The Roman Revolution

First published in 1939, this study argues that the Roman Republic fell not through abstract constitutional decay but through a transfer of power among oligarchic factions, completed when Octavian defeated Antony and built a new ruling class around himself as Augustus. Syme uses careers, marriages, and offices to show how the old nobility was displaced between Caesar's death and the early principate. The narrative runs from the 60s BC through the settlement of 27 BC and after. It is a prosopographical political history, not a biography of Augustus in isolation.

Bound in light brown cloth with gilt red title to spine and blocked design featuring Augustus of Prima Porta in red on cover. Dark purple slipcase.