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This is a long book, with MANY characters in it, so I thought we'd have a thread devoted only to discussing characters, or for help keeping them straight, etc.

There will likely be spoilers here, but I ask that you mark them so that everyone can use this thread.

Please post either the page number or the % or something to identify where you are in the book, and post the character name, with your comments hidden under a spoiler tag.

Like this:

Page 109 - Augustus: <spoiler> Spoiler text goes here </spoiler>

I started listening to the audiobook a few days ago. It's an abridged version though, so I'm already at the halfway point. Yikes! I'm really intrigued by the story though, and I picked up the second book in hardcover (it's huge) from my used bookstore over the weekend.

Good idea! :)
I'll go for the most notorious one.

Sulla! What do you think of McCullough's depiction of this very much historical character. Did she get carried away, making him so (view spoiler)[ cold-blooded and quite perverted in his perception of women and their usefulness/uselessness (hide spoiler)] (I'm referring to his character in general, not in a specific part of the book.)

As far as I know, judging by the mainstream sources, I'm not sure she didn't take a huge literary license with him.
On the other hand he comes across as fascinatingly flawed, very much alive, delightfully unpredictable, so no complains from me as a reader ;)

Ohhhh I can't stand Sulla! He comes off as very cutthroat and intense, doesn't he? Definitely a great character though. Dynamic is another word that comes to mind for him.

"Fascinatingly flawed" is such a good description of Sulla. The way he is written- he just seems so alive and real to me but by no means likable. Pitiable maybe but not likable.

Exactly my feelings! (too intense sometimes, and too pitiable as well)
Midway through the book I was still struggling to like him, not doing a good job out of it (and it only got worst with the rest of the books lol).
Maybe not outright hateful, but he is revolting.
And with his pitiful beginning, I really wanted to give him a chance (view spoiler)[ even after his little campaign Nicopolis-Clitomna-inheritance, I was still very much ok with him, even after Julilla... (another one I couldn't stand :D (hide spoiler)]

But the thing is I keep wondering how much historically accurate McCullough has been with him...

Sulla - Lucius Cornelius seems like such a jerk and he is fatally flawed, but it all stems from his relentless search for what he feels should have been his by birth. When you take away his ruthlessness, he is a genius! I know there is question regarding McCullough's accuracy, but almost everything you read about Rome in this period is pretty cut throat. It seemed everyone was climbing the cursus honorum and woe those that got in their way. As far as he and Jullila - she was a twit!

Gaius Marius is, bar none, my favorite historical figure. He changed the the entire Roman way. On his own! An Italian hayseed with no Greek or not. My favorite scene with him(view spoiler)[ is when he wears the tyrian purple toga to meet bargain for Julia and leaves the stain on the bench. I think that scene shows the internal man while most of the rest of the book shows the political man. He was amazing! (hide spoiler)]

Oh, I loved Sulla as a character, though that may be from having read the next book in the series, which focuses more on him. (I've read the whole series several times - I'll try not to spoil anything)

I think he and Marius are perfect as two sides of a flawed coin. Sulla, who knows everything about the culture of upper class Rome, and (on the surface) is the perfect Roman by blood and knowledge, yet has no money - he's so cynical. And Marius, who has no blood or understanding of politics, yet so much wealth and drive/ambition and an outsider's view of the outdated systems in Rome's governance - he's so naïve. Together they make a formidable pair.

And then there's Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder, who is another contrast - the perfect patrician, a wonderful father and husband and person - yet he has no ambition and has gotten nowhere until he meets up with Marius.

The women, unfortunately, we don't get a lot of. Marcia the typical Roman matron, Julia the perfect daughter, and Julilla the spoiled brat. Poor Marius' wife, I can't even remember her name. And Sulla's two playmates, who turn out to have some secrets.

These books were a tour de force for Colleen McCullough. I learned more about Roman history from them than from all the other histories I've read.

Michelle - I think you're correct in your characterizations of Sulla, Marius, Caesar the Elder, and the Julian women. In many ways, politics still plays out the same way today.

I've also read the entire series a couple of times and I think we do get a few well fleshed female characters - Aurelia, Attia, Servilia and a few others. Aurelia is one of my favorite characters ever.

I couldn't agree more regarding Marius and Sulla as foils. They really are two sides of a perfect Roman.

Me too, me too! *joining the club of this entire series' rereaders* :D

I love your analyzing of both Marius and Sulla together, Michelle. So true! One with too much knowledge and too little principle, the other with too much drive and too little understanding of politics, balanced by Caesar the Elder. Oh but I did love him in this book. He may have been too wise and too perceptive, too perfect in general - no flaws to that one - but I loved him as a character so very much.

As for the girls, yes Aurelia was the most lively one for me. Julia was lovely but too perfect, while her sister begged for a slap :D. But Aurelia was amazing, with her quiet self-searching qualities and most interesting perceptions (view spoiler)[ just the other day I found myself citing some of it to my 10 years old daughter - can;t wait for her to get to these books! - when Rutiluis Rufus asked Aurelia about her suitors, when Aurelia rejected one of them for being fat. He asked her if it's because it was repulsive to her and she said coolly 'No, it is because it means he has no self restrain' But did I love that girl! :) (hide spoiler)]

Another female that was interesting but I didn't understand the purpose of her being in the story was Livia Droza. It was heartbreaking to read about her, and I thought she was there to show that in general females were properties of their male paterfamilia's, that Aurilia's case was an exception... until the next book in the series told me that this gal did have a huge role and purpose :)

Yuck, but did I hate Marcia :D

Zoe wrote: "Me too, me too! *joining the club of this entire series' rereaders* :D

I love your analyzing of both Marius and Sulla together, Michelle. So true! One with too much knowledge and too little princi..."

Livia Drusa is important because of her children.

Yes, absolutely. But it becomes clear only in the next book, and I remember that it irked me at some point, while finishing the first book, that she came across so interesting and alive but served no purpose other than (view spoiler)[ to see her being broken by her brother :( (hide spoiler)]

Poor, poor Livia Drusa! She is the perfect example of why we read historical fiction. It's hard to imagine circumstances like that without a writer painting a detailed picture.

For me, anyway.

I don't like Sulla, but find him fascinating to read about. A great "love to hate" character.

Marcus Livius Drusus is the character that has stuck with me since I read the book a couple years back. What a guy.

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "I don't like Sulla, but find him fascinating to read about. A great "love to hate" character."
I thought I was supposed to 'hate' Sully, but I actually didn't find him as creepy as the author implied.

Jake wrote: "Marcus Livius Drusus is the character that has stuck with me since I read the book a couple years back. What a guy."

What's not to like?--except I'd hate to be mated to a man that was never home!

Jake wrote: "Marcus Livius Drusus is the character that has stuck with me since I read the book a couple years back. What a guy."

Oh I hated him badly in the beginning, but then he began growing up by leaps and bounds ;)