Maybe it is because they were a civilization that went from Monarchy, via Republic, to Empire; or that particularly after the conquest of Syracuse took on the better aspects of Greece, and hence became the forebearer of much of European culture. To an extent the remnants of empire still live on in the Roman Catholic Church. Anyway, over the past few years I have become increasingly interested in this period of ancient history.
Of course I studied Latin in school (amo, amas, amat ...) , much to my contemporary disgust. Indeed I wasn't very good!
My interest in Ancient Rome was actually originally rekindled by endlessly playing the PC game, CAESAR III (an attempt to model the difficulties experienced in creating and running a Roman town), who says gaming is a waste of time huh? Although probably the Microsoft AGE OF EMPIRES Rise Of Rome expansion had something to do with it as well.
Consequently I read a series of books that I had been intending to for a long time, those of Lindsey Davis about her detective hero Marcus Didius Falco, set during the reign of the first Flavian Emperor Vespasian.
Next, on the recommendation of a friend, came Stephen Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series about the investigations of Gordianus The Finder during the time the Late Republic was falling apart due the depredations of such men as Pompey and Julius Caesar. Unfortunately the last two of these have not quite in my opinion reached the heights set by the earlier ones.
Maureen McCullough's sweepingly baroque Masters Of Rome series, set during a similar time, I cannot I'm afraid unhesitatingly recommend because although she provides fascinating information about the politics of the Republic and has a deft hand with character, I think she focuses too much on the love interest.
I've recently finished Ross Leckie's two works of historical fiction set during the Second Punic War; HANNIBAL and SCIPIO, and jolly good I thought they were too. Although I was slightly disappointed by the recent third CARTHAGE.
Of course the grandfather of all this sort of stuff is Robert Graves' I, CLAUDIUS, which I recently reread and discovered I got a great deal more from than when I did so previously in my teens. Could the conquest of Britain really have prevented a rebellion in Palestine?
Must mention here Alan Massie and his 4 novels, CAESAR, AUGUSTUS, ANTONY, and TIBERIUS. There is another NERO'S HEIRS not part of this sequence. Oh, and David Wishart too.
My Reference Library (further suggestions gratefully received)
Blond, Anthony - A SCANDALOUS HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPERORS, Robinson
Bradford, Ernle - HANNIBAL, Wordsworth Editions Limited
Caesar - THE CONQUEST OF GAUL, Trans. S. A. Handford, Penguin
Caesar - THE CIVIL WAR, Trans. Jane F. Gardner, Penguin
Cassius Dio - THE ROMAN HISTORY: THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS, Trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin
Cicero - DEFENCE SPEECHES, Trans. D. H. Berry, Oxford University Press
Cicero - LETTERS TO ATTICUS, Trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Penguin
Cicero - SELECTED POLITICAL SPEECHES, Trans. Michael Grant, Penguin
Cicero - SELECTED WORKS, Trans. Michael Grant, Penguin
Grant, Michael - THE WORLD OF ROME, Phoenix Press
Holland, Tom - RUBICON, Abacus
Josephus - THE JEWISH WAR, Trans. G. A. Williamson, Penguin
Juvenal - THE SIXTEEN SATIRES, Trans. Peter Green, Penguin
Livy - THE RISE OF ROME, Trans. T. J. Luce, Oxford University Press
Livy - ROME AND ITALY, Trans. Betty Radice, Penguin
Livy - ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN, Trans. Henry Bettenson, Penguin
Livy - THE WAR WITH HANNIBAL, Trans. Aubrey De Sélincourt, Penguin
Ovid - METAMORPHOSES, Trans. Mary M. Innes, Penguin
Polybius - THE RISE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin
Pliny - THE LETTERS OF THE YOUNGER PLINY, Trans. Betty Radice, Penguin
Plutarch - THE FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Trans. Rex Warner, Penguin
Plutarch - THE MAKERS OF ROME, Trans. Rex Warner, Penguin
Sallust - THE JUGURTHINE WAR/THE CONSPIRACY OF CATALINE, Trans. S. A. Handford, Penguin
Scullard, H.H. - FROM THE GRACCHI TO NERO, Routledge
Suetonius - THE TWELVE CAESARS, Trans. Robert Graves, Penguin
Tacitus - THE AGRICOLA AND THE GERMANIA, Trans. H. Mattingley, Penguin
Tacitus - THE ANNALS OF IMPERIAL ROME, Trans. Michael Grant, Penguin
Tacitus - THE HISTORIES, Trans. Kenneth Wellesley, Penguin
Virgil - THE AENEID, Trans. W. F. Jackson Knight, Penguin
Welch, Kathryn - THE ROMANS, Lansdowne Publishing Pty Ltd
Other Links Of Interest