As a topic, early Rome can be difficult to approach. The highly problematic source tradition alone is sometimes enough to scare off prospective students and teachers without having to worry about the state of the translations available. This sourcebook by N. seeks to remedy the latter problem. It contains a compilation of over 240 passages, all translated into English, from a wide variety of ancient authors around the themes of myth and early Roman history down to the Gallic sack.

Each main chapter follows the same basic plan: an introduction with general comments about the theme of the chapter; ‘Further Thoughts’, questions designed to get the reader to think critically about the sources; the source passages themselves, usually accompanied by a brief description; a ‘Conclusion’, which returns to the wider theme of the chapter; ‘Notes’; ‘References’; and a bibliography for ‘Further Reading’.

The chapters for the most part follow the traditional chronology of early Roman history (2: ‘Rome before the City’, 3: ‘Founding Rome’, 5: ‘Rome's Kings’ and 8: ‘Rome's Heroes’). These chapters and the passages within are presented in a relatively straightforward manner, leaving the reader to make their way through the passages on their own. This is my one major criticism of the volume as a whole – it is lacking in its acknowledgement of the complex source tradition from which it is drawing. N. does provide a section which outlines selected ‘Theoretical Approaches to Roman Myth’; however, these approaches seem to be more appropriate for those interested in what these tales might say about later Roman society who told them rather than for historians of the early period. In the preface N. states that this work was undertaken with an eye to teaching early Roman history accompanied by T.J. Cornell's The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 bc) (1995) and J.H. Richardson and F. Santangelo's The Roman Historical Tradition: Regal and Republican Rome (2014); nevertheless, I would still have expected to find a more rigorous approach to the historiographical tradition. Without it, this book requires the assistance of other volumes rather than being augmented by them.

The remaining chapters (4: ‘Images and Text’, 6: ‘Italy Outside Rome’ and 7: ‘Rome's Women’) are more thematic in nature; it is in these chapters that the book does its best work. By shifting the focus away from Rome, N. is able to highlight and integrate a wider range of sources – most notable is the inclusion of art as a source – and promote perspectives that have traditionally been absent from the study of archaic Italy. These chapters will prove a highly valuable resource and teaching tool for those looking to move beyond the Romano-centric historiographical record.