Roman Emperors, The - A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome, 31 BC-AD 476

One of the greatest multi-racial states the world has ever known, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to the Sahara and from the Atlantic to the Euphrates. Vast and powerful, Imperial Rome instituted many conventions that distinguish life today--reason enough for us to wonder about the men who ruled in her name. Some early writers painted vivid portraits that, with their sensational details, often overshadowed the events of the time.

In this book, classical historian Michael Grant uses these writings, augmenting them with evidence from archaeology, inscriptions, coins, and medallions to reconstruct the lives of 92 Roman emperors. Here are Augustus and Claudius, Gaius and Nero, Aurelian and Constantine, as colorful and diverse a group of men as any in history, alive again in a magnificent collection of biographical cameos as remarkable for their readability as for their depth.