Rome: Empire of the Eagles

Faulkner starts from an interesting perspective. As a Marxist and a Roman archaeologist, he wished to bring his two chief passions together and gauge whether the one could be used to successfully analyse the other. Finding traditional Marxist accounts unsatisfactory he created his own thesis; that the history of the Roman Empire was one of ‘robbery with violence.’

The role of the Roman under-classes is brought to the forefront. Both the plebeians in Italy and the non-citizen workers in the provinces are highlighted as the true architects of Roman success. The massive military machine of Empire being utterly financially dependent upon the vast tax income generated in the provinces. The army, meanwhile, are shown as what they were – a special interest group whose lives and prosperity were intrinsically linked to continued military success, financed by the exploitation of provincials with no rights.