Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, commonly referred to by its German acronym, ANRW, or in English as Rise and Decline of the Roman World, is an extensive collection of books dealing with the history and culture of ancient Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. Akin to a journal and published in various series, each number of the ANRW comprises scholarly essays contributed by individual authors. The essays are in various modern European languages, but are primarily written in German or English.

The series is currently published in its second series (Part 2), the Principat series (that is, relating to the period of the Roman Principate

Principate

The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...

).

History of the work

The series began in 1972, intended as a Festschrift

Festschrift

In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...

 to commemorate the seventy-fifth birthday of Joseph Vogt

Joseph Vogt

Joseph Vogt was a German classical historian, one of the leading 20th century experts on Roman history....

, a German classicist and historian. Vogt joined the Nazi party and adopted the racial theories then en vogue. In this context, he described the history of the Roman world as the result of the struggle between a superior Roman race and Semitic and Phoenician sub-races. In the preface of his edited volume, Rom und Karthago, Vogt wrote that: "Surrounded by races of sailors from Asia Minor, Rome often had to draw its sword to assert its power. The destruction of Carthage was a crucial event in terms of racial history: it preserved the future Western civilization from the miasmas of this Phoenician pest".

ANRW grew with time beyond its original remit, and is now more of an encyclopedia

Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....

, or a serial compendium. The series seeks to treat aspects of the Roman world, as well as their continuation and reception

Reception

Reception is a noun form of receiving, or to receive something, such as information, art, experience, or people. It is often used in the following contexts:...

 in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 and into modernity, providing a guide to current research.

The series is edited by Hildegard Temporini (Parts 1 and 2) and Wolfgang Haase (Part 2), and is published by Walter de Gruyter

Walter de Gruyter

Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG is a scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. Its origins date back to 1749 when it was given the right to print books by King Frederick II of Prussia. -De Gruyter Mouton:...

 of Berlin and New York.

Structure

Individual volumes of the ANRW are written like handbooks. More than one thousand scholars have contributed to the series.

Part 1 (Von den Anfängen Roms bis zum Ausgang der Republik), in four volumes, covered topics of the period from the founding of Rome

Founding of Rome

The founding of Rome is reported by many legends, which in recent times are beginning to be supplemented by scientific reconstructions.- Development of the city :...

 to the end of the Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

. Part 2 (published since 1974) is concerned with the imperial period. Part 3 (Spätantike), on late antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

, is in planning. A unified index ("Register") will eventually complete the work.

Each Part is published in multiple volumes, across six systematic sections:

• 1. Political History;
• 2. Law;
• 3. Religion;
• 4. Language and Literature;
• 5. Philosophy and the Sciences; and
• 6. The Arts.

Published volumes

The publication history is complex, with multiple sections published concurrently in Part 2. A list of the published volumes is available through the project's website at the Institute for Classical Studies at Boston University.