Summary of Barry Strauss's Ten Caesars

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Augustus was an icon and a mystery. He ended a century of revolution and brought down the Roman Republic, and replaced it with the empire of which he was the first emperor. He found the perfect number two: a partner to serve as his general and administrator without threatening his power.
#2 Octavian was born in 63 BC. His father, Gaius Octavius, came from a family of strivers from a small town south of Rome. He was wealthy and politically ambitious, but he lacked the noble heritage that most Romans, rich or poor, expected in their leaders.
#3 Octavian, the young man who would become Caesar’s successor, was promoted by Caesar. He was not a born soldier, but he was tenacious, cunning, and brave. He had an iron will.
#4 When Caesar died in 44 BC, his plan was to start a three-year war of conquest in the East. He gave Octavian a big role by naming him his Master of the Horse, or second in command. However, the Ides of March changed everything.

Sujets

• Politique
• Roma (serie de televisión)
• Ancient history
• Rome
• Ancient

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669379379
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Barry S. Strauss's Ten Caesars
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Augustus was an icon and a mystery. He ended a century of revolution and brought down the Roman Republic, and replaced it with the empire of which he was the first emperor. He found the perfect number two: a partner to serve as his general and administrator without threatening his power.

#2

Octavian was born in 63 BC. His father, Gaius Octavius, came from a family of strivers from a small town south of Rome. He was wealthy and politically ambitious, but he lacked the noble heritage that most Romans, rich or poor, expected in their leaders.

#3

Octavian, the young man who would become Caesar’s successor, was promoted by Caesar. He was not a born soldier, but he was tenacious, cunning, and brave. He had an iron will.

#4

When Caesar died in 44 BC, his plan was to start a three-year war of conquest in the East. He gave Octavian a big role by naming him his Master of the Horse, or second in command. However, the Ides of March changed everything.

#5

Octavian was ambitious, but not impetuous. He was audacious but not wild. He was a man who knew how to tempt people, starting with his stepfather’s neighbor in his country villa on the Bay of Naples.

#6

In 43 BC, the Senate turned to Octavian and his legions to support Antony, who was fighting against Cicero. The two sides clashed in two battles in northern Italy. The Senate’s armies were victorious, and they forced Antony to retreat.

#7

In 43 BC, Octavian went to the Roman Senate and demanded that they make him consul, the highest office in the state. The senators reluctantly agreed, and then reneged on their promise. Octavian then had a law passed that set up a special court that would execute those who had killed Caesar.

#8

Octavian, at age twenty-four, had achieved great things. His ambition was boundless, his intelligence was keen, his judgment was sure, and his work ethic was limitless. He felt emotion, above all rage at his adoptive father’s murder, but he mastered the art of turning pain into strategy.

#9

The Battle of Philippi was a huge victory for Octavian and Antony, but they still had to bring the Roman world under their control. They divided the empire, with Antony taking the East and making his base in Athens, while Octavian ruled the West from Rome.

#10

Cleopatra was an Egyptian queen who was known for her charisma. She had access to Egypt’s wealth, and she created a mystique in the bedroom. Antony had Caesar’s name, but Cleopatra had Caesar’s mistress. In 41 BC, Antony married Octavia, Octavian’s sister.

#11

In 38 BC, Octavian was able to defeat Sextus Pompey, the last surviving son of Caesar’s rival Pompey the Great. He married Livia Drusilla, who was 19 years old, noble, bright, and beautiful. They had a son, Drusus, who joined an older brother, the three-year-old Tiberius.

#12

Octavian and Agrippa were able to defeat Sextus Pompey in 36 BC, and he was soon captured and killed. Octavian strained the Italian economy to build a massive new fleet. He went into battle, and, more than once, he was lucky to escape with his life.

#13

In 37 BC, Antony turned to Cleopatra, who became his supplier and his lover. The Roman Empire appeared to be a fool for love, governed at opposite ends of the Mediterranean by two pairs of lovers: Antony and Cleopatra, and Octavian and Livia.

#14

The Battle of Actium was the final conflict between Antony and Octavian. It was a huge victory for Octavian, and he took over Egypt as a Roman province. He spared the city, but executed King Caesarion, Cleopatra’s son with Antony.

#15

Augustus was the first emperor of Rome, and he used his image to promote stability. He passed a series of laws that promoted childbearing and punished the childless and unmarried, but he also promoted celibacy.

#16

Augustus was the exception to the rule. He was able to end the century of civil war and lay the foundations of two hundred years of peace and prosperity. He was immensely rich, having inherited a fortune from Caesar and acquiring more wealth during his career of conquest.

#17

Augustus was a very gentle emperor who never forgot that his rule depended on his soldiers. He satisfied them by giving land and money to hundreds of thousands of veterans, who were then settled in colonies. He also taxed the rich.

#18

Augustus learned from Julius Caesar that power grew from the blade of a sword. He adapted traditional Roman constitutional procedures to new circumstances, and he gained supreme military power in Rome and the provinces.

#19

The Roman Empire was ruled by an elite group of people called the emperor and his helpers. The Romans, the original people of Rome, were split between a tiny ruling group and a mass of ordinary people.

#20

Augustus transformed Rome from a lean, mean fighting machine into a spectacular stage set of an imperial capital. He paid careful attention to the poor people of Rome, who, in the past, had been the source of riot and revolution. He made grain distribution to the poor more efficient.

#21

Augustus was the first emperor of Rome, and he used religion to sell his regime. He founded the emperor cult that recognized him as the son of a god in Rome, and he was worshipped abroad. The Roman father was a priest as well as the head of his household.

#22

Augustus was able to brand the Julian family, and turn them into the only family that ruled Rome. He also increased Agrippa’s powers, and had him marry his daughter. Livia, Augustus’s wife, was the most powerful woman of ancient history.

#23

Livia was one of Augustus’s most trusted advisors. She was his traveling partner around the empire, and she made the most of it. She was also a poisoner who murdered one by one the males of Augustus’s line as well as her grandson and finally Augustus himself, so that her son by her previous husband, Tiberius, could inherit the empire.

#24

Augustus was a family businessman, and he thought long term. He made plans for the succession, but he found it harder to build a dynasty than to defeat his fiercest warrior or shrewdest political foe.

#25

Augustus was voted Father of His Country in 2 BC. He was sixty years old. He had many great women in his life, but the three closest to him were his mother, Atia, who raised him; his wife Livia, who inspired him; and his daughter, Julia, who betrayed him.

#26

When he adopted Tiberius, Augustus also gave him a share of his legal powers. In addition, he used Tiberius to command his armies. Augustus sent Tiberius to hold the violent frontiers in Central Europe and the Balkans, where Tiberius spent most of the time between the years 6 and 12 in a series of hard-fought wars and revolts.

#27

The Res Gestae Divi Augusti was a text for the empire, not just Rome. It was a work of propaganda that omitted the murders, betrayals, and cruelty of Augustus’s reign, and instead emphasized his military achievements.

#28

After Caesar’s death, Rome was left with a generation of civil war.