The Untold History Of The Roman Emperors

The Caesars were the rulers of the Roman Empire, a Republic so large it encompassed parts of Asia and Northern Africa. From Caligula to Claudius, each emperor wielded immense power – for good or for evil, depending on their temperament – over the Roman army and their citizens. This book highlights the lives of some of the more memorable Caesars of Rome and the true history that exist beneath the legends.

Trajan - Lion of Rome is a historical novel, based on the life of the Emperor Trajan (ruled 98-117 AD), who expanded the Roman Empire to its maximum size. The reader plunges into a world riveted by the power struggles between Empire and rebels, Emperor and Senate and Rome versus competing kingdoms at its borders. The book is meticulously researched and stays true to the historic events.Trajan, the son of a general, grows up with aspirations to exceed his thriving father as a soldier. Successful beyond his own expectations, Trajan is soon drawn into the conflict between the tyrant Domitian and a resentful Senate, led by Nerva. He needs to choose sides, supported by his wife Plotina and cousin Hadrian. After Domitian¿s assassination Nerva takes over and appoints Trajan as his successor. When Nerva dies two years later Trajan¿s time has come. Now he has to prove himself against the temptations of power and the siren song of military glory. He succeeds by leading a war of necessity against Dacian invaders, but his conquest of Mesopotamia turns into a huge challenge for himself and the whole Roman army.

This book caused a sensation when it was published in Germany in 1992, and was front page news in many newspapers. For readers of English, it will be an authoritative survey of four centuries of Roman history, and a unique window on the German tradition of the last century. Theodor Mommsen (d. 1903) was one of the greatest Roman historians of the nineteenth century, and the only one ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. His fame rests on his History of Rome as well as his work on Roman law and on the Roman provinces. But the work that would have concluded his history of Rome - which ran to the reign of Augustus - was never completed. This book represents that great lost work. In 1980 Alexander Demandt discovered in an antiquarian bookshop a full and detailed handwritten transcript of the lectures on the Roman Empire, which Mommsen gave for many years from 1863 to 1886, made by two of his students. This transcript has been edited to provide the authoritative reconstruction of the book Mommsen never wrote, A History of Rome Under the Emperors. Barbara and Alexander Demandt have carefully edited the text and provided detailed annotation and explanatory references. For the English edition, Professor Thomas Wiedemann has written an introduction which surveys Mommsen's position and influence in nineteenth century German scholarship and introduces his work for English speaking readers.