Imperial Rome. Socio-political, military, and educational aspects. Review of Christopher Kelley’s book The Roman Empire, translated by Andrzej Kompa, University of Łódź Press, Łódź 2024, pp. 181

Abstract

The 181-page book under review, written by Christopher Kelly and titled The Roman Empire,
was published by the University of Lodz Press in 2024. It presents the history of Rome, focusing,
as the title itself suggests, on the period of the Imperial rule.
The book consists of an introduction and seven chapters. The first of these discusses infor-
mation about the conquest process in the Republican period, while the second presents the Im-
perial power. The third chapter examines the role of Roman elites in establishing the concept of
mare nostrum, whereas the fourth one is devoted to state-building processes and the influence
of Greek culture on the development of Roman civilization. The fifth chapter contains considera-
tions of the persecution of Christians in Imperial Rome, and the sixth one discusses demographic
issues in the Roman Empire. The final, seventh, chapter is dedicated to the following perceptions:
of Imperial Rome by the British Empire in the last decade before World War I as well as that of
"Mussolini’s Italy", and of Hollywood cinema. Christopher Kelly’s book, The Roman Empire, while
not a "classic", is certainly valuable from the cultural and educational point of view.