Ancient history, especially that of Greece and Rome, continues to fascinate many of us even in the 21st century. Many observers continue to find parallels to events in our own time. “Cautionary tales” supposedly abound in the behavior of the Caesars and in the unraveling of the Roman Empire. But in the hands of a skilled storyteller like Robert Harris, we can follow along in the life of a significant figure in that history and simply enjoy it for its own sake. And that’s the case with the growing number of Harris’ biographical novels set in Rome during its heyday. It’s the case with his trilogy about the life of the politician Cicero. And now, in his latest work, he introduces us to the powerful general Agrippa, who was central to the rise of Rome’s first emperor, Caesar Augustus.
Friend, bodyguard, general, politician
The life of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa encompassed the years of the Republic under Caesar and the imperium of his adopted son, Octavian, who became the Emperor Caesar Augustus. Agrippa lived from 63 BCE to 12 BCE. He was Octavian’s best friend from an early age. (They were born the same year.) He served the frail and sickly Octavian as bodyguard, general in his legions, governor of Transalpine Gaul, and later twice Consul of Rome. Most famously, he led the forces that defeated Marcus Antonius (Mark Anthony) and Cleopatra and then those of Pompey. But, as Harris makes clear in his eponymous novel, Agrippa’s most consequential achievement was as a builder of much of what we know today as the ancient city of Rome.
Agrippa: A Novel of Ancient Rome’s Descent into Dictatorship by Robert Harris (2026) 374 pages ★★★★☆
What do we know about history?
When we read history, we tend to focus on the lives of exceptional men and women and the influence they wielded in their time. Of course, their reputation may have altered over the years, reinterpreted again and again by new generations of historians. And all that truly lives on after them are the institutions and infrastructure they built.
By that measure Agrippa was the equal of his friend. In his time, as Wikipedia notes, Agrippa restored and built aqueducts, enlarged and cleansed the city’s principal sewer, constructed bathhouses and porticos, and laid out gardens. “As emperor, Augustus would later boast that ‘he had found the city of brick but left it of marble’ in part because of the great services provided by Agrippa under his reign.” And many of these improvements are visible to this day, 2,000 years later.
A story filled with thriller-like twists and turns
Robert Harris is a supremely skillful writer. He can imbue even the most predictable story with suspense. And that talent comes to light in this novel. We know that Octavian became Rome’s first emperor. But the extraordinarily long and winding path he took to arrive there offers Harris innumerable opportunities to convey a sense of the confusion and unpredictability that the people of Agrippa’s time would have felt. The tale repeatedly twists and turns. Because Octavian’s path to the throne was anything but foreordained. His exceptional political skills, rarely equaled in all of history, and the brute force wielded so judiciously by Agrippa made it happen in the end. And Harris leaves us breathless over the audacity of his achievement.
About the author
Robert Harris is a British novelist who began his writing career with journalism and nonfiction. He has written 17 novels, most of them bestsellers, and three books in the Cicero Trilogy as well as the screenplays of two of his novels adapted to film and five nonfiction books. Harris was born in 1957 in Nottingham, England, and educated at Cambridge University, where he earned a BA. He lives with his wife, also a writer, in Berkshire. They have four children.
For related reading
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- 25 top nonfiction books about history
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