Emperor of Rome

by Mary Beard

Emperor of Rome by British classicist Mary Beard covers a number of emperors. According to a synopsis first reported in The Bookseller, “it’s much more than the usual emperor-by-emperor collection of biographies…For most Romans, one ruler was much like another and she takes a thematic approach instead – looking at the fact and fiction of these rulers, asking what they did and why, and how we have got such a lurid view of them. The themes are autocracy, corruption and conspiracy – and also the day-to-day practicalities of the emperors’ lives (who did the cooking, or took the dictation?).”