The Sons of Caesar
Imperial Rome's First Dynasty
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- 149,00 kr
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- 149,00 kr
Publisher Description
This is the story of one of the most powerful dynasties in history. At the heart of it are the lives of six men - Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius Caligula, Claudius and Nero - men who mastered ancient Rome, and changed it from a democracy to a personal possession.
Set against a background of foreign wars and domestic intrigue, the story of Rome's greatest dynasty is also the story of the birth of an imperial system which shaped the Europe of today. Octavian recreated himself as the emperor Augustus and allied the Julian clan with the Claudians. The principate which he created lasted for centuries, but the strain on his family resulted in personal tragedy, murder and assassination.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When Rome became a republic in 509 BC, its citizens so deplored the idea of monarchy they would not even allow a foreign king into the city. Despite such thinking, the Republic's institutions were vulnerable to the power, money and influence of its aristocracy. Matyszak's book is an engrossing and expertly assembled presentation of Rome's first families, the Julio-Claudian line of leaders whose example, Matyszak argues, "continues to convince many that an effective autocracy is superior to a dysfunctional democracy." Two of Matyszak's main reasons for re-examining this oft-explored era are to overturn common myths, including the widely-accepted, "facile" explanation for Rome's downfall-strain caused by expansion and military campaigns-and to prove that empire is not always a dirty word. Matyszak follows the slow transformation of a republican government into an expansive imperial power, beginning with the awkward reconciliation between Julius Caesar's declaration of dictatorship and the existing Roman constitution, and continuing in small but significant steps amid civil wars and familial infighting. His profiles, from Julius to Nero, are fresh looks at characters marred by caricature and misconception, and his analysis of Rome's transformation is both instructive and precient, and will give those who employ the term "empire" in contemporary public dialogue much to consider. 90 illustrations.
