3,5 Crassus is best known as the richest man of Rome and member of the First Triumvirate together with Caesar and Pompey.

This short biography is nice and concise, but it can only be so short because it assumes good prior knowledge. There is an enormous amount of information condensed in the few pages and it is certainly not for beginners, but a good way for amateur enthusiasts to refresh their memory and knowledge of this fascinating period in Roman history, covering roughly the period from the end of the Sulla-Marius rivalry to the beginnings of Caesar's reign and the beginning of the end for the Republic.

The book starts when Crassus is already in his sixties, preparing for his military campaign against the Parthians. Flashbacks paint a good picture about his early career, the internal politics and his rivalry with Pompey.

I would have liked to know more about why Crassus became so rich. The focus is really on the power politics of the times and much less on the day to day life of this 'first financier'. It would have been interesting to learn more about this. Still, it continues to surprise me how much we know of this period.

This biography is part of a series by Yale University Press called Ancient Lives that has already covered Cleopatra and Demetrius. I will certainly try those out, but hope they are less dense as my knowledge of those periods is virtually non-existent.

The book is so badly coded that it seems more like a collection of meaningless words than an uncorrected copy. The publisher did a really bad job.

A good and informative book if you never met Crassus before. I liked the style of writing and found it easy to follow.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

This book would be interesting, to learn more about a historical character who ruled the Roman world with Julius Caesar, however too many letters were missing from words that I had to continuously guess what the text was supposed to be saying and made the book unreadable.

A really good overview of Marcus Crassus, I already knew the majority of this stuff from other works but would highly recommend this for the man, there is plenty of background and depth in what you learn about Crassus, as well as the time period he was in!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy. A rather short biography of Crassus. An interesting read for anyone unfamiliar to the life of Crassus but doesn’t really add anything for anyone with a Classics background.