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A review by travisantoniog
Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar by Tom Holland
5.0
I've read a few fictional and non fictional accounts of the rise of Rome but I must say that Tom Holland's book Dynasty: The rise and fall of the House of Caesar is a natural sequel to his previous book Rubicon. The book is both entertaining and informative of the early days of Imperial age of Rome. The introduction of the book sets the scene brilliantly and I wish there was an epilogue after the suicide of Nero as well. Apart from that the book proceeds to effectively shed light on the inner workings of the House of Caesar while debunking some of the myths surrounding that it period.
It's quite amazing how so many incidents in history that are embedded in our collective psyche may in fact be purely rumours and have no historical basis. This is particularly true for the the reign of the House of Caesar's at the beginning of Rome's imperial age. The famous claims that Nero played the Lyre while Rome burned or Caligula unable to invade Britain had his soldiers collect sea shells may in fact be nothing more than malicious gossip.
However the main objective of the book is not to debunk everything we know about early days of Imperial Rome but instead highlights the a healthy dose of skepticism is essential when reading into the history of the house of Caesar which for the most part was penned many years later by people who sought its downfall. In fact some events were in fact stranger than fiction such as Nero killing his mother Agrippinia with a booby-trapped yacht and Caligula making his horse a Senator did in fact take place.
The book is also not an attempt to promote a particular approach to history as encapsulated in the approach taken by Herodotus writing which mixes fact with myth and the more no nonsense fact based approach of Thucydides in his account of the Peloponnese war. Tom Holland seamlessly combines these two approaches by on the one hand providing evidence to assess the validity of a rumour/gossip while on the other hand portraying the affairs on earth being mirrored as a struggle of the Gods and the role prophesy plays in it. For example, the conflict between Octavius and Mark Anthony and Nero having his mother killed has an attempt
I like how the book briefly digresses to the past or jumps ahead into the future to connect the story with socio political developments that took place over Rome's history. Was particularly interested to learn the Utopian ideal and the Martial tradition of the Roman people that was promoted with stories about Romulus which was viewed as a golden age of Rome. Was also quite surprised to learn about the conservative attitude Romans had towards sexuality and on the importance of tradition and values. The novel shows how the progress of the House of Caesar mirrored the changes in the social attitude over time beginning with the conservative Augustus and his obsession with purity to the flamboyance of Nero's reign. As Nero rightly pointed out "Everything we now believe to be the essence of tradition, was a novelty once"
Favourite Quotes
"The best cure for a civil war is to forget that t ever happened" - Seneca The Elder
For someone like Nero, scandal was corrosive to the authority of a natural showman if there was an attempt to cover it up
So perished the line of Caligula: Dead of a Joke taken too far
"No matter how many people you put to death, you can never kill your successor" - Seneca
"The surest punishment was not death but to be consigned to Oblivion"
"Time erodes both steel and stone" .."The written word defines the Years"
It's quite amazing how so many incidents in history that are embedded in our collective psyche may in fact be purely rumours and have no historical basis. This is particularly true for the the reign of the House of Caesar's at the beginning of Rome's imperial age. The famous claims that Nero played the Lyre while Rome burned or Caligula unable to invade Britain had his soldiers collect sea shells may in fact be nothing more than malicious gossip.
However the main objective of the book is not to debunk everything we know about early days of Imperial Rome but instead highlights the a healthy dose of skepticism is essential when reading into the history of the house of Caesar which for the most part was penned many years later by people who sought its downfall. In fact some events were in fact stranger than fiction such as Nero killing his mother Agrippinia with a booby-trapped yacht and Caligula making his horse a Senator did in fact take place.
The book is also not an attempt to promote a particular approach to history as encapsulated in the approach taken by Herodotus writing which mixes fact with myth and the more no nonsense fact based approach of Thucydides in his account of the Peloponnese war. Tom Holland seamlessly combines these two approaches by on the one hand providing evidence to assess the validity of a rumour/gossip while on the other hand portraying the affairs on earth being mirrored as a struggle of the Gods and the role prophesy plays in it. For example, the conflict between Octavius and Mark Anthony and Nero having his mother killed has an attempt
I like how the book briefly digresses to the past or jumps ahead into the future to connect the story with socio political developments that took place over Rome's history. Was particularly interested to learn the Utopian ideal and the Martial tradition of the Roman people that was promoted with stories about Romulus which was viewed as a golden age of Rome. Was also quite surprised to learn about the conservative attitude Romans had towards sexuality and on the importance of tradition and values. The novel shows how the progress of the House of Caesar mirrored the changes in the social attitude over time beginning with the conservative Augustus and his obsession with purity to the flamboyance of Nero's reign. As Nero rightly pointed out "Everything we now believe to be the essence of tradition, was a novelty once"
Favourite Quotes
"The best cure for a civil war is to forget that t ever happened" - Seneca The Elder
For someone like Nero, scandal was corrosive to the authority of a natural showman if there was an attempt to cover it up
So perished the line of Caligula: Dead of a Joke taken too far
"No matter how many people you put to death, you can never kill your successor" - Seneca
"The surest punishment was not death but to be consigned to Oblivion"
"Time erodes both steel and stone" .."The written word defines the Years"