Masters of Rome

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Antony and Cleopatra (novel)
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This article is about the historical novel series by Colleen McCullough. For the Rome Masters tennis tournament, see Italian Open (tennis). For the golf tournament, see Roma Masters.

Masters of Rome is a series of

Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Pompey the Great, Gaius Julius Caesar, and the early career of Caesar Augustus
. It spans from January 1, 110 BC through to January 16, 27 BC.

Cast of characters

Other major historical figures who appear and play prominent parts in the series include

Cleopatra VII of Egypt, Caesarion and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
. Each book in the series features a detailed glossary, hand-drawn illustrations of the major characters, and notes by McCullough detailing her reasoning for portraying certain events in certain ways.

Historical thesis

The series has a thesis (first introduced in 1939 by Sir

optimates by classical historians, though they themselves preferred[citation needed] the title boni or "good men"). The result was the birth of an imperial monarchy, and a radically different organization of power.[citation needed
]

Depiction of Caesar

McCullough portrays Caesar as an autocrat, great military man,

crossing of the Rubicon
was his last option, his last roll of the dice, as best illustrated by the timeless quote from Caesar: "The die is cast." McCullough points out that the translation of the alternative Greek version of his words is "Let the dice fly high," which characterises not fatalism (as with the former) but rather risk-taking.

List of novels

The novels of the series are

  1. The First Man in Rome (1990); spanning the years 110–100 BC
  2. The Grass Crown (1991); spanning the years 97–86 BC
  3. Fortune's Favourites (1993); spanning the years 83–69 BC
  4. Caesar's Women (1997); spanning the years 67–59 BC
  5. Caesar (1998); spanning the years 54–48 BC
  6. The October Horse
     (2002); spanning the years 48–41 BC
  7. Antony and Cleopatra (2007); spanning the years 41–27 BC

Continuation of the series

McCullough originally decided to end the series with The October Horse because in her opinion the ultimate fall of the Roman Republic took place after the Battle of Philippi, with the death of Caesar's assassins. However, most historians place the end of the Republic a decade later, after the final showdown between Augustus and Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium, in 31 BC.

McCullough said that her publisher wanted her to write

Five Good Emperors.[citation needed] This was always unlikely, as her eyesight deteriorated due to macular degeneration
before her death in early 2015.

References

  1. ^ "Toga party in Maquarie Street". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 May 2004. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
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