Adrian Keith Goldsworthy (; born 1969) is a British

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and novelist who specialises in

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

history.

Education

Adrian Goldsworthy attended Westbourne School,

Penarth Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...

. He then read Ancient and Modern History at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

, completing a D.Phil. in ancient

military history Military history is the study of War, armed conflict in the Human history, history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to Politics, local and international relationship ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1994. That dissertation laid the foundation of his first book, ''The Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200''.

Career

Goldsworthy was appointed a Junior Research Fellow at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

for two years, taught briefly at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

and was an assistant professor on the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

's London programme for six years. His expertise is in Roman history, but he has also taught a course on the military history of the Second World War. Goldsworthy has appeared on

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

documentaries and the television game show '' Time Commanders'', serving as an expert on battles being fought by the contestants. He gave a speech about Roman history and politics to the cast of a 2010 Liverpool production of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Antony and Cleopatra ''Antony and Cleopatra'' is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed around 1607, by the King's Men at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre. Its first appearance in print was in the First Folio published ...

''. In 2010 Goldsworthy began writing a series of military novels - based not in Roman times but in the Napoleonic era and concentrating on Wellington's redcoat army, another period in which he has great interest. His first novel, ''True Soldier Gentlemen'', was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2011 and was followed by ''Beat the Drums Slowly'' and ''Send Me Safely Back Again''. The titles of each of his novels are taken from the lyrics of popular military songs of the period. Asked about his philosophy of life, Goldsworthy responded that he was "English, so obviously do not have a philosophy. I am a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, though, if you want to know about important beliefs." Goldsworthy lives in

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

Works

Goldsworthy has written several historical works on ancient Rome, especially the

Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...

, and nine novels.

Nonfiction

*''The Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200'' (

OUP Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1996) *''Roman Warfare'' ( Cassell, 2000) *''The Punic Wars'' (Cassell, 2000) **Reprint title: ''The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265–146 BC'', (Cassell, 2003) *''Fields of Battle: Cannae'' ( Orion, 2001) *''Caesar's Civil War: 49–44 BC'' (2002),

Osprey Publishing Osprey Publishing is a British publishing company specializing in military history formerly based in Oxford. Predominantly an illustrated publisher, many of their books contain full-colour artwork plates, maps and photographs, and the company p ...

*''In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire'' (Orion, 2003) *''The Complete Roman Army'' (

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, 2003) *'' Caesar, Life of a Colossus'', (

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 2006) *''The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower'' (Orion 2009) **U.S. title: ''How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower'', (Yale University Press, 2009) *''Antony and Cleopatra'' (2010);

* ''Augustus: First Emperor of Rome,'' (Yale University Press, 2014) * ''Pax Romana. War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World'', (Orion Publishing Co, 2016) 528 p * ''Hadrian's Wall'' (Basic Books, 2018). * '' Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors'' ( Head of Zeus, 2020) * ''The Eagle and the Lion: Rome, Persia and an Unwinnable Conflict'' (Head of Zeus, 2023) **U.S. title: ''Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry'', (Basic Books, 2023)

Novels

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

Series **''True Soldier Gentlemen'' (2011), (George Weidenfeld & Nicolson) ; his first novel ** ''Beat the Drums Slowly'' (2011) ** ''Send Me Safely Back Again'' (2012) ** ''All in Scarlet Uniform'' (2013) ** ''Run Them Ashore'' (2014) ** ''Whose Business is to Die'' (2015) *

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

Series ** ''Vindolanda'' (Head of Zeus, 2017) ** ''The Encircling Sea'' (Head of Zeus, 2018) ** ''Brigantia'' (Head of Zeus, 2019) ** ''The Fort'' (Head of Zeus, 2021) ** ''The City'' (Head of Zeus, 2022) ** ''The Wall'' (Head of Zeus, 2023)

References

External links

*
Adrian Goldsworthy's website

Audio interview with Goldsworthy at National Review Online

Audio podcast of talk in 2013 by Adrian Goldsworthy on Roman Warfare
at The New York Military Affairs Symposiu

in NYC. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldsworthy Adrian 1969 births People from Penarth Living people British military historians Alumni of St John's College, Oxford British Christians People educated at Westbourne School, Penarth Academics of King's College London Historians of ancient Rome Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity