Augustus: The Life of Rome's First EmperorHe found Rome made of clay and left it made of marble. As Rome’s first emperor, Augustus transformed the unruly Republic into the greatest empire the world had ever seen. His consolidation and expansion of Roman power two thousand years ago laid the foundations, for all of Western history to follow. Yet, despite Augustus’s accomplishments, very few biographers have concentrated on the man himself, instead choosing to chronicle the age in which he lived. Here, Anthony Everitt, the bestselling author of Cicero, gives a spellbinding and intimate account of his illustrious subject. Augustus began his career as an inexperienced teenager plucked from his studies to take center stage in the drama of Roman politics, assisted by two school friends, Agrippa and Maecenas. Augustus’s rise to power began with the assassination of his great-uncle and adoptive father, Julius Caesar, and culminated in the titanic duel with Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The world that made Augustus–and that he himself later remade–was driven by intrigue, sex, ceremony, violence, scandal, and naked ambition. Everitt has taken some of the household names of history–Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Antony, Cleopatra–whom few know the full truth about, and turned them into flesh-and-blood human beings. At a time when many consider America an empire, this stunning portrait of the greatest emperor who ever lived makes for enlightening and engrossing reading. Everitt brings to life the world of a giant, rendered faithfully and sympathetically in human scale. A study of power and political genius, Augustus is a vivid, compelling biography of one of the most important rulers in history. |
Contents
THE GREATUNCLE | 16 |
A POLITICAL MASTER CLASS | 29 |
FROM VICTORY DEFEAT | 65 |
DIVIDED WORLD | 97 |
A LONG FAREWELL | 186 |
WHOM THE GODS LOVE | 212 |
GROWING THE EMPIRE | 261 |
A FAMILY AT WAR | 278 |
THE UNHAPPY RETURN | 292 |
THE BITTER END | 303 |
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Actium Agrippa Agrippa Postumus Alexandria ancient Antony's Appian Armenia army arrived Atia Augustus battle Brundisium Brutus called campaign Cassius century B.C. Cicero citizens civil Claudius Cleopatra commander consul consulship death defeat Drusus east Egypt empire enemy father fighting fleet Forum friends Fulvia Gaius and Lucius Gaul gave Germanicus Greece Greek gustus hand honor Horace husband Ibid imperium Italy Julia Julius Caesar killed king land legionaries legions Lepidus lived Livia Maecenas Marcellus March Marcus Mark Antony married military Octavian Octavius official once Ovid Palatine Palatine Hill Parthian Philippi Planasia Plut Plutarch political Pompey Postumus praetor princeps probably provinces queen Republic republican Roman Rome Rome's sail Senate senatorial sent sesterces Sextus Pompeius ships Sicily slaves soldiers Spain Suet Suet Aug Suetonius survived Temple Tiberius tion today's took triumvirs troops Via Egnatia victory Virgil wife wrote young