The Lives of the Caesars

That Rome lives more vividly in people''s imagination than any other ancient empire owes an inordinate amount to Suetonius. Now award-winning author and translator Tom Holland brings us even closer in a new, spellbinding translation. Giving a deeper understanding of the personal lives of Rome''s first emperors, and of how they swayed the fates of millions, The Lives of the Caesars is an astonishing, immersive experience of a time and culture at once familiar and utterly alien to our own.<>

About the author

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was probably born in AD 69 - the famous 'Year of the four Emperors'. From the letters of Suetonius' close friend Pliny the Younger we learn that he practiced briefly at the bar, avoided political life, and became chief secretary to the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-38). Suetonius seems to have lived to a good age and probably died around the year AD 140.Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, biographer, and broadcaster. His books include Rubicon (winner of the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize); Persian Fire (winner of the Anglo-Hellenic League’s Runciman Award), In the Shadow of the Sword, and Dynasty. His most recent book, Pax, covers the heyday of the Roman Empire, from the death of Nero to Hadrian.

Holland has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for the BBC, and his translation of Herodotus was published in 2013 by Penguin Classics. He is co-presenter of the world’s most downloaded history podcast, The Rest is History.

Product details

• Authors: Suetonius
• Assisted by: Tom Holland (Translation)
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Release: 26.03.2026
• EAN: 9780141980386
• ISBN: 978-0-14-198038-6
• No. of pages: 448
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 15 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Non-fiction book > History > Biographies, autobiographies; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, Collected biographies, Biography: historical, political & military, HISTORY / Ancient / Rome, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Royalty, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Ancient & Classical, Classical texts, Biography: royalty, Ancient Rome, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Biography: historical, political and military, BCE to c 500 CE, 1st century, c 1 to c 99, Ancient Greek and Roman literature