How an obscure village in central Italy became the world's first superpower? SPQR is the abbreviation for Senatus Populus que Romanus, "the Senate and the People of Rome." This is their story.

Ancient Rome concerns us: we still judge our own societies against this history of kings, senators, and fourteen emperors, of conquest and peace, of order and excess. Roman disputes over nations, the empire, citizenship, terrorism, and individual rights influence the way we think about political organization and political freedom today.

Spanning a thousand years of Roman history, Mary Beard sheds new light on Roman civilization, from running water to democracy, from the Gallic Wars to the Pax Romana, from slavery to migration, and from the great leap forward to the transformations of Augustus.