Famous Men of Rome

Can we help?:

• Ask us a question
• Submit a Product Review
• Send to a Friend
• Schedule a Gift Reminder

Genre: History / Ancient / Rome; Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Biography; History: World; General; Ancient - Rome; Ancient Rome - History; Biography; Biography and Autobiography - Historical; History - Europe; Homeschooling; Juvenile Nonfiction; Rome; Textbooks; United States; Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Europe;

Average Review: 4 stars

Review: Requires explanation and additional information from parent/teacher : Though the subtitle of the book is "Roman History," the text actually begins with the Roman myth of Romulus and Remus. This is not inappropriate, however, the myths are not prefaced with "the story goes..." or "Roman history begins with the myth..." or any sort of indication that the history book begins with mythology. The myths are related in the same factual tone as the rest of the book. Now when most children read that Sylvia married the god Mars and then bore him twin sons, they would recognize this as a myth, but how would they know where the myth ended and the real story began? There is no distinction in this book between the mythology and the history. It just reports that Sylvia bore Romulus and Remus, Romulus was the first king, Numa became king after him, then Tullus Hostilius, etc. On the other hand it is interesting that in relating the story of Constantine's vision of heavenly cross emblazoned with the words, "in hoc signo vinces," the book makes a point of saying that "Constantine said" this happened, rather than "Constantine saw" this. This is nit-picky but it just seemed odd that this incident apart from all others in the book should be so carefully related as hearsay. I also have a problem with the prioritization of the events in Diocletian's reign. The text states, "Diocletian's primary legacy is the division of the Empire into eastern and western halves." The Christian persecutions (the main thing I associate with Diocletian's reign) are relegated to a mere two sentences. The text fails to specify that these were the worst Christian persecutions of all, and that they included the ruthless mutilation of women and children as witnessed and documented by Eusebius (in fact, no mention is made of Eusebius at all; one might have thought the "Father of Church History" worthy of mention among notable men of the period). In what brief mention it does make of the persecutions, the text asserts that they were all Galerius' fault anyway; Diocletian was allegedly "personally opposed" to the persecutions. How Diocletian personally felt about the persecutions might make an interesting topic for graduate studies, but it seems too nuanced for elementary aged students. I do think students need more than two sentences about the persecutions, and they need to know that Diocletian's name is inseparably linked to the persecutions. Whether he abdicated authority in this to Galerius, Diocletian was the Emperor and therefore ultimately responsible. Lastly, the book contains several descriptions of suicides and dishonorable deaths. It isn't just noted that this or that man committed suicide, but rather, it's described how each did it. These descriptions don't seem to be to be crucial to the story and I'm not sure this is age-appropriate material. (This book is recommended for the 4th grade.) Oh, it also occurred to me that it would have been so nice to have had a pronunciation guide included in this book. Maybe that's in the parent and/or student guides? On the positive side, the book does have beautiful illustrations and with the exceptions noted above, the content and writing style are suited to the recommended age. One of my favorite parts was the description of augurs (fortune tellers): "They pretended that by watching the sky and observing how birds and animals acted they could tell what would happen to people and nations. When they were alone, however, they would have a great deal of fun over the tricks they played upon the foolish people." This is a clear explanation that any child could understand. I wish the rest of the book were written so plainly. So, in a nutshell, the book could be a useful supplement, but altogether it would require a fair amount of watchfulness, explanation and disclaimer from the parent/teacher... That degrades its value as a textbook, in my opinion. It certainly doesn't seem very well suited to give to a child for independent study.