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. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

June 22, 2009
The author of biographies of Augustus and Cicero, British scholar Everitt now combines academic expertise with lively prose in a satisfying account of the emperor who ruled Rome from 117 to 138 C.E., the man Everitt says “has a good claim to have been the most successful of Rome's leaders.” As a youth, Hadrian became the protégé and adopted ward of future emperor Trajan. (Homosexual emperors, including Hadrian, often adopted a successor, a procedure that worked better than letting pugnacious generals fight it out.) After suppressing the Jewish revolt that had begun under Trajan, Hadrian abandoned several of his predecessor's conquests as indefensible. Traveling the empire, he shored up its defenses, which included building Hadrian's Wall in England and another across Germany. Nearing the end of a prosperous, mostly peaceful reign, he adopted two men who also ruled successfully: Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. Everitt presents the Roman Empire, in what he calls “tempestuous and thrilling times,” as an almost ungovernable collection of polyglot nations dominated by ambitious, frequently bloodthirsty and unscrupulous men. Readers will wonder how Rome lasted so long, but they will enjoy this skillful portrait of a good leader during its last golden age. 2 maps.