Scipio, Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Marcus Aurelius... what was the secret to their power? And the famous Republic, was it really democracy? How were the legions structured? What was life like in Rome? Who exactly were the slaves, the gladiators and the barbarians? What caused the mighty Empire to finally fall?<br /><br />The Handbook is a comprehensive summary of the history of ancient Rome, from its humble beginnings to the fall of a dominant empire. It is organized in a totally new format that makes it understandable and easy to scroll. The book is made up of brief paragraphs with a clear focus on events, put into their political and social context. Using the internal links in the text you can quickly return to key passages and characters, clarify unfamiliar words and go deeper into the political, military and social aspects of events. With more than 500 photographs all linked to Google Maps, the Ancient Rome Handbook couples the historical facts with the places where they actually occurred, making it a truly unique historical guide for an archaeological exploration of Rome. There is no shortage of curiosities and anecdotes, but the Handbook never veers from the facts and is always reliably historical.