num_pages: 430
description: In 49 B.C., the seven hundred fifth year since the founding of Rome, Julius Caesar crossed a small border river called the Rubicon and plunged Rome into cataclysmic civil war. Tom Holland’s enthralling account tells the story of Caesar’s generation, witness to the twilight of the Republic and its bloody transformation into an empire. From Cicero, Spartacus, and Brutus, to Cleopatra, Virgil, and Augustus, here are some of the most legendary figures in history brought thrillingly to life. Combining verve and freshness with scrupulous scholarship, Rubicon is not only an engrossing history of this pivotal era but a uniquely resonant portrait of a great civilization in all its extremes of self-sacrifice and rivalry, decadence and catastrophe, intrigue, war, and world-shaking ambition.
language: English
title: Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
titlecomplete: Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
characters: Brutus, Marcus Junius, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Spartacus, Julius Caesar (Roman emperor), Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Augustus, Cleopatra
genres: Politics, Historical, Ancient History, World History, Roman, Italy, Classics, Nonfiction, History, Ancient
ratings_count: 19708
places: Roman Republic, Rome
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Hessell-Tiltman Prize
publisher: Abacus