At once a historical essay and a meditation on the writing of history, The Foundation of Rome takes as its starting point a series of accounts of Rome's origins offered over the course of centuries. Alexandre Grandazzi places these accounts in their contemporary contexts and shows how a growing sophistication in methodology gradually changed the accepted views of the city's origins. He looks, for example, at the hypercritical philology of the nineteenth century, which cast aside everything that could not be verified. He then explains how the increase in archeological discoveries and changing archeological techniques influenced the story of Rome's birth.
Grandazzi produces a depiction of Rome's origins that is both up-to-date and provocative. His use of scientific parallels to describe changes in the way texts have been analyzed and his broad familiarity with comparative material make his synthesis particularly illuminating, and he writes with clarity, verve, and wit. The methodological and historiographical dimensions of this book, first published in France in 1991, have endeared it to many outside the field of ancient history.

Alexandre Grandazzi is Professor of Classics at the University of Paris-Sorbonne.