Characters and Events of Roman History

From Caesar to Nero

By: Guglielmo Ferrero

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

Accustomed as we are to accepting as accurate the judgements of ancient Roman history handed down to us by primary sources like Suetonius and Tacitus, it may come as a surprise that some scholars consider these ancient historians to be misleading and biased. According to Italian historian Guglielmo Ferrero, who pointedly took exception to the narrative provided by ancient historians, the narrative we have taken to be indisputable may be entirely false. Instead, Ferrero reveals to us the tumult of revolutionary times that were destroying the traditions of Roman society and its fabric in the period following the death of Sulla. He takes us into the turmoil of Roman leadership as revealed to us by the actual, indisputable events that were chiseled in stone…not the speculation of people living long afterward. For Ferrero, it is at this crucial juncture that the hidden history of the rupture of politics and cultural traditions begins to emerge. And these tremendous tides of human emotion and cultural distress have little to do with the fanciful theories of court historians who were writing generations after the events in question, and who were eager not to offend the current elite in power.

Guglielmo Ferrero (1871 – 1942) was an Italian historian, journalist and novelist, and author of “The Greatness and Decline of Rome” (5 volumes, 1907–1909). Ferrero devoted his writings to classical liberalism and was opposed to any kind of dictatorship and unlimited government. Ferrero was invited to the White House in 1908 by Theodore Roosevelt, who had read “The Greatness and Decline of Rome.” He gave lectures in the USA which were collected and published in 1909 as “Characters and Events of Roman History.”

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