About this book
Rubicon tells the story of the last century of the Roman Republic, when rival generals and politicians tore apart a system that had lasted for centuries. The cast includes Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Crassus, Cicero, Cato and, above all, Julius Caesar, whose crossing of the Rubicon gives the book its title. It ends with the rise of Augustus and the arrival of rule by one man.
Tom Holland writes narrative history with the pace of a novel. He is especially good at explaining the values that drove Roman public life: the hunger for glory, the importance of reputation and the fierce competition among the elite. Those values, he shows, were both the Republic's strength and the cause of its destruction.
This is a book for readers who want to feel the drama of events rather than work through academic debates. It sits well alongside SPQR, which takes a broader and more questioning view of the same world, and it makes a natural lead-in to Suetonius's portraits of the first emperors.
Who it’s for
Ideal for readers who love fast-moving narrative history; no prior knowledge of Rome is needed.
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