James Romm

In Dying Every Day, acclaimed classical historian James Romm brings to life the high-stakes drama of ancient Rome, a narrative brimming with murder, madness, tyranny, and perversion. Set against the backdrop of one of history's most tumultuous periods, Romm's work delves into the complex relationship between the philosopher Seneca and the infamous Emperor Nero, a tale woven with intricate plots...

A portrait of one of the ancient world’s first political celebrities, who veered from failure to success and back again “This colourful biography of Demetrius explores his rich inner life and reveals an ancient world of violence and intrigue.”—New York Times Book Review The life of Demetrius (337–283 BCE) serves as a through-line to the forty years following the death...

From classicist James Romm comes a “striking...fascinating” (Booklist) deep dive into the last decades of ancient Greek freedom leading up to Alexander the Great’s destruction of Thebes—and the saga of the greatest military corps of the time, the Theban Sacred Band, a unit composed of 150 pairs of male lovers. The story of the Sacred Band, an elite 300-man corps...

Plato is one of history's most influential thinkers, the "sublime philosopher" whose writings remain foundational to Western culture. He is known for the brilliant dialogues in which he depicted his teacher, Socrates, discussing ethical truths with prominent citizens of Athens. Yet the image we have of Plato—an ethereal figure far removed from society and politics, who conjured abstract ideas in...

The tragic story of ancient Greece's last democratic leader and his doomed fight to save Athens from Macedonian domination. In the spring of 340 BCE, news arrived that Philip of Macedon had seized a town in central Greece, a base from which he could march on Athens. In the fierce debates about how to respond to the rising threat in...

The twelve books of Meditations were written over 2,000 years ago by the Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius as a personal diary of notes, nudges and mental exercises to help him live a good life. Yet, with their gentle instructions on living stoically, in harmony with nature and in pursuit of the ‘common good’, they seem the perfect fit...

This volume includes a wealth of helpful footnotes; more than a dozen maps and illustrations; a chronology of the Archaic Age; a glossary of main characters, places, and terms; suggested further reading; and an index of proper nouns. Histories edition reproduces the fluent pace and readability of Herodotus' world-encompassing work. Mensch has produced a close translation of Herodotus' Greek that...

When Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-two, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea in the west all the way to modern-day India in the east. In an unusual compromise, his two heirs—a mentally damaged half-brother, Philip III, and an infant son, Alexander IV, born after his death—were jointly granted the kingship. But six of Alexander’s Macedonian...