Anthony & Cleopatra
I blogged a bit over three years ago about the superb “Masters of Rome” series by Colleen McCullough. It is a fantastic series and is largely responsible for my interest in the old Roman Republic (which was far better than the Empire).
I’m surprised by how many other people have commented to me on how influential that series was to them. It’s factual accuracy is almost unparalleled. In fact it partly spoils other historical fiction from that era, as they are almost always less accurate.
She ended the series of six with the October Horse concluding at the Battle of Philippi which saw Octavian and Mark Anthony triumph over Brutus and Cassius – thus marking the end of the Republic in her eyes.
I always wanted her to do a further book, and it seems so have many other people – because she has. I had no idea she was even working on a 7th book until I saw it for sale at Dymocks at the weekend. Since then I have been making my way in my spare time. It is very much up to her normal standard and is called Anthony & Cleopatra.
The book covers the years from the Battle of Philippi to the final confrontation between Octavian and Mark Anthony, with the victorious Octavian becoming Augustus – the first Roman Emperor (in practice, but not title).
The Masters of Rome series tends to appeal to fans of politics. It’s a great mixture of politics, war, and law with some larger than life characters. Fans of the series include Bob Carr, Henry Kissinger and Newt Gingrich.
So if you need a good Christmas present for a friend who enjoys politics – try buying them The First Man in Rome. And if they already have the series, let them know that finally there is the seventh book, and they’ll be running down to the bookstore to buy it.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Better than the Empire?
Pffft – under Trajan and Hadrian, the Empire was magnificent, civilising intellectually and artistically at one of its highpoints.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I Claudius and Claudius the God were very historically accurate despite being novels. I have the DVDs of the 1976 BBC television series starring Derek Jacobi (and dozens of other fine actors/actresses) and it is just as wonderful today as it was then. And as historically accurate.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I Claudius and Claudius the God were very historically accurate
I dunno how accurate they were (it would be very un-Robert Graves like) but they’re certainly wonderful books.
One of my favorite historical novels from that era is Gore Vidals Julian, about the life of the apostate emperor of the 4th century.
When I were a lad I enjoyed Mary Renault’s books about Alexander the Great – Fire from Heaven and The Persian Boy
November 7th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I recently picked up Adrian Goldsworthy’s ‘In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire’ which is a non-fiction history book on Rome’s greatest generals. Right at the end of the book, the Goldsworthy reviews the portrayal of Rome in modern literature and he, too, commends Colleen McCullough’s books for their historical accuracy.
I’ve had the series a number of years, re-read much of it more than once, and always enjoy it. I Claudius was also a very good read. I’ll have to go and track down Gore Vidal’s book (though I’m another who finds the Republic more interesting than the Principate).
November 7th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Rome the TV series is fantastic.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Yeah it is. The second season is very good also. They do depart from history in a few areas but they are far more accurate than most TV series and they have captured the culture and environment wonderfully well.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Rome the TV series was utter garbage and bore barely a fleeting relationship to historical fact
November 7th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
If I recall correctly, I Claudius & Claudius the God are not at all perticularly accurate historically, but yeah, they’re brilliant.
November 7th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Here we go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Claudius#Historical_Accuracy
Although it boils down to Graves chose to ignore or believe differing sources to suit the narrative.
Can’t argue with that.
November 7th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
As it says, they are historically quite accurate. Of course they are also novels.
I did find the books a bit heavy going when I re-read them last year, but that was the literary style of the 1930s I suppose. The BBC TV series is a lot easier to digest and is a masterpiece truly worthy of that word.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Although I can understand why McCullough wanted to stop here she did with October Horse, I hoped she would continue fleshing out the rise of Octavianus. Big woohoos all round.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Roem the series is an exopensivbe yet cheap joke
- for anyone not fimilar with the politics its impossible to follow events at the political level becuase its so poorly scripted, the characters of Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus are completely at odds with history, they can’t even get Gaius Octavius’s name right, but the topper for me was when they intercepted the ox cart carrying the Treasury of Rome after the fleeing senators, who forgot to take it with them in their panicked flight from Ceaser.
That’s a true historic event but the treasury consisted of 10s of thousands of talents of gold and silver (a talent was the weight a man could carry on his back – about 30kg)…. in the series, the treasury was contained in a single cart… in reality it would have been around a hundred, amateur…
… its really frustrating that they spent so mcuh money on this potentially grand series but the scripting and direcitng is so godawful that its nearly unwatchable.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
There were lots of boobs on the Rome TV series, so one can’t complain too much I suppose.
November 7th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I thought Rome the TV series was a great yarn for a plebian such as myself and I enjoyed the characters of Vorenius and Pullo as well as the belligerently decadent portrayal of Marc Antony which was brilliant. Whether or not it was historically correct or not, I couldn’t give a shit, it was an HBO series after all.
November 7th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Give it all to the brits, they’re brilliant.
Hollywood Americanises everything. I mean look at ‘troy’ A blonde Helen
Those medditerrean boys wouldn’t have known what a blonde looked like.
But oh no, Hollywood HAS to have blonde.
Must say though, I read the history of Sparta a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed 300.
The fact that it is really true is mind boggling. When you see those tens of thousands of assault craft hit the shore and 300 Spartans call them motherless dogs is beyond belief.
I questioned ‘Band of Brothers” when the US army was retreating from superior German forces and told the 101st Airborne who said they were paratroopers and they were supposed to be surrounded.
An ex soldier I know who saw much active service said he didn’t believe that statement.
November 7th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Historical fiction has it’s place – serving to stimulate an interest in history. Studying the history of the ancient Roman Republic and Empire at varsity involved a lot of memorized dates of important law changes relating to the distribution of grain (yaaaaawn), reading the same thing dozens of times from different points of view (yaaaaawn), and looking at a lot of sculptures and paintings of nude men (ewww). Nonetheless the overall story is, of course, a fascinating one. If you come at it from that point to start with you can get hooked. Then you can find out most of what you read is just one point of view and maybe it was all bs. But by then you’ve got the bug.
I’m not sure which was ultimately better between the Republic and the Empire. For most people it probably wouldn’t have mattered except that the Empire was probably more peaceful and safe feeling. But both were pretty disgusting barbaric times, made only slightly less horrible by the level of disgusting barbarity outside of Roman influence.
November 7th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Thanks david I was wondering when Colleen McCullough would do a further book I will go out on Saturday and procure a copy
November 7th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Has anyone seen the movie? The Burton/Taylor epic, of course. Stultifyingly dull but rich in offscreen gossip.
Battle of Actium not too bad, either.
November 7th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Well, I loved the Colleen McCullough series (can’t wait to red the last one!), the Robert Graves books, the I Claudius mini-series and the TV Mini-Series Rome. TV brings things to life beautifully, and I think “Rome” was the first time we have ever seen a genuine social history of those times on the screen. And while there might be a few historical liberties, I didn’t think they were too bad – the script was very much true to the spirit of the times, and even to a remarkable number of attested events and people.
For example, Caesar really did cross the Rubicon with only the 13th Legion. His cavalry advance guard really did frighten off his opponents. And he even wrote about two competing centurions in Gaul, whose names were – Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus! Yes, even the incident Caesar wrote was similar in many ways to the fight at the start of Series 1.
But there was another great BBC historical mini-series – the Cleopatras. I saw some of this yonks ago and have never heard of it since. But it was great, plotting the rise and fall of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Alexandria. Any one know where you can buy it?
November 7th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Haven’t read any of Colleen McCullough’s work yet, but Conn Iggulden’s “Emperor” series about Julius Caesar was very good.
November 7th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Moderator :
How long does it take for the moderation system to work ?
And my posts to show on threads ?
November 7th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
What’s Robert Harris’ take on Rome like? Been meaning to read his stuff, as I like Archangel and Fatherland. McCullough is just so damned vivid.
November 8th, 2007 at 8:45 am
FOr a cracking read there’s also Richard Sapir’s The Far Arena, about a Roman gladiator frozen in ice and reanimated 1900 years later. Fascinating book in every sense. As for harris, I read his Pompeii, which was – as usual for him – a dense but vividly painted depiction of life in the shadow of impending doom. Very well written, you almost think that he’s going to change history at one stage. Can’t wait to try Imperium.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Imperator by Harris is a superb depiction of Cicero in my opinion. pompeii is a nice wee novel also.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
I’ve tried twice to get into one of the books, starts near Istanbul, but it just doesn’t gel with me … on the other hand I have read ‘Angel’ twice so far and I’m sure I will read it again some time.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
FOr a cracking read there’s also Richard Sapir’s The Far Arena, about a Roman gladiator frozen in ice and reanimated 1900 years later.
Bear,,
How did he get on with language issues. Could he find a Latin speaker.
Did he understand Italian.
btw,, when did Italians cease speaking Latin??