Informative & Entertaining
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Firstly let me say that I enjoyed this biography it provides a broad sweep to the life of Augustus, its well written, the author has an easy writing style and it includes small details that help us to understand everyday life in Ancient rome. For example, the description of a typical day in the life of Augustus and his wife Liva - their routine, their movements and the food they ate. It is not however an academic work, as although the author clearly knows his subject one of the most annoying things is a lack of footnotes. Often on a page it will be stated that Augustus once stated or once did or thought or said and you think where does that come from. If you turn to the appendix, it only contains one footnote per page, so not everything is referenced and consequently one has no means of knowing where the author obtained his information. For myself I found this very, very irritating as it was impossible to cross reference or even build up an idea of where the main original sources are. There is also not a great deal of analysis of Rome at the time, how the army worked, what the social structure was, so its not either a book for someone looking to understand life in rome in general. As a result, I could not recommend this book for anyone serious about studying Roman history.
Having made those statements I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its well written, the writer writes as if he knew Augustus personally and his anecdotes such as ' when at the hairdressers he used to read or write '' may or may not be assigned a footnote but they make for an entertaining read. The author clearly has respect for his subject but in general does not pronounce judgement rather tells the facts as we know them in an entertaining way. And of course the subject matter is interesting, plots, coup d'etat, Antony & Cleopatra, adultary, fighting and winning battles, court intrigue, political intrigue, creating an empire all juicy subjects by themselves.
So despite the lack of footnotes if like me you want to understand more about one of the europeans who have had an impact on our history and society, and want to achieve that in one shot through a book thats readable as well as informative then its a great place to start.
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Excellent overview of Augustus
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This book is very well written and a real page turner. Augustus lead an action packed life and the book is never dull. It is well researched and pitched at the general reader. Where there are gaps or unanswered questions in the ancient sources Everitt provides different plausible hypotheses. Generally speaking Everitt attempts to show Augustus in a favourable light, but he doesn't whitewash some of his most ruthless acts such as the proscriptions, the exile of both Julias, the posthumous execution of Agrippa Posthumous. Despite Everitt's best efforts there is still something about the man that repels us. His later moderation was only possible because he had destroyed all possible opposition and he was a dictator in everything but name. We can't help feeling that Shakespeare got it right after all!
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