If you are interested in Roman history this is a good book to read. The author tells a vivid story of two men who served in the Senate in ancient Rome. McCullough illustrates in all-encompassing and extensive detail, an image of life of the upper echelons of Roman society that is wholly believable. She not only describes how meaningful a sagum is to a Roman soldier, but also tells of domestic industriousness of Julia, matriarch of the Caesar’s household. A complete historical education of the time period is interwoven by way of anecdotes, digressions, and dialogue such that a fabulously rich and complex historical novel results. The author’s research for the historical novel is amazing; the book is more or less historically accurate.

The book revolves about its eponymous hero, Gaius Marius, Rome’s ablest general and a man destined to be a six times a Consul and his wife Julia, a beautiful aristocrat of the Juli Caesar family. (She is Julius Caesar’s aunt. Julius is a baby at the end of the book.) The other key person is the young Lucius Cornelius Sulla form the core of the story. The author masterfully illustrates through a story centered around the two men, the place of women in ancient Roman civilization, with the women of Julian family figure prominently as well. The author is terrific when writing about women. McCullough losses the story’s momentum when she is describing the politics of the time. The two men served together to win the war against Numidia (Africa) in 107 B.C.E. and held off the Cimbri and Teutonii Germanus tribes invasion between 103-102 B.C.E. Even though one man is a liberal and the other a conservative they are able to put aside their political difference to work together for the betterment of Rome. This is the first book of a series about Rome.

I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. The book was narrated by David Ogden Stiers. This is my second book by McCullough the first one I read by her was “The Thorn Birds”.

I Cladius meets Clan of the CaveBear

This novel was highly recommended to me by a co-worker who knew I'd liked I, Claudius and Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome. He said that although Colleen McCullough is best known for The Thorn Birds, she is actually a well-respected authority on ancient Rome.

I have to admit that I approached The First Man in Rome with a lot of skepticism. It sat on my shelf for two years before circumstances compelled me to start it... and within 10 pages I was hooked. I found it to be a compelling read, so much so that it's the first book I've read in a long time that has interrupted my normal routine (skipped exercise to read, stayed up late, ignored the TV...). I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Now, this book won't be for everyone. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to recommend it to most of the readers I know. While there's certainly a lot of action and intrigue, much of it concerns political wrangling and debate. I enjoyed these sections immensely, but I believe many people would find them dull. Still, I loved this novel and have high hopes for the others in the series, and sincerely hope other Goodreads members will give it a shot.

McCullough weaves a wonderful story about ancient Rome. The writing in general was great and the characters were very well written. She made them come alive. I enjoyed it a lot, but one has to be a history lover to make it through this tome. It’s 1147 pages, and the characters have names such as Marcus Aemillus Scaurus Princes Senatus and Ahenobarbus Pontifex Maximus (Yikes!). There’s also a bit of Latin and even a bit of Greek thrown in. She includes portraits that she drew herself and a great glossary. I also have her novel Cesear, but I think I’ll wait a bit before I start that one.

Vispirms par smieklīgo. Darbs ir kolosāla apjoma: apmēram 1200 lpp. Visu cieņu autorei, tulkotājai un izdevniecībai. Bet tad tu paņem grāmatu rokās (man tas nejauši sanāca, kad biju izlasījusi nieka pirmās 600 lpp.) un uz 4. vāka izlasi aprakstu, ka šī grāmata esot par "bagātu, bet zemas izcelsmes sievieti Mariju un nabadzībā grimušo aristokrātu Sullu". Lieki teikt, ka ne pirmajās, ne nākamajās 600 lappusēs neparādās neviena Marija. Toties visa grāmata stāsta par izcilā karavadoņa Gaja Marija karjeru un panākumiem cīņā ar ģermāņiem. :D Tā iet, kad it kā sīkumu uztic acīmredzot iztulkot cilvēkam, kas pilnīgi droši nav ne lappusi no grāmatas izlasījis.
Visādi citādi jāsaka tikai tas pats labākais. Makkalova pamatīgi iedziļinājusies laika posmā, kad uz galu iet Romas republikas periods. Glosārijs grāmatas beigās ir kolosāls un sniedz patiešām lielisku ieskatu Romas politiskās dzīves peripetijās. Arī no literārā viedokļa ir interesanti. Šobrīd nepacietīgi gaidu, kad pēc Lieldienu brīvdienām tikšu pie bibliotēkā pasūtītā turpinājuma.

It took me many years to finally read this book and then when I did it felt like it took me just as long to finish it! While the historical detail in this book is commendable, I think there is overall just entirely too much detail. The book gets bogged down in political detail when the real draw of the book was the personal lives of the characters. I think the book would have been much more enjoyable had there been less politics and more individual interaction unburdened by politics etc.. I agree McCullough has talent but this book certainly bored me as no book on Ancient Rome has before. Had the character of Sulla not been as interesting as he was, I think this book would have been even more tiresome. This book was a mix between a school textbook and a fictional book that just so happens to weigh too heavily on the textbook side to be entirely enjoyable to me.

another reread of an all time favorite, again I have no idea how many so far but 10+ reads; still as engrossing as on first read and keeping its place in my top 5 books/series of all time - books 1-3 are just awesome, while the rest are excellent though marred by the author's deification of Caesar

Marius and Sulla and an extraordinary supporting cast with high stakes politics, war, love, murders, and the best panoramic historical recreation of an era I've ever read

McCullough is superb on ancient Rome and genuinely does bring it to life without resorting to any spurious and trite fictional claims that the Romans were just like us. She has read all the sources and sticks to them, simply fleshing out the characters and events so that they make narrative sense. This isn't by any means an easy read, since she delves into the intricacies of Senate debates and internal politics, but it is quite unlike anything else that has been published on Rome.

This is the first volume of her massive 7 book series, and probably covers the least-known period of Republican history: the rise of Marius and Sulla, and the transformation of the Roman army, arguably the first steps towards civil war and the fall of the Republic.

There are times where (in this book) the characters slightly tend to soap opera, but they are few. Overall, a superb read. This only lost 1 star because the middle books are even better!

Story: 8 (Complex and intelligent, but somewhat self-indulgent in pacing)
Characters: 8 (Unique and realistic with strengths and failings)
Accuracy: 10 (Some minor issues, but astonishingly close to life)

One of the first things anyone picking up this book will wonder is why it’s so long. And the answer to that is that every scenario, no matter how small or tangential to the main plot, is allowed to play out to its fullest extent. Marius informing his wife Grania that she is being divorced, for example, is not dismissed in a mere mention but fully dramatized. We get to hear her thoughts and motivations and all the intimate details of their failed marriage. Her future goals are pondered, her options and desires weighed carefully, and she decides which among the household slaves she is taking with her. Seven pages after being introduced to dramatize this minor incident, Grania leaves the novel entirely, never to be seen again. This is common throughout. We get a full 36 pages on Caesar’s mother choosing her husband. Brevity is not one of the novel’s strengths.

Whether this is a positive or negative thing is going to depend on the reader. It does provide a very thorough account of Roman social norms and insight into life in their society. On the other hand, it does definitely slow the pace to a crawl at times. I’m somewhat on the fence about it. While I definitely appreciate the intimate look at Roman life, I think the author could have been more selective about which details she elected to include in such detailed focus.

The storytelling in general is excellent. While there were sections that were less interesting than others, the work never falls into the easy trap of repeating itself endlessly and instead is always in motion. The main focus is the political system and the efforts of Gaius Marius, a New Man from outside Rome, to rise to be the First Man in Rome. The entire political system is designed to prevent anyone from attaining this level of preeminence over their peers (or indeed to prevent any change, however vital, from occurring at all) so Marius’ goal seems unattainable, despite his great military skill, without a large amount of luck, patience, and gross incompetence on behalf of his competitors. The political system of the Republic is laid out in exquisitely loving detail and the ebb and flow of political power, as well as the thirst for it among the elites of Rome, is the heart of this book. War and warfare are major elements too. McCullough clearly isn’t much interested in tactics or fog of war descriptions, although she is fascinated by strategy. Most battles are over in a few paragraphs but are preceded by several pages outlining the basic goals and situation.

What I appreciate most about this series is its ambition. There have been many attempts to dramatize the fall of the Roman Republic, but this one has the nerve to start at the very beginning with the first of the great warlords seventy years before the Republic finished falling. She set out to tell this story at a rate of about a decade a novel. That’s a massive commitment in time and energy. But what this means is that we get a series which treats each part of this journey as its own story instead of as a prologue for the main plot. Almost every story about the fall of the Republic deals with the final death throws with full-grown warlords like Caesar and Pompey or Marc Antony and Octavian following an increasingly accepted path to supreme power. At most they’ll start with Sulla’s march on Rome as the beginning of the end. We start thirty years before even that. Okay, this book still skips the Gracchi (who are long overdue for a grand historical novel), but there are reasons for that. The first wave of populists seeking supreme power or merely their antecedents, they certainly weren’t warlords. Marius, on the other hand, was unquestionably in control of Rome, even if that control was never absolute. His rise, and the Senate’s inability to prevent it, set a precedent that was only to grow in frequency and ambition over the following generations.

Characterization is extremely good here. McCullough is excellent at defining a person’s character traits and ambitions without making them seem caricatures. Marius and Sulla are the dominant figures here. I wouldn’t say that either of them are completely admirable, but they certainly have admirable qualities. Marius is generally far-seeing and concerned for Rome’s (and even Italy’s) future, but he has a massive chip on his shoulder and is incapable of cozying up to the senators and aristocrats who are his chief rivals. Sulla’s a lot more complicated. There’s something rotten in his heart, and he knows it from the start, but he’s so good at playing his part that most people don’t see it. More than that, as long as he’s kept busy and his future looks bright (as it does as Marius’ trusted lieutenant) he barely even feels his lowest instincts. I admire the book for not broadcasting more than the mildest of hints at their future falling out while still making Sulla’s fall from grace feel eminently plausible. There are too many characters to detail all of them, but every one is given a few significant character traits and even a character arc. While there are some real villains here, the book doesn’t make the arch-senatorial position utterly indefensible and Marius’ perfect. The senatorial aristocracy are basically untouchable and able to loot and steal and be incompetent to their hearts’ content with no chance of punishment. But at the same time, by gaining all the power Marius is laying the foundation of Rome’s future autocracy. And some of Marius’ enemies, like Scaurus, are genuinely decent people. Well, decent for the time anyway.

The research here is excellent. One of the best elements of historical fiction about a time that’s relatively poorly recorded is the way that it can fill in the blank spots in the historical record. In bad historical fiction (*cough* Gates of Rome *cough*) the facts are a hindrance, and known events are isolated and treated differently from the fictional ones. In good historical fiction fact and fiction are intertwined seamlessly, and the fictive elements are used to expand on and give clear meaning to the known events. I’m pleased to say that this book epitomizes the latter category, and I kept constantly having to check whether certain incidents were true or fictitious.

That’s not to say that it’s always free from errors. The author proudly relies mainly on the primary sources (and a copious amount of these indeed). But secondary sources are important too, especially for societal considerations where scholarship has brought together isolated facts from many different areas. The biggest mistake I could spot was the treatment of homosexuality. McCullough regards it as having been seen as shameful and repugnant. Entirely untrue. Most Romans would have engaged in regular homosexual behaviour throughout their lives. Gay/straight wasn’t a distinction they made. The distinction was between being the active and passive partner. The former (regardless of their partner’s gender) was properly manly and virile where the latter was feminine and disgraceful. This isn’t the gay rights movement of the ‘90s. It was frustrating to see the death of Marius’ relative Lusius treated as an example of anti-gay attitudes when it was really about his preying on full grown Roman soldiers. As long as the active role was maintained and the target of the activity was from an appropriately inferior class (almost invariably slaves and children) conservative opinion had few qualms. In a lot of books this would be a minor issue, but Sulla’s a debauched reprobate and so issues of moral depravity and sexual misconduct are at the heart of his story. And it gets it very wrong.

An unrelated issue I have is with the use of foreshadowing. The appearance of a fortune teller giving Marius accurate and detailed information about the future is a bit much. I know that this is based on a real account, but unless you believe in the Roman gods or modern psychics you have to accept that this was invented or exaggerated after the fact. Having the characters believe in foreshadowing is one thing, but it’s a different story when what they’re saying is provably correct.

I wouldn’t say that either of these are minor quibbles (the sexual attitudes particularly since they keep recurring) but the fact that they’re the worst thing I can think of to say about the book is highly laudatory. This is a very good book that deals with a relatively unexplored period in Roman history and covers it well. It could certainly have been massively trimmed down and lost little of its value, but I often found myself enjoying the slow chapters even though I wasn’t expecting to. If you’re interested in Roman political history or the fall of the Roman Republic this book is probably a must read. But be prepared for a long slog.

Conste que lo he intentado. 650 pags leídas (57%), pero tiro la toalla.

Está muy, muy bien ambientado. Demasiado bien para mi gusto en novela. Porque yo busco una novela, no una profusión asfixiante de detalles de la época.

En novela histórica suelo tirar de búsquedas en la Red por curiosidad, pero con esta novela no me quedaban ganas. Cantidad de nombres parecidos me hacían releer varias veces para aclararme, páginas dedicadas a costumbres y ropajes, comidas y organización política. Y lo peor : más que novela obre acontecimientos de la época es una descripción de las luchas internas del poder político del momento.

Las “batallas” se resuelven en dos líneas y ¡hale!, sigamos con la política. Los personajes poco atractivos. Se salvaba Augusta que ha salido poco pero tenía tirón.

Resumen : Posteguillo, please, saca tú otra de Romanos!!

Monthly group read with Historical Fictionistas!

A solid four stars, which will probably get bumped up to five once I get a chance to reread this in its entirety rather than listening to the abridged audiobook. Don't get me wrong, the audiobook is fantastic, but... abridged. *shrugs* DOS did a fantastic job reading, as I knew he would, and McCullough's research shines through each of these characters. I don't know how much of each character was made up and how much was historical fact (aside from Gaius Marius ruling for six unprecedented terms), and to be honest I really didn't care because that's how good the story was. Excited to reread this, and I've already got book two on the shelf at home! :)

-----
DAVID OGDEN STIERS READS THE AUDIO? HELL YES.

I want to register my displeasure with this series of books, and this place is as good a forum as any. The series begins with the lives of Sulla (Dictator of Rome) and Gaius Marius, and culminates some time after the death of Caesar (hope that isnt a spoiler). While Ms. McCullogh has done an admirable amount of research and the books are exceedingly accurate historically, the books quickly become bogged down in minutae of Roman life in general and the Senate in particular. The series devolves into serious hero-worship once Caesar takes center stage. The dialogue is mediocre as well and there are absolutely no sympathetic women characters. And yes, I own all 6 books in the series, why do you ask? Apparently I have a masochistic streak I wasn't aware of myself.