Detailed coverage of three crucial centuries in the history of the Roman people: the second and first centuries BC and the first century AD.

List of illustrations; List of maps;

Part 1. Introduction to Roman history:

1. The evidence

2. The geography of Italy and its influence on the development of Rome

3. The foundation and early development of Rome

4. Roman society in the early republic

Part 2. The Roman conquest of Italy and constitutional development:

5. Conquest and organisation

6. The plebeian struggle for equality and the government of Rome

Part 3. Rome's expansion in the Mediterranean (264-146) - Carthage, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia:

7. Background to the wars with Carthage

8. The First Punic War (264-241)

9. Background to the Second Punic War (229-218)

10. The Second Punic War (218-201

11. The Third Punic War (149-146)

12. Rome and the east (200-146)

13. The immediate and long-term effects of the wars of expansion

Part 4. The late republic - first phase (146-78):

14. The Gracchi, 15. Marius and Sulla

Part 5. The late republic - second phase (78-28):

16. The rise of Pompey and the period of his eastern commands (78-61)

17. From the First Triumvirate to the death of Caesar (60-44)

18. From republic to principate (44-28)

Part 6. Augustus and the Julio-Claudians (28 BC -AD 68)

19. The principate of Augustus (27 BC-AD 14)

20. The forums of Rome in the time of Augustus

21. The Julio-Claudian dynasty (AD 14-68):

22. Life in an imperial city in the first century AD

Notes to the text; Glossary; Bibliography; Acknowledgments; Index.