Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar

Rome was first ruled by kings, then became a republic, but after conquering the known world, the Republic collapsed into a sea of blood. So terrible were the civil wars that the Roman people finally came to welcome the rule of an autocrat who could offer them stability and peace. This master called himself Augustus: "The Divinely Favoured One." The lurid glamour of the dynasty he founded has never faded, and no other family in history can compare for sheer unsettling fascination with its gallery of leading characters.

Serving as the narrative sequel to Rubicon, this volume traces the full story of Rome’s first imperial dynasty, capturing both the brilliance of its allure and the blood-steeped shadows cast by its crimes. The history follows Tiberius, the great general who ended up a bitter recluse; Caligula, the master of cruelty who rode his chariot across the sea; Agrippina, the calculating mother who maneuvered her son Nero to power, only to be murdered by him; and Nero himself, building a pleasure palace over the fire-gutted center of his capital. Ranging from a capital rebuilt in marble to the dank forests of Germany, this account is populated by a spectacular cast of murderers, adulterers, druids, scheming grandmothers, and reluctant gladiators, offering a portrait of a family that transformed and stupefied Rome.