The "Masters of Rome" novels by Colleen McCoullough

[TaylorS]

I ran into the 6th book of the series, The October Horse, at the thrift store I work at and bought it, read it, loved it, and am now reading the rest of the series. I have read the first book, First Man in Rome, and am half-way finished with the second book, The Grass Crown.

 

Given the purpose of this message board I am sure a lot of posters here have read McCoullough's books and so what does everyone think of them? do you find them historically accurate? the portrayal of Cato's suicide, for example, seems to have been ripped straight from Plutarch. Throughout the first book she has Marius mockingly calling Caecilius Metellus Numidicus "Piggy-Wiggle" when, according to the book, Marius, Rutilius Rufus, and Jugurtha shoved Mettellus into a pig-sty when they were young soldiers in the battle of Numantia, did that really happen or was it literary license?

 

I like how she gets into the minds of all these historical figures. She definitely portrays Caesar in a very favorable light, while on the other hand she portrays Antonius as a psychopath.

[Crispina]

I will check my library for these. According to a site online, there are 7 books in the series?

[GhostOfClayton]

I will check my library for these. According to a site online, there are 7 books in the series?

 

Wikipedia agrees.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

In fact you have the inital 6 volumes, from Marius to Caesar, and then later came a seventh on Anthony and Cleopatra. They are a great serie, much documented, with credible inventions were history does not provide us with the details, and often such liberties as she may have taken with known (or unknown) events are discussed at the end of the book. Probably the serie I most enjoyed on the period, in my opinion much better than Harris' two books on Cicero, throwing Iggulden slash and sandals in the gutter, ridiculing Manfredi's "Ides of March" and, according to me, also superior to our fellow member Ben Kane's "Forgotten Legion" serie