Book
The Roman History: Reign of Augustus
Cassius Dio’s Roman History provides one of the fullest surviving ancient narratives of Rome’s transition from republic to empire. This selection concentrates on the civil wars that followed the collapse of republican government, the rivalry between Octavian and Mark Antony, the role of Cleopatra, and Octavian’s emergence as Augustus.
Dio also describes the institutions and political arguments of the new regime, including the famous debate he places in the mouths of Agrippa and Maecenas over monarchy and republican government. Military campaigns, senatorial politics and imperial policy are presented from the perspective of a Roman senator writing more than two centuries after Augustus came to power.
Plutarch
Appian
Livy
Josephus
Mary Beard