Not too many books have brought to life the shadowy last emperors of the Roman empire at all and, if they have tried to do so, not as well. I can now almost pick the Emperors Anthemis, Olybrius and Glycerius out of a police or rather Praetorian line-up. All the main players of the period are introduced, from Aetius and Attitla to Priscus and Zosimus. Main sources of evidence for inquiry also appear from the Notitia Dignitatum to the Panegyrics of Sidonius Apollinaris. My main gripe with the book is a stylistic one. While I can handle a few "whilsts" now and then, too many "due to the fact thats" and the wordy like, plus too many sentences passively beginning with the false subjects "it is" or "there was" wilt the narrative flow and take away the formation of a picture of this or that scene. Still, framed are some wonderful lines of direction and thought which make this book, in my opinion, a must-read for any student of Imperial Rome's last sovereign days in the West. Numismatic, prosopographic, textual, and archaeological evidence are all well-manipulated into reconstructing this curtain-caller opening to the Middle Ages.Read full review
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