It‘s good to be the King!…
…until it isn‘t.
Bought this at Half Price Books for a couple bucks during my obsession with Ancient Rome. Contains what might be the oldest secular/historical mention of Jesus in any text.
"(The Emperor Claudius) banished from Rome all the Jews, who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus."
Enjoying this translation by Robert Graves. I was amused to come across the quotation that came up in Westworld last week although Graves‘ translation is different from the show: “...he saw a statue of Alexander the Great in the Temple of Hercules, and was overheard to sigh impatiently: vexed, it seems, that at an age when Alexander had already conquered the whole world, he himself had done nothing in the least epoch-making.”
I feel like I am in the minority on this one. I didn‘t love it as others seem to do. I found this to be 1/2 fascinating and 1/2 tedious. So. 🤷🏻♀️
I guess I could call this the original ‘men behaving badly‘ and leave it at that. 😄
A #freakyfriday read carried over into May
Some light #busreading on the way to PT this fine Friday morning 😄
This is a #freakyfriday pick that sounds interesting but outside my wheelhouse - I rarely read biographies, but when I do they are usually about women 😃
I‘ve only heard good things about this, so I‘m looking forward to it!
Scary monsters are real. Meet the 12 Casears. Suetonius tells the stories of these super creeps. Entertaining and scary. #septemBOWIE
#Riotgrams Day 6 - #numbertitles Two of my favourite Folio editions for today's addition.
In honor of the Ides of March, this week's #recommendsday is The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius. I read it back in college and still find myself enjoying it over 10 years later.
Even if it's over a 1000 years old, it's fun, dramatic, has all the elements of an awesome soap opera. Lust, murder, incest, poison, assassination, madness, heroic heroes and heroines, star-crossed lovers. You name it, it's there. The most difficult part for me was the Nero era. A bit too much murder and madness and very little goodness. My favourite is Vespasian with a close Julius, the one that started it all.
Juicy dish about the private lives of the Caesars. Oh how power corrupts...
This is Roman history as if written by People magazine. If you liked "I, Claudius" this is the book for you.