The History of Ancient Rome

Okay, as far as a speaker ( following Toastmasters ratings ) from a podium goes, there are better. However, the lack of polish is more than made up for by a human, personal delivery of what can be a cold dish. Professor Fagan delivers a class that is entertaining, packed with facts, observations and insights that can only come from a love of the subject. A real good companion to this is the book "Bathing In Public in the Roman World" also by Professor Fagan. He discusses what the shortfalls of information are as well as sources that can themselves be true or not. His honest style is refreshing and real, and a plus is the way he doesn't have scruples about expressing his opinion of Roman behavior. I also have the VHS series os this subject, but the DVD's are much better for reference. I absolutely recommend this series and this lecturer ..I had trouble getting the series from two othersellers, so it was worth the extra money to get what I wanted ... sammy

It is probably a good thing that some qualified studious person compiled so many details about Roman History into one place. But that format alone made it totally unuseable for my needs.If I were researching Roman History, this would be a useful text--especially if you get the entire transcript in print. Otherwise, you will need much caffeine to stay awake during the lectures (CD or DVD--I tried both)as the miniutae begins to run all together. Really, I could not even summarize it to congeal a text from which I could teach from and have my high school students read.So it gets five stars for content. One star for boring. One star for absent index. Three stars for decent apendices and table of contents.In its place, and a tenth of the cost, I purchased Willam Carey Morey's, Outlines of Roman History. It is almost 400 pages, but reads like 200 pages. Do not be put-off with its original publication date, the material is still validated--Cornell reprinted it in 2009.

Perfectus!

The product was exactly or better than advertised and arrived speedily in excellent condition.

This is a series of half hour lectures by a very knowledgeable professor. How much and what a person gets out of this of course is up to the consumer. I listened, took notes, and referred to the accompanying PDF. I did parallel study based on the guidance of the professor. I learned a lot and was very satisfied with the entire exercise. I am pretty much completely pleased with the experience. I did apply myself, but feel as though I have completed an one undergraduate semester in Roman History. Thank You for taking the time to read this review.

I’ve listened to the 48 lectures until I’m blue in the face. Professor Garrett Fagan is the best at what he does. I’m going to have to get a new set as my old one is too old

It was a misleading in the offer of this item. It was offer as one book for the whole history of Ancient Rome. Now I discover that I received just one book out of a serie of four books. This is dishonesty. I have the part 2 of 4.

I read a lot of history and so when I read a massive survey like this Great Courses book, I look for how the events are framed and whether or not the author gives me some new insight into the material. I very much enjoyed how Fagan did both of these things.By far the strongest part of the book is his coverage of the generations long revolution that transformed Rome from a Republic into what is effectively a monarchical empire. Fagan expertly shows how each major player starting with the Grachus brothers made small but important changes to the ways in which the Republic’s government functioned that ultimately combined to fracture the Republic and return it to a monarchy in all but name. Many of these changes were not technically illegal—they were contrary to tradition—and they “justified” ever bigger breaches of tradition (under the excuse of preserving that very same tradition) by the opposition. It is difficult not to see parallels to the United States where, as in Rome, politicians make adjustments to the way things are traditionally done to advance their short-term interests and then seem shocked when their opponents do the same. The ultimate result for Rome was the loss of their Republic.Fagan’s discussion of the Empire is much more general as he looks at longer term trends. If you want an emperor-by-emperor account, this part of the book is not for you. But if you want to look at major themes it’s a very helpful overview. Any way you look at it, this is a wonderful survey of Rome.