the first man in rome by colleen mccullough

Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Julius Caesar are living, breathing human beings. Instead, she tries to understand sometimes conflicting facts to arrive at a plausible rationale.īut, mainly, it's the characters that give this series life. But you never get the sense that, like some historical fiction writers, she's changing the history to fit her story. It's clear (and she points out as much in her afterwords) that some things may not have happened the way she portrays them. the flamen dialis, a priesthood that would have prevented any kind of military or significant political career, was ingenious. Her take on Caesar's epilepsy was particularly interesting and reflects her expertise as a medical doctor (a perspective most historians can't draw on). There are dozens of interpretations that she makes (and usually explains in the notes at the end) that are usually so well thought-out and ring true to the known history. I really appreciated the way she was faithful to the known history but filled in the unknown areas with reasonable and interesting guesses (e.g., Sulla's first wife probably wasn't Julius Caesar's other aunt, if he had more than one, but she was a Julia). I've read all seven, but my favorites are the first 3 or 4.

When I learned of McCullough's series, I began with this one and was immediately hooked. I read Tom Holland's excellent Rubicon and knew I needed more-especially on Marius and Sulla, two of the most fascinating characters of this or any historical period. I started to get more interested in ancient Rome (particularly the Republic) after the HBO series started.

The first man in rome by colleen mccullough