Book Review

[shipperx]

Just finished the biography  Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor.  It makes a pretty good companion book to Rome (or at least it did to me.  I admit that somehow they all now look like Rome's actors in my head... except Marc Antony.  Somehow it's still as easy to see Marc Antony as Richard Burton as it is to see him as Rome's Marc Antony).  It shows where Rome gets it right (most of the characters on the show hit the right emotional notes, with perhaps being too harsh on Octavian recently, or at least Rome is more harsh on Octavian than the writer of the biography is, even as the biographer notes how chillingly terrible Octavian could treat family members who displeased him).  It makes a pretty good "and what happens to them all after the end of the series?" answer as well  (well, except Pullo and Vorenus of course).    

queenofthorns and I noted how very fictionalized the opening scene of the book is, but the author does explain that in the concluding chapter of the book, explaining why and how he had fictionalized that account.  Anyway, interesting account for history buffs as it travels much the same ground as Rome, though certainly a far more historically accurate account, and goes into greater detail over the struggles between Octavian and Marc Antony than the show can with its limited airtime.  

If you like history and would like more detail than Rome (and wouldn't mind knowing where Rome is fictionalized) it's actually a fairly interesting book.