I took a class on it in college. Exact same class, classroom and teachers as Amanda Knox actually, just the next quarter. Learned a lot. Best Roman books were the ones Livy wrote... Almost 2000 years ago. Livy was the OG blogger. Virgil's Aeneid is also awesome. There are two creation myths for Rome, one is Romulus and Remus and the second takes place at the end of the Trojan war. "Pious Aeneas" won favor of some of the gods and so was spared on evacuation of Troy. He carried his grandfather on his back and his grandfather carried the household god on his back (you've probably seen it in art). Aeneas is mentioned in the movie "Troy" right near the end, I thought it was a cool addition. There's another great Roman writer, VERY critical of Nero despite being born after. Just can't think of his name right now. Not a big fan of the sex writer but he was damn popular at the time, Ovid? I think that's his name. Virgil is much better. Aeneid is easily in the top ten best literary works of all time and it's a poem but reads like a book. 2000 years later and you can still see it in your head like you're there.
All the old Roman literature can probably be had for free and I know libraries have 'em but it's something you usually have to ask to be ordered. The shit Nero did is absolutely beyond comprehension, his "Domus Aureous" or "house of gold". It took up 1/3rd of Rome and you had to go around it, it was in the center. It included an African menagerie which was so big you couldn't see the opposite sides. The colosseum was built on the old foundations. In fact, much of modern day Rome is built on the same foundations laid nearly 2500 years ago.
Rome has always interested me too.
