Lindsay Powell - Böcker

A superb analysis of the military power that underpinned Augustus' rise to power, his conquests, and his ability to sustain his rule. Powell's achievement is to demonstrate just how much Augustus deserved his name of Imperator'.'- Tom Holland, presenter of BBC Radio 4 Making History. Author of Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar.'Powell meticulously details and analyzes the composition, deployment, and actions of this army and provides a much needed resource of information that has no parallel in astute comprehensiveness. His superb treatment shows Imperator Caesar Augustus in action and helps us understand the military Augustus and his times more clearly.'- Karl Galinsky, Floyd A. Cailloux Centennial Professor of Classics, University of Texas at Austin. Author of Augustus: Introduction to the Life of an Emperor.'Lindsay Powell provides us with valuable insights into an under-appreciated aspect of Augustus' reign, and does so in his usual highly competent and readable style.'- Philip Matyszak. Author of The Sons of Caesar: Imperial Rome's First Dynasty.The words Pax Augusta - or Pax Romana - evoke a period of uninterrupted peace across the vast Roman Empire. In this new book Lindsay Powell exposes the truth for the lie that it is. Almost every year between 31 BC and AD 14 the Roman Army was in action somewhere, either fighting enemies beyond the frontier in punitive raids or for outright conquest; but it was also entangled in suppressing rebellions within the borders - or itself on the verge of mutiny.Remarkably over the same period Augustus succeeded in nearly doubling the size of the Empire, outperforming either Pompey the Great or Julius Caesar for conquests. How did Augustus, a second-rate field commander, and a man known to become physically ill before and during battle, achieve such extraordinary success? Did he, in fact, have a grand strategy?The decisions Augustus made determined the future of the empire - and of the Europe which followed. Powell reveals Augustus as a brilliant strategist and manager of war. As commander-in-chief he made changes to the political and military institutions to keep the empire together - and to hold on to power.His genius was to build a team of semi-autonomous legati - deputies' - to ensure internal security and to fight his wars for him. Often bound by ties of blood and marriage, but above all loyalty, these men - more than 50 of whom are profiled in this volume - fought for Augustus, who claimed for himself the credit for their achievements.Augustus at War is lucidly written by the author of the acclaimed biographies Marcus Agrippa and Germanicus. Drawing on archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions and documents of the period, Lindsay Powell presents a new and provocative assessment of the men and events shaping a crucial period in world history, which still reverberates down to our own time.

Marcus Agrippa personified the term Oright-hand manO. As Emperor AugustusO deputy, he waged wars, pacified provinces, beautified Rome, and played a critical role in laying the foundations of the Pax Romana for the next two hundred years D but he served always in the knowledge he would never rule in his own name. Why he did so, and never grasped power exclusively for himself, has perplexed historians for centuries.In his teens he formed a life-long friendship with Julius Caesar\'s great nephew, Caius Octavius, which would change world history. Following CaesarOs assassination on the Ides of March 44 BC, Agrippa was instrumental in asserting his friendOs rights as the dictator\'s heir. He established a reputation as a bold admiral, defeating Sextus Pompeius at Mylae and Naulochus (36 BC), culminating in the epoch-making Battle of Actium (31 BC), which eliminated Marcus Antonius and Queen Cleopatra as rivals. He proved his genius for military command on land by ending bloody rebellions in the Cimmerian Bosporus, Gaul, Hispania and Illyricum.In Gaul Agrippa established the vital road network that helped turn Julius CaesarOs conquests into viable provinces. As a diplomat, he befriended Herod the Great of Judaea and stabilised the East. As minister of works he overhauled Rome\'s drains and aqueducts, transformed public bathing in the city, created public parks with great artworks and built the original Pantheon.Agrippa became co-ruler of the Roman Empire with Augustus and married his daughter Julia. His three sons were adopted by his friend as potential heirs to the throne. Agrippa\'s unexpected death in 12 BC left Augustus bereft, but his bloodline lived on in the imperial family, through Agrippina the Elder to his grandson Caligula and great grandson Nero.MARCUS AGRIPPA is lucidly written by the author of the acclaimed biographies Eager for Glory and Germanicus. Illustrated with colour plates, figures and high quality maps, Lindsay Powell presents a penetrating new assessment of the life and achievements of the multifaceted man who put service to friend and country before himself.

The reigns of Augustus and his successor Tiberius saw an epic struggle between the Romans and local peoples for the territory between the Rhine and Elbe rivers in what is now Germany.Following two decades of Roman occupation, Germania Magna erupted into revolt in AD 9 following the loss of the three legions commanded by Publius Quinctilius Varus to the Cheruscan nobleman Arminius and an alliance of Germanic nations in the dense forests of the Teutoburger Wald. The Romans’ initial panic subsided as it became clear that Arminius and his allies could not continue the war into Germania Inferior on the western bank of the Rhine, and Imperial troops poured into the region as the Romans decided how best to resolve the situation.Featuring full-colour artwork, specially drawn maps and an array of revealing illustrations depicting weapons, equipment, key locations and personalities, this study offers key insights into the tactics, leadership, combat performance and subsequent reputations of the Roman soldiers and their Germanic opponents pitched into a series of pivotal actions on the Imperial frontier that would influence Roman/German relations for decades to come.

A highly illustrated account of the final Jewish rebellion against Roman rule, appealing for any enthusiast of Roman or Jewish history.In AD 132, Shim'on Ben Koseba, a rebel leader who assumed the messianic name Shim'on Bar Kokhba ('Son of a Star'), led the people of Judaea in open rebellion, aiming to establish their own independent Jewish state and to liberate Jerusalem from the Romans. During the ensuing 'Bar Kokhba War' (AKA the Second Jewish War), the insurgents held their own against the crack Roman troops sent by Emperor Hadrian for three-and-a-half years.The cost of this rebellion was catastrophic: hundreds of thousands of casualties, the destruction and enslavement of Jewish communities and a ban on Jews entering Jerusalem. Bar Kokhba remains important in Israel today because he was the last leader of a Jewish state before the rise of Zionism in modern times.This fully illustrated volume explores the gripping story of the uprising, profiling its rebel leader Bar Kokhba as well as the Emperor Hadrian and his generals, and assesses the impact that this violent rebellion had on the region and those that were displaced.

History has not been kind to the memory of Tiberius Caesar (42 BC-AD 37), second emperor of the Romans. His reputation for capable generalship and sensible civic leadership are marred by reports of cruelty, treason trials and sexual depravity. Some historians have described him as a ‘tyrant’ or even a ‘monster’. But does he deserve this negative appraisal?In Tiberius, Lindsay Powell presents a fresh and penetrating reassessment of the life and legacy of the extraordinary man handpicked by Augustus to succeed him. He shows that Tiberius was the right man for the job, at the right time.Tiberius built upon the innovations of Augustus by bolstering the Roman Commonwealth’s institutions and reining in its expenditures. He used his proven leadership skills in military and diplomatic affairs to avoid war whenever possible. A no-nonsense disciplinarian willing to eschew popularity for the good of the Res Publica, he respected the Senate’s independence, recruited competent public administrators, rooted out malpractice in provincial government, and was generous to communities blighted by disaster.Tiberius examines the known facts of the personal and professional life of Ancient Rome’s third longest serving emperor. He was a poet, a collector of art and an astrologer. Lindsay Powell explores how he dealt with success, disappointment and loss all while under the unrelenting pressure of serving Augustus, and then carrying out his ultimate duty by ruling the empire in his own right.Descended from a famous family, his standing has been undermined by his infamous appointees: right-hand man, Aelius Sejanus, who betrayed him; prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilatus, who crucified Jesus of Nazareth; and his successor, Caius, better known as Caligula. Yet, when he died of old age (or was he murdered?), he left the Roman Empire both stronger and at peace.Meticulously researched, Tiberius is lucidly written by the author of the acclaimed biographies Marcus Agrippa and Germanicus.

Germanicus (a.k.a. Germanicus Iulius Caesar) was regarded by many Romans as a hero in the mould of Alexander the Great. His untimely death, in suspicious circumstances, ended the possibility of a return to a more open republic and ambitions for the outright conquest of Germania Magna (Germany). This, the first modern biography of Germanicus, is in parts a growing-up story, a history of war, a tale of political intrigue and a murder mystery. It is a natural sequel to the author's first book, Eager for Glory, which discussed the life of Germanicus' natural father, Nero Claudius Drusus, for the first time. Born in 15 BC, Germanicus grew up to be a skilled diplomat and bold soldier. Married to the granddaughter of Augustus (by whom he fathered the future Emperor Caligula) and responsible for avenging Rome's humiliating defeat at the Teutoburg Forest through victory at Idistaviso (AD16) and the recovery of one of the lost standards, his reputation and popularity were immense. The Emperor Tiberius, his adoptive father, granted him a triumph, but refused to let him complete the reconquest of Germania, sending him instead to command in the East. Did Tiberius feel jealous and threatened?Germanicus fortunes waned when he fell out with one of Tiberius appointees, Piso.His death in mysterious circumstances, aged 34, brought great outpourings of public grief and anger, with many suspecting murder on the orders of Tiberius. Piso was put on trial but he committed suicide - or was he murdered? - before the senate could reach a verdict.

The outcome of a brutal war, which took place 1,885 years ago, continues to reverberate in the Near East today. It is a tale largely unknown outside Israel, and yet it helps explain why the region continues to be engulfed by strife."As a historian I learned about the Bar Kokhba War, but the explanations for why and how it happened seemed confused," said historian and author Lindsay Powell. "As with King Arthur, fact and myth have become muddled. To establish the truth, I travelled across three continents. BAR KOKHBA: The Jew Who Defied Hadrian and Challenged the Might of Rome is the result."This amazing and consequential story involves an epic struggle between the two strong-willed leaders over who would rule a nation. One protagonist was Hadrian, the cosmopolitan ruler of the vast Roman Empire, then at its zenith, who some regarded as divine. He is best known today for the famous wall he built in northern Britain. The other was Shim'on, a Jewish military leader in a district of a minor province; some believed him to be the 'King Messiah' after sage Rabbi Akiba allegedly saw him fulfilling biblical prophecy and named him 'Bar Kokhba' ('Son of a Star').It is also the tale of the clash of two ancient cultures. One was the conqueror, seeking to maintain control of its hard-won dominion they called Judaea; the other was the conquered, seeking to break free and establish a new nation. Shim'on called his new country Israel.Several causes for the war have been suggested, such as bans on circumcision or studying Torah which Powell evaluates in his book. Most likely it was the decision by Hadrian to rebuild then ruined Jerusalem as a pagan city for retired Roman soldiers. He called it Aelia Capitolina after his own family and the triad of Roman gods whose shrine may have been erected over the remains of the Second Temple. It may or may not have been Hadrian's intention, but the Jews took it as a direct insult.During the ensuing conflict - called the 'Second Jewish War' (AD 132-136) - the highly motivated Jewish militia sorely tested the highly trained - and normally invincible - professional Roman army.Powell said: "Amazingly, the Jewish rebels withstood the Roman onslaught for three-and-a-half years. They established an independent nation with its own administration led by Shim'on as its president (nasi). They minted their own coins by overstriking Roman coins with Jewish iconography, cheerfully obliterating the image of the emperor and pagan gods with every strike of the hammer."Found in caves in the Judaean Desert in the 1950s and 1960s, letters from Shim'on to his lieutenants survive revealing how deeply involved he was in day-to-day actions, and his increasing frustration with their laziness.For reasons Powell explains in his book, the Jews ultimately lost. In retribution, Hadrian expelled the Jews from Judea and barred them from entering Aelia Capitolina and its holy sites. He even changed the name of the Roman province to Syria Palaestina - the origin of Palestine."The outcome of that David and Goliath contest was of great consequence, both for the people of Judaea and for Judaism itself," said Powell. "Centuries of bloodshed followed."In death, Bar Kokhba became a legend. Over the ages, this flawed rebel with a cause become a hero for the increasingly persecuted Jews in the Diaspora longing to found a new Jewish homeland. Across Europe in the early twentieth century, there were athletic teams competing in sports events under the moniker 'Bar Kochba' as part of a movement to create the image of the 'Muscular Jew'. The last games were held in Berlin in 1936, just two years before Kristallnacht.Eric H. Cline, Professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology, George Washington University, writes in the foreword of the book: "There are a very limited number of people whose life, and death, still impact other centuries after they have shuffled off this mortal coil. There are fewer still who inspire entire movements, and migrations, such as the return to what is now modern Israel by the Zionists, after that same length of time."In the interwar years in Palestine, armed Jewish resistance groups championed Bar Kokhba as a figure of inspiration in their own struggle against the British and Palestinian Arabs to establish a new State of Israel; it finally came into being in 1948. Today modern Israelis still celebrate Bar Kokhba with bonfires and songs on the annual Lag B'Omer holiday.In researching his book, Powell went on a journey stretching from Hollywood to London, Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and Caesarea, and Herodium to Ein Gedi. He drew upon archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions, militaria, as well as secular and religious documents, to produce a compelling and complete account of the people and events at a crucial time in world history.Commenting on the new book, Cline said: "Let it be said that Powell's researches have resulted in an enthralling journey through history. It is a marvelous search for the man behind the myth, which is well worth reading. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did."

The epic story of Julius Caesar, now part of a gorgeous hardback collectable series introducing the heroes, leaders, cultures, myths and philosophies of the world. Born in 100 BCE, Caesar eventually became one of the most influential leaders in history. After a bloody civil war, where famously he crossed the Rubicon with his army, he defeated Pompey and the Republicans and was appointed as dictator of Rome, preparing the path for the Imperial might of the Roman Empire. He died at the hands of Cassius and Brutus on the Ides of March in 44 BC and centuries later his life was immortalized by Shakespeare.Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction: authors, myths, tales and history without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new Introduction and a Glossary of Terms or lists of Ancient Leaders.

Now part of a gorgeous hardback collectable series introducing the heroes, leaders, cultures, myths and philosophies of the world, this book sheds light on one of the most renowned pharaohs of Egypt. Cleopatra had the rare distinction of connecting three great cultures. She was born of an ancient Greek dynasty that stretched back to the time of Alexander the Great, and as the last Pharaoh of Egypt she ruled before the once mighty kingdom became a vassal state under the all-powerful Roman Empire in the first century BCE. She is regarded as an astute, resilient leader who survived at a time of male domination, with her fame also as a wily lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony forever immortalized by Plutarch's Lives and through them, in the plays of William Shakespeare. This new book provides a riveting insight into this famous leader, with a new introduction and fascinating, curated primary and secondary texts.Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction: authors, myths, tales and history without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new Introduction and a Glossary of Terms or lists of Ancient Leaders.