Could the killing of Germanicus Julius Caesar—the grandson of Mark Antony, adopted son of the emperor Tiberius, father of Caligula, and grandfather of Nero—while the Roman Empire was still in its infancy have been the root cause of the empire's collapse more than four centuries later? This brilliant investigation of Germanicus Caesar’s death and its aftermath is both a compelling history and first-class murder mystery with a plot twist Agatha Christie would envy.

This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today. This history based on events recorded by ancient historians Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and others, reads like a novel. It explores the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The demands of heredity loomed large in their lives. Those who sprang from greatness must be great themselves, whether or not they had either the ability or the desire to be so. This book presents the challenges and dilemmas of the Caesars and their contemporaries in narrative form with interpolations of dialogue as the ancient writers did, taking the known facts and interpreting the characters through them, giving real people the motivations they may have had. This book provides readers a new thought-provoking look at one of the most fascinating families in history and one whose profound effect upon the world still touches us today.

Unraveling the many mysteries surrounding the murder of Julius Caesar The assassination of Julius Caesar is one of the most notorious murders in history. Two thousand years after it occurred, many compelling questions remain about his death: Was Brutus the hero and Caesar the villain? Did Caesar bring death on himself by planning to make himself king of Rome? Was Mark Antony aware of the plot, and let it go forward? Who wrote Antony's script after Caesar's death? Using historical evidence to sort out these and other puzzling issues, historian and award-winning author Stephen Dando-Collins takes you to the world of ancient Rome and recaptures the drama of Caesar's demise and the chaotic aftermath as the vicious struggle for power between Antony and Octavian unfolded. For the first time, he shows how the religious festivals and customs of the day impacted on the way the assassination plot unfolded. He shows, too, how the murder was almost avoided at the last moment. A compelling history that is packed with intrigue and written with the pacing of a first-rate mystery, The Ides will challenge what you think you know about Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire.

Bestselling classical historian Barry Strauss delivers “an exceptionally accessible history of the Roman Empire…much of Ten Caesars reads like a script for Game of Thrones” (The Wall Street Journal)—a summation of three and a half centuries of the Roman Empire as seen through the lives of ten of the most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine. In this essential and “enlightening” (The New York Times Book Review) work, Barry Strauss tells the story of the Roman Empire from rise to reinvention, from Augustus, who founded the empire, to Constantine, who made it Christian and moved the capital east to Constantinople. During these centuries Rome gained in splendor and territory, then lost both. By the fourth century, the time of Constantine, the Roman Empire had changed so dramatically in geography, ethnicity, religion, and culture that it would have been virtually unrecognizable to Augustus. Rome’s legacy remains today in so many ways, from language, law, and architecture to the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Strauss examines this enduring heritage through the lives of the men who shaped it: Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian, and Constantine. Over the ages, they learned to maintain the family business—the government of an empire—by adapting when necessary and always persevering no matter the cost. Ten Caesars is a “captivating narrative that breathes new life into a host of transformative figures” (Publishers Weekly). This “superb summation of four centuries of Roman history, a masterpiece of compression, confirms Barry Strauss as the foremost academic classicist writing for the general reader today” (The Wall Street Journal).

The story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 years. What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore?

When the body of a mason is found in the library of current Princeps (first citizen) Domitian, Pliny the Younger is asked by his mother to find the killer.At the same time, Domitian orders Pliny and his friend Tacitus to find out if there is a real heir to the throne. Their exploits in Syria (All Roads Lead to Murder)have reached the ears of all in Rome, and they now have the reputation of being competent detectives. Readers will delight in the duo's tracing of Caesar's blood line; walking with Pliny through his daily routine is entertaining, too. Outstandingly researched and laden with suspense, this journey into ancient Rome by history professor Bell could be one of the masterpieces of the historical mystery genre. Lindsey Davis and Steven Saylor will hold readers over until the third casebook of Pliny the Younger publishes.Highly recommended for all collections.Jo Ann Vicarel - Library Journal, Starred Review - named one of the 5 best mysteries of 2008

A powerful tale of war, romance, and one of history's most desperate gambles Julius Caesar was nothing if not bold. When, in the wake of his defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus his victorious legions refused to march another step under his command, he pursued his fleeing rival into Egypt with an impossibly small force of Gallic and German cavalry, raw Italian recruits, and nine hundred Spanish prisoners of war-tough veterans of Pompey's Sixth Legion. Cleopatra's Kidnappers tells the epic saga of Caesar's adventures in Egypt through the eyes of these captured, but never defeated, legionaries. In this third volume in his definitive history of the Roman legions, Stephen Dando-Collins reveals how this tiny band of fierce warriors led Caesar's little army to great victories against impossible odds. Bristling with action and packed with insights and newly revealed facts, this eye-opening account introduces you to the extraordinary men who made possible Caesar's famous boast, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Praise for Caesar's Legion "A unique and splendidly researched story, following the trials and triumphs of Julius Caesar's Legio X. . . . More than a mere unit account, it incorporates the history of Rome and the Roman army at the height of their power and gory glory. Many military historians consider Caesar's legions the world's most efficient infantry before the arrival of gunpowder. This book shows why. Written in readable, popular style, Caesar's Legion is a must for military buffs and anyone interested in Roman history at a critical point in European civilization." -T. R. Fehrenbach author of This Kind of War, Lone Star, and Comanches