Masters of Rome

[Tibor Lugosi]

I am a huge fan of HBO's Rome, it is one of my favorite shows. Not too long ago I was on ebay, looking for Rome related stuff. I came across this epic 7 volume series, written by Colleen McCullough (who wrote The Thorn Birds and other best-sellers). The series covers almost the exact same period as the HBO show, only it starts a few years earlier, with Gaius Marius and Cornelius Sulla, and ends with Octavian's defeat of Mark Antony and the aftermath.
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 and
7.Antony and Cleopatra (2007); spanning the years 41–27 BC
Has anyone here read these? Please share your opinions!

[P@t_Mtl]

This series is amazing, first started reading them back in the 90's. It's very different than the HBO series and there is a lot of political talk included as well as lot's of family details (accurate or not) given. I never enjoyed the HBO seires beause of how they depicted Rome and Roman society. This series take's place starting from 100 BC and concluded with Augustus becoming emperor. The main characters of the forst three or four books are mostly Caesar's uncles by marriage Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. The focus then change to a young Caesar and his own rise within Roman society. The final books are mostly the war between Anthony and Octavian.