The Makers of Rome Paperback – 29 April 2004

This book has been very well translated. It is a joy to read.

marvellous edifying stuff that everyone should read

Despite knowing very little about the Roman republic before reading this book I found it very easy to understand roughly the various positions and terms, and it's all very easy to read and both interesting and entertaining. It's pretty clear that Plutarch didn't let facts get in the way of a good story (especially in the case of Mark Antony) but there are plenty of footnotes throughout the book and an appendix specifically related to the historical facts of the life of Mark Antony. It's left me keen to read more of Plutarch's Lives.One warning though, the Kindle edition of this book is just appallingly edited. It's full of OCR and formatting errors and doesn't appear to have been so much as proofread, so I'd recommend a print version. Also, I don't know why it's called "Makers of Rome", the title doesn't fit at all.

It is Plutarch. What more is there to say. A jolly good read.

Few ancient biographers and historians have had the impact on our understanding of the ancient world that Plutarch has had. The scope and breadth of his work was astounding. His works spanned almost all of Classical history and provide a great deal of what we know about both ancient Greece and Rome.This book is a collection of biographies of important figures in Roman history, such as Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, and the like. The work provides a great deal of insight into the general structure of Roman society and politics, as well as a number of other cultural matters. Furthermore I found the translation to be readable and accessible, though not exactly lively.Compared to some of his works on Greek history, however, this work provides a lot less insight into the sort of resources Plutarch had at his disposal as a biographer and historian.This book should be read by anyone studying Roman history.