Words & Music: Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Liveright, 2015
© Mary Beard Publications 2015
ISBN 978-1-63149-222-8

In this stunning and compelling book, Mary Beard tries to understand, and to help us understand, the transition of Rome from a “republic” (governed, more of less, by the Senate) to an empire (ruled by an emperor). For some reason, this seems like an important question, one that may have implications not just for our understanding of the (relatively distant) past, but for our present and near-term future.

Her narrative takes us from roughly 200 BCE to 200 CE, as the Roman republic increasingly experiences crises of government, with the first climax being Julius Caesar’s return to Rome (about 45 BCE) and his fairly open courting of becoming a king. The second turning point is Octavian (Caesar’s adopted son) claiming the title of Emperor (in 31 BCE). What follows, in Beard’s account, is a roughly 200 year period of empire, ruled by 14 emperors (as she notes, the following 100 years saw 70 or so “emperors”), of relatively peaceful governance of an empire that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to well into Asia Minor. Her objective is to understand, and to help us understand, how Rome got from Caesar to Commodus.

What became clear to me was that Rome’s structure of governance was, by Caesar’s time, no longer up to the task of dealing with what was already an empire in extent. The Senate remained (at least in theory) the center of governmental power, and executive authority was exercised by consuls (of whom there were generally 2) who served 1-year terms (although, as time went by, consul were more frequently re-elected to subsequent terms) and tribunes (who apparently could, and did, act independently of the consuls). This was a pretty rickety structure, especially if the primary consul proposed (and the Senate enacted) significant “reforms.” (The most obvious cases were that of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (tribune in 133 BCE) and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (tribune in 127 BCE): Both were killed because many of the aristocrats opposed their changes. Beard argues that Caesar faced similar resistance, which, along with fears that he might declare himself a king or emperor, resulted in his death as well).

And as Rome became the center of a physical empire—long before it was ruled by an emperor—the very real problems of how to control such a sprawling expanse made governance by the Senate increasingly problematic. And so Rome inched toward more central control, more authority vested in one man, until, eventually, Octavian renamed him self Augustus and became the first emperor.

The story, of course, is much more complicated than my summary (and probably more complicated than Beard’s 500+ page book). In my opinion, she does a magnificent job or making clear what the turning points are, and how (if not why; why is always harder) changes occurred. She also helps us understand how the daily life of at least wealthy Romans went on during all this (and makes an effort to present the life of the poor and near-poor, as well; that task is complicated because there is next to no documentary evidence extant that helps much).

She also does an excellent job of making clear how much the late Republic and early Empire was reliant on very distant sources for many of the goods that made up people’s lives—including olive oil, grain, and other daily necessities of life. One of my favorite bits of information involves the Monte Testaccio—which is not a mountain, or even a hill, but a trach dump, made up of (literally) millions of (empty) containers of olive oil. (They could not be reused, because the oil seeped into the clay of the containers and turned rancid). (A very good description of Monte Testaccio can be found at http://irisharchaeology.ie/2012/04/monte-tesstaccio-a-mountain-of-roman-amphorae/.) I’ve included an aerial view of it.