Two things attracted me to Agrippa: the title and the author, Robert Harris. As a Bible student, I noticed the name Agrippa because members of King Herod’s family used it in early first-century Judea. The name means “mother killer” because Agrippa’s mother died during childbirth. The book is historical fiction, and it’s among the best works on Roman history I’ve read.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa became boyhood friends with Octavian, who
later became Augustus, Roman Emperor. The book is written in the first person, allowing Harris to create an expansive description not only of Agrippa’s fascinating life, but also of how the Roman Republic became an Empire during the transition from Julius Caesar to Augustus. We learn of Agrippa’s emotional distance and pain as Augustus becomes both dependent on Agrippa and then takes credit for his leadership and engineering accomplishments. The Audible version included an interview with the author that was a great way to end the book.