The Twelve Caesars

This vivid history of Rome and its rulers “combines thoughtful reflection and analysis with gossipy irreverence in a bewitching cocktail” ( Daily Express , UK). One was a military genius, one murdered his mother and fiddled while Rome burned, another earned the nickname “sphincter artist”. Six of them were assassinated, two committed suicide—and five were considered gods. They are known as the “twelve Caesars” —Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius,