Book Review [21] : From Romulus to Romulus Augustus - The Rise and fall of an Empire

Just finished the epic 1000 years old story of Roman Empire from its legendary foundation by Aeneas, Romulus and finally its dissolution by Germanic tribes in 476 AD. Ancient Rome by Simon Baker is a great insight in the hearts of the ancient Roman Empire. Roman Empire had seen many heroes from the very beginning, Trojan Aeneas followed by fratricide committer Romulus, followed by the foundation of Roman Republic in early 6th Century BC, Scipio, Tiberius Gracchus, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Brutus, Mark Antonius, Octavian, Vespasian, Titius, Nero, Trajan, Hadrian and finally Christian Constantine.

The age of Julius Caesar saw the great personalities sharing the senate at the same time, although immortalized by Shakespeare nonetheless they were simply great. No one can forget the great Republicans in Cicero, Cato and Brutus, ferocious leaders in Pompey, Caesar and Antony and intelligent politician in Octavian. The politician in Octavian wins the final battle of the republic and thus he converts the republic into a monarchy with Himself as the first emperor. His reign coincided with the birth of great Saint of Nazareth. Romans, who took great pride in calling themselves civilized destroyed the civilization of Carthage and Romania to dust, sacked the temple of Jerusalem, massacred the Gauls and Germans just for the elusive concept of "Pax Romana".

In few words "Rome was the greatest civilization in terms of military power. They were ruthless and almost monomaniac in their approach. Entire world lives with the Roman legacy. We follow the same calendar, same terminology, same architecture (at least in western countries), although India lost her huge cotton textile market in the form of Roman "Toga"."

Highly Recommended (8/10)

P.S. I am playing Cricinfo fantasy cricket IPL and my rank is 2348 out of almost 60 or 70 thousand teams. Its a very interesting game. Play it to kill some time. Enjoy the final stage of IPL. Gilchrist was too good today for both Sehwag and Gambhir. I started the IPL with two favourites Deccan and Mumbai. Its good to see one in final.