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Colleen McCullough: The First Man in Rome (1991, Avon Books) 4 stars

A story tracing the creation of Republican Rome presents those who founded an empire, including …

Well researched, well told.

5 stars

This is my review for all 6 in the series which I just re-read. I was looking for something easy-ish to read when I was too tired to concentrate, but not too trivial.

The books cover the republican era of Rome, mostly from the perspective of the more powerful leaders, but also including a lot of side characters from different walks of life.

It covers social, political, military and other aspects of life in a society significantly different from current eurocentric systems, but of course some of this evolved into those systems.

The author includes notes on her historical research for each book; what she knows to be factual and what she invented to bring life to the characters. It also includes a list of the main families and their relationships, and a glossary of Roman concepts which most of us might not know about.

The quality is consistent across all the series.