Rome have her own object of fascination. In this case, Rome was enamored with the Near East. Rome was enthralled with everything Eastern, including the mythology, the culture, and the wealth of the Eastern civilizations.
Ball also examines why Rome was so obsessed with the East.
Furthermore, he shows how this obsession affected Rome's political and military designs - and the course of history. Most of our knowledge of the ancient Near East has been gained from western, classical writers. In this book Ball has attempted to present the history of the Near East from an eastern perspective. Ball's research is based almost entirely on the material remains from this period, rather than upon literary sources. Instead of limiting the scope of this study, concentrating primarily upon material remains enabled Ball to present a much more accurate picture of what life was like in this region than would otherwise have been possible.