The Sons of Caesar is the story of one of the most colourful dynasties in history, from Caesar's rise to power in the first century BC to Nero's death in AD 68. It reviews the long history of the Julian and Claudian families in the Republic and the social and political background of Rome, but at the heart of this account are the lives of six men - Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero - men who mastered Rome, and changed it from a democracy to a personal possession. Set against a background of foreign wars and domestic intrigue, the story of Rome's greatest dynasty is also the story of the birth of an imperial system which shaped the Europe of today.