Mary Beard

SPQR

1. IDEA 1

   Rome's history is still debated

   Beard tells the story of ancient Rome over its first thousand years, from its legendary founding to 212 CE. She stresses that historians constantly reinterpret Rome, and that much of what we think we know is uncertain or based on later myth.

2. IDEA 2

   The story begins with Cicero

   Beard opens with 63 BCE, when the politician Cicero exposed a plot by Catiline to overthrow the Republic. She uses this moment to show Roman politics in action and to question how history is told.

3. IDEA 3

   Rome's founding myths were contested

   Beard examines the stories of Romulus and Remus and other founding legends. She shows that Romans themselves told these myths in different ways to explain who they were. Myth shaped identity.

All 8 ideas from SPQR →