He 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.
