The War That Made the Roman Empire: Anthony, Cleopatra and Octavian at Actium, by Barry Strauss (Simon & Schuster, 2022) is about exactly what the title says. The author, holder of an endowed chair at Cornell, set out to write a popular account of the years 43-29 BCE and succeeded admirably.

It starts with character portraits of the principals and the major supporting players, Cleopatra and Octavia. Following the more modern view of Cleopatra as a smart, talented woman, he even goes so far as to say “had Cleopatra succeeded we would compare her to … England’s Queen Elizabeth I or to …Russia’s Catherine the Great.” (Of course, had she succeeded, neither Elizabeth nor Catherine would have probably existed.) In fact, the whole book could be considered an attempt to convince the general reader that Cleopatra was not a sexy seductress but a true queen. Similarly, he describes Octavia not as a pawn manipulated by Octavian and Anthony, but as a bright and courageous woman.

Of course, being an academic, he is very careful to state that much of the details are just best guesses, as there are no surviving contemporary accounts. What we have are the later accounts of Plutarch and Suetonius, both written after the victor had at least 5 generations to have his interpretation become accepted.

The book is well-written and not the least academic. So much so that, as an academic myself, I missed having footnotes. There are endnotes where he discusses which ancient texts he relied upon for a statement or how he tried to balance different views. But to my 83-year-old self, thumbing back and forth is a nuisance. As another quibble, he consistently uses BC instead of BCE.

In summary, this is an excellent book on its subject and I would strongly recommend it to any CANE member interested in the period. And certainly recommend it be given to anyone who’s idea of Cleopatra is from the Elizabeth Taylor movie (or, for that matter, from Shakespeare). 

By Daniel A. Bronstein, Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University