Crassus: The First Tycoon (Ancient Lives)

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Gwyneth Paltrow joins ex Chris Martin, Dakota Johnson and children Apple and Moses on a helicopter after Thanksgiving party I'm A Celebrity hosts Ant and Dec reveal it took two HOURS to film Tony Bellew's hilarious drinking trial This, in their view, was a moral choice, an act of virtue. All valuable metals had of course, to be available in Italy if they had really wanted them. Since the Romans were certain that their country was the greatest country of its time, the underground wealth had surely to be somewhere. Their gods would have assured that. The purpose of the silver, the gold (and the lithium if they had recognized it) was to test the national character to leave it alone. As their reward they believed that the taste of buried metal improved the taste of food and wines. For tin and silver that they could use for weapons and money they had to mine the lands of Spain and the legendary Tin Islands, whose location was somewhere near Britain but kept secret to deter exploiters. Jodie Marsh is branded 'pathetic' after vegan glamour model compared meat-eaters to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer

Whatever the truth of those legends, or the sources on which Stothard’s narrative depends, in his telling Crassus emerges as a complex figure, a study in the compulsions to which wealth is subject. When great wealth has been accumulated, it must be maintained, generating gnawing doubts that can lead to the unravelling of what has been achieved. Crassus’s imperial venture may seem obviously foolhardy, an expedition to a remote land of what he knew little, to face an army about which he knew even less. Omid Scobie's 'Sussex Squad': Royal biographer recruits influencers and bloggers to promote his new book Endgame So who was Crassus, how did he force his way onto the podium, and why does he matter? His career was forged in the brutal power struggle between Marius and Sulla in the 80s BC. His father, a governor of Spain, committed suicide to avoid execution by Marius’s troops; his two brothers were killed. Crassus himself fled to hide out in Spain. Returning he joined up his small army with Sulla, and helped him win the crucial battle for Rome at the Colline Gate. Prince William 'has only read passages of Spare', but rejected two attempts by Harry to set up a meeting via a mutual friend after publicationMen should learn from experience, respect their elders, and rise to the top in due time’, Stothard writes, attempting to convey to a 21st-century mind the ubiquity, if not the oppressiveness, of the paternalistic ideology that informed Crassus’ world. The first ancient writer to try to recover those lives and times was the imperial biographer Plutarch, and Stothard’s structure has largely followed Plutarch’s model: the first half of his book focusing on the formation of Crassus’ character, the second an extended set piece in the desert, replete with discussions of Parthian archery tactics, culminating in the doomed general’s defeat. Talk about the world's best job! A DOUGHNUT SCIENTIST reveals how she is creating a healthier future for bakery... Pentru cei care nu se gândesc zilnic la Imperiul Roman, merită amintit faptul că Crassus, acest tycoon cum îl numește autorul, a făcut parte din "Primul Triumvirat", acționând ca o contrapondere pentru ceilalți doi colegi ai săi: mai faimoșii Iuliu Caesar și Pompei cel Mare. A fost considerat, de asemenea, cel mai bogat om din Roma și a rămas celebru pentru felul tragic în care s-a sfârșit viața sa, undeva în deșerturile Parției, ca recuzită într-o piesă de teatru.

The first tycoon of ancient Rome was also its most famous loser.” So begins Crassus: The First Tycoon, Peter Stothard’s new biography of Marcus Licinius Crassus, the Roman who defeated Spartacus, bankrolled a young Julius Caesar’s career, and lost seven legions and his life in Syria in 53 BC, four years before Caesar crossed the Rubicon. His disastrous defeat in Syria made him a failure, but according to Stothard he was “no ordinary failure, just as he had been no ordinary success—a man whose life as businessman and politician posed both immediate and lasting questions about the intertwining of money, ambition, and power.” Crassus until now has not been the subject of a popular biography. For the many fans of this period of Roman history, Stothard offers a fascinating story, both well told and well worth the telling.”—Anthony Spawforth, Literary Review Thirty years later, the emperor Augustus regarded the return of Crassus’s eagles as one of his greatest achievements, celebrated by the finest Roman poets and sculptors. But how had it come to this? How had a life of considerable success ended in such failure? Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean show off their incredible skating skills as Winter Olympics winners rehearse aheadof Dancing On IceGrace Dent will be paid her FULL I'm A Celebrity fee despite quitting the show after just eight days in camp He forged a surprise alliance with a rival, Pompey, and a former protégé, Caesar, that shook Roman politics in the early 50s BC. Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar were “the three-headed monster” of Rome. They used that power to gain further military commands—a source of prestige and power that was older, more durable, and riskier than Crassus’s financial innovations. As Caesar’s power and fame grew through year after year of conquest in Gaul, Crassus’s ambition to be more than just Rome’s tycoon led him to plan his own campaign—a war against the Parthian kingdom, approximately situated in modern day Iraq and Iran. The war, carefully planned, led to disaster, as Crassus and his officers proved ignorant and unprepared for Parthian military tactics. He was a hard, tough man, Marcus Licinius Crassus, a proper b*****d even by the standards of ancient Rome. Though you had to be tough to survive in those harsh days. Pictured: Laurence Olivier with fists clenched on table in a scene from the film 'Spartacus', 1960 Heliogabalus was a teenage Syrian boy when he became ruler of Rome in AD 218, the middle years of the Empire.