Product Description

Was the heir of Julius Caesar the saviour of the Roman state or a cold and calculating autocrat? Pat Southern presents a rounded picture of his life, works and times, presenting events and ideology from the emperor's perspective.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #490553 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'Southern's biography, Augustus is thorough ... supplies a reliable up-to-date guide through the snake pits of Roman politics.' - Frederic Raphael, Sunday Times

'Southern deserves credit for carefully weighing the primary evidence, working through an overwhelming amount of secondary scholarship, and producing a clear and balanced account.' - Bryn Mawr, Classical Review

From the Back Cover
Was the heir of Julius Caesar the saviour of the Roman state or a cold and calculating autocrat? Augustus may have had an immense talent for self-promotion, but his character is rarely revealed.
This biography allows us to understand Augustus the man. Pat Southern presents a rounded picture of his life, works and times, presenting events and ideology from the emperor's perspective.
The result is a compelling depiction of an extraordinary individual, the guiding light in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

Customer Reviews

A meticulous examination of history's greatest leader
This is a very interesting work. Pat Southern carefully examines the life and career of the great "son" of Caesar by digging deeper than the image and instead exploring the many factors, and the many possibilites that are neccessary for a complete evaluation.

There is much ambiguity surrounding the "Princeps" and the facts that Roman authors have published about their leader. Southern questions, attacks and clarifies these so called facts while penetrating thru the propaganda in an effort to uncover the real truth and expose the real circumstances surrounding the man.

For this reason alone, this book is as much a success as it is a wonderful reading experience. Not only is this book a great biography, but many lessons can be learned by the example Augustus has set in the political and the image making arena.

An Excellent New Biography of Augustus
Augustus is a legendary figure in Roman history. For us, and the later Roman world, he is a mythical figure, an image of himself that Augustus helped to foster. He is the god-like archetypal father of his country. In this new biography, Pat Southern has succeeded (as much as can be done) in penetrating behind the mask to give us the man behind the legend.

Her opening chapters brilliantly relate the background of Roman history prior to the career of Octavian. She does a remarkable job of untangling the politiacal web of late Republican politics and placing the figures of Julius Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, Mark Antony and Cleopatra into perspective. She guides us along the very difficult and tortuous route that brought Octavian , the non-entity equestrian, to become the adoptive son of Caesar, the Triumver and finally the beloved ruler of the Roman world.

It is easy to take for granted that Augustus would become the eventual victor in the power struggle following the assassination of Caesar. It is a period populated by meny men who had their eyes on becoming the sole ruler of the Roman empire. Ms. Southern takes us step by step, including the mistakes made by Octavian. In this she reveals much about the personalities of the participants but Roman society.

This is a scholarly book. You will find Mark Antony referred to by his correct name Marcus Antonius; and Pompey is Pompeius. It is a scholarly book that is well written and also even exciting to read at times. She knows her material and has written a thoughtful biography that is the best portrait of Augustus, the man and princeps, that we have.

Very readable biography
This book is very different from the biographies of Trajan and Hadrian from the same series/publisher. Those are probably great works of scholarship but rather boring to read. This one is an intelligent and sometimes even funny description of my life.