The First Romans

An action-packed journey into the Roman Republic's turbulent beginnings.

Before Rome became an Empire, it was a Republic. Part frontier, part battlefield, and part political cauldron. This book is not about the wealthy, established Roman Empire fighting unwashed barbarians, it's about the process of becoming Rome. The Romans are the barbarians.

The Republic was a bastion of ruthless determination. It just wasn't supposed to happen. That it did happen is a testament to the people who made it happen. If you'd prefer a safe read where history is sanitized, then perhaps this book is not for you. If you want a high-octane read that covers the gritty, best parts of early Roman history, this is your book.

In The First Romans, Lucas C. Wagner writes a kinetic version of Rome's best tales, edited and revised from his public domain translation of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, known in English as The History of Rome. Along the way, references are added from such ancient authors as Homer and Plutarch.

People who have limited experience with Roman History, do not fear. Technical terms are defined or removed. Gone are the hundreds of names, places, and bits of academic trivia necessary to get through Roman history. Rome's constant cycles of crisis and reinvention remain. Wagner follows the Republic as it endures the kind of shocks that should have wiped out Rome from history altogether.

The First Romans invites readers to see Rome not as an inevitability, but as a succession of moments when only honor, training, courageousness, and great weaponry (Ch. 32) determined whether the fragile Republic would break apart or move forward.