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8797999's review against another edition
5.0
Superb, I thoroughly enjoyed this history. Coming into it I knew only the bare bones and what popular culture wants us to know. It was a very interesting and informative read of the 'facts' of the story of one of histories tragic couples.
Given how little is known of Cleopatra, there are a lot of gaps in her history, as opposed to more being known of Antony. Nonetheless this was a great read and introduction to them and their place and part in Roman history and Europe's too.
I would like to read more on them but I can't see what could be added to a comprehensive read. The book not only touches on them but the history around them, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar and Octavian. Essentially a history of the final throes of the Roman Republic.
I do wonder how different it could have been had Antony been a competant General and had his own Aggripa leading his lines.
Given how little is known of Cleopatra, there are a lot of gaps in her history, as opposed to more being known of Antony. Nonetheless this was a great read and introduction to them and their place and part in Roman history and Europe's too.
I would like to read more on them but I can't see what could be added to a comprehensive read. The book not only touches on them but the history around them, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar and Octavian. Essentially a history of the final throes of the Roman Republic.
I do wonder how different it could have been had Antony been a competant General and had his own Aggripa leading his lines.
annemieks's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.5
The book is well-written, but a bit too elaborate for my taste. Goldsworthy clearly is very knowledgeable about Roman history. However, his three books dealing with the lives of Caesar, Augustus and Marcus Antonius have lots and lots of overlap. I read them in sequence and had to deal with loads of repetition because their lives cover only a relatively short period of history, and for some part they lived simultaneously, had a lot of dealings with each other. Maybe it would have been better for Goldsworthy to just write one book about this important period in Roman history, or make it into a trilogy, where one is not expected to repeat hole chunks of information. Now it made tedious reading and therefore the books on Augustus and Marcus Antonius get a far lower rating than the book on Julius Caesar.
caidyn's review
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Interesting read. I kinda wish that this book wasn't about them jointly. I learned more about Antony from this book since a lot of the Cleopatra information were facts I was familiar with.