Veeky Forums help me get into Roman history and literature...

Veeky Forums help me get into Roman history and literature. I have this Roman itch that it's been eating at me for years now. Where do I start? Anything Roman (even Byzantine) related is welcome.

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Start with the history of Rome podcast

Read the Robert Graves translation of The Golden Ass

Start with the Greeks.

>podcasts

BEGONE FILTHY PLEB.

While by no means a definitive source for all things Roman history (though no fan would ever say tell you otherwise), this is perhaps the best thing out there that will take that itch you have and kindle it into a full out passion for the empire. It's a podcast that covers the Empire from its mythical beginnings all the way to the fall of the Western Empire in 478 in 176 or so episodes. It's narrated by Mike Duncan who is always demonstrating his own passion for the subject in a loose, easygoing way (and with a nice, dry-humor you grow to miss all the way through).

Now, the podcast was Duncan's first, so the first few episodes creak a little (doesn't help that these cover the full-of-holes mythical age of Rome), but soon on enough, he gets into a groove that only kept improving throughout the series run. Again, this won't leave you an expert of the empire, but the narrative style with a predilection toward the reigns of the empire's leaders and the tasty historical anecdote will leave you hungry for more in a way few if any written-only sources would. Mary Beard's SPQR and Gibbons Decline are good follow ups, if still wanting for good historicity as any overviews of things covering so long a span of time can't help but be (too, the latter being long since a meme).

Any material on rome before it had assimilated greek culture?

Not really. There isn't much Roman literature or writings in general before the 2nd century BC. Romans were greekaboos since the jump. Roman playwrights copied Greek play structure. Most Roman writers translated greek works into Roman.

Start with Roman writings from the period of Rome that interests you. Commentaries on the Gallic War or Twelve Caesars are a must if you are wanting late republic/early imperial. Everything you read will of course be biased in favour of the person who commissioned the work so try to read several historians on any historical book you read.

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>that map
Where did the Romans originate from?

I spent one of my past holidays reading Seneca's complete theater plays, I don't think it's a good start but it's definitely some interesting part. (as opposed to Terence who was boring as fuck)

Is this a joke?
Duncan is a pleb with revisionist tendencies.
Consider how he talks about roman women, he just doesn't understand how the romans thought.
His political ideology is obvious when he attempts to downplay the negative influence of "big government" in the economy.

It is essentially a Normie redditor reading all the wikipedia articles about Rome to you. If you treat it as such, there is nothing wrong with listening to it.

Read Caesar. He was an awesome writer and a pivotal historical figure, plus his books are full of battles and sieges and stuff. You'll be hooked, I promise.

Learn latin.

Plutarch's Lives is a great starting place.

Tacitus, Livy, Polybius, Dio Cassius, Diodorous Siculus, Virgil, Sallust, and Josephus are good places to go next.

It is ridiculous to recommend the Etruscans to someone who wants an introduction to the Romans. Does this make you happy, being such a hipster contrarian? It's like recommending Marlowe to someone who wants to read Shakespeare for the first time. So stupid.

Rodney Stark

He tears apart the myth that Rome was great, and reveals the true age of reason was medieval Europe under the guidance of the Catholic Church.

Rome is for fedoras.

Seneca and Cicero's Letters
Plutarch's also good but if you're going the learn Latin route, the top two are Latin writers.
Juvenal
Someone mentioned the Golden Ass which is enjoyable anyways.

Later works like Tertullian will get you into that whole Christianity 411 run up.

>He tears apart the myth that Rome was great

I already know that. Nothing before 1971 was "great", it's all slogans and embellishments. I am fully aware that the standard take on Roman history is just an illusion, yet that's an illusion I fully accept and want to delve into.

Start at for the history, start at the greeks for the literature.

>the true age of reason was medieval Europe under the guidance of the Catholic Church.
uwotm8?

Visit it

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Didn't realize it was a shitpost until you mentioned Gibbons. 7/10

Comentarii de Bello Gallico is essential

Martial's epigrams include some top notch bantz.
Otherwise the letters of Pliny the younger if you'd like something more serious

NIGGA shut the fuck up, Gibbon is top class and you're shit

Try "Aeneis". Also this

youtu.be/kNclyV3493M

>translated into Roman