Adrian Goldsworthy
Adrian Keith Goldsworthy (born 1969) is a British historian and novelist who specialises in ancient Roman history.
Adrian Goldsworthy

Vera de Kok · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Adrian Goldsworthy
- Born
- 1969
- Birth Name
- Adrian Keith Goldsworthy
- Education
- St John's College, Oxford
- Full name
- Adrian Keith Goldsworthy.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- university teacher · historian · writer
- Fields
- Ancient Rome · military history · history · ancient civilization
- Languages
- English
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q373061 · wikipedia · Adrian Goldsworthy
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
Adrian Goldsworthy studied at St John's College, University of Oxford and Westbourne House School Penarth. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is Ancient Rome, military history and history. Employment is recorded with King's College London.

Adrian Goldsworthy at the presentation of the Dutch translation of "Augustus: from Revolutionary to Emperor"
Vera de Kok

Adrian Goldsworthy at the presentation of the Dutch translation of "Augustus: from Revolutionary to Emperor"
Vera de Kok
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Adrian Goldsworthy • Born — 1969 • Birth Name — Adrian Keith Goldsworthy • Education — St John's College, Oxford • Website — http: www.adriangoldsworthy.com
Documentary record
Adrian Goldsworthy, recorded as a historian and “Militärhistoriker”, was born in 1969. The birth is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Education
Education
Adrian Goldsworthy attended Westbourne School, Penarth. He then read Ancient and Modern History at St John's College, Oxford, completing a D.Phil. in ancient military history from the University of Oxford in 1994. That dissertation laid the foundation of his first book, The Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200.
Career
Career
Goldsworthy was appointed a Junior Research Fellow at Cardiff University for two years, taught briefly at King's College London and was an assistant professor on the University of Notre Dame's London programme for six years. His expertise is in Roman history, but he has also taught a course on the military history of the Second World War. Goldsworthy has appeared on History Channel documentaries and the television game show Time Commanders, serving as an expert on battles being fought by the contestants. He gave a speech about Roman history and politics to the cast of a 2010 Liverpool production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. In 2010 Goldsworthy began writing a series of military novels - based not in Roman times but in the Napoleonic era and concentrating on Wellington's redcoat army, another period in which he has great interest. His first novel, True Soldier Gentlemen, was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2011 and was followed by Beat the Drums Slowly and Send Me Safely Back Again. The titles of each of his novels are taken from the lyrics of popular military songs of the period. Asked about his philosophy of life, Goldsworthy responded that he was "English, so obviously do not have a philosophy. I am a Christian, though, if you want to know about important beliefs." Goldsworthy lives in South Wales.
Works
Works
Goldsworthy has written a number of historical works on ancient Rome, especially the Roman army, and nine novels.
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
• The Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200 (OUP, 1996) • Roman Warfare (Cassell, 2000) • The Punic Wars (Cassell, 2000) • Reprint title: The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265–146 BC, (Cassell, 2003) • Fields of Battle: Cannae (Orion, 2001) • Caesar's Civil War: 49–44 BC (2002), Osprey Publishing • In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire (Orion, 2003) • The Complete Roman Army (Thames & Hudson, 2003) • Caesar, Life of a Colossus, (Yale University Press, 2006) • The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower (Orion 2009) • U.S. title: How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower, (Yale University Press, 2009) • Antony and Cleopatra (2010); Yale University Press • Augustus: First Emperor of Rome, (Yale University Press, 2014) (Reissued in hardcover by Basic Books in 2026) • Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World, (Orion Publishing Co, 2016) 528 p • Hadrian's Wall (Basic Books, 2018). • Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors (Head of Zeus, 2020) • The Eagle and the Lion: Rome, Persia and an Unwinnable Conflict (Head of Zeus, 2023) • U.S. title: Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry, (Basic Books, 2023) • Athens and Sparta: The Rivalry That Shaped Ancient Greece (Basic Books, 2026)
Novels
Novels
• Napoleonic Wars Series • True Soldier Gentlemen (2011), (George Weidenfeld & Nicolson); his first novel • Beat the Drums Slowly (2011) • Send Me Safely Back Again (2012) • All in Scarlet Uniform (2013) • Run Them Ashore (2014) • Whose Business is to Die (2015) • Roman Britain Series • Vindolanda (Head of Zeus, 2017) • The Encircling Sea (Head of Zeus, 2018) • Brigantia (Head of Zeus, 2019) • The Fort (Head of Zeus, 2021) • The City (Head of Zeus, 2022) • The Wall (Head of Zeus, 2023)
Career and activity
Career and activity
Adrian Goldsworthy worked in Ancient Rome, military history, history, ancient civilization and classical antiquity. He was employed by King's College London.
Identity
Identity
Adrian Goldsworthy is recorded as university teacher, historian and writer. Recorded at birth as Adrian Keith Goldsworthy.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1969
Adrian Goldsworthy was born in 1969 at Penarth.
Activity and practice
Adrian Goldsworthy is recorded as having studied at St John's College, University of Oxford and Westbourne House School Penarth.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Adrian Goldsworthy”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q373061: Adrian Goldsworthy
General reference · Wikidata
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Adrian Goldsworthy, revision 1370023174 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Adrian Goldsworthy. Georgina Capel Associates.
- 2.'End of the Roman Empire' begins MSU humanities speaker series. Mississippi State University. 10 June 2009.
- 3.Adrian Goldsworthy. Napoleon's comeback: from exile on Elba to the Hundred Days. History Extra.
- 4.Dr Adrian Goldsworthy - Fiction page.
- 5.Orion Publishing Group. Adrian Goldsworthy, author of Caesar: The Life of a Colossus, answers our questions.
- 6.Goldsworthy, Adrian. Cannae. Cassell. 2001. 0-304-35714-6.
- 7.Josh Levithan. Caesar, Life of a Colossus. Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
- 8.Goldsworthy, Adrian. True soldier gentlemen. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2011. 978-0-297-86035-8.
- 9.Goldsworthy, Adrian. Vindolanda. Head of Zeus Ltd. 2017. 9781784974701.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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