, commonly referred to by its German acronym, ''ANRW'', or in English as ''Rise and Decline of the Roman World'', is an extensive collection of books dealing with the history and culture of ancient

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Akin to a journal and published in various series, each number of the ''ANRW'' comprises scholarly essays contributed by individual authors. The essays are in various modern European languages, but are primarily written in German or English. The series is currently published in its second series (Part 2), the series (that is, relating to the period of the Roman

Principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...

History of the work

The series began in 1972, intended as a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the ...

to commemorate the seventy-fifth birthday of

Joseph Vogt Joseph Vogt (23 June 1895 in Schechingen – 14 July 1986 in Tübingen) was a German classical historian, one of the leading 20th-century experts on Roman history. Following his studies at the universities of Tübingen and Berlin, he earned ...

, a German

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Cla ...

and historian. Since then, it has grown with time beyond its original remit, and is now more of an

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

, or a serial compendium. The series seeks to treat aspects of the Roman world, as well as their continuation and reception in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and into modernity, providing a guide to current research. The series is edited by (Parts 1 and 2) and Wolfgang Haase (Part 2), and is published by

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

of Berlin and New York.

Structure

Individual volumes of the ''ANRW'' are written like handbooks. More than one thousand scholars have contributed to the series. Part 1 (), in four volumes, covered topics of the period from the

founding of Rome The tale of the founding of Rome is recounted in traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves as the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous o ...

to the end of the

Republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. Part 2 (, published since 1974) is concerned with the imperial period. Part 3 (), on

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English h ...

, is in planning. A unified index ("Register") will eventually complete the work. Each Part is published in multiple volumes, across six systematic sections: *1. Political History; *2. Law; *3. Religion; *4. Language and Literature; *5. Philosophy and the Sciences; and *6. The Arts.

Published volumes

The publication history is complex, with multiple sections published concurrently in Part 2. A list of the published volumes is available through th
project's website
at the Institute for Classical Studies at Boston University.

References

External links

De Gruyter web page on ''ANRW''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aufstieg Und Niedergang Der Romischen Welt American book series Book series introduced in 1972 History books about ancient Rome Series of history books De Gruyter books