Ancient Rome / William E. Dunstan.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Early Italy -- Origins of Rome -- The young republic -- Roman conquest of Italy -- Duel with Carthage -- Roman conquest of the Mediterranean world -- Impact of overseas conquests on the senatorial oligarchy -- Impact of overseas conquests of the economic and social organization of Italy -- Greek cultural influences on Rome -- Rival conceptions of state and society plague Roman politics : from the Gracchi to the Social War -- Sulla -- Pompey and Caesar -- Antony and Octavian wrestle for empire : final dissolution of the old republican order -- Economic, social, and cultural climate of the late republic -- Augustus and the founding of the Roman Empire -- Augustan social and religious policy -- Augustan art and literature and the Augustan legacy --

From Tiberius to Nero : the Julio-Claudian dynasty -- From Vespasian to Domitian : the Flavian dynasty -- From Nerva to Marcus Aurelius : the five good emperors -- Government, economy, and society in the first and second centuries -- Architecture and sculpture in the first and second centuries -- Literature in the first and second centuries -- Commodus and the Severan dynasty -- Third-century imperial crisis and first phase of recovery -- Reorganization of Diocletian and Constantine -- Last years of the united empire -- Society and culture in the later empire -- Rise of Christianity -- Christian triumph and controversy -- Dismemberment of the Roman Empire in the West -- Epilogue : the thousand-year survival of the Roman Empire in the East.