Release date is 2026-01-25

Juhani Kärkkäinen and Tapio Riikonen

"Kansojen historia 4" by Carl Gustaf Grimberg is a historical account written in the early 20th century. The volume traces Rome’s path from the crisis of the late Republic to the height of the Empire, blending political history with vivid portraits of authors, thinkers, and rulers. Expect a broad survey from the Gracchi through Caesar and Augustus to the Antonines, alongside chapters on Latin literature and the first Christians.

The opening of the work first sketches the birth of Roman literature: Livius Andronicus brings Greek models to Rome; Naevius and Ennius shape a native epic voice; Plautus and Terence adapt Attic comedy for Roman audiences with contrasting styles—Plautus boisterous and popular, Terence polished and psychological; and Lucilius founds the distinctly Roman genre of satire. It then pivots to the “revolutionary age,” explaining how the Punic and eastern wars, slave influx, latifundia, and cheap Sicilian grain ruined Italy’s smallholders, while electoral bribery and a closed senatorial oligarchy hollowed the republic. Against this backdrop, Tiberius Gracchus advances an agrarian law to restore citizen-farmers, forces aside a vetoing colleague, and is killed in the first major burst of political bloodshed. Scipio Aemilianus’s suspicious death follows, stalling reform. Gaius Gracchus returns with a wider program—cheap grain distributions, revived land allocations, colonies, road-building, and a bold bid to extend citizenship to Italy’s allies—before being crushed after street clashes under Consul Opimius, who oversees a harsh purge. The opening thus sets the literary foundations and the social-political fracture that drives Rome’s descent into recurring internal conflict. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Porvoo: WSOY, 1930