The History of Rome

THE HISTORY OF ROME (Livy, Roman, 27-9 BCE)

Ab Urbe Condita ("From the Founding of the City") is the only surviving work of Livy (Titus Livius, 59 BCE-17 CE), a Roman historian. As the name suggests, it purports to start with (or actually before) Rome's traditional founding date in 753 BCE, and continues up to the author's time, the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Naturally, the earliest portions are more legend than fact (e.g. the arrival of Aeneas and the Trojan refugees). Only about a quarter of the work (35 of 142 books) has survived, dealing with the earliest events down to 293 BCE (the Preface and Books 1-10), and from 219-166 BCE (Books 21-45). Some other passages are known through quotation by other authors.

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