First Emperor of Rome

“Superb....Augustus is a first-rate popular biography by a skilled and knowing hand.” —Washington Post

Caesar Augustus founded the Roman Empire and forever linked the name “Caesar” with supreme power. As the adopted heir of Julius Caesar, he forced his way into the center of Roman politics during one of its most violent and chaotic periods. He confronted and defeated Brutus, then later Antony and Cleopatra, rising through ruthless calculation, political maneuvering, and bloodshed to become Rome’s first emperor.

Once in power, the same man who had schemed and killed his way to the top delivered peace and prosperity after decades of civil war, laying the foundations of the long era known as the Pax Romana.

This definitive and critically acclaimed biography examines both the public career and private life of Rome’s first emperor with exceptional depth and clarity. Combining military campaigns, political marriages, and intense senatorial struggles, it presents Augustus as he truly was—noble yet manipulative, generous yet tyrannical, brilliant yet cruel.

Meticulously researched and written with clarity and narrative drive, Augustus remains the most detailed and authoritative biography of the man whose legacy still shapes the world.