Blood and Power in Ancient Rome

Power in Rome rarely changed hands peacefully. It was taken with a knife. From the murder of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March to the conspiracy that ended the life of Aurelian, the Roman Empire was shaped not only by its greatest victories but by the violent deaths of its rulers. In Blood and Power in Ancient Rome, historian Abednego Abbey explores five assassinations that reshaped the course of Roman history. Each death reveals the same unsettling truth: in Rome, the closer a man came to absolute power, the closer he stood to betrayal. Inside this gripping narrative history you will discover: The conspiracy that ended the life of Julius Caesar and destroyed the Roman Republic How the madness and humiliation of Caligula drove his own guards to murder him Why the spectacle loving reign of Commodus shattered the stability of the Antonine age How the reforming emperor Pertinax ruled for only eighty seven days before being cut down The tragic death of Aurelian, the man who saved Rome yet could not save himself Drawing on the ancient historians such as Plutarch, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio, this book brings the drama of imperial Rome vividly to life. These are not simply stories of murder. They are stories about power. Because in Rome, the throne was never safe. And the most dangerous men were often the ones standing closest to it.