The War that Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium

Like The Storm Before the Storm, I had discovered this book on a Hardcore History Addendum episode.

This was a fantastic book going from the death of Julius Caesar to what would become the Roman Empire. Barry Strauss does a great job of going through the history of the rivalry between Mark Antony and Octavian (who would later become Augustus).

The story was fascinating as it goes through the political intrigue caused by Antony’s affairs with Cleopatra and the seemingly constant flows back and forth of defectors.

Eventually the rivalry becomes a war and the book describes in detail the various events that took place as well as the various mistakes and missteps Antony made that led history to turn out the way it did.

Despite the large amount of detail, this was a relatively easy, and quite informative read.