With stylistic brilliance and historical imagination, the first eight books of Livy's monumental history of Rome record events from the foundation of Rome through the history of the seven kings, the establishment of the Republic and its internal struggles, up to Rome's recovery after the fierce Gallic invasion of the fourth century B.C.
Livy vividly depicts the great characters, legends, and tales, including the story of Romulus and Remus. He also thoroughly covers numerous wars, such as the Samnite Wars, the Punic Wars, and the Social War.
Titus Livius (64/59 BC – AD 12/17), known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled Ab Urbe Condita, ''From the Founding of the City'', covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on familiar terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a friend of Augustus, whose young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, he exhorted to take up the writing of history.