Ab Urbe Condita Libri, meaning "Books From the Founding of the City'', was a work of ancient Roman history, written by an ancient Roman historian: Titus Livius, who is often simply referred to as “Livy” in english. As the title suggested, this work of history covered much of Roman history, from the, even to Livy, semi-mythical times of Romulus and Remus founding Rome, all the way to the time of the emperor Augustus, with whom Livy was an acquaintance. Indeed, the emperor Augustus was the one who sponsored the writing of Ab Urbe Condita Libri, which likely explains the positive reception the Julio-Claudian dynasty receives in Livy’s work. We know that this work was exhaustive, and covered the span of all Roman history up to that point, over the course of 142 volumes. Sadly, only 35 of those volumes both survive and are usable to historians today (about 25% of the entire work). We know of what the other books were about only because other historians of the day referred to them. Those books that are still extant are books 1-10, which cover all the events from before Rome’s founding up (including the journey of Aeneas from Troy) to 293 BC, and books 21-45, which cover all the events from 219 to 166 BC.

It must be said, however, that Livy does not write as a modern historian would write, with, say, extensive citations of primary or secondary sources. No, Livy mainly intended to serve up moral lessons in his telling of history, of what he saw as the eternal struggle of virtuous versus viceful. As Livy himself writes in his preface, he hoped that his works would comprise "...examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid.” To put it simply, Livy was an idealist. Just look at what he wrote in his intro:

“My wish is that each reader will pay the closest attention to the following: how men lived, what their moral principles were, under what leaders and by what measures at home and abroad our Empire was won an extended; then let him follow in his mind how, as discipline broke down bit by bit, morality at first foundered; how it next subsided in ever greater collapse and then began to topple headlong in ruin-until the Advent of our own age, in which we can enjoy neither our vices nor the remedy needed to cure them.”

Yeah, pretty moralizing stuff, right? I should know, I read the first five books pretty recently. All quotes from the T.J. Luce translation, of course.

But honestly? Livy has a way with words, I do highly recommend reading at least some of it if you're a fan of Roman history or ancient history in general. The description of Marcus Furius Camillus returning to Rome to fight the Celts at the end of the edition I read gave me chills reading it. Livy writes history into such a good story.

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Oh, and it should also be said that Ab Urbe Condita (Since the Founding of the City) referred to the way the Romans tracked what year it was. To them, the most important year in the world was the year the city of Rome was founded, and so they believed that all of history was divided into what happened before the city was founded (not important) and what happened after it was founded (more important). To the Romans, this year would not be 2021 CE, it would be AUC 2774. Just a fun fact :comfy: