Scan barcode
A review by horacelamb
Augustus: First Emperor of Rome by Adrian Goldsworthy
4.0
I've had two Augustus books on my reading list. This one recently completed and this one which is fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89231.Augustus
Since I'm relatively ignorant about Augustus, I thought it would be wise to read this one, the non-fiction one, first. It certainly did fill in gaps for me. However, there's probably a reason why Julius Caesar is much more famous than his successor Augustus. Shakespeare had much more drama to work with when writing about Julius Caesar. Once Augustus defeated Antony and ascended to emperor, which happened relatively early in the book, the drama seemed pretty much done. Now that's not Goldsworthy's fault and perhaps it speaks to the greatness of Augustus that he kept drama to a minimum.
During the less dramatic years, Goldsworthy's rendering is still interesting as he describes the life and culture of the Romans during the years before and shortly after the birth of Jesus. (Jesus is only mentioned in passing but Goldsworthy has an appendix about the dating of his birth.)
A few interesting tidbits:
-the friendship of Virgil and Augustus.
-that Virgil's Aeneid was written to praise Augustus by drawing parallels between him and the protagonist, Aeneas. Virgil does so by mirroring Caesar with Aeneas and by creating a direct lineage between Aeneas and Augustus. (I was once again reminded that I'm glad I chose to take Latin in high school and college.)
-Horace is featured! He and Virgil are described as talented craftsmen. Horace's relationship status with Augustus- complicated. I suppose I really should now read more about the most famous Horace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace (I'll admit this Wikipedia entry is much longer than I expected. I guess Latin teachers like Wikipedia?)
Since I'm relatively ignorant about Augustus, I thought it would be wise to read this one, the non-fiction one, first. It certainly did fill in gaps for me. However, there's probably a reason why Julius Caesar is much more famous than his successor Augustus. Shakespeare had much more drama to work with when writing about Julius Caesar. Once Augustus defeated Antony and ascended to emperor, which happened relatively early in the book, the drama seemed pretty much done. Now that's not Goldsworthy's fault and perhaps it speaks to the greatness of Augustus that he kept drama to a minimum.
During the less dramatic years, Goldsworthy's rendering is still interesting as he describes the life and culture of the Romans during the years before and shortly after the birth of Jesus. (Jesus is only mentioned in passing but Goldsworthy has an appendix about the dating of his birth.)
A few interesting tidbits:
-the friendship of Virgil and Augustus.
-that Virgil's Aeneid was written to praise Augustus by drawing parallels between him and the protagonist, Aeneas. Virgil does so by mirroring Caesar with Aeneas and by creating a direct lineage between Aeneas and Augustus. (I was once again reminded that I'm glad I chose to take Latin in high school and college.)
-Horace is featured! He and Virgil are described as talented craftsmen. Horace's relationship status with Augustus- complicated. I suppose I really should now read more about the most famous Horace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace (I'll admit this Wikipedia entry is much longer than I expected. I guess Latin teachers like Wikipedia?)