The Roman Republic was the most remarkable state in history. What began as a small community of peasants camped among marshes and hills ended up ruling the known world. Rubicon paints a vivid portrait of the Republic at the climax of its greatness - the same greatness which would herald the catastrophe of its fall. It is a story of incomparable drama. This was the century of Julius Caesar the gambler whose addiction to glory led him to the banks of the Rubicon and beyond; of Cicero whose defence of freedom would make him a byword for eloquence; of Spartacus the slave who dared to challenge a superpower; of Cleopatra the queen who did the same. Tom Holland brings to life this strange and unsettling civilization with its extremes of ambition and self-sacrifice bloodshed and desire. Yet alien as it was the Republic still holds up a mirror to us. Its citizens were obsessed by celebrity chefs all-night dancing and exotic pets; they fought elections in law courts and were addicted to spin; they toppled foreign tyrants in the name of self-defence. Two thousand years may have passed but we remain the Romans heirs.