The First Man In Rome

If you dug the miniseries ROME then I highly recommend you find this book.

The First Man in Rome focuses mainly on the rival factions of the Roman senate during the republican years (circa 100bc) and the meteoric rise of Gaius Marcus who was repeatedly named “The First Man in Rome” due to his success as a general during the African revolt and then for defending Rome against the German hoarde.

There’s plenty of “common man” soap opera to keep it, well, common, but damn Colleen McCulloch really did her homework. You’ll learn a lot about how Rome worked as well as how they could eventually bungle it so badly that even an uncouth tribe of filth from the backwaters of europe could finally bring down the eternal city.

But that’s a story for another book…

COURTNEY TAYLOR-TAYLOR