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I liked it a lot, but Cannoli is right re: Caesar. Legolas Send a noteboard - 11/01/2016 05:49:10 PM

View original postI'm about halfway through First Man of Rome (hard to tell on a Kindle, mind you) and I'm wondering how historically accurate it is.

It's very accurate in the sense that if you read the whole series, you'll know an astonishing amount of detail about the period of about 110 BC to 27 BC in Rome, and few if any details are provably wrong, at least. But it's true that, aside from a general tendency to pick the interpretation that makes for the best story, she's an unabashed fangirl for Caesar, and later to a lesser extent Antony and Cleopatra.

The first two-three books are probably the best, because they mostly deal with Marius and Sulla whose rivalry is depicted in a more balanced way, and most readers are less likely to know that period in such detail already. By the time you hit the final book, titled simply 'Antony and Cleopatra', you're treading well-worn ground to say the least.


View original postI might also need recommendations for a good factual book on that time period - possibly from 200BC to AD100 or something like that. Any suggestions?

I enjoyed Adrian Goldsworthy's biographies of Caesar and Antony/Cleopatra respectively (see my reviews here and here), as well as his book on the later decline of Rome.

For the period inbetween, the early emperors, you could do worse than to go back to the primary sources for all later works, Suetonius' Twelve Caesars, or Tacitus' more detailed works on the mid-1st century AD. A modern work might be a bit more accurate / less biased than Suetonius though.

No idea on a single book covering the whole period, but I'll be interested to see if others can name some. Would be especially interested in the second century BC.

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Who has read Colleen McCullough's Rome series? - 10/01/2016 08:43:03 PM 1008 Views
Sort of - 11/01/2016 11:15:48 AM 719 Views
Re: Sort of - 12/01/2016 03:24:59 PM 880 Views
I liked it a lot, but Cannoli is right re: Caesar. - 11/01/2016 05:49:10 PM 690 Views
Re: I liked it a lot, but Cannoli is right re: Caesar. - 12/01/2016 03:26:56 PM 906 Views
Suetonius at least is far from dry - he has all the juicy stories. - 12/01/2016 06:26:53 PM 749 Views
haven't read book but kindle tells you how much is left *NM* - 11/01/2016 05:57:08 PM 355 Views
Yes, I found that last night. I'm only 1/4 through! - 11/01/2016 06:06:47 PM 947 Views
Mary Beard's SPQR is the book of the moment - 12/01/2016 02:00:32 PM 854 Views

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