The stories in this book inspired hundreds of art works: novels, plays, paintings, and blockbuster films! It's a detailed history of the Roman Empire from the rise and assassination of Julius Caesar in Rome to the historic charm and controversial death of Cleopatra in Alexandria, with every epic battle and cunning conspiracy in-between. The Roman Empire has one of the most celebrated histories of all time, but did you know that it was a republic for FIVE centuries before it became an empire? The fall of a republic and rise of an empire was primarily due to the personal ambitions of the First Roman Triumvirate, consisting of the famed general Pompey the Great, the fantastically wealthy Crassus, and the famous Caesar. The book chronicles how every man of those three rose to power, every challenge they had to face, like the war against the notorious gladiator Spartacus and the struggles with the pirates of the Mediterranean. It also describes how each of them died, and elaborates on the rise and fall of the Second Triumvirate. "The queen (Cleopatra) was confident in her charms, she meant to bring him on his knees before her; and she succeeded." "Caesar for an instant defended himself, and even wounded one of his assailants, but when he noticed Brutus in the press, and saw the steel flashing in his band also, "What! Thou too, Brutus!" he exclaimed, let go his grasp of Casca, and drawing his robe over his face, made no further resistance."