# McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series - appreciation/accuracy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 26, 2001, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759 "2001-10-26T13:01:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2001, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/1 "2001-10-26T13:01:07Z")
Has anyone else out there read Colleen McCullough’s “Masters of Rome” series, which presents a fictional retelling of the actual history and famous players of ancient Rome,leading up to the fall of the Republic and Caesar’s establishment of the empire? The first book is “The First Man in Rome”, the second is “The Grass Crown”, etc…
Yeah, I know she wrote the Thorn Birds (score one against) and yeah, at least in the US, the books are awfully packaged (the third one, Fortune’s Favorites, looks exactly like a romance novel in appearance - definitely score one against). And the author-penned drawings of the some of the main players seem amateurish and a little silly (score one against)
All that being said, I find the books a fun read - they move along, even if they are 1,000 pages each (!). They appear to be meticulously researched, so I feel like I am learning more about a pivotal period in Western civilization.
So - do other dopers out there like the series? Are there any historian types who would care to comment on the relative accuracy of the historical events (I have to assume that most academics would not like the license she has to have taken with personalities and fictional events she created to provide flow to the story…)
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/2 "2001-10-26T13:32:56Z")
I loved them. She acknowledges that many academics take issue with her version of events. However, her credentials as a scholar in this matter are pretty solid. I read somewhere that she has the most extensive, privately held archive of literature and documents from the era in the world.
I like to believe that Gaius Julius was actually as incredible as what she makes him out to be however sometimes she almost comes across as a salivating groupie of his. Mithridates and Sulla were _my_ idols though. 6
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2001, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/3 "2001-10-26T13:51:21Z")
I love them, too. McCullough seems to have meticulously researched this. Besides, I’m always on the lookout for books, films, etc about the Roman _Republic_. Too much pop culture seems tied up in the Enmpire. McCullouch’s books seem a good introduction to this period in history.
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/4 "2001-10-27T00:42:44Z")
Just yesterday I received “Fortune’s Favorites” as a gift from a business colleague. He has read the entire series and strongly recommended that I start with the very first volume if I found the book enjoyable. That said, should I get the first book and begin there? I know that each book is written as a stand-alone work but I also know it’ll be more enjoyable as a series.
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2001, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/5 "2001-10-27T03:45:04Z")
Definitely. They run in chronolgical order and there is also the fact that you have to learn the workings of a new civilisation (albeit, one that is a little on the old side) to figure out what is going on. She’ll explain basics like the setup with the co nsuls in _The First Man in Rome_ but might only skim over such an issue in later books. However, the glossaries are usually pretty good for any concept mentioned in any volume.c
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### Author:  [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/6 "2001-10-27T04:13:02Z")
Being a huge fan of “I, Claudius” I very much wanted to like these books, but I just couldn’t get into them. I found her glossary fascinating and invaluable, however.
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2001, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/7 "2001-10-27T06:02:03Z")
Too much like soapy, romance novels for you were they? Personally, I can do without the love angle the way it is done in most books but I found this aspect rarely dominated her stories.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2001, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/8 "2001-10-27T09:24:29Z")
Damn, I love the SDMB. No matter what one likes or dislikes you can find someone else who likes it too. I read The First Man in Rome and The Grass Crown and thought it ended there. Just recently I found there were **three more** and have Fortune’s Favorites and Caesar’s Women on order from a used bookstore. I can’t wait! I like the series myself. I’ve read other series from the Republican period, such as Stephen Saylor’s Gordianus the Finder books and John Maddox Robert’s SPQR series, and I like them too. They aren’t alike, different styles and all, but I learn something from them.
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2001, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcculloughs-masters-of-rome-series-appreciation-accuracy/89759/9 "2001-10-27T09:40:33Z")
End with _The Grass Crown_? No way. If McCullough has it in her, the culmination is still to come with the death of Cæsar and his nephew’s foundation of the Empire. She seems to have taken a bit of a break from Rome though and hasn’t come out with an ything since _Cæsar_ I don’t think. Her last book was about Australian, colonial era outlaws so I hope she hasn’t permanently abandoned the Romans. I wonder if anybody here knows of a book covering Alexander or Ghengis Khan with the same style and at tenti on to accuracy as McCulloughs?o