A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins by Gareth Harney

Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins:

Toss a coin to your nerd.

Quick synopsis:

Yeah, it is exactly what the title says it is.

Fact for Non-History People:

When Julius Caesar was kidnapped, he demanded his captors raise their ransom demand because he felt insulted by their low number.

Fact for History Nerds:

The study or collection of coins is called numismatics.

My Take on A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins:

I have finally found it. I have found a book with the title, “A History of (blank) in 12 (blanks).” There seems to be a lot of them and up until now, I always felt they were very forced and bounced around so much that it made my head spin.

Not so with Gareth Harney’s A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins. Why coins? Harney is very into coins. Also, using coins when telling the story of Rome actually makes sense. These coins were…..uh, coined… at the major moments of the Roman Empire. It helps that Harney has an easy prose which makes this accessible to any audience and his 12 coin choices are inspired. It means the reader gets the best stories.

I will say that the stories are very high level. A huge Roman history nerd is probably not going to find anything very new here other than the coins which can at times feel like an afterthought. I’d say this book works best for someone who is not steeped in this time period but wants to learn a bit about it.

(This book was provided as a review copy by Atria Books.)

Verdict:

A great book even for non-nerds. Buy it here!