AUGUSTUS: FROM REVOLUTIONARY TO EMPEROR By Adrian Goldsworthy (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £25) The Roman emperor Augustus surely has a good claim to be considered the greatest leader in history. At 18, he made himself undisputed ruler of Rome and the most powerful man on Earth, governing an empire that was not only mostly peaceful, but prosperous under him. Not bad for a sickly teenager, whose eyes were described as being as widely spaced a horse’s, and whose limbs were marked by scaly skin. At 18 Augustus made himself undisputed ruler of Rome and the most powerful man on Earth His rise to power followed years of bloody civil war. Not everyone supported Augustus’s rule, but most agreed it was preferable to continuing slaughter. Grateful Romans hailed him as the son of a god and father of his country.
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At 18 Augustus made himself undisputed ruler of Rome
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He became the most powerful man on Earth
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His rise to power followed years of bloody civil war
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Historians said he had taste for married women and a vicious temper
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Ambition, political acumen, sleight of hand and plenty of good fortune smoothed Augustus’s path to supremacy
For almost six decades he dominated the violent world of @placeholder politics.