Augustus

The Life of Rome's First Emperor

By: Anthony Everitt

Narrated by: John Curless

Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Historian Anthony Everitt earned widespread critical acclaim for his best-selling biography of Cicero. Now, with Augustus, he delivers his second spellbinding account of a Roman icon whose legacy has echoed through the ages.

Caesar Augustus has been called history's greatest emperor. It was said he found Rome made of clay and left it made of marble. With a senator for a father and Julius Caesar for a great-uncle, he ascended the ranks of Roman society with breathtaking speed. His courage in battle is still questioned, yet his political savvy was second to none. He had a lifelong rival in Mark Antony and a 51-year companion in his wife, Livia. And his influence extended perhaps further than that of any ruler who has ever lived.

Drawing on the available information, while making a handful of his own groundbreaking assertions, Everitt brings the real Augustus to vivid life in this fascinating narrative.

©2006 Anthony Everitt (P)2006 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"This familiar story is fresh again in this lively retelling." (Publishers Weekly)
"Everitt's writing is so crisp and so lively he brings both Rome and Augustus to life in this magnificent work, a must-read for anyone interested in classical times." (Booklist)

The Original Game of Thrones

Augustus

Before I listened to Anthony Everett's "Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor" (2007), my knowledge of Ancient Roman History was woefully inadequate. I had a high school world history class with a chapter on Ancient Greece and Rome, and an inexplicably thorough semester long course on mythology, both that I promptly forgot.

Everett's "Augustus" made that time and place real to me. I was fascinated by the political and military acumen that Octavian (later Augustus) used to gain and keep his power. Ancient Romans needed family pedigrees to attain rank, and Augustus did so by becoming the adopted son of his uncle, Julius Caesar.

Daughters were treated as political coin, used to establish and maintain powerful connections. For example, Livia, Augustus' wife, was married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, and divorced him to marry Octavian (Augustus). The political connection was so important that Tiberius gave her away in marriage, since Livia's father was dead. Julius Caesar had adopted the younger Tiberius. The younger Tiberius married Julia Augustus Filii, Augustus' son with his former wife, Scribonia. That Tiberius succeeded Augustus as Emperor.

The Ancient Romans resorted to murders and forced suicides to gain power, and this story had them all - from the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC to the suicides of Marc Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC, to the assassination of Postumus Agrippa, Augustus' grandson 14 AD, shortly after Augustus death. Postumus Agrippa's murder cleared any claim to Augustus' throne. There has always been speculation that Livia helped in some other convenient deaths.

If these story lines were written for the soap opera "One Life to Live" they would be edited to make them more believable.

The familial relationships, deifications, name changes, and honors granted with titles were so complex that I wished for a text version of the book with an index and family trees.

I enjoyed the narration, but I have no idea whether the Latin pronunciations were correct. However, as a long ago Latin teacher pointed out to me - no one knows. It's not spoken anymore except in Mass, and after 2,000 years, it may have changed.

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Interesting but kind of slow

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No, non of my friends are in to this kind of book.

Would you be willing to try another book from Anthony Everitt? Why or why not?

Depends on the book.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was fine.

Was Augustus worth the listening time?

It was interesting but I was hoping for more of a story not just the facts.

A History We All Should Read

Not for every reader, but serious historical readers should wade in to this well done research. More than even the story of his life, Augustus, is an amazing research work.

Great history presentation

Well worth the listen. Well worth the listen. Well worth the listen. Well worth the listen. Well worth the listen. Well worth the listen. The end. Uniqu huff

Very insightful, history made interesting

Well done by the author and narrator, brought a very important story to life and presented history in a way that was very easy, and fun to digest. Will listen to this again.

Long and to often boring.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This was a long and all to often boring story. Small pieces grabbed my attention but the story failed to draw me in.

One of my favorite historical books

Fascinating story. It is difficult to grasp the epic scale of the life of Caesar Augustus. This book details his expansive life, from despair to great heights, good and bad traits.

Great Listen

Only suggestion is to at least listen to it at 1.15 speed. Great beginning highlights the man known as Rome's first Emperor.

Scholarly tome

I enjoyed this book, and agree with others who said you'll need to re-listen several times (it's packed with intricate detail) and if you're looking for a page turner in the like of HBO's Rome, well, it ain't so much. Very interesting though, and I too came away with some understanding of Augustus and his role in transforming the Republic into a monarchy.

Great Book about Rome's Greatest Empire.

This is a great book about the man who created the Roman Empire. Granted there are a few fictitious parts dealing with Augustus's death that I did not care for. Also he is more lenient on Livia's the wife of Augustus than I would have been. I have always found her a detestable and manipulative woman

For me this book was at its best when it deals with the young Augustus and his formative years. In his youth it would be hard to imagine that this sickly boy with no military skills would nevertheless triumph over far better known opponents like Mark Anthony and eventually be the last man standing after the civil wars are over. It makes one wonder what latent talents Julius Caesar must have seen in the the young Octavian to make him his heir -- and a worthy heir he turned out to be.

Augustus had an iron fist in a velvet glove. He got his way without ever seeming to dominate the various political entities in Rome. He was a skilled politician who knew his own limitations and thus surrounded himself with the most able people for the job who would complement and supplement his own talents.

In Marcus Agrippa he found a brilliant military leader who more than anyone defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium while Octavian lay sick in his tent. It was Agrippa who created. built, and trained the fleet which would win Actium. Also Agrippa was responsible for an enormous rebuilding of Rome and constructed the Pantheon and the Baths of Agrippa.

However, like all those able men who surrounded Augustus, they never attempted to outshine him, but rather let him take the credit. In their own way they were as skillful at politics as Augustus himself.

Everitt thoroughly explortes not only the personality and political skill of Augusted himself, but he also gives us great portraits of the able men he surrounded himself with -- Agrippa, Maecenas etc. This is a well-rounded book since it focuses on all aspects of Augustus' rule and the heartbreaking inability of the great man to have a worthy successor.

This is probably the best book ever written on the man, but also on the birth of Imperial Rome,

The narrator is outstanding and gives the right nuance to the author's word. If you are atll interested in this period of Roman History this book should not be missed.