<iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-K3L4M3" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">

Books

Augustus: here was a Caesar! Or at least his great-nephew

Jochen Bleicken’s biography comes to praise the first emperor, not to bury him, finds Harry Mount

5 September 2015

9:00 AM

5 September 2015

9:00 AM

Augustus: The Biography Jochen Bleicken (translated by Anthea Bell)

Allen Lane, pp.784, £30, ISBN: 9780713994773

It’s strange that tourists rarely visit the most famous site in Roman history. The spot in Pompey’s assembly hall where Julius Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March, 44 bc, is right in the middle of Rome, in Largo di Torre Argentina. When I was there, the tourists were only interested in the feral cats that stroll across the murder scene.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Subscribe for just $2 a week

Try a month of The Spectator Australia absolutely free and without commitment. Not only that but – if you choose to continue – you’ll pay just $2 a week for your first year.

  • Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app
  • The weekly edition on the Spectator Australia app
  • Spectator podcasts and newsletters
  • Full access to spectator.co.uk
Or

Unlock this article

REGISTER

Available from the Spectator Bookshop, £24 Tel: 08430 600033. Harry Mount is the author of Amo, Amas, Amat… and All That, and, most recently, Odyssey: Ancient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus.

You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it. Try your first month for free, then just $2 a week for the remainder of your first year.


Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator Australia readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Close