Tiberius Caesar

Tiberius Caesar is a sweeping novel about power, ambition, and the contradictions of ancient Rome, bringing to life one of the most decisive periods in its history.

This is the portrait of Tiberius: son of Livia, heir to Augustus, and the second emperor of Rome. A relentless conqueror of Pannonia and Germania, he is also a complex man shaped by inner turmoil, desire, solitude, cruelty, and learning. At the same time, this is the story of a city that built its empire on military might, law, and the plunder of entire peoples.

With remarkable evocative power, Cadenes recreates first-century Rome and draws readers into the private worlds of its protagonists. Women, so often pushed to the margins of historical narratives, take on a central and long-overdue prominence here. Written in vivid, hypnotic prose, Tiberius Caesar blends the scope of an epic historical novel with an intimate exploration of the people who shaped a Rome as magnificent as it was brutal.