THE INSTANT _SUNDAY TIMES_ TOP TEN & _NEW YORK TIMES _BESTSELLER BLACKWELL'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 'EXTRAORDINARY ... A DELICIOUSLY VARIED TAPESTRY OF DETAIL DRAWN FROM ACROSS NEARLY THREE CENTURIES' _TELEGRAPH_ WHAT WAS IT REALLY LIKE TO RULE AND BE RULED IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN WORLD? In her international best-seller _SPQR_, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome. Now, she shines her spotlight on the emperors who ruled the Roman empire, from Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE)_._ _ Emperor of Rome_ is not your usual chronological account of Roman rulers, one after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Beard asks bigger questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? _Emperor of Rome_ goes directly to the heart of Roman (and our own) fantasies about what it was _to be Roman, _offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.