In the history we know, when Augustus died the power passed to Tiberius — and Livia passed into posterity as the poisoner pulling strings behind the curtain. In this novel, neither happens. Rome, 14 AD. The most powerful man in the world is dead. While the Senate conspires to divide the spoils and the legions await a sign, a figure emerges from the shadows of the Palatine. Not a general, not a blood heir: Livia Drusilla — and she is not trying to preserve the order, but to execute the vision two geniuses dared not complete. Caesar dreamed of power based on merit; Augustus hid it behind an aristocratic mask. Livia decides the time has come to dismantle the privilege of blood forever. So begins the most ambitious and dangerous political game of Antiquity: transforming an empire of family names into a civilization of talent. Amid palace intrigues, secret files and the constant threat of civil war, Livia must prove whether it is possible to build a system more just than the people who designed it. For readers of Robert Graves and Harry Turtledove: the woman "I, Claudius" painted as poison, finally seen as a stateswoman. Book I of the Caesar's Disciple trilogy. The game continues in Book II.
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