Although there are fictionalized accounts of the rise of Julius Caesar, his relationships with Cleopatra, Mark Antony, and Octavian Caesar Augustus, there are few accounts that follow them through the last days of the Roman Republic through the development of the Roman Empire. This audiobook, drawing from sources such as Plutarch, Suetonius, and more contemporary accounts, does exactly that.

Listeners become acquainted with young Julius as he takes up the burden of being the head of his household at the age of 16. We meet Mark Antony as a wild youth who was more interested in a good party than in politics, hear about the exotic young beauty born into the ruling house of Egypt, and finally, the cold machinations of Octavian Caesar Augustus as he establishes himself as emperor.

It is a story of adventure, of travel, and of intrigue. It is also a tale of wedding and betrayal, of jealousy and political maneuvering. For not only are the lives of the four main players in this drama of interest, so are the lives of the many people surrounding them. There are even pirates and great engineering feats. Small wonder that this story has spawned so many fictionalized stories, branching off the main thread of a dying republic becoming an empire.