Thanks for the reply. Does Goldsworthy have any book featuring a kind of 'complete' story of Rome like in a 'from beginning to end' sense? His books mostly seem to target specific topics about the Roman empire. Right now I'm really uneducated about the whole topic, that's why I was looking for something more general. His works seem to be definitely worth a read as soon as I'm a little more educated, I guess?

no, he hasn't written a book of that kind

 

Mary Beard's SPQR only covers Roman history into the 200s or so iirc so it's not a complete history of Rome

For the fall of (Western) Roman Empire I can recommend Guy Halsall's Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West.

This is a book from Rome and has very informative annotations. It's actually quite entertaining and you learn a lot about Rome.

is this where "trichalmchios fest" was in? if yes its hilarious, read it, bernd.

Yes, that's the one.