hi all,
I'm looking for some recommendations on books regarding "the history of Rome" except I need to explain that a bit.
What I'm looking for is a history that has a strong sense of narrative, or flow. Not fiction, because then one gets into the dreadful realms of deciding what is made up and what is real (or at worst, being completely misinformed as in Iggulden's Caesar series). Instead, I'm looking for a solid history where the writer is not afraid to use the language to its full capacity ("the language" being English, Swedish, or French in this case).
My friend who requested this is interested far more in the spiritual/religious/cultural side of Rome than military or political. She would like to know everything from why Rome's high priest was named after a bridge to what forces helped shape the transfer from family farms to "corporate" estates in the mid-late empire, all without having to skip three hundred years from one sentence to the next.
Not exactly an easy request, and I'm coming up empty, so I thought I'd ask here.
P.S. while I'm asking this for Rome, I'd also be interested to hear if anyone can recommend writers (again, not fiction) who do this for other cultures and periods. The only one I've come across in years of reading is a fellow named Carlo Franzero in a book called "The Life and Times of Tarquin the Etruscan". Solid research for the time he was writing, and beautifully written, but it's covering a very narrow historical range.
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