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Carbo and his loved ones leave Rome for the sleepy Italian countryside, desperate to recover from their recent traumas. But a chance encounter with locally notorious masked bandits leads to a devastating outcome. Carbo has to fight his own demons and an evil conspiracy to save himself and his friends, and avenge his loss.

From its mythical origins, stunning architecture, innovative engineering, and mighty army that led Rome's meteoric rise to become the world's most powerful empire, to the debauchery, excess and self-obsessed emperors that caused its eventual decline and self-destruction, this publication is a wonderfully illustrative and informative history of a once magnificent ancient civilization.

Every era has watershed moments that shape the arc of history, and for Ancient Rome, few were as decisive or monumental as the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. The battle's importance is understandable given the stakes and people involved; Actium pitted the joint navies of Cleopatra and Mark Antony against the battle fleet of Octavian. In many ways, this climactic battle was the culmination of a years-long power struggle between the heirs of the assassinated Julius Caesar, with Octavian being his legally appointed heir and Antony being his longtime lieutenant and trusted advisor.

For the people of the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, the city of Rome had been a symbol of power for centuries, and entering the early 5th century AD, the Eternal City hadn't been taken by an enemy force since the Gauls had done it about 800 years ago, an unheard of period of tranquility in a world wracked with almost constant warfare. Thus when the Visigoths, who the Romans considered uncultured and inferior, took the city of Rome and sacked it in 410, the world was stunned.

Throughout the annals of history, there have been few men as reviled as Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. To this day he is associated with murder, betrayal, violence, and infamy, so much so that in modern English his name provides the root for the words "brute" and "brutal", as it does in several other Romance languages. Indeed Brutus' reputation was so infamous that when Dante composed his timeless Divine Comedy, he relegated Brutus to the very nethermost depths of hell.

Mark Antony (83-50 B.C.) is one of the most unique and best known figures of antiquity, a man whose relationships with some of history's giants ensured his own legacy. A protégé of Julius Caesar's, a lover of Cleopatra's, a sworn enemy of Cicero's, and a foil for Octavian, Antony has long been remembered for the role he played in others' lives more than for his own accomplishments. Fittingly and ironically, Antony might be best remembered today for the words Shakespeare put in his mouth for Caesar's eulogy.

The Roman Empire is the most famous in history, and the center of the far-reaching empire's activities were located in the Forum, a low area between the Capitoline and Palatine hills in Rome. The topography held a great deal of significance for Romans, and consequently so many layers of myth were laid on top of the landscape and buildings that it is difficult to separate legend from actual historical fact.

The importance of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (or as he was known from birth, Gaius Octavius "Octavian" Thurinus) to the course of Western history is hard to overstate. His life, his rise to power, his political, social and military achievements, all laid the foundations for the creation of an Empire which would endure for almost five centuries, and whose traditions, laws, architecture and art continue to influence much of Europe and the world today.

Possibly the most important man of antiquity, and even all of history, was Julius Caesar. Alexander Hamilton, the famous American patriot, once remarked that "the greatest man who ever lived was Julius Caesar." Such a tribute, coming from one of the Founding Fathers of the quintessential modern democracy in reference to a man who destroyed the Roman Republic, is testament to the enduring mark that Caesar left upon the world.

Given how bad some of Rome's emperors were, it's a testament to just how insane and reviled Caligula was that he is still remembered, nearly 2,000 years later, as the epitome of everything that could be wrong with a tyrant. The Romans had high hopes for him after he succeeded Tiberius in AD 37, and by all accounts he was a noble and just ruler during his first few months in power. But after that, he suffered a mysterious illness that apparently rendered him insane. Indeed, the list of Caligula's strange actions is long.

It goes without saying that the Goths played an integral part in the history of Europe during this time, and they remain among the most notorious and controversial groups in history. By the 4th century CE, The Goths were among the prominent barbarian groups who became a threat to the Roman Empire, but they also had contacts with the Romans well before then, and they even traded for awhile.

Among all the natural disasters that struck Rome, one of the most well-known is the Great Fire of Rome, in part due to the popular myth that Emperor Nero fiddled while the Eternal City burned, even though no fiddle existed in first century Rome. Even though those accounts are likely apocryphal, it is true that on the night of July 18, AD 64, the most significant event of Nero's time in power - and the one which, for better or for worse, would seal his name in infamy throughout the ages - took place.

Nero ranks among the very worst of the caesars. He is a figure so hated that in many ancient Christian traditions, he is literally - without hyperbole - considered the Antichrist. He was the man who famously "fiddled while Rome burned" and his economic policies, according to many historians, virtually bankrupted Rome. Nero was an inveterate lecher, a murderous tyrant who showed little compunction in murdering his mother, and he liked to use Christian martyrs as sources of illumination by burning them alive at night.

During one of the most turbulent periods in the history of Rome, men like Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian participated in two civil wars that would spell the end of the Roman Republic and determine who would become the Roman emperor. In the middle of it all was history's most famous woman, the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.), who famously seduced both Caesar and Antony and thereby positioned herself as one of the most influential people in a world of powerful men.

At its peak, the wealthy Carthaginian Empire dominated the Mediterranean against the likes of Greece and Rome. Through clever use of force projection, by paying allies with gold, and by recruiting mercenary armies to fight for them, Carthage was able to go from a minor Phoenician settlement to one of the most powerful trading empires of antiquity. However, the Carthaginians' foreign policy had a fatal flaw; they had a knack for picking the worst enemies they could possibly enter into conflict with.

While they are still well-known, the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece are more relevant today than most people know, and the ways in which athletic sports pervade contemporary culture is comparable only to the spirit of athleticism in Hellenic Greece. Today, a large section of the media industry is devoted exclusively to sports, and in some nations sports even figures as a critical component of their identity.

They come in droves, busloads of tourists shepherded down through modern streets, shops and stalls, past souvenir stands and hordes of local guides offering insight and spectacle. From all across the world they come to the Italian region of Campania, to walk the cobbles of ancient streets, peer at frescoes, marvel at sculptures, and visit the remnants of historic villas, bath-houses and even brothels. In 2003, it was estimated these international visitors contributed some $35 million dollars to the Italian economy.

Many are the exploits of Rome's emperors, but few were as infamous as Caligula. His reign was short, just fewer than four years. During that time he wallowed in depravity and lunacy. He came to power with the full backing of the people, but little did they know he would inspire their hatred soon into his reign. Caligula is a fascinating character because he was so complex.

The zenith of the Byzantine Empire was reached in the middle of the sixth century during the reign of the Emperor Justinian (527-565). The internal stabilization of the Byzantine state was completed, and Justinian then embarked on a wide range of external re-conquests. Justinian's prime directive was to restore the Roman Empire to its former glory in the west.

Although it is no longer quite as well remembered as it was thousands of years ago, one of the most important cities in the ancient world was Ephesus, a city that dates back nearly 3,000 years and can lay claim to the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Moreover, while Sparta and Athens were often the centers of power in ancient Greece, Ephesus, located in present-day Turkey on the coast of Ionia, was an instrumental part of the Ionian League.