000			01100nam a2200169Ia 4500
005			20250710124118.0
008			250710s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9780582784956
082			_a937.06 _bFAU
100			_aFaulkner, Neil
245		0	_aRome
260			_bRoutledge _c2008
300			_a408 pages
500			_aThe Roman Empire is widely admired as a model of civilisation. In this compelling new study Neil Faulkner argues that in fact, it was nothing more than a ruthless system of robbery and violence. War was used to enrich the state, the imperial ruling classes and favoured client groups. In the process millions of people were killed or enslaved. Within the empire the landowning elite creamed off the wealth of the countryside to pay taxes to the state and fund the towns and villas where they lived. The masses of people - slaves, serfs and poor peasants - were victims of a grand exploitation that made the empire possible. This system, riddled with tension and latent conflict, contained the seeds of its own eventual collapse.
650			_aHistory
942			_cENGLISH
999			_c575339 _d575339