Accessible, enjoyable history

This is an accessible, interesting survey of the first family of the early Roman Principate - the Julio-Claudians. As the Republic breathes its last, Octavian, grand-nephew of the assassinated Julius Caesar, himself still a teenager, rises from the ashes of a civil war to become the first man in Rome. Through careful managing of his family's "brand", Octavian, known to history as Augustus (the great one), forges a demi-godlike family mythos which more than anything is his legacy. Two thousand years later, we are still intrigued with the Julio-Claudians and wonder "what might have been?" had his heirs been as astute as he and Fate been a bit kinder.

There was little new in this book to me fact-wise, however, I very much enjoyed how Mr. Holland sets the back-drop of the Empire. He explains Rome's history, its political climate, and how the Romans see themselves in relation to the rest of the world. This is a huge factor in why and how the House of Caesar rose to such prominence and why their mythology still has a hold on us today.

What I found even more fascinating are the digressions the author takes as he discusses the Roman world in the first century and the problems the Empire faced, especially in regards to immigration. It truly helped to parallel their world to ours.

Sadly, despite all his careful planning, Augustus was not able to force the rest of his family to adhere to his vision for it. In the end, despite being the blood of the "divine Julius", his family are only human after all. Greed, treachery, hubris, paranoia, and plain old bad luck wreak havoc on Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and their various family members, until the line is extinguished in the last scion of the Julio-Claudians, Nero.

I also appreciated that when he goes into some of the more scurrilous and scandalous stories about the family, the author often gives reasonable explanations as to why those stories may have arisen without treating them as either absolutely true or negating them completely.


The book reads very much like a novel and as such is quite an easy read. I would definitely read more by this author and would be very much interested in a book of his focussed on the women of the dynasty.

Unfortunately, I was not thrilled with the narrator. He had some peculiar pronunciations that irked me for some reason. He was serviceable but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone else could have/would have been a better choice. No idea who that someone would be though.

19 people found this helpful

Lessons delivered luridly, at turns hard to watch

Author Holland is not bashful. He knows how to move a story along. He leaps nimbly into minds and characters and motives of every kind, noble or sleazy, all the while staging the scenes with countless colorful, telling details. The sweep moves from grand to petty and back again effortlessly. If he is presumptuous, and I'm not historian enough to say he is, the characters' choices make sense, within their own spheres of irrationality and increasingly bizarre turns of events.
Each society, and perhaps each individual and institution in it, must walk a line between the elegance of enlightened self-interest, with a measure of healthy fellow-interactions, and the path which by increments becomes, potentially, an ugly hall of mirrors of self-absorbed vice and cruelty. This is all served up here with a brio that makes me queasy at moments (and I suppose, very un-Roman in displaying such weakness). A true history buff shouldn't shy from the details that actually happened, right? And should be edified and learn from them? Learn from this I did, a little heartbroken though. Maybe I'm getting old, or ate the wrong thing for lunch. But past a point, the graphic madness here (blighting the world and trashing countless lives), the nose-thumbing insouciance of these privileged brats curdling the ancient world into a sick and feeble parody of itself, finally got to me.
Thanks Tom I'm a huge fan (and will avidly re-listen to In The Shadow of the Sword and Rubicon), but this is enough of this. I can only hope we are preserved from our own system blundering into a train wreck steered by elite narcissists, anything like this tale depicts.
Now, I surely understand why Rome, culturally exhausted by excesses like this, turned to Christianity.

13 people found this helpful

Not Rubicon

The performance is fine. But Rubicon by the same author is a far superior book in my opinion. I bought this based on my satisfaction with Rubicon. It seems that he uses Ovid frequently as a source. And some Holland's language is a bit too sexually graphic for me. And I'm not a prude; it just seems out of place. Obviously and reasonably it's meant to add an explicit realism to the antics of some of the emperors, but I found myself fast forwarding through certain parts, asking myself, "did I buy a history book on roman emperors or fifty shades of grey?" Not a total waste though by any means. But Rubicon puts it to shame.

4 people found this helpful

Excellent synopsis of those rascally Julio claudians

Mr Holland is a great story teller. He really brings clarity and insight to this period of Roman history. I only wish I could have heard more from Ovid. The reader does an excellent job of presentation. I look forward to more works both by this author and the reader.

3 people found this helpful

History Repeats Itself

A well developed, written and read story of one period of the decline of the Roman Empire.

1 person found this helpful

Pretty good

Entertaining, although not as good as Rubicon.

Overall an edifying narrative of the emperors in the house of Caesar. Bridging from where Rubicon left off with Scipio Africanus, taking us through the Roman Civil Wars, and the rise and fall of the House of Caesar. From the rise of Augustus, the establishment of the Augustinian dynasty, down through the fall of Nero.

Dynasty given its timeframe and subject matter was more a of chronicle than its predecessor Rubicon. A few chapters dragged on a bit. Others were attention grabbing. Was awaiting the climax like Rubicon, it never came. The rise and fall of the House of Caesar was more of a slow burn.Well suited for the audio book format. Solid narration.

1 person found this helpful

Very engaging

Excellent performance. Thoroughly engaging right through to the final chapter on Nero. Minor criticism would be that it tends to emphasize the more salacious aspects of each empowers life not all of which may be true.

1 person found this helpful

Great Narrative Dubious History

This book is a survey on the topic. The narrative and the narrators delivery complement each other making for a nice easy listen. But.... It omits to much and fails to give a reader a fuller understanding of the big picture. For example Sulla Marius are ommited and the quick section on Pompey is full of bios and selective and bias. Many survey histories on the topic exist which balance accessibly and giving a better bigger picture better.

1 person found this helpful

Some things never change

I listened to this book during the 2016 election season. There is nothing new under the sun. Whatever politicians do now, it was already done during the era of Rome's world dominance. Henry VII's six wives? He was an amateur compared to Romans. This history of the post-Ides of March Caesers is exhaustive but fascinating with its attention to detail. Excellent narration. Want to become an early Rome aficionado? This book is for you!

2 people found this helpful

Good Book If You Love Ancient Rome

I’ve listened to numerous books and lecture series on Roman history and love the topic. This book is good and has a lot of interesting details that I had not heard before. The story telling sometimes abruptly jumps around from one story line to another sometimes going back and forth in time in a disjointed way. While there was some logic to it, I felt it was a bit jarring and a linear telling of the story would have been better. While narration is acceptable, at times it’s a little overly serious and monotonous sounding. If you love the topic, it’s a solid 4.