ENGLISH

Rome: Empire of the Eagles, 753 BC - AD 476

By Neil Faulkner

Book information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
2008
ISBN
0582784956, 9780582784956
Language
english
Format
EPUB
Filesize
8 MB (8235347 bytes)
Pages
400\0
Topic
History
Time added
2014-03-02 09:56:44

Description

The Roman Empire is widely admired as a model of civilisation. However, in this compelling new study Neil Faulkner argues that in fact, it was nothing more than a ruthless system of robbery and violence. War was used to enrich the state, the imperial ruling classes and favoured client groups. In the process millions of people were killed or enslaved.Within the empire the landowning elite creamed off the wealth of the countryside to pay taxes to the state and fund the towns and villas where they lived. The masses of people – slaves, serfs and poor peasants – were victims of a grand exploitation that made the empire possible. This system, riddled with tension and latent conflict, contained the seeds of its own eventual collapse.

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