Includes Bibliography and Index

Pt. 1: Pre-Roman Italy and the rise of Rome to 264 B.C. Roman history: its geographic and Roman foundations ; Phoenicians, Greeks, and Etruscans in pre-Roman Italy ; Early Rome to 500 B.C. ; Early Roman society, religion, and values ; The evolution of the Roman Republican constitution, 509 to 287 B.C. ; The Roman conquest of Italy and its impact, 509 to 264 B.C. -- Pt. 2: The high point of the Roman Republic, 264 to 133 B.C. The First Punic War, northern Italy, and Illyrian pirates, 264 to 219 B.C. ; War with Hannibal: the Second Punic War, 218 to 201 B.C. ; Roman imperialism East and West, 200 to 133 B.C. ; The transformation of Roman life, 264 to 133 B.C. ; The great cultural synthesis, 264 to 133 B.C. -- Pt. 3: The world of the Late Republic, 133 to 30 B.C. The Gracchi and the struggle over reforms, 133 to 121 B.C. ; The breakdown of the system and the career of Marius, 121 to 88 B.C. ; Civil war and Sulla's reactionary settlement, 88 to 78 B.C. ; Personal ambitions: the failure of Sulla's optimate oligarchy, 78 to 60 B.C. ; Caesar wins and is lost, 60 to 44 B.C. ; The last years of the Republic, 44 to 30 B.C. ; Social, economic, and cultural life in the Late Republic, ca. 133 to ca. 30 B.C. -- Pt. 4: The early Roman Empire, 29 B.C. to A.D. 180. The principate takes shape, 29 B.C. to A.D. 14 ; Important stabilization under Augustus ; The impact of Augustus on Roman imperial life and culture ; The first two Julio-Claudian emperors: Tiberius and Gaius (Caligula) , A.D. 14 to 41 ; Claudius, Nero, and the end of the Julio-Claudians ; The crisis of the principate and recovery under the Flavians, A.D. 69 to 96 ; The five "good" emperors of the second century, A.D. 96 to 180 ; Imperial culture and society in the first two centuries A.D. -- Pt. 5: Crisis, continuity, and change in the third and fourth centuries, A.D. 180 to 395. Conflicts and crises under Commodus and the Severi, A.D. 180 to 235 ; The third-century anarchy, A.D. 235 to 285 ; Changes in Roman life and culture during the third century ; Diocletian: creating the fourth-century empire, A.D. 285 to 305 ; Constantine the Great and Christianity, A.D. 306 to 337 ; From Constantine's dynasty to Theodosius the Great, A.D. 337 to 395 ; The evolving world of late antiquity in the fourth century A.D. ; Christianity and classical culture in the fourth century -- Pt. 6: The transformation of the Roman world in late antiquity, A.D. 395 to 602. Germanic takeover in the west and imperial survival in the east, A.D. 395 to 518 ; Justin, Justinian, and the impossible dream of universal empire, A.D. 518 to 602 ; The transformation of the late antique Roman world, A.D. 395 to 600 ; The church and the legacy of Rome.