Augustus?

I am just finishing up Augustus: The Life of The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt. It was a decent read, but not great, but I'm far from a scholar of Rome. How do others rate this book, scholar or not. Any other suggestions for Augustus?

Although it is in fictionalised form, Augustus by Allan Massie is a very readable account from the emperor's point of view, of his life, based very miuch around historical events. The rest of the series of Massie's books are worth reading also.

Augustus by Richard Holland is on my TBR list as well.

#1 Just got it via history book club. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm finishing The Punic Wars this weekend, will then read Rubicon and then on to this new Augustus books.

Two recommendations; non-fiction try Augustus by Pat Southern & an award winning novel, Augustus by John Edward Williams.

I just finished In The Name Of Rome: The Men Who Won The Roman Empire by Adrian Goldsworthy. I would highly recommend this book. Lots of military history - very little explanation of politics. He discusses in depth not only the formation of the army and how it changed, but how the changing from Republic to Principate to Empire changed the way Rome went to war.

Colleen McCullough's First man in Rome series is pretty good. The books that focus on Augustus (Octavian) are Caesar and The October Horse. I also enjoyed Allan Massie's Augustus.

#6 Funny you mention In The Name Of Rome: The Men Who Won The Roman Empire as I just ordered it yesterday! I really enjoyed The Punic Wars by Goldsworthy so I figured a follow-up was due.

Thanks for all those neat titles. I've got my work cut out for me!

#8 - I haven't read The Punic Wars, but I do have Caesar Life of a Colossus which is on my TBR list. Have you read that?

#10 - I'm reading Caesar: Life of a Colossus right now. I'm about half way through it and it is very good. I like Adrian Goldsworthy better than Anthony Everitt.

#10 Don't have Caesar, but I do have Everitt's new Augustus which is next on the list. Goldsworthy will be hard to top- I really enjoy his writing style.

LOL, just read Caesar and the new Augustus is being shipped! I also like anything by Goldsworthy (see my catalog), he is very accessable. Cheers, A

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution. It's controversial, of course, but it's one of the most influential interpretations of Augustus.

Finished Augustus today, and without having anything to compare it to, I was impressed. Very readable, if a bit elemntary, but very engaging. Also, I was happy to read so much about Roman culture in general which made the book much easier to understand. For example, the explanation about the views of sexual promiscuity in Rome was helpful. Learning of Rome as a kid I always applied my standards to their times but Everitt did a nice job of explaining what was acceptable back then.

Everitt is fairly balanced, but is obviously a fan of Augustus. I must say that I am too based on this.

Syme's Roman Revolution I found to be an excellent read. I quite enjoyed his focus on the leading political families and their influence.

I'll pile on and add a recommendation for Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution. Although Syme's style is perhaps unusual by some standards today, I find him engaging and witty. He is usually considered one of the best historians on this subject in the 20th century. At least one professor of mine cited The Roman Revolution as his one of his favorite books, a spot contended only by Ernst Kantorowicz's Frederick the Second.

I am studying Ancient History at university. My supervising professor is A B Bosworth for any of you that are into Alexander the Great. Anyway, I have to say that I agree that Ronald Syme's book is an exceptional book that influenced much of the 20th Century vision of Augustus and his regime. Of the ancient authors we have Cassius Dio for a rerasonably lenghty and full descrition of his reign- unfortunately like so many ancient authors chunks are missing. Paterculus was very much an flatterer of Augustus but as a participant in the Pannonian and Illyrian wars he gives a corrective view of the Tacitus inspired idea tha Tiberius was evil incarnate. Suetonius too has survived on Augustus and is more gossip columnist than deep penetrating historian.

The best book I have read so far (and I have read MANY Augustus books) was AUGUSTUS: a novel by John Edward Williams.

You don't have to be a scholar of Rome to enjoy it. It is written in epistolary form. It is a series of fictional letters from different people who lived during Augustus' time along with memoir excerpts. It was such an interesting way to learn even more about what people may have been like as well as Augustus.

I love The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus by Paul Zanker, which is not necissarily about Augustus as a person, but more about how he used his building plan to shape the identity of Rome. Very interesting stuff, and it was a major resource for me in my undergrad days.

Concurs: Williams' AUGUSTUS is a real classic.

Seconding paghababian's mention of Zanker's Power of Images, and if that interests you, I would add Karl Galinsky's Augustan Culture.

You may be able to find the very good I, Claudius BBC series from the 70s on a torrent site. That Augustus is the face that comes to my mind when I think of the historical Augustus, in spite of the bad makeup. A must-see classic.

Read Graves's I, Claudius and Claudius the God when I was a teenager and loved them. Think they probably did much to shape my understanding of the early empire.

What about the Pat Southern biography of Augustus? Anybody read that? I think I ran across it at B&N the other day (but picked up a Thucydidies instead). I thought the Everitt was kind of thin, really. I'd love to see something like that new biograpy of Caesar. Now that was a read!
I'm reading Religions of Rome right now, and it had a wonderful overview of the religious reforms (and revivals) that Augustus made.

RE Pat Southern: Her Augustus is good, in my library. Worthwhile, like all of hers I've read.

Thanks for the recommendation, Ammianus, I'll put her on my list.

Oh yes, Religions of Rome is great, especially if you read the sources volume alongside the history volume.

Yep, I think I'm gonna have to go and buy myself copies of Religions of Rome, both volumes. It's a lot of fun, switching between the history over to the actual reference.
One thing that's been puzzling me: in Rome, Season 2, they have the priests of Concordia going through the city, and there's a whole funny bit about how you can't talk to them- "because you can't." I can't find any reference to this. Have you seen anything?
Another book I'm reading alongside Religions is Life and Lesiure in Ancient Rome by J.P.V.D. Balsdon. It's nice to get a look into private and public lives along with the focus on religion.