Product Description

The Roman Republic was the most remarkable state in history. What began as a small community of peasants camped among marshes and hills ended up ruling the known world. "Rubicon" paints a vivid portrait of the Republic at the climax of its greatness - the same greatness which would herald the catastrophe of its fall. This was the century of Julius Caesar, the gambler whose addiction to glory led him to the banks of the Rubicon, and beyond; of Cicero, whose defence of freedom would make him a byword for eloquence; of Spartacus, the slave who dared to challenge a superpower; of Cleopatra, the queen who did the same. Tom Holland brings to life this strange and unsettling civilization, with its extremes of ambition and self-sacrifice, bloodshed and desire. Yet alien as it was, the Republic still holds up a mirror to us. Its citizens were obsessed by celebrity chefs, all-night dancing and exotic pets; they fought elections in law courts and were addicted to spin; they toppled foreign tyrants in the name of self-defence. Two thousand years may have passed, but we remain the Romans' heirs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1172813 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-15
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 443 pages

Review
'Holland has the rare gift of making deep scholarship accessible and exciting. A brilliant and completely absorbing study' A. N. Wilson, author of The Victorians 'This is the best one-volume narrative history of the Rome between King Tarquin and Emperor Augustus I have ever read. The story of Rome's experiment with republicanism - peopled by such giants as Caesar, Pompey, Cato and Cicero - is told with perfect freshness, fine wit and true scholarship' Andrew Roberts

Where histories of the Roman Empire must cover a millennium and more, Rubicon restricts itself to the lifetime of the Republic only - a mere 541 years, from 590 BC, when the monarchy fell, to 49 BC, the fateful year when Caesar, standing by the river that defined the limits of Rome, took the momentous decision to lead his army across, and declared himself sole ruler. Not that Republican Rome was ever a democratic paradise, of course. Tom Holland shows how 'freedom and egalitarianism, to the Romans, were very different things... for a citizen, the essence of life was competition, wealth and votes the accepted measures of success'. Slavery was the norm, and with it the bloody spectacle of gladiatorial combat. Poor Spartacus found himself alone among his followers in imagining a better world, as 'no one objected to the hierarchy of free and un-free, merely his own position within it'. Holland brings to life the names of a thousand schoolbooks - Crassus, Pompey, Cicero, Caesar - and gives them both personality and relevance. Indeed, the similarities with modern Western democracy extend beyond political structure and personality cults to lifestyle, fashion and food fads. Yet 'parallels can be deceptive'. The social and sexual mores of the Romans were vastly different, and we have no slavery, nor gladiatorial arenas, to speak of. Moreover, what appears to be a well-documented period in history is, Holland reminds us, the exclusive preserve of the powerful and privileged, as if a history of the Second World War 'relied solely upon the broadcasts of Hitler and the memoirs of Churchill'. His achievement is to set the chronological history of the Republic and its dominant figures against a vivid background of Roman life, as experienced by everyone, from the bottom up, albeit in markedly different ways. His prose is insightful and sardonic, fluid and authoritative. This is recommended reading for anyone interested in the ancient world. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Tom Holland received a double first from Cambridge. He has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for BBC Radio. His scholarly style is pefect to reposition him as a writer of non-fiction as well as fiction.

Customer Reviews

Good read, but strongly slanted toward aritocrats
This is a well-paced and fairly detailed book about the slow fall of the Roman Republic, but the author seems to persistently spin his rendition of events to favor traditionalists and aristocrats. Therefore Caesar's role in bringing down the Republic is heavily emphasized and decried, but the violent opposition to the Gracchi is made to seem natural.

The fact of the matter is that conservatives had a big hand in undermining the rule of law in Rome, and that resistance by all means necessary to social change had helped turn Rome into a city ruled, in the last instance, by force. This long, long before Caesar crossed the Rubicon.

It is possible to lay more blame on Caesar than many historians have done, but one shouldn't do it by ignoring or glossing over the crimes of conservatives and traditionalists.

Must read survey of Roman History
If you want one book to give you insight into how the Republic of Rome operated and evolved into an Empire, this is the book to get. Very well written. It is fascinating how much modern politics resembles the politics of ancient Rome, as engagingly and clearly described in this book. If you think Julius and Augustus Caesar came to power by military conquest alone (and that is how Republic became Empire), read this book to understand how wrong you are.

History as it Should be Written
The Romans were arguably the most remarkable people in history, although having said that the Greeks would certainly give them a run for their money. Therefore it is no wonder that the Roman Republic is without doubt the most written about and who better to do the writing than Tom Holland, a historian who has a string of successful books behind him. This book certainly achieves what I am sure the author set out to do and that is to entertain and inform the reader at the same time, without boring the pants off them.

It is a sobering thought that what started out as a small community of people living among the marshes and hills of the area ended up as the greatest city of its time with the might and power to rule the known world. A city that had architects and engineers that could easily hold their own in today's modern world. The book paints a picture of Rome in its finest hour. This was the century of Julius Caesar , a man addicted to both power and glory. A man who crossed the Rubicon in a demonstration of both defiance and power.

A time of the great orator Cicero and Spartacus a slave come gladiator who dared to challenge the might of all Rome and briefly, but only briefly glimpsed success. Tom Holland brings to life all of these events and makes the people involved more than just names from long ago. He makes them into living people with likes and dislikes. Lovers of people and things and also the hatred within some of them and the lengths they were prepared to go to achieve their ambitions.

A book bursting with the facts of how people lived and loved in the most famous city in the known world and on the other side of the coin the ones who were continually striving to just to survive.