HADRIAN AND THE TRIUMPH OF ROME

If you wanted to choose one audiobook that would give you a full picture of the Roman Empire at the apex of its glory, this would be it. Book by book, Everitt has been recounting the history of Rome from republic to empire through the lives of its key figures: Cicero, Augustus, and now the second-century emperor Hadrian, who marked the limit and boundaries of Roman rule. John Curless correctly judges his text to be instructional as well as strictly biographical, and he paces himself accordingly. In telling Hadrian's story, he finds his thread, as Everitt does, along the line between what history tells us and what we must speculate and surmise. Curless's crisp, measured delivery of Everitt's engaging prose is a satisfying distillation of Roman history, politics, daily life, principal figures, significant architecture, military routine, and the often-comingled practices of religion and sex. Especially recommended in sequence with Everitt's other titles, CICERO and AUGUSTUS. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2010]