Crassus: The First Tycoon (Ancient Lives)

Product Information

Inspection copies are books under consideration as required or recommended reading for an upcoming course. Remarkables REMARKABLES Intriguing, stunning, or otherwise remarkable books These include fine editions, foreign publications exceptional for their interest or production, special editions and some first-rate books from very small publishers. See our Remarkables Archive for some that are no longer in print, but which we are happy to try to track down.

This book aside from Allen Wards earlier work is the only one in English and while it is fairly good it is not nearly as thorough in its examination but it also assumes prior knowledge of the reader. Stothard’s little biography of Crassus offers glimpses into other great civilizations and peoples during the first century B. Here he cleverly explores the life of one of the most puzzling and elusive 'big men' in the history of Rome, and why it matters. Eighteen years after rising to the public’s attention for ending Spartacus’ revolt, Caesar’s one-time banker and Rome’s former head of state departed for the Tigris and Euphrates with mad imperialist designs of annexing Parthia to Rome.This short biography is nice and concise, but it can only be so short because it assumes good prior knowledge. One of the strengths of Stothard’s writing is that he shows rather than tells: anecdote is preferred to adjectives.

Well written and interesting, it's a short book at less than 150 pages (excluding index etc) but there's enough in it to keep the narrative flowing. Peter Stothard's 'Crassus' is a new biography written for Yale University Press's Ancient Lives series, which aims to prove that the lives of ancient thinkers, rulers, warriors, and politicians are still relevant today.Only when Crassus changed the home-loving habits of a lifetime and set off on an old-fashioned eastern invasion of his own, did he find that the prophets were suddenly against him. See our Remarkables Archive list for what is no longer in print, but which we are happy to track down. Lesser known probably because he was not so much renowned for his battlefield exploits than the other two, he preferred the shadows and finance was his strength. Stothard’s biographical history is erudite yet written in an easy-to-read style honed by years as an editor, journalist, and critic.