The twelvth of the twelve 'Octavian Chronicles' telling the story of the 'Rise to Power' of Octavian, the adoptive son Julius Caesar. The story takes place in Ancient Rome. It begins in 44 BC with the assassination of Julius Caesar and ends in 27 BC when Octavian takes the name Caesar Augustus and becomes Rome's first emperor.

A world-renowned criminal profiler takes a fascinating look at one of the most tragic mysteries in history. For more than two thousand years, the great pharaoh Cleopatra VII has been portrayed as a failed monarch. Various ancient sources state that she desperately ended her life with the bite of an asp, as her nemesis - the Roman general Octavian, later known as Augustus, the first Roman emperor - stormed Alexandria. Now, a completely unique interpretation of history is brought to light by world-renowned criminal profiler Pat Brown in her new myth-busting book, The Murder of Cleopatra. As host and profiler of The Mysterious Death of Cleopatra (Discovery 2005), Brown challenged the long-enduring myth that Cleopatra died via snakebite and that she committed suicide to avoid further humiliation. Using the techniques and methodology of investigative criminal profiling and crime reconstruction, The Murder of Cleopatra takes up where the Discovery Channel documentary left off. Brown's findings, borne of scientific method, rigorous inquiry, and deductive reasoning, will be revealed against a historical backdrop of mystery, drama, politics, danger, and romantic intrigue. The result: a thought-provoking analysis of the amazing woman Cleopatra truly was, a fascinating account of the queen's final desperate attempt to escape Egypt with her ships and treasure, and the brutal homicide that ended her life as the last Egyptian pharaoh.

She was the last ruler of the Macedonian dynasty of Ptolemies who had ruled Egypt for three centuries. Highly educated (she was the only one of the Ptolemies to read and speak ancient Egyptian as well as the court Greek) and very clever (her famous liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were as much to do with politics as the heart), she steered her kingdom through impossibly taxing internal problems and railed against greedy Roman imperialism. Stripping away preconceptions as old as her Roman enemies, Joyce Tyldesley uses all her skills as an Egyptologist to give us this magnificent biography.

Everyday, we come into contact with many relatively harmless substances that could, at certain concentrations, be toxic. This applies not only to obvious candidates such as asbestos, lead, and gasoline, but also to compounds such as caffeine and headache tablets. While the field of toxicology has numerous texts devoted to aspects of biology, chemis

Immortalized in Shakespeare's play on the life and death of Julius Caesar, the battle of Philippi was the final battle between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian against the forces of Caesar's assassins Brutus and Longinus during the Roman civil wars that took place in the 40s and 30s BC. Si Sheppard takes a detailed look at the campaign that was waged around the Macedonian city of Philipi. The first engagement on the 3rd of October was indecisive as Octavian's forces were routed by those of Brutus, but Cassius' camp was captured by Mark Antony's men; wrongly fearing that Brutus was dead and that all was lost for his cause, Cassius committed suicide - depriving the Republicans of their most gifted commander. In the meantime, the Republicans' naval forces had managed to intercept and destroy the supply ships of the Triumvirs in the Adriatic, a serious blow to Octavian and Mark Anthony. Expertly detailing the changing fates of the opposing sides, their successes and failures illustrated in a range of maps, the book then turns to the final stages of the campaign. As the Triumvirs' forces slowly moved their fieldworks towards their enemies' positions, Brutus, ignorant of the destruction of Calvinus's fleet and seeing few other options available to him, decided to give battle. In the bloody and close combat, legionary fought legionary amid great slaughter, until Brutus' forces were finally routed and his camp overrun. Brutus fled and committed suicide the following day. The Republican movement crushed, Rome now rested in the hands of the Second Triumvirate. This is the history of the Philippi campaign that sounded the final death knell for the Republican movement.

Osprey's examination of the Battle of Actium, which was the decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic (32-30 BC). In 32 BC, the Roman Republic declared war on Egypt and set in motion a chain of events that would tear the Republic apart. In Rome, the forces of the western republic were marshaled together under Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) and Marcus Agrippa. In the east, armies were gathered under the leadership of the famous lovers, Marc Antony and Cleopatra. On September 2, 31 BC, the forces of Octavian and Marcus Agrippa managed to trap their enemies in the Gulf of Actium. Although Anthony and Cleopatra managed to escape, their army and navy, along with their hopes for victory were crushed. A few months later, the lovers would commit suicide. Their death saw the end of the war and the end of the Roman Republic. Now wielding supreme power, Octavian declared himself Emperor. Actium has remained one of the most famous battles of the Ancient World thanks to its colorful cast of characters that have been reinvented by the writings of Shakespeare and the stars of the silver screen. This new book tells the true story of the decisive and bloody battle that would once and for all seal the fate of the Roman Republic.