Ay, Cayo Mario y Sila, qué buenos ratos me habéis dado. Me encantan los libros sobre la República de Roma, grandes discursos y batallas, muy buena narración de Colleen McCullough y tremenda labor de documentación.

3.5 rounded up

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I certainly learnt a lot about the Roman Republic. However, it is dense! Coming in at 893 pages in a small font size, it definitely has periods where it's kind of a slog. It's most interesting and enjoyable when it focuses closely on Gaius Marius and Sulla, especially when it gets into their (imagined) thinking, mindset and motivations. They really are compelling characters (can I call real historical figures characters?) who contrast each other brilliantly. I also loved the all-too-brief time spent with Aurelia; I imagine she shows up more in the following books in the series.

The periods spent with other political players were considerably less engaging, and at certain points my eyes definitely glazed over and I totally gave up on keeping track of the often repetitive names. However, they're necessary in a book of such a vast scope, which leans more towards the historical than the fiction, and deals with an insane amount of information. I imagine that for someone more familiar with this era of Rome, all the detailed political manoeuvring is delicious.

To every reader there is a book that stops you in your tracks, and not for a good reason. More a book that just goes on and on, and literally just chews up your time, patience and turns you off reading. This book is one of them.
Having read Colleen McCullough before(and still will) I was keen to read the Masters of Rome series. After this book I will continue no further.
In the end I failed to finish this book, despite being really interested in how it may have played out. 550/781, and I just couldn't push any further.
The reason people don't like history is because they're told like this. The reason people remember the exciting bits of history(fact or fiction) is because they keep you interested. The First Man in Rome is like a university text book, written by a politician. Although having some moments, and a start that sucks you, it is brutally boring and so confusing it needs a glossary and a pronunciation guide just to help you through the book. 100s upon 100s of characters, all with very similar names. Major battles that set about the orchestra of preparation and what is entailed, that span dozens of pages, only to have the actual battle thinly described and rushed through. Political debate, family class, regions, cultures and kingdoms that no longer exist, yet the reader is supposed to be 'aware', and lastly the uncaring web of realtionships that clog the book, all make for a very dull and long read. If I wanted something like this, I'd just read the bible.

Wow. This book is the very definition of epic. A bit too slow at times and am glad this is a series so I can catch up to a few of the characters presented in this book.

”The terracotta city of the brilliant colors – painted columns, vivid walls, statues everywhere looking so lifelike the observer expected them to start orating or fighting or galloping or weeping. Nothing whitely African about Rome, which did not build much in mud brick anymore, and never white-washed its walls, but painted them instead. The hills and cliffs, the parklike spaces, the pencil cypruses and the umbrella pines, the high temples on their tall podiums with winged Victories driving four-horsed quadrigae on the very crests of the pediments, the slowly greening scar of the great fire on the Viminal and upper Esquiline. Rome, the city for sale…”

It’s clear—I was floored by this book’s story, history as well as the skill, research and ability of Colleen McCullough as a writer. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction, but this stands in a category of its own; I will include a quote from McCullough at the end of my review addressing her sources and her assertive confidence in the validity of her novel.


Anyway. Let’s jump right in to the juicy stuff—this is Book 1 in a seven part series addressing the fall of the Roman Republic with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, and the rise of Octavian and the beginning of the Empire. This story starts where it should—before Caesar himself is even born. We get the story of Tiberius and Gaius Graccus, arguably the first two men to speak for the people and show some cracks in the marble. The book itself is about the great Roman general Gaius Marius, the Marian reforms to the army , his defense of Rome from hundreds of thousands of fearsome Cimbi and Teutones tribesmen, and his right hand man (for the time being) Lucius Cornelius Sulla; a character (which will without a doubt be the focus of Book 2) known for crossing the Rubicon with his legions and marching on Rome many decades before Julius Caesar would famously do the same thing.

Without getting to much into the actual history in my book review, it should be said that the Graccus Brothers, and then Marius, took a stand against the Roman Patricians, or ruling class, on behalf of the People (referred to by the ruling classes as the “Head Count); of course, there is a mix of genuineness and pure populism at work here, but these figures stick out as being especially interesting for this reason. Sulla is a bit more complicated.

This was a period of major unrest and civil war for the Roman Republic—a complicated period that produced some of the most well-known figures in western history. It is also one of the most well documented (if the not the most documented stretch of time in the ancient world). The Romans had many biographers, historians, and others that documented these events, and lucky for us a good bit of them have survived for two thousand years. McCullough starts this story where many of the ancient writers do, and we get fictionalizations of real characters, like Marius, as well as entirely fictional creations, like the strangely likable Lucius Decumius.

The book itself is broken up into 6 or 7 parts (but who’s counting?), that are novel-length in their own right. There are no chapters. The text is dense and full, there are lots of characters with glorious Latinate names (which can sometimes be difficult to follow because of Roman naming conventions). All of this is explained. The imagery is lush, beautiful, and about as realistic feeling as anything I’ve read. Some of this may sound like a turn off, but it’s all done so expertly by McCullough, the flow is non stop. Her writing is beautiful, and has the rhythm and feel of an older book mixed with a modern accessibility. It’s also worth mentioning that Colleen McCullough is bloody hilarious. One thing I didn’t expect while reading this was to be laughing out loud at dick jokes, but here we are.

Anyways, I’ll cut it there. The research for this of many countless and thankless pages on McCullough’s part pays off in ways that give her a command on the period that, while maybe not “rare”, definitely isn’t the norm for historical novels. It’s five full stars from me in every possible category. This is one of those books that for better or worse, has made some other works of historical fiction I loved feel more like amateur outings.

If you have an interest in in Ancient Rome, this book absolutely cannot be missed. I say that firmly, but friendly.!.

From the Author’s Note: n  ”Rather than append a long scholarly dissertation in the defense of my hypotheses, I have chosen to incorporate a minimum of this within the Glossary. No bibliography is appended. First of all, because it is not usual to do so in the case of a novel. But more importantly, any bibliography would run many pages. 180 volumes of the Loeb Classical Library would be but a small beginning. I will only say, where possible, I have gone to the ancient sources and have treasured the modern works of many fine historians. My scholarship will be obvious enough for those qualified to judge, without a bibliography.”n

She then says if you write her, she’d be happy to send a full bibliography to you. I included this because I mentioned it above, and McCullough’s confidence in the historical accuracy of her work is plenty appropriate here in my opinion.

Excesiva en casi todo, "El primer hombre de Roma" es un maravilloso relato de la sociedad de la época, la lucha de clases, la maldad y la grandeza...

También es excesiva en número de páginas, en historias y detalles que siendo interesantes podría haber obviado la autora, y en expresiones o giros en la traducción que no cuadran demasiado con el lenguaje de la época.

Claro que en Roma no hablaban inglés y esta obra está escrita en ese idioma. En este sentido, creo que es necesario 'relativizar' el rigor histórico: todos los textos y referencias que tenemos son eso, textos y referencias escritos por alguien y, por tanto, subjetivos.

Hago esta reflexión porque he leído críticas feroces a Posteguillo comparando sus obras con esta de Coleen McCullough por ejemplo.

¿Son más elaborados y ricos los entresijos de la idiosincrasia romana de esta novela que los de las sagas de Africanus y Trajano?.
Sí, sin duda. Pero las obras de nuestro paisano son más que aceptables en ese aspecto y, por ejemplo, más estimulantes y adictivas en la descripción de las batallas, un aspecto casi ignorado en este primer tomo de 'Señores de Roma'.

Los ultras y los antis que sigan con sus batallitas y, el resto, disfrutando de las novelas de estos dos autores y de todos aquellos que, con más o menos fidelidad al supuesto rigor histórico, nos hacen disfrutar de horas de lectura y diversión. Y evasión de la realidad, que a veces también es importante.

En el caso de "El primer hombre de Roma" muchas horas... a este ritmo, no llego ni a los 30 libros en 2024

An interesting book but with too much names to memorize.

This is a truly amazing work of scholarship and creativity. I had been looking for something to help me understand the Roman Republic and in McCullough, I have found it! It brings the Roman Republic to life in a way that non-fiction cannot. This book is addictive and I will read the next one in the series, "The Grass Crown".

McCullough gives us possible personalities, motives, priorities and character traits of the major players in the rise to power of Gaius Marius. I learned how the Roman army recruited, traveled, encamped, built bridges, divided spoils, etc. I learned how marriages were probably negotiated and how property and senate seats could be acquired, how elections could be won and much more.

McCullough builds plausible human stories from historical facts. For instance, it is known that the patrician Sulla had an impoverished childhood and came into enough money to earn back his station from a noblewoman. McCullough gives us an interesting story about how he might have obtained this money and how he might have used it to establish himself. McCullough speculates on the arrangement of Marius' "engagement" to Julia and the tone of the divorce necessary to this union. We read of a possible relationship of Marius and Sulla, possible motives for and means of their military exploits and triumphs.

The book has a wonderful glossary that gives everything from an analysis of the toga to the plausibility of the union of Sulla and the Caesar family that she poses in the novel.

I would recommend that subsequent editions/printings include a more detailed table of characters. The list should be expanded to include more characters and have a more information on each listee. Unless you are steeped in Roman history, you will find yourself flipping back pages when a character reappears 200 pages after his/her introduction or last mention.

I highly recommend this to those who like historical fiction, those interested in ancient Rome, and those who like substantive well written novels.

The First Man in Rome (Masters of Rome, #1), Colleen McCullough

The First Man in Rome is the first historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. First Published 1990. The main plot of the novel is generally concerned with the rise of Marius (Roman general and statesman), his marriage to Julia (aunt of Julius Caesar), and ....

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سی و یکم ماه آگوست سال2009میلادی

عنوان: ماریوس در دربار سزار (ماریوس شکاف در خاندان جولیوس سزار)؛ اثر: کالین مک کالو؛ مترجم سالومه مهوشان؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، سمیر، سال1387، در512ص، شابک9789642200009؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان استرالیا، سده20م

نخستین کتاب از سری اربابان رم؛ طرح اصلی رمان پیدایش «گایوس ماریوس»؛ یکی از سرداران رم باستان، و ازدواجش با «جولیا»، پیروزیهای او در جنگها، و دیگر ماجراهای ایشان و دیگران...، است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 09/01/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 02/12/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

The First Man In Rome by Colleen McCullough is a door-stopper of a book. Without the 100 page glossary, it clocks in at 931 pages. The premise of the book is that it details the rise to power of Gaius Marius, also known as the third founder of Rome. There's politics, sex, and war. Really, you would think the First Man in Rome would be right up my alley and take a short time for me to read. Eh, wrong.

Read the rest of my review here

An extraordinary book, it certainly deserves all its plaudits. I have a fair grounding in Classics but my main knowledge of Rome starts a few years before this, skips this particular time period and then picks up again at Julius Caesar. So this filled in quite a few holes.

I will go on and read the rest of the books in the series but there's no hurry.

I'm a read every word kinda gal so as soon as I start to skim read a book, I know I'm bored. I don't know why it happened with this one. I found the first third or so compelling, well written if a bit wordy, and historically interesting as I knew nothing about Gaius Marius or that period of Roman history. Then the author spent 45 pages giving every detail of a romance, it doesn't excuse it because it's Julius Caesar's mother, and a finely detailed description of two houses. No, no, no! Don't include it if it doesn't move the story on! I admire the depth of knowledge the author has but she needn't have felt she needed to share every last little bit of it with us unless it was relevant. I don't want to be too harsh because I can't deny how much I enjoyed this book up to a point. I'm sorry that it's not holding my attention until the end.