Time travel is seductive. What would happen if … but will the answer open a Pandora’s box? “Sherrie said, ‘Let me get this straight. We are going to let a girl from Ancient Rome that just saw a car for the first time today, drive us?’ ” —Excerpt from Rome Never Fell In his raucous new novel, C. R. Fabis weaves a fantastic tale of real history interwoven with some wild what ifs. Astrophysicists major and full-time nerd Henry Gafield is busily studying the earth’s electromagnetic field in an attempt to save money on his electric bill. One of his experiments goes south, but he soon discovers that he actually shot himself two minutes back in time. - A science experiment gone wrong. -A gorgeous, fledging historian needs some help. -Will the nerdy scientist finally get his wish? While he is perfecting his discovery, he meets classical studies major and inspiring historian, Sherrie Melbourne. Henry lets the gorgeous Sherrie in on his secret. She quickly figures out that Henry can help her with a major problem. She convinces Henry to go back in time to one of the most amazing periods in human history—the birth of the Roman Empire. Henry has reservations, but he has his own designs on history. Rome Never Fell takes the reader on a fantastical journey through ancient Rome, meeting some of the most infamous characters in all of history. While it seems as though Henry and his beautiful companions have single-handedly averted cataclysmic catastrophes, the reader may be surprised at what the present actually holds.

This is a fascinating exploration of how the history of Europe, and indeed the world, might have been different if the Western Roman Empire had survived the crises that pulled it apart in the 4th and 5th centuries.Dr Timothy Venning starts by showing how that survival and recovery might plausibly have happened if several relatively minor things had been different. He then moves on to discuss a series of scenarios which might have altered the course of subsequent history dramatically. Would the survival of a strong Western Empire have assisted the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire in halting the expansion of Islam in the Middle East and North Africa? How would the Western Roman Empire have handled the Viking threat? Could they even have exploited the Viking discovery of America and established successful colonies there?While necessarily speculative, all the scenarios are discussed within the framework of a deep understanding of the major driving forces, tensions and trends that shaped European history and help to shed light upon them. In so doing they help the reader to understand why things panned out as they did, as well as what might have been.

The author discusses how the Roman Empire--an empire without a serious rival--rotted from within, its rulers and institutions putting short-term ambition and personal survival over the wider good of the state.

No power on Earth can resist the might of Imperial Rome, so it has been and so it ever shall be. Through brute force, terror, and sheer indomitable will, her armies have enslaved a world. From the reign of Maximilianus the Great in A.U.C. 1203 onward through the ages -- into a new era of scientific advancement and astounding technologies -- countless upstarts and enemies arise, only to be ground into the dust beneath the merciless Roman bootheels. But one people who suffer and endure throughout the many centuries of oppressive rule dream of the glorious day that is coming -- when the heavens themselves will be opened to them…and the ships they are preparing in secret will carry them on their "Great Exodus" to the stars.

This is a fascinating exploration of how the history of Europe, and indeed the world, might have been different if the Western Roman Empire had survived the crises that pulled it apart in the 4th and 5th centuries. Dr. Timothy Venning starts by showing how that survival and recovery might plausibly have happened if several relatively minor things had been different. He then moves on to discuss a series of scenarios which might have altered the course of subsequent history dramatically. Would the survival of a strong Western Empire have assisted the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire in halting the expansion of Islam in the Middle East and North Africa? How would the Western Roman Empire have handled the Viking threat? Could they even have exploited the Viking discovery of America and established successful colonies there? While necessarily speculative, all the scenarios are discussed within the framework of a deep understanding of the major driving forces, tensions and trends that shaped European history and help to shed light upon them. In so doing they help the reader to understand why things panned out as they did, as well as what might have been.

Greek slavery from Homer to the Persian wars -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : slave supply and slave numbers -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : slave employment and legal aspects of slavery -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : the social setting of polis slavery -- The eastern Mediterranean lands from Alexander to Augustus : the Delphic manumissions : slave origins, economic and legal approaches -- The eastern area from Alexander to Augustus : basic differences between pre-Greek and Greek slavery -- Slavery in Hellenistic Egypt : pharaonic tradition and Greek intrusions -- War and slavery in the West to 146 B.C. -- The Roman republic : praedial slavery, piracy, and slave revolts -- The later republic : the slave and the Roman familia -- The later republic : social and legal position of slaves -- Slavery under the Roman empire to Constantine the Great : sources and numbers of slaves -- The Roman Empire in the West : economic aspects of slavery -- Slavery under the Roman Empire : the provenance of slaves, how sold and prices paid -- The Roman Empire : living conditions and social life of slaves -- Imperial slaves and freedmen of the emperors : amelioration of slavery -- The moral implications of imperial slavery and the "decline" of ancient culture -- In the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire -- From Diocletian to Justinian : problems os slavery -- From Diocletian to Justinian : the eastern and the western developments -- From Diocletian to Justinian : leveling of position between free workers and slaves -- Upon slavery and Christianity -- Conclusion.

The gripping story of how the end of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the modern world The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world? In an absorbing narrative that begins with ancient Rome but stretches far beyond it, from Byzantium to China and from Genghis Khan to Napoleon, Scheidel shows how the demise of Rome and the enduring failure of empire-building on European soil launched an economic transformation that changed the continent and ultimately the world.