Events Calendar

On the eve of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC, join USC President C. L. Max Nikias for an enlightening evening with Anthony Everitt, the best-selling author of acclaimed biographies of Cicero, Augustus and Hadrian.

Everitt will give a talk based on his forthcoming book The Rise of Rome, a remarkable and riveting story of the unlikely rise of the greatest empire the world has ever known. Historians have long pondered the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, but how was the empire won? Everitt will present a galvanizing and erudite account of the emergence of antiquity’s greatest power and the remarkable personalities that led to a position of greatness unmatched in history. From its founding as a small market town in the eighth century B.C. to Caesar’s victory in the Civil War that defeated the republic and marked the beginning of the empire, the story of Rome is rich with extraordinary moments and lasting lessons. Everitt will discuss the influence Rome has had on our world, from art to the arts of government, and vividly illustrate how every Western power since — including the United States — has sought to be “the new Rome.”

Everitt, visiting professor in the visual and performing arts at Nottingham Trent University, has written extensively on European culture and is the bestselling author of Cicero, Augustus and Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome. He has served as secretary general of the Arts Council for Great Britain. Everitt lives near Colchester, England’s first recorded town, founded (of course) by the Romans.