“An exceptionally accessible history of the Roman Empire. . . . Much of TEN CAESARS reads like a script for
Game of Thrones. . . .This superb summation of four centuries of Roman history, a masterpiece of compression, confirms Barry Strauss as the foremost academic classicist writing for the general reader today.”
— Andrew Roberts
“To cover 360-odd years in a similar number of pages means going at quite a lick. . . .The strength of this approach is that it offers perspective. All too often books on Rome, like literary grand tourists, revisit the familiar sites, lingering over the naughty Neros, the effective armies and the efficient bureaucracy. But, as Strauss shows, Rome was far more complex and far more interesting than that. . . . Enlightening.”
— Catherine Nixey
“No one knows the secrets, the curses, the power and the glory of the Imperial families of Rome better than Barry Strauss. His
Ten Caesars is captivating—essential reading for Romanophiles and for everyone who seeks to understand the most formidable personalities of the Roman Empire.”
— Adrienne Mayor, author of The Amazons and The Poison King
"In a single volume, Barry Strauss delivers the near-impossible: a straightforward, factual, insightful survey of the vast and turbulent history of Rome’s emperors from Augustus to Constantine. Any reader, from novice to expert, will arrive at the final page with a clearer understanding of the men (and sometimes women) who oversaw the shifting fortunes of Rome for over three hundred years."
— Steven Saylor, author of The Throne of Caesar and the New York Times bestseller Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome
“Excellent and eminently readable.”
— New Criterion
“Informative and engaging, erudite and captivating. . . . Though focused on individual Caesars, [Strauss] artfully frames each Caeser within his respective social, political, familial, and religious world, permitting him to narrate a story with a panoply of three-dimensional characters and events.”
— Ancient History Encyclopedia (ancient.eu)
“Strauss has mastered a vivid narrative line, a practiced skill at demystifying the past. . . . Readers will learn a lot from his book and the fables will make the lessons a bit sweeter along the way.”
— Steve Donoghue
“Lively biographies of the 10 best-known emperors of Rome.”
— Kirkus Reviews
"Explores the reigns of Rome’s ten most influential emperors. . . . The women surrounding these emperors are also given their share of the credit and vividly portrayed. . . . This captivating narrative breathes new life into a host of transformative figures."
— Publishers Weekly
