Crossing the Rubicon

Being a fan of ancient history, and ancient Roman history in particular, I have read my fair share of history books. I seldom enjoyed the experience. While I always enjoy learning new historical facts, most of the books that I read were nothing more than a list of facts that, at best, were poorly spiced with some commentaries and author interpretations. When thinking about how best to describe such books, I recalled a quote from the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". They were "like a piece of toast. No honey, no jam, just dry".

Recently, I finished reading a book which proved me that history books could be written differently, or rather, interestingly. The book is called Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic, by Tom Holland (That's the book's title in the UK. In the US it's sold under the name Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic).

The book tells the story of the last years of the republican regime in Rome, focusing roughly on the last century of the republic. Rubicon is the name of the small river in Italy that Julius Caesar, along with his army, crossed in 49BCE. By this act he broke the Roman law, which prohibited the Rubicon from being crossed by any Roman army legion. The act of crossing the Rubicon marks the end of the Roman republic, as the resulting civil war ended with Caesar being proclaimed as a dictator.

In his book, Holland manages to tell the tales of this period in history as a story; Moreover, as an interesting story. Perhaps it is because he also has experience in writing fictional novels, or maybe it's just a gift. Whatever the reason may be, when you read this book you feel like you're reading a novel. You have character build-ups, you have conflicts, you have tensions build-ups, and finally a climax (which is followed by the next tension build-up, and so on).

Holland also manages to put the reader in the actual context of the events, feeling the spirit of the time and place in which they occurred. He even shares with you the gossips of the time (and gossip was a big weapon in Rome, much as it is today…).
Needless to say, this does not come at the expense of historical accuracy, as the book relies on an extensive list of sources. Whenever there is an uncertainty or controversy about a certain fact, the book bothers to mention it specifically.

Rubicon is also spiced up with historical quotes from the greatest personas that lived at the time (or several centuries after), be they historians such as Livy, poets such as Horace, or politicians such as Caesar and Cicero.

All of this makes reading Rubicon a fun experience, and this is no small achievement. After all, how many times could you say "history book" and "fun" in the same sentence?

Image: Gaius Julius Caesar. Gave the final killing blow to the Roman republic.