of the Second Triumvirate and the cracking of its façade... Appian wrote his histories around 200 years after the fact (this Penguin edition estimates its composition between AD 145 and 165), so - as with all ancient histories - the facts and minutiae will ever be in question. Appian's style is not the easiest to read, either: he favors long complex sentences, occasional tangents and the usual influx of names, names, names - happily, this edition contains voluminous footnotes and detailed maps. For a greater reading experience, I recommend having copies of Plutarch's *Makers of Rome* and *Fall of the Roman Republic* on hand - though not chronologically paced like the Civil Wars, they give insight into the major movers and shakers, offer a sort of conclusion with the portrait of Antony, and augment the overall impact of this turbulent, fascinating period of human development. 'Limitless human ambition, terrible lust for power, indefatigable patience, and evil in ten thousand shapes' -- the glory and the infamy, still unvarnished two thousand years postscript...
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The Civil Wars (Penguin Classics)
Available from Amazon
Price: $10.88
Updated on 9-16-2008.
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