ASPECTS OF THE ROMAN IMPERIAL AND LATE ANTIQUE PERIOD

How to write the history of the Roman imperial period and late antiquity in the second decade of the twenty-first century?Which subjects are to be taken into account, and by what means should they be approached?A monograph and three edited volumes, published in 2023 and 2024, provide paradigmatic insights into these questions.The monograph, authored by Beard, is directed not exclusively, though primarily, towards a wider readership.By contrast, the three edited volumesedited by Davenport and McEvoy, Lopez Garcia, and Wijnendaele respectivelyare addressed, owing also to their thematic emphases, to more specialised audiences.Beard counts as one of the most distinguished and prolific classical scholars of her generation.Through her publications she has consistently addressed not only academic specialists but also a broader readership, thereby making a considerable contribution to the popularisation of classical studies, particularly, but by no means exclusively, in the anglophone world over recent decades.One need only recall her publication SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015), originally published in English and subsequently translated into numerous other languages.Her latest monograph, Emperor of Rome, represents a further example par excellence of her efforts to bring ancient Mediterranean studies out of the ivory tower.In this work