The First Man in Rome
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The First Man in Rome
| Full title | The First Man in Rome: Masters of Rome, Book 1 |
|---|---|
| Author | Colleen McCullough |
| Published | 1990 |
| Pages | 1,056 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Volume one of McCullough’s seven-novel Masters of Rome sequence, which reconstructs the late Republic from Marius and Sulla through to Augustus at the level of the men actually running it — the elections, the contracts, the client networks, the money. The standard answer when someone wants Roman politics as a working system rather than a set of battles. |
Where I heard about it
- @moseskagan’s thread — the “Masters of Rome” series, named in the replies to his question “What historical fiction should I read next? (Bonus points for something involving building or trade, rather than violence)” in the thread, April 2025. The full list of replies lives on What historical fiction should I… (tweet).
About this edition
One card stands for the series: The First Man in Rome (1990) is followed by The Grass Crown, Fortune’s Favourites, Caesar’s Women, Caesar, The October Horse and Antony and Cleopatra.
Connections
- Rome — the subject; the series covers the Republic’s last two generations.
- Power — how Roman politics actually worked, at the level of patronage and procedure.
- Historical Fiction — the genre the thread was asking about.
- What historical fiction should I… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.