A Bibliography of Really Useful Sources For Gaming in Ancient Rome

Not all information can be gleaned from the web, so that’s why Barnes & Noble and the local University library exist. There are a lot of excellent reference books out there on the subject of ancient Rome. I have compiled a short list of books I’ve found particularly useful, especially with regards to running a campaign in the era of the Roman Republic. Certainly, if you wish to study the history of Rome for it’s own sake, there is a much larger body of source material to draw from (i.e. Gibbon’s Rise and Fall, for example), but the books mentioned here happen to be especially useful from a gamer’s perspective. Enjoy!


Matthew Bunson, A Dictionary of the Roman Empire (Oxford Paperback Reference 1991)
This is a must-have. A close to complete dictionary format reference to all things related to the Roman Republic and Empire. Invaluable. If you can spell it, you can look it up!

Lionel Casson, The Ancient Mariners (Princeton paperbacks 1991)
You would do well to pick this book up for any ancient seafaring campaign, fantasy or historical. You’ll learn more about what ancient seafarers did and why in this book than any other game-based reference on the subject out there, and probably get more ideas for adventures out of this, too.

Karl Christ, The Romans (University of California Press 1984)
A somewhat more recent treatment of the history of the Romans, with a more up-to-date approach to the matter. Especially enjoyable if you want to avoid older, stuffy text books. Good for a practical, readable account of the ins-and-outs of the Romans and their society.

Michael Grant, Cleopatra (Phoenix Press 1972)
Grant’s analytic account of the tumultuous life of Cleopatra and her relationship with Caesar and Antony makes for some compelling reading, and provides an excellent, detailed account of a well-documented period of the Roman Republic and Egypt. Cleopatra....oh, yeah! Gotta love her.

Michael Grant, Julius Caesar (M. Evans Edition 1972)
Michael Grant’s telling of the life of Julius Caesar is, perhaps, somewhat more accessible and digestible than Cleopatra, but I’d suggest both books to anyone who wants well researched, blow-by-blow accounts of the life and times of these two historic figures.

Michael Grant, A Guide to the Ancient World (Barnes & Noble Books 1986)
I don’t know what I’d do without Michael Grant. This book is probably the single most useful resource for a campaign set in the ancient world you’ll ever find, and a damned useful resource for non-gaming topical research, too. Pick a place on one of the finely detailed maps, flip to the entry, and learn all about what and why that location was remembered. If you had to pick one book to provide you with a wealth of gaming data, this is it.

Edith Hamilton, Mythology (Various editions, originally 1940)
No self-respecting gamer should be without Edith Hamilton’s collection of classical mythology. In fact, chances are you read this book or portions of it in grade school (I did). Still, this is one of the few books that brings together a concise view of classical myth and helps to distinguish those elements adopted by the Romans and those which remained distinctly Greek.

Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire (Blackwell Publishers 1996, http://www.Blackwellpublishers.co.uk)
Heavy reading, but the insight Turcan grants a modern reader on the nature of magic and religious cultism as viewed in the Roman period is invaluable. Well worth reading!