A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins

”[D]elightful… . fascinating, original and fun. The story of Rome is of course extraordinary. But the way it is told by Harney brings it to life.” –Financial Times (best books of 2024)”[Harney] has done an excellent job of providing an overview of Roman history… [and] the fascinating story of Roman coins.” –Bowling Green News“Excellent…enjoyable…1,000 years of Rome told in an engaging new way.” –The Times (London)“Great fun to read … . Absorbing–even gripping … . Harney covers a thousand-plus years in his creative, colorful recap of the rise and fall of the Roman world.” –Pittsburgh Post-Gazette“A novel and highly readable approach to Roman history. The author’s enthusiasm shines through on every page.” –Philip Matyszak, author of A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives“Extremely enjoyable. A brilliant combination of entertaining and educational Roman history that makes numismatics vivid and exciting.” –Emma Southon, author of A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women“Fast paced and vivid…makes more than a millennium of Roman history tangible, telling the story of the empire’s rise and fall through the thing that backed it all - cold hard cash. The coins in these pages funded wars, paid debts, and bought bread, but they also defined factions, declared beliefs, and forged the enduring images of some of history’s greatest men.” –Honor Cargill-Martin, author of Messalina“This vivid story of some 800 years of artistry, assassination and adventure makes it far more than a history of Roman coins, but it’s that too, and if you weren’t already fascinated by these tiny beautiful works of art and all we can learn from them, I promise that you will be by the time the barbarians are at the gate (and probably by end of the prologue). There are riches aplenty in these pages, and Gareth uses his wonderful hoard of coins to pay our fare back to the roar of the Colosseum and the Roman senate house, where he is waiting to describe the ancient past with learning and immediacy.” –Christopher Hadley, author of The Road

Gareth Harney is a Roman historian and coin collector driven by the goal of bringing the wonders of the ancient world to a modern audience. He has worked on excavations of Roman villas in the southwest of England and written about Roman sites in the publications of the Association for Roman Archaeology. As a collector of Roman coinage, he has built his own extensive collection over two decades and pioneered new ways to bring the joys of this esoteric field to a popular audience. He can be found on X at @OptimoPrincipi.