A brief history of the roman empire / Stephen Kershaw.

Includes bibliography and index.

1. External expansion, internal implosion.--2. Civil wars, the dictator and the "Egyptian Woman".--3. Augustus: from teenage butcher to father of the fatherland.--4. The pervert and the Madman.--5. The scholar and the artist.--6. The longer year 69.--7. The flavian dynasty.--8. A hat-trick of good Emperors.--9. Peace, power and prosperity.--10. The 'Year of the Five Emperor' and Rome's first African ruler.--11. The severan dynasty.--12. The omnishables.--13. The empire strikes back.--14. Christianity ascenant.--15. The east-west divide.--16. The sack of Rome.--17. Roman Empresses, Barbarian Kings,--18. The end of Rome in the west.

In this lively and very readable history of the Roman Empire from its establishment in 27 BC to the barbarian incursions and the fall of Rome in AD 476, Kershaw draws on a range of evidence, from Juvenal's Satires to recent archaeological finds. He examines extraordinary personalities such as Caligula and Nero and seismic events such as the conquest of Britain and the establishment of a 'New Rome' at Constantinople and the split into eastern and western empires. Along the way we encounter gladiators and charioteers, senators and slaves, fascinating women, bizarre sexual practices and grot.