Publishing
Coffret collector Rome
Les Belles Lettres
https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/livre/9782251458069/rome
I conceived and illustrated this sumptuous boxed set, which brings together the two volumes Isaac Asimov devoted to Roman history, from the founding of the City to the fall of the Empire.
Asimov’s fascination with the destiny of the great Roman Empire was, moreover, one of the major sources of inspiration for his Galactic Empire in the Foundation Cycle, a work that quickly established itself as a classic and a cornerstone of science-fiction literature.
In The Roman Republic, Asimov recounts the epic of a small tribe that, over the course of five centuries, built, through audacity and ingenuity, one of the most brilliant civilizations in history: Rome. From the legendary foundation by Romulus to the rise of Augustus, he offers, through his masterful command of narrative, a clear and compelling portrait of this fascinating era.
Each chapter opens with one of my illustrations, conceived as a visual threshold, immersing the reader fully in this “extraordinary sequence of triumphs and disasters, of feats of bravery in war and folly in peace, of sordid intrigues and glorious idealism,” in Asimov’s own words.
In the second and final volume devoted to Roman history, The Roman Empire, Asimov guides the reader through the four centuries during which Rome exercised its hegemony over the Western world, bringing peace to nearly one hundred million people. The narrative resumes at the accession of Augustus and the beginning of the Principate, and follows all the imperial dynasties through to the Germanic kingdoms and the victory of Clovis at Soissons, which marks the end of the Roman tradition, 1,239 years after the founding of the City by Romulus.
A lucid chronicler, Asimov weaves anecdotes, observations, and asides, linking “great” history, the history of battles and rulers, with “small” history, that of everyday life and anonymous masses. Like the first, this volume is accompanied by my drawings, conceived to convey the majesty, complexity, and depth of the Roman world.
