Republicanism during the Early Roman Empire, Sam Wilkinson, (Continuum, London and New York, 2012) vi, 263pp., £19.99, ISBN 978 1 4411 2052 6

In a book which is bound to arouse some controversy, Sam Wilkinson, author of Caligula, currently teaching in Foley's School, Cyprus, argues that Republicanism persisted in Rome on a large scale well beyond the establishment of the empire.  He analyses the discourses of the period and remarks how the view of law, morality and behaviour changed under the various imperial regimes of the first century AD.  His great, indeed unique, contribution is that he demonstrates how the early emperors could elect to set their regimes in a more Republican or more imperial manner and argues that both the emperor and the opposition could be inclined to Republicanism.  The book concludes by drawing attention to Winterling's contention in 2009 that Caligula, Nero and Domitian all attempted to escape the paradoxical entanglements of the Imperial position and as a result were murdered and their reputation desecrated. 

Wilkinson's scholarly study is provided with extensive end-notes, a full bibliography and an adequate index.  The book will be required reading for scholars, intriguing for the serious reader and engagingly informative for students.