On March th BC a group of senators stabbed Julius Caesar the dictator of Rome By his death they hoped to restore Romes Republic Instead they unleashed a revolution By December of that year Rome was plunged into a violent civil war Three men--Mark Antony Lepidus and Octavian--emerged as leaders of a revolutionary regime which crushed all opposition In time Lepidus was removed Antony and Cleopatra were dispatched and Octavian stood alone as sole ruler of Rome He became Augustus Romes first emperor and by the time of his death in AD the -year-old republic was but a distant memory and the birth of one of historys greatest empires was complete Romes Revolution provides a riveting narrative of this tumultuous period of change Historian Richard Alston digs beneath the high politics of Cicero Caesar Antony and Octavian to reveal the experience of the common Roman citizen and soldier He portrays the revolution as the crisis of a brutally competitive society both among the citizenry and among the ruling class whose legitimacy was under threat Throughout he sheds new light on the motivations that drove men to march on their capital city and slaughter their compatriots He also shows the reasons behind and the immediate legacy of the awe inspiringly successful and ruthless reign of Emperor Augustus An enthralling story of ancient warfare social upheaval and personal betrayal Romes Revolution offers an authoritative new account of an epoch which still haunts us today.
