This review is from Kirkus Review at the following link:
She emphasizes the empire’s crippling weakness that was never corrected: succession. Later, European thrones passed to the eldest child, which assured stability if not competence, but this was never the Roman system. Rarely did a son follow his father; more often, an emperor legally adopted a designated successor. When this happened, leadership tended to pass smoothly, but many admired emperors owed their position to assassination, civil war, mass murder, and assorted skullduggery.
Beard maintains that this answers an age-old puzzle: why Roman emperors are pronounced either “good” or “bad.” In reality, emperors succeeded by their chosen candidate ended up with a broadly favorable reputation; no one dared offend the current ruler. Having covered the big picture in SPQR and not wanting to repeat herself, Beard focuses on the details of how emperors lived, governed, traveled, dined, and amused themselves, and the result is a mixed bag.
Chapters on imperial dining rooms and imperial palaces reveal the impressive skill of archaeologists in resurrecting crumbling ruins, but they also contain more architectural minutiae than casual readers will want. An emperor’s face appears on thousands of surviving sculptures and millions of coins and bric-a-brac, but few readers will be surprised to learn that none are accurate portraits. Beard is deft in her exploration of imperial bureaucracy, showing how it dealt with an avalanche of paperwork from distant officials, cities, military leaders, and individuals in an era with no postal service. Emperors’ deaths, natural or otherwise, led to fascinating consequences.
Personal Comments: This is an excellent portrayal of how Ancient Rome was ruled.
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