Grass Crown

Written by Colleen McCullough

Narrated by F. Murray Abraham

From the author of the captivating bestseller
THE FIRST MAN IN ROME...
the timeless saga of power, passion
and conflict of Ancient Rome continues...

The magnificent glory of Republican Rome is threatened when a struggle for power erupts among the men who shaped its hard-won peace. At its center are two extraordinary leaders: Gaius Marius, the general who saved Rome from Barbarian invasions, desperately trying to extend his reign for a prophesied and unprecedented seventh term as Consul; and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, once Marius' most trusted right-hand man, now a dangerous rival hungry for his own taste of political success.

As the two men battle for position, they are surrounded by a new generation of statesman, soldiers and lovers, from Senate intriguers and their ambitious wives to the child of destiny, Gaius Julius Caesar.

An absorbing tale of a Republic fighting for its survival in a world of treachery, barbarism and never-ending war, The Grass Crown is a remarkable entry in Colleen McCullough's brilliant and unprecedented series on the rise and fall of the world's greatest civilization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 1, 1991
• ISBN: 9780743547956

Colleen McCullough

Colleen McCullough is the author of The Thorn Birds, Tim, An Indecent Obsession, A Creed for the Third Millennium, The Ladies of Missalonghi, The First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown, Fortune's Favorites, Caesar's Women, Caesar, and other novels. She lives with her husband on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific.

Reviews for Grass Crown

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Probably my favourite historical fiction series. Really meaty and engrossing.

[ailinel-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Grass Crown continues where First Man in Rome ended, chronicling both the last years of Gaius Marius' life and Sulla's rise to power. As Marius' health declines, Sulla's character becomes almost painful to read while his pride and arrogance grow (it makes one realize how essential Marcus Ameslias Scaurus Princeps Senatas was for Gaius Marius' life, career, and good qualities to flourish as they had-- his character grows on one as the saga continues). Young Caesar continues to learn and flourish, educated at the feet of both the Third Founder of Rome and Lucius Decumius, an assassin who loved Caesar more dearly than his own son. Caesar's personality and abilities become more defined as the story progresses, and in the next novel he will begin to come into power. Further significant events close to the end of the Republic take place, the Halian War comes to fruition, and Sulla leads a Roman army against Rome for the first time in history. The Grass Crown ends with Rome on the brink of another civil war, with disparate factions breaking apart the upper classes of the republic while the fight against Mithradates in Asia Minor continues.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating to watch the various machinations of the characters and the broad parade of historically-based events. She only loses me when she gets bogged too far down in the politics. Interesting but not riveting.

[ramzartso-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books produced by humanity. And I really mean it! If you are looking for a new series that will carry you away from Earth, look no further.

[janerawoof · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A mixed bag. Flashes of genius interspersed with long stretches of tedium and density. Rise of Sulla and Fall of Gaius Marius. List of characters woefully incomplete. Line drawings good but maps and diagrams poor. I do not understand reasoning for all the very positive reviews.

[zenbabie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This the second in a series of five books about Ancient Rome. The Grass Crown, like its predecessor, brings history to life. It brings a historical accuracy while breathing life into ancient figure so that we care about the characters to the point of mourning or cheering their fate. In this tome a very young and very charming and gifted Caesar is introduced. It is very exciting to read about Caesar in his youth and gain insite into Caesar the man, the politician and the military genius.

[steffijohnson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Difficult to start, but well worth the effort. The endpiece information could be a separate book. Very informative, and like other reviewers have said, you know the people you meet in the book

[nillacat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First class research, first class recreation of an alien culture. McCullough has managed to paint the sociopathic Sulla with a sympathetic brush.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the sequel to The First Man in Rome and takes up with the decline of Gaius Marius and the contemporanious rise of Sulla. It touches upon the the early years of Pompey, Cicero, Cato and Julius Caesar. As in the first book of the series, McCullough weaves a very complex and detailed world in what is largely a historically accurate tale.

[surreality_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Plot: The time between Marius' sixth and seventh consulship, several interlocked focus points and a few ventures offroad that do not matter much to the main plot in this book, but chronologically slot in here and are too important for the future to be ignored. Characters: There is less character development here than before, which is notable especially with Marius. Side characters are deftly sketched, and again everyone's motives are made clear. Style: Exhausting at times due to the level of detail, but engaging. Plus: Accuracy, attention to detail. No character is a direct villain or an absolute angel.Minus: At times it is simply too long. As with The First Man in Rome, the pictures are unnecessary, as are some of the maps.Summary: Not quite as good as its predecessor, but still well worth reading. More politics and social issues, and less battle.

[bookmarque · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one was also quite good. Because the characters of both Sulla and Marius are so complex, it is impossible to view one as good and the other as evil. Even when Marius goes nuts at the end and employs ex-slaves as his army and then uses them to kill all of his real and imagined enemies. The people of Rome still mystify me though. The Senate says it acts for the people of Rome but yet they are despised and have no rights. They are horribly taxed and used to bring about the ends to the means that the Senators dream up. They are talked about with contempt even after Marius shows they are as useful as any of the other classes by using them to make up his army that is triumphant (in the last book). The head count is a phrase only said with a sneer. It is interesting to see how the upper class will come to realize that the whole Italian population must be made citizens. This is how Rome grows to become the most powerful nation in history. They make others covet Roman citizenship and then grant it. They then strictly enforce behavior, laws and customs. This makes the newly enfranchised citizens want to fight for them and take over new places and subdue new peoples. It takes a long time for the ruling class of Senators to understand that this is how to subjugate the world, not by denial of citizenship. I also love how each new censor or consul, twists the rules to suit his own purposes. They say the laws are inviolate and that Rome is sovereign but, they don?t act that way. They repeal laws made by the last consul; they impose sentences for crimes that were done before the nice new laws they just set up to make that action a crime. They don?t care that it wasn?t a crime when the act was committed. It?s funny that this kind of back biting government succeeded. Consuls weren?t in place long enough to make lasting change. One year isn?t enough time to make an impression. I understand their fear of making someone too powerful, but one year isn?t effective. That?s why Marius had to be consul 6 times to completely defeat the Germans. Hearing about Mithridates was interesting. How he felt himself to be below the Romans at first and then his ego got in the way and he thought that they were too civilized to stay in power. Hopefully, Rome gets its head out of its ass about the Italians soon enough to leverage their new patriotic pride in Rome and they can defeat Mithridates.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in the Masters of Rome series begun in The First Man in Rome. That first man was unmistakenly Gaius Marius, a flawed but still admirable figure who married Julia, an aunt of Julius Caesar, making him a brother-in-law to Lucius Cornelius Sulla. A secondary character in the first book, he's on the rise in this one, as Marius is in decline.It makes for a sad book, seeing that decline of a character I grew fond of in the first book. Sulla, as in the first book, is shown as both incredibly able, more than a little creepy and definitely scary. The character in this book that most gained my sympathy was Marcus Livius Drusus. As a tribune, he tried to reform the law and his failure is a turning point both in the book and for the republic. McCullough really made me feel for him and the lost opportunity to avert war. The young Julius Ceasar is also appealing here, just coming of age, he's around 14 years old at the end of the book, and it was fascinating to see the makings of the man in the boy of this book--the way his life in his mother's cosmopolitan insula in a rough neighborhood may have shaped him.I've seen reviewers who complain the books in the series, including this one, are ponderous, even tedious. I wasn't particularly taken with McCullough's prose style and it's not for the style for which I recommend these books. But although the books are long, I feel it's the rare long book that earns its length--even demands it. What makes this book and the series special to me is how vividly it recreates the early Roman republic. In that regard I think it's a more impressive achievement than Robert Graves's Claudius novels. I got a real sense of the Roman mindset and way of life in these books, both of the ways it parallels--and helped form--modern political systems and the ways it's in no way modern in outlook. I have a friend who is a classics scholar, and when she once told me all she cared about gaining in her own writing was dignitas, because of these books, I knew exactly what she meant.

[pbjwelch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Spell-binding and brilliant. I'm now going to read the entire series start to finish.