Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from his farm to save the state - these and many more are stories which, immortalised by Livy in his history of early Rome, have become part of our cultural heritage.

The historian`s huge work, written between 20 BC and AD 17, ran to 12 books, beginning with Rome`s founding in 753 BC and coming down to Livy`s own lifetime (9 BC). Books 1-5 cover the period from Rome`s beginnings to her first great foreign conquest, the capture of the Etruscan city of Veii and, a few years later, to her first major defeat, the sack of the city by the Gauls in 390 BC.