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Augustus (Massie Novel)
''Augustus'' is a 1986 historical novel by Scottish writer Allan Massie, the first of a highly regarded series of novels about the movers and makers of Imperial Rome. Massie begins with Augustus, the successor to Julius Caesar, who ruled the Roman Empire for forty one years and oversaw the beginnings of an extended peace, the ''Pax Romana The Pax Romana (Latin for 'Roman peace') is a roughly 200-year-long timespan of Roman history which is periodization, identified as a period and as a golden age (metaphor), golden age of increased as well as sustained Imperial cult of ancient Rome ...''. Synopsis The novel is in the form of a memoir written by Augustus in old age, in which he looks back over his long reign. Massie uses modern language and phraseology to describe Augustus' ruthlessness and the political intrigue he mastered and used so capably to keep himself in power for so many years when for most of his rule he was surrounded by powerful enemies and duplicitous allies. Refe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allan Massie
Allan Johnstone Massie (born 16 October 1938) is a Scottish journalist, columnist, sports writer and novelist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has lived in the Scottish Borders for the last 25 years, and now lives in Selkirk. Early life Born in Singapore, where his father was a rubber planter for Sime Darby, Massie spent his childhood in Aberdeenshire. He was educated at Drumtochty Castle preparatory school and Glenalmond College in Perthshire before going on to attend Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read history. Career Journalist Massie is a journalist and critic of fiction, writing regular columns for ''The Scotsman'', ''The Sunday Times'' (Scotland) and the Scottish ''Daily Mail''. He has been ''The Scotsman's'' chief fiction reviewer for a quarter of a century and also regularly writes about rugby union and cricket for that paper. He has previously been a columnist for ''The Daily Telegraph'', the ''Glasgow Herald,'' and was the Sunday Stand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodley Head
The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adult non-fiction imprint within Random House's CCV division. As of 2019, The Bodley Head is an imprint of Vintage Publishing UK. History Originally Elkin Mathews and John Lane, The Bodley Head was a partnership set up in 1887 by John Lane (1854–1925) and Elkin Mathews (1851–1921), to trade in antiquarian books in London. It took its name from a bust of Sir Thomas Bodley, the eponymist of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, above the shop door. Lane and Mathews began in 1894 to publish works of ‘stylish decadence’, including the notorious literary periodical ''The Yellow Book''. Also notable amongst Bodley Head's pre-Great War books were the two volume sets: ''Foundations of the Nineteenth Century'' (1910 and later editions, sel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novel In Scotland
The novel in Scotland includes all long prose fiction published in Scotland and by Scottish authors since the development of the literary format in the eighteenth century. The novel was soon a major element of Scottish literary and critical life. Tobias Smollett's picaresque novels, such as ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' and ''The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' mean that he is often seen as Scotland's first novelist. Other Scots who contributed to the development of the novel in the eighteenth century include Henry Mackenzie and John Moore. There was a tradition of moral and domestic fiction in the early nineteenth century that included the work of Elizabeth Hamilton, Mary Brunton and Christian Johnstone. The outstanding literary figure of the early nineteenth century was Walter Scott, whose ''Waverley'' is often called the first historical novel. He had a major worldwide influence. His success led to a publishing boom in Scotland. Major figures that benefited included J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Rome
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and was ruled by Roman emperor, emperors. From the Constitutional reforms of Augustus, accession of Caesar Augustus as the first Roman emperor to the Crisis of the Third Century, military anarchy of the 3rd century, it was a Principate with Roman Italy, Italia as the metropole of Roman province, its provinces and the Rome, city of Rome as its sole capital. The Empire was later ruled by dominate, multiple emperors who shared control over the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire#Early history, Eastern Roman Empire. The city of Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until AD 476 when the imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople following the capture of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
