Crassus: The First Tycoon (Ancient Lives)

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Crassus, by contrast, owned shares in Spanish mines and lent the proceeds to politicians whom he kept as clients, playing one against the other in the hope that none would ever exceed his own influence on events. We publish history, politics, current affairs, art, architecture, biography and pretty much everything else. Well written and interesting, it's a short book at less than 150 pages (excluding index etc) but there's enough in it to keep the narrative flowing. Crassus usually appears in biographies of Caesar or Spartacus, so it was interesting to read a book focusing on the man himself. Cracking first rate read on Marcus Licinius Crassus, the lesser known of the triumvirate formed with Pompey and Julius Caesar.

It joins the dots between his father dying in the Marius/Sulla conflict, his role in the battles with Spartacus, the triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey and finally his demise in his quest for glory to try to match the prestige and martial exploits of his co triumvirates.This book would be interesting, to learn more about a historical character who ruled the Roman world with Julius Caesar, however too many letters were missing from words that I had to continuously guess what the text was supposed to be saying and made the book unreadable.

There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. But Crassus also liked to believe that Rome’s gods blessed his enterprises, just as they blessed the fertility of his unmined fields.Great quick read and a wonderfully concise window into the period of ultimate crisis that would break the Roman Republican. For tin and silver that they could use for weapons and money they had to mine the lands of Spain and the legendary Tin Islands, whose location was somewhere near Britain but kept secret to deter exploiters. For the many fans of this period of Roman history, Stothard offers a fascinating story, both well told and well worth the telling. The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.

A memorable phase it is too: 'Vagises held out a soft hand, palm upward, laughed and said: "Hair will grow here, Crassus, before you see Seleuceia. Here he cleverly explores the life of one of the most puzzling and elusive 'big men' in the history of Rome, and why it matters. Flashbacks paint a good picture about his early career, the internal politics in Rome and his rivalry with Pompey. It is not narrative history of the likes of Tom Holland and is not, therefore, such an easy read, while the arrangement and focus of the chapters can lead to some glaring examples of repetition.The uniqueness of Stothard’s account of the tumultuous final decades of the Roman Republic is in a new east-west narrative in which we see the inner workings of Rome as well as the vibrancy—however brief in the narrative—of Parthia. See our Remarkables Archive for some that are no longer in print, but which we are happy to try to track down. Peter Stothard's 'Crassus' is a new biography written for Yale University Press's Ancient Lives series, which aims to prove that the lives of ancient thinkers, rulers, warriors, and politicians are still relevant today. Here he cleverly explores the life of one of the most puzzling and elusive ‘big men’ in the history of Rome, and why it matters.