Augustus : godfather of Europe / Richard Holland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holland, Richard, 1936-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Augustus, Emperor of Rome, 63 B.C.-14 A.D.

Augustus.

Emperors--Rome--Biography.

Emperors.

Rome--History--Augustus, 30 B.C.-14 A.D.

Rome.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

303 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map, genealogical table ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stroud : Sutton, 2004.

Summary:

The Emperor Augustus, ruler of the Roman Empire during the forty-four years that included the birth of Christ, was born a plebeian and brought up in a backwater. So how did this small-town outsider reach the pinnacle of Roman society and become a founding father of Western civilisation? Richard Holland tells his gripping and colourful life in an attempt to restore the much-maligned Augustus to his rightful place in history. As Julius Caesar's adopted son, Augustus burst into the political arena after the Ides of March, provoked civil war to avenge Caesar's murder, and became Rome's first teenage consul. While pretending to restore the Roman Republic he made himself absolute monarch. Worshipped as a god, Augustus presided over a 'golden age' of literature and architecture, and brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to a huge section of mankind -- unintentionally clearing a path for the future spread of Christianity to a world disfigured by slavery and sadistic spectacle. But what of the man himself? Richard Holland reveals the many faces of Augustus -- the reckless lover who abducted Livia, a married woman pregnant by her husband, to be his third wife; the father who sent his only child, Julia, to a prison island for immorality; and the merciful despot who broke his disloyal secretary's legs but saved the life of a boy slave. This enthralling biography sets Augustus firmly in the context of his time, among a motley cast of characters including Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Cicero, Brutus, Virgil and Herod the Great.

Contents:

Map of the Roman Empire c. AD 14 xv

1 The Making of a Master Race 1

2 Roman Murders Roman 15

3 The Boy Who Missed the War 27

4 Antony Takes Command 45

5 The Young Pretender 61

6 Octavian Fights Back 77

7 The Teenage General 90

8 Cicero Plays with Fire 103

9 The Takeover of Rome 118

10 Three to Rule the World 132

11 Twilight of the Republic 146

12 The New Master of the West 160

13 Octavian in Love 175

14 The Menace from the East 190

15 Suicide on the Nile 206

16 The Transformation of the State 219

17 The Summit of Power 237

18 The Struggle for the Succession 251

19 The Godfather of Europe 268.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-298) and index.

ISBN:

0750929103 :

OCLC:

56074422