"Is there anyone on earth who is so narrow-minded or uninquisitive that he could fail to want to know how and thanks to what kind of political system almost the entire known world was conquered and brought under a single empire, in less than fifty-three years-an unprecedented event?" --Polybius, Histories

The 53-year period Polybius had in mind, counting inclusively, stretched from the start of the Second Punic War in 219 B.C.E. until 167, when Rome, at last, overthrew the Macedonian monarchy and divided it into four independent republics. Until now, this critical period of history has been overshadowed by the events of the Hannibalic war, but equally important to Rome's rise to dominance was its defeat of Macedon, its superpower neighbor to the east.

Taken at the Flood chronicles the momentous activity and expansion by Rome into the Greek east, with an epilogue on the infamous destruction of Corinth in 146. Though focused primarily on Rome's eastern imperialism, the book's narrative takes into account Rome's concurrent western conflicts, most notably with Hannibal, as these influenced its strategy in Greece. Robin Waterfield interweaves other topics and themes into his history, such as cultural developments in literature, the Roman aristocratic ethos, and the tactics employed by the two best fighting machines the ancient world ever produced: the Macedonian phalanx and Roman legion.

Elegant and absorbing, Taken at the Flood is a dynamic narrative of an unjustly forgotten war in ancient history.