Famous Men of Rome

Famous Men of Rome is Memoria Press's edition of the classic biographical reader, covering Roman history through the lives of the men who shaped it. It runs from the legend of Romulus and Remus through the kings, the Republic, the great generals and orators, the civil wars, the emperors, and finally Constantine — roughly thirty short biographies arranged chronologically.

The biographical approach is the point. Rather than presenting Rome as a sequence of institutional developments, the book gives students a person to attach each period to: Horatius at the bridge, Cincinnatus at the plough, Hannibal crossing the Alps, the Gracchi, Marius and Sulla, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Marcus Aurelius. Chapters are short — typically three to five pages — with the narrative pitched to be read independently by a strong fourth or fifth grader, or read aloud to a wider age range.

Within classical education this is a standard spine for the Rome portion of the ancient-history cycle, most often used in grades 4 through 7. Memoria Press sells a matching student guide and teacher guide with comprehension questions, vocabulary, drill questions, and maps; the text volume listed here is the reader itself, so families wanting the full workbook treatment usually buy the set. It is frequently paired with a Latin program, and with The Bronze Bow or other Roman-era historical fiction for the literature strand.

Two caveats. The prose derives from an older public-domain text and carries a somewhat formal, early-twentieth-century register — most students adjust quickly, but it reads differently from contemporary children's nonfiction. And the treatment is traditional, focused on political and military figures; families wanting daily life, social history, or the provinces will want to supplement.

Published by Memoria Press.