His account runs from the beginning down to the end of the third century BCE and the Second Punic War, but doesn't attempt a continuous historical narrative. It focuses on the development of Roman political ideas and structures and their inextricable intertwining with matters military, from a likely origin in coordinated cattle raiding through to the need to match the armies and navies of larger states.
"The Roman Republic was a federation of elite families who worked together for mutual benefit, but in a highly competitive environment.
"The focus on portable wealth in central Italian warfare remained consistent throughout the fifth century. However, in the final decades of the century, we begin to see the first hints that at least some clans and clan leaders were starting to think about other forms of wealth — most notably land."
"While we start to get hints of the Romans developing corporate myths and talking about themselves as 'Romans,' this is all surprisingly late. Indeed, the first solid evidence we have for the term 'Romans' being used is from currency produced in the final decades of the fourth century — and likely not by the Romans themselves. Rome's imperial state and federation was a practical and pragmatic agreement, not a deeply patriotic one."
There is nothing in Children of Mars about everyday life, agriculture, religion, and so forth, but it is not a narrowly military history — some technical details about the structure of the early Roman army are left to a thirty five page appendix — and should intrigue anyone curious about early Roman history.
January 2026
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