The masterpiece of the famous Soviet historian S. I. Kovaliov, this book, prefaced, annotated and updated by Domingo Plácido, represented a true opening in studies on the classical world. His ambitious approach allows him to build a monumental, erudite and entertaining work, which leaves no aspect untreated. Thus, the reader accesses the entire history of the Monarchy, the Republic and the Roman Empire, as well as the political, economic and social transformations that over the course of almost a millennium shaped the history of the West.