Enemies of the Roman Order was written by Ramsay MacMullen. He was born in New York City in 1928 and went on to be a professor at Yale University from 1967 to 1993. Even after his retirement, he continued to write books, with fifteen published in total. The thesis or purpose of Enemies of the Roman Order is to explain and show the chronological order and the types of enemies to the Roman order and their effect on the government and society. Enemies of the Roman Order is broken down into sections based on categories of enemies. The first is called “Cato, Brutus, and their Succession”. This section of the book lays out the events of this time period in order. Starting in 44 B.C., with the murder of Caesar working its way to 62 B.C. when Persius,
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This portion of Enemies of the Roman Order uses images and descriptions of carved stone artifacts to express the urban unrest. In 59 A.D. there was a Pompeian riot, which is depicted in the book. Using a few images like this one along with the reference to other books and authors allows the reader a visual of the chaos that came with the unrest. Most readers find this helpful in understanding the conflict and how violent it could be. The last section of the book is titled “The Outsiders”. In this part the author focuses on the neighboring cities to Rome. He refers to these as a “more traditional and convenient target (p.191)”. Using other articles and books as his sources, he proves his point that the outsiders to the Roman Empire were potentially the most dangerous enemy it ever had. Also by continuing chronologically through time he demonstrates examples of outsiders being a violent disturbance to the Roman Order. In conclusion, Enemies of the Roman Order was a well-written book that analyzed each enemy the Roman Empire faced over time. This book developed logically with sections that proceeded by theme and within these sections proceeded chronologically through the time period. With an identifiable thesis to display the types of enemies to the Roman Order and their effect on the government and the society, MacMullen proves his point to the
This portion of Enemies of the Roman Order uses images and descriptions of carved stone artifacts to express the urban unrest. In 59 A.D. there was a Pompeian riot, which is depicted in the book. Using a few images like this one along with the reference to other books and authors allows the reader a visual of the chaos that came with the unrest. Most readers find this helpful in understanding the conflict and how violent it could be. The last section of the book is titled “The Outsiders”. In this part the author focuses on the neighboring cities to Rome. He refers to these as a “more traditional and convenient target (p.191)”. Using other articles and books as his sources, he proves his point that the outsiders to the Roman Empire were potentially the most dangerous enemy it ever had. Also by continuing chronologically through time he demonstrates examples of outsiders being a violent disturbance to the Roman Order. In conclusion, Enemies of the Roman Order was a well-written book that analyzed each enemy the Roman Empire faced over time. This book developed logically with sections that proceeded by theme and within these sections proceeded chronologically through the time period. With an identifiable thesis to display the types of enemies to the Roman Order and their effect on the government and the society, MacMullen proves his point to the