Five books of civil wars from the Gracchi to the fall of the Republic. Appian organises Roman history by conflict rather than chronology — the result is the most sustained ancient narrative of Rome's self-destruction.
Start ReadingThe Roman Republic begins to devour itself as the Gracchi brothers attempt land reform and are murdered for it, establishing a precedent for political violence.
Marius and Sulla wage Rome's first civil war, introducing proscription lists and teaching a generation that the sword settles political disputes.
Caesar crosses the Rubicon and the Republic enters its death spiral, as Pompey flees Rome and civil war engulfs the Mediterranean.
Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March solves nothing — Antony, Octavian, and Brutus plunge Rome into yet another round of bloodshed.
The Second Triumvirate, Philippi, and the final struggle between Octavian and Antony end with the Republic's transformation into the Principate.