The Twelve Caesars: The Dramatic Lives of the Emperors of Rome

Seeking to write popular history, Dennison (Livia, Empress of Rome) has constructed a narrative that his classical forbears, Suetonius, who wrote the original Twelve Caesars, and Roman historian Tacitus, would instantly recognize and appreciate. Although classified as biography, the book does not delve into the lives of the Caesars from Julius Caesar to Domitian so much as it presents a gossipy history of their reigns. Dennison wants also to shed light on Suetonius and Tacitus themselves, while encouraging readers to return to those sources. Heavy on scandal and short on critical analysis, his book fails to achieve his stated goal. We learn every last detail of each of these men's purported sex lives and murderous appetites, but very little about their accomplishments. Dennison mostly gives lip service to the nature and veracity of the original sources and why they might want to smear a previous emperor. Modern scholars have debunked many of these myths and though Dennison occasionally accepts this, he is still eager to embrace the salacious, as well as quick to judge according to modern mores.