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Agrippa
From the internationally bestselling author of Conclave, Precipice and the acclaimed Cicero trilogy comes a sweeping new political thriller about the general who built an empire—and paid the ultimate price. Agrippa is Robert Harris’s monumental return to the world of ancient Rome on the edge of dictatorship, a novel for our times.
In the turbulent aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination, two young men seize the chance to shape the future of Octavius, Caesar’s cunning heir, and his brilliant common-born ally, Marcus Agrippa. Together, they fight for control of the empire, navigate shifting loyalties, vanquish their enemies at Philippi, and crush the fabled lovers Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, securing a new empire that will change the world.
But power never comes without a price. Decades later Octavius rules supreme, now as Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, while Agrippa, soldier, statesman and builder of Rome, finds himself betrayed by those closest to him and exiled from the empire he helped create. Alone on the Bay of Naples, he turns to his memories, revisiting the wars, alliances and deceptions that forged his destiny.
Sweeping from the blood-soaked battlefields of the Republic to the marble corridors of imperial power, Agrippa is a masterful novel of ambition and statecraft, loyalty and betrayal, and how even the greatest empires are built on fragile bonds between men.
In the turbulent aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination, two young men seize the chance to shape the future of Octavius, Caesar’s cunning heir, and his brilliant common-born ally, Marcus Agrippa. Together, they fight for control of the empire, navigate shifting loyalties, vanquish their enemies at Philippi, and crush the fabled lovers Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, securing a new empire that will change the world.
But power never comes without a price. Decades later Octavius rules supreme, now as Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, while Agrippa, soldier, statesman and builder of Rome, finds himself betrayed by those closest to him and exiled from the empire he helped create. Alone on the Bay of Naples, he turns to his memories, revisiting the wars, alliances and deceptions that forged his destiny.
Sweeping from the blood-soaked battlefields of the Republic to the marble corridors of imperial power, Agrippa is a masterful novel of ambition and statecraft, loyalty and betrayal, and how even the greatest empires are built on fragile bonds between men.
374 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2026
About the author
Robert Harris
65 books9,498 followersROBERT HARRIS is the author of nine best-selling novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost Writer, Conspirata, The Fear Index, and An Officer and a Spy. Several of his books have been adapted to film, most recently The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in the village of Kintbury, England, with his wife, Gill Hornby.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 305 reviews
September 11, 2026
Should have been a sure fire hit, a favourite author returning to a favourite historical period, but I found it oddly uninvolving. By covering the entire period of Agrippa's life, the book is trying to do too much and vast swathes of consequential battles, intrigue, births, marriages are glossed over in too little detail, while it's populated by too many characters. Years can pass by in a couple of sentences. Perhaps it would have been better by concentrating on a few specific years. And although titles Agrippa and told from his point of view, much of the story is actually a history of Augustus Octavious. It doesn't ever feel like we get under the skin of the title character. Trying to stick to historical accuracy seems to diminish the drama. Not a bad book, but it could have been much better.
September 12, 2026
Outstanding. This is nearly the opposite side of the coin for John William's Augustus. Both to me, are masterpieces.
Disingenuous Octavius, forceful Agrippa. Power? What type and how. Fabulous study of how power is initiated, grows, sustains. Not always what IS, but what seems to be.
The reviews for this one? BORING and FLAT. And not enough mean girls? I'll never get it. So many battles and the planning of the aqueduct products alone! Just not interesting? OMG.
Williams' book ALMOST made me understand Antony's motivations. Almost. This one nailed them.
Julia, I will never, ever understand. Choices?
But letting us see Augustus from Agrippa's eyes also embedded the essence of his nature even more than from the vanquished or the dominated. What a life!
Harris has all the acclaim for Concave and its very fiction laden track- some of which never could occur in reality. This one is better, as it encompassed the true core onus beyond just the physical man. Not only of Agrippa either.
"These days you cannot be one and not the other. Politics is warfare in civilian clothes."
Disingenuous Octavius, forceful Agrippa. Power? What type and how. Fabulous study of how power is initiated, grows, sustains. Not always what IS, but what seems to be.
The reviews for this one? BORING and FLAT. And not enough mean girls? I'll never get it. So many battles and the planning of the aqueduct products alone! Just not interesting? OMG.
Williams' book ALMOST made me understand Antony's motivations. Almost. This one nailed them.
Julia, I will never, ever understand. Choices?
But letting us see Augustus from Agrippa's eyes also embedded the essence of his nature even more than from the vanquished or the dominated. What a life!
Harris has all the acclaim for Concave and its very fiction laden track- some of which never could occur in reality. This one is better, as it encompassed the true core onus beyond just the physical man. Not only of Agrippa either.
"These days you cannot be one and not the other. Politics is warfare in civilian clothes."
March 19, 2026
The best Robert Harris that I have read to date. A fascinating insight into this period of history, the politics that came with it and the power they all sought. Excellent!
September 2, 2026
Civil war, political intrigue, arranged marriages and deceit. Welcome to ancient Rome. Robert Harris creates a fictional memoir by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and, as usual, brings a wealth of historical characters to life with consummate ease.
I wish that history lessons had been this much fun when I was at school. Yet another entertaining novel from Robert Harris. In fact....it's a gripper!!
I wish that history lessons had been this much fun when I was at school. Yet another entertaining novel from Robert Harris. In fact....it's a gripper!!
July 22, 2026
I loved reading Conclave and really looked forward to reading the ARC for Agrippa but was sorely disappointed. I found it dull and flat.
Written as memoir, it was like reading someone’s diary of the weather and food log but in the form of lists of battles fought and marriages arranged. What it lacks in dimension it makes up for in name dropping…exhaustively.
Unless you are fascinated with the time period, I’d skip this title. There’s nothing in it for the average reader. (May appeal to a male audience, though.)
Written as memoir, it was like reading someone’s diary of the weather and food log but in the form of lists of battles fought and marriages arranged. What it lacks in dimension it makes up for in name dropping…exhaustively.
Unless you are fascinated with the time period, I’d skip this title. There’s nothing in it for the average reader. (May appeal to a male audience, though.)
September 22, 2026
Knowing his death is close, Agrippa decides to spend his last few weeks writing a memoir of his life, and his close relationship with the man who has ruled as effective emperor of Rome for decades, Gaius Octavius Thurinus, later known as Augustus. Their story begins with a chance incident in school, when Agrippa protected the young Octavius from bullies, a role he would continue to play in different forms throughout their lives.
At that moment, he didn’t know that Octavius was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar, nor that Caesar would name him as his adopted son and successor in his will. But this random encounter would bring Agrippa into contact with the great emperor, and once he was old enough, would turn him into one of Caesar’s most faithful legionaries. Caesar’s request that the strong and robust Agrippa look after the weaker, frequently ill Octavius would have been enough to ensure Agrippa’s loyalty. But after Caesar’s death, as he fought and schemed with Octavius, Agrippa became seduced by power in his own right and relished the wealth and acclamation that came with the role of right-hand man.
This is largely a recounting of the known history of the two men, with the occasional gap filled from Harris’ imagination, and some speculations included as if they were fact. Harris’ afterword gives his sources and explains where he deviates from proven fact, while claiming that there is nothing in the record that invalidates those moments of invention. Knowing nothing about the period, I’m in no position to confirm or argue with this claim, but, true or not, I felt it all held together very believably. I’m deliberately not specifying the imagined elements, since it would be a little spoilery – if, like me, this period of history is new to you, then a lot of the enjoyment in the book is in only learning about things in the order in which Harris presents them.
What are entirely imaginary are Agrippa’s thoughts and feelings about his life and his imperious friend, and it’s this that makes the book a novel rather than a history. Agrippa may be loyal to Augustus but that doesn’t blind him to the dictator’s capriciousness and cruelty. But Agrippa is a man of his time, and though he sometimes deplores the methods, he rarely disagrees with Augustus’ motives. The whole period of Caesar’s reign followed by Augustus’ rise to power is part of a long, intermittent civil war in the Roman Empire, partly between those who want a return to the more democratic Republic and those who prefer the strong-man dictator style of government. But it’s also mostly between aristocrats scrabbling for high political positions so they can increase their personal power and wealth. Harris doesn’t draw direct parallels to the Trump presidency – he doesn’t have to, since it’s almost impossible for the reader not to draw them anyway, with Agrippa as a disapproving but complicitous JD Vance, or occasionally a Hegseth.
As Augustus struggles to defeat the opposing factions in the years after Caesar’s death, Agrippa fights many battles on land and sea. Harris does a great job of explaining the strategic and political importance of each of these campaigns without getting too bogged down in detail. The same can be said about the descriptions of the battles themselves – he spends as much time on the interesting stuff of recruiting soldiers and sailors, building ships and harbours, maintaining discipline and so on, as he does on the actual fighting, and this balance worked well for me.
Once peace is established and Augustus has been acclaimed as emperor in all but name, Agrippa turns his hand to great building projects – aqueducts, public baths, and major buildings like the Pantheon. Augustus, meantime, turns his hand to ensuring his succession – a matter complicated by his failure to produce a son. We are shown how divorce and remarriage is commonplace, sometimes simply because a marriage isn’t working, but often for political purposes. (I couldn’t help feeling Henry VIII would have been a much happier man if the Christian church had been as relaxed about divorce as the Roman gods seemed to be – and his wives would have been happier women!)
Agrippa has as much ambition as any other man, so goes through a succession of wives and schemes for his own children – an emperor without sons opens up all kinds of dreams in the hearts of the men around him. Unexpectedly, not knowing who did succeed Augustus made this whole element quite suspenseful for me – would Agrippa father the next emperor? Would one of his rivals win the prize? Or would Augustus’ death herald a return to democracy?
Since Ancient Rome is not a subject I have much interest in, I went into this one with limited expectations. But Harris won me over completely – I found the warfare and building stuff interesting, and the political manoeuvring fascinating. The portrait of Augustus as cruel and Machiavellian, wholly invested in his own self-interest, is chillingly convincing, while Agrippa, for all his faults, earned my understanding, if not always my sympathy. To my own surprise, I found it a page-turner as each new danger threatened – would this be the battle Agrippa finally lost? Would this piece of atrocious behaviour from Augustus be the straw that finally broke Agrippa’s back? Great storytelling from Harris – if I were Augustus, I would award him a triumph!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
At that moment, he didn’t know that Octavius was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar, nor that Caesar would name him as his adopted son and successor in his will. But this random encounter would bring Agrippa into contact with the great emperor, and once he was old enough, would turn him into one of Caesar’s most faithful legionaries. Caesar’s request that the strong and robust Agrippa look after the weaker, frequently ill Octavius would have been enough to ensure Agrippa’s loyalty. But after Caesar’s death, as he fought and schemed with Octavius, Agrippa became seduced by power in his own right and relished the wealth and acclamation that came with the role of right-hand man.
This is largely a recounting of the known history of the two men, with the occasional gap filled from Harris’ imagination, and some speculations included as if they were fact. Harris’ afterword gives his sources and explains where he deviates from proven fact, while claiming that there is nothing in the record that invalidates those moments of invention. Knowing nothing about the period, I’m in no position to confirm or argue with this claim, but, true or not, I felt it all held together very believably. I’m deliberately not specifying the imagined elements, since it would be a little spoilery – if, like me, this period of history is new to you, then a lot of the enjoyment in the book is in only learning about things in the order in which Harris presents them.
What are entirely imaginary are Agrippa’s thoughts and feelings about his life and his imperious friend, and it’s this that makes the book a novel rather than a history. Agrippa may be loyal to Augustus but that doesn’t blind him to the dictator’s capriciousness and cruelty. But Agrippa is a man of his time, and though he sometimes deplores the methods, he rarely disagrees with Augustus’ motives. The whole period of Caesar’s reign followed by Augustus’ rise to power is part of a long, intermittent civil war in the Roman Empire, partly between those who want a return to the more democratic Republic and those who prefer the strong-man dictator style of government. But it’s also mostly between aristocrats scrabbling for high political positions so they can increase their personal power and wealth. Harris doesn’t draw direct parallels to the Trump presidency – he doesn’t have to, since it’s almost impossible for the reader not to draw them anyway, with Agrippa as a disapproving but complicitous JD Vance, or occasionally a Hegseth.
As Augustus struggles to defeat the opposing factions in the years after Caesar’s death, Agrippa fights many battles on land and sea. Harris does a great job of explaining the strategic and political importance of each of these campaigns without getting too bogged down in detail. The same can be said about the descriptions of the battles themselves – he spends as much time on the interesting stuff of recruiting soldiers and sailors, building ships and harbours, maintaining discipline and so on, as he does on the actual fighting, and this balance worked well for me.
Once peace is established and Augustus has been acclaimed as emperor in all but name, Agrippa turns his hand to great building projects – aqueducts, public baths, and major buildings like the Pantheon. Augustus, meantime, turns his hand to ensuring his succession – a matter complicated by his failure to produce a son. We are shown how divorce and remarriage is commonplace, sometimes simply because a marriage isn’t working, but often for political purposes. (I couldn’t help feeling Henry VIII would have been a much happier man if the Christian church had been as relaxed about divorce as the Roman gods seemed to be – and his wives would have been happier women!)
Agrippa has as much ambition as any other man, so goes through a succession of wives and schemes for his own children – an emperor without sons opens up all kinds of dreams in the hearts of the men around him. Unexpectedly, not knowing who did succeed Augustus made this whole element quite suspenseful for me – would Agrippa father the next emperor? Would one of his rivals win the prize? Or would Augustus’ death herald a return to democracy?
Since Ancient Rome is not a subject I have much interest in, I went into this one with limited expectations. But Harris won me over completely – I found the warfare and building stuff interesting, and the political manoeuvring fascinating. The portrait of Augustus as cruel and Machiavellian, wholly invested in his own self-interest, is chillingly convincing, while Agrippa, for all his faults, earned my understanding, if not always my sympathy. To my own surprise, I found it a page-turner as each new danger threatened – would this be the battle Agrippa finally lost? Would this piece of atrocious behaviour from Augustus be the straw that finally broke Agrippa’s back? Great storytelling from Harris – if I were Augustus, I would award him a triumph!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
September 4, 2026
I’m not going to lie– the disappointment is pretty crushing.
Although I find it historically implausible, and the book and Harris’ insistence that Augustus made any wide-reaching attempt to erase and minimize Agrippa even less so, I actually did enjoy the inner conflict and resentment given to Agrippa here, especially the mausoleum scene and the last chapter. I also liked the portrayal of his building projects as stemming from a desire to leave behind a legacy other than destruction. However, the times where Harris gives the reader access to Agrippa’s psyche are frustratingly rare– the book is written in distant and generally emotionless prose, and Agrippa spends more time narrating events, while sometimes giving his arguably anachronistic thoughts about power and politics and stating his matter of fact opinions on what is happening at the time, than baring his soul in a memoir that he himself believes will never see the light of day, and therefore has little reason to hold back. Even the twist about his origins has little effect on either him or the plot, beyond the fact that he thinks about it every so often.
I believe that this is half a consequence of squeezing nearly 40 eventful years into a not very long book and half an attempt to be immersive and follow in the footsteps of event and achievement focused ancient biographies (which may also be the reasoning behind all the dialogue being rendered in em-dashes; unlike Tiro, Agrippa wasn’t a scribe with a great memory who wrote most of the conversations down), but given that Harris still departs from ancient conventions in both structure and language (Agrippa quoting the “old saying” of “if you strike at the king, you must be sure not to miss” was the worst instance, although Augustus giving a “sermon” about immorality also made me wince) I’m not sure why the needs of the modern novelist shouldn’t have won out. Not helping my sense of immersion were several small but noticeable errors that slipped the editor’s mind– Harris simplifies the distinction between plebeians and patricians/senatorial families, is seemingly unaware that the cognomen “Agrippa” was not invented for his protagonist, calls Gaius Matius “C.Calvena Matius”, mixes up the birth order of Antony and Cleopatra’s children before later correcting himself, and incorrectly states that fifteen years passed between Carrhae and Munda.
Not helping the book is the fact that it lacks the caricatured yet entertaining secondary cast of the Cicero trilogy; again, this is probably because there simply isn't enough time to develop any of them. A notable exception is Fulvia, whose page time is brief and yet steals every scene she’s in, making me wish that Harris had written a book about her instead. Cicero is fairly entertaining in his few scenes as well, and it was interesting to see a less positive opinion on him, especially since it’s implied in some places that this book takes place in the same “universe” as the Cicero trilogy. Harris does something similar with Caesar, showing a softer side to him while still having some traits of his diabolical self (as well as his raspy voice) from the Cicero trilogy, and while this makes sense in the context of the book, I must admit that I preferred his older incarnation. I am less sure of how to feel about Harris’ Augustus, who, despite a handful of humanizing moments, is cold, power-hungry, and insensitive towards Agrippa pretty much from the start, with some of his rumored misdeeds (such as killing Pansa) being depicted as fact. While he definitely emerges as the kind of person who could push his best friend to the brink, and there are some fun scenes with him (like one where he laments how Cicero didn’t live longer despite having consented to his death), it made me wonder what exactly Agrippa saw in him at all, beyond the chance for career advancement and Caesar’s apparently hypnotic request for him to protect him. The writing style certainly didn’t help in this regard, as it made it kind of ambiguous as to whether there was any great love between them even at the start of their friendship, which this novel shows coming about unintentionally.
Ultimately, this is a novel with some interesting takes on its period and a compelling conceit at its core, but that unfortunately does not allow itself any time to breathe. Readers finding out about Agrippa from this book should be aware that his life and world weren’t nearly as dull as they are here.
Although I find it historically implausible, and the book and Harris’ insistence that Augustus made any wide-reaching attempt to erase and minimize Agrippa even less so, I actually did enjoy the inner conflict and resentment given to Agrippa here, especially the mausoleum scene and the last chapter. I also liked the portrayal of his building projects as stemming from a desire to leave behind a legacy other than destruction. However, the times where Harris gives the reader access to Agrippa’s psyche are frustratingly rare– the book is written in distant and generally emotionless prose, and Agrippa spends more time narrating events, while sometimes giving his arguably anachronistic thoughts about power and politics and stating his matter of fact opinions on what is happening at the time, than baring his soul in a memoir that he himself believes will never see the light of day, and therefore has little reason to hold back. Even the twist about his origins has little effect on either him or the plot, beyond the fact that he thinks about it every so often.
I believe that this is half a consequence of squeezing nearly 40 eventful years into a not very long book and half an attempt to be immersive and follow in the footsteps of event and achievement focused ancient biographies (which may also be the reasoning behind all the dialogue being rendered in em-dashes; unlike Tiro, Agrippa wasn’t a scribe with a great memory who wrote most of the conversations down), but given that Harris still departs from ancient conventions in both structure and language (Agrippa quoting the “old saying” of “if you strike at the king, you must be sure not to miss” was the worst instance, although Augustus giving a “sermon” about immorality also made me wince) I’m not sure why the needs of the modern novelist shouldn’t have won out. Not helping my sense of immersion were several small but noticeable errors that slipped the editor’s mind– Harris simplifies the distinction between plebeians and patricians/senatorial families, is seemingly unaware that the cognomen “Agrippa” was not invented for his protagonist, calls Gaius Matius “C.Calvena Matius”, mixes up the birth order of Antony and Cleopatra’s children before later correcting himself, and incorrectly states that fifteen years passed between Carrhae and Munda.
Not helping the book is the fact that it lacks the caricatured yet entertaining secondary cast of the Cicero trilogy; again, this is probably because there simply isn't enough time to develop any of them. A notable exception is Fulvia, whose page time is brief and yet steals every scene she’s in, making me wish that Harris had written a book about her instead. Cicero is fairly entertaining in his few scenes as well, and it was interesting to see a less positive opinion on him, especially since it’s implied in some places that this book takes place in the same “universe” as the Cicero trilogy. Harris does something similar with Caesar, showing a softer side to him while still having some traits of his diabolical self (as well as his raspy voice) from the Cicero trilogy, and while this makes sense in the context of the book, I must admit that I preferred his older incarnation. I am less sure of how to feel about Harris’ Augustus, who, despite a handful of humanizing moments, is cold, power-hungry, and insensitive towards Agrippa pretty much from the start, with some of his rumored misdeeds (such as killing Pansa) being depicted as fact. While he definitely emerges as the kind of person who could push his best friend to the brink, and there are some fun scenes with him (like one where he laments how Cicero didn’t live longer despite having consented to his death), it made me wonder what exactly Agrippa saw in him at all, beyond the chance for career advancement and Caesar’s apparently hypnotic request for him to protect him. The writing style certainly didn’t help in this regard, as it made it kind of ambiguous as to whether there was any great love between them even at the start of their friendship, which this novel shows coming about unintentionally.
Ultimately, this is a novel with some interesting takes on its period and a compelling conceit at its core, but that unfortunately does not allow itself any time to breathe. Readers finding out about Agrippa from this book should be aware that his life and world weren’t nearly as dull as they are here.
September 9, 2026
Agrippa just not agripping me
September 2, 2026
I’m a sucker for everything related to the ancients, so once I had this book within my grasp, I was done with it in less than 24 hours. The pages melted between my fingers like butter in a hot pan.
September 9, 2026
History teaches us to be wary of what‑ifs and of all manner of gratuitous speculation made with the privilege of hindsight. Yet we can fairly assume that there would have been no Emperor Augustus without one of his most faithful lieutenants, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.
In his latest instalment of historical fiction, Robert Harris sets himself the task of telling Agrippa’s story. He is fully aware of the scale of the undertaking: there is so much to say, and only so many pages in which to say it. The job is well done: the novel goes like clockwork when it comes to tracing the chain of events and disentangling such a flurry of facts.
Yet the exercise has its limits. When he wrote about Cicero, Harris rightly gave himself the space of a trilogy to paint a convincing portrait of a complex historical character. Agrippa may not be as intricate as Cicero, but he too lived at a time when events unfolded with dizzying speed, and I am not entirely sure this book will appeal to a reader who does not already have a fair idea of what he is getting into. At the beginning of chapter VIII, for instance, Lepidus, Brutus and Cassius turn up out of the blue — no introduction, no explanation — as if Harris takes it for granted that the reader is already well acquainted with them.
Some passages are therefore wanting in narrative scaffolding, but the overall impression remains good. And Harris’s witticisms are delightful, such as: “All was peace, the perfect conditions for war.”
Still, some may wonder whether it wouldn’t be faster — and cheaper — simply to log in to Wikipedia. This is the book’s main shortcoming: a crying lack of epic breath. Harris writes his Agrippa like a meticulous forensic chronicler, all cold facts and no affect. I admire him for being a thoughtful researcher and a stickler for historical accuracy (despite a few mistakes now and then — see my list below), but I would have liked to be reminded that historical figures were human beings above all. What is the point of historical fiction if it fails in this regard?
But I want to go easy on it, because all things considered, this book "prolongs the glorious life of Rome".
Edit.
Page 6. No weeks in the Roman calendar, only days and months.
Page 16. Cesar was appointed dictator before, not after, Pharsalus.
Page 26: "Cesar seizing a demonstrator with his own hands and ordering his execution"? That is pure fiction.
Page 32: Even in the midst of civil war, Roman citizens remained Roman citizens, and as such they couldn't be crucified. That was a punishment meted out only to slaves and foreigners when lawfully condemned to death.
Page 33: "Retrieving the fallen javelins". The spike of the pilum, the famous Roman javelin, was designed in such a way that once stuck into its target, it could not be taken off without breaking in two, so that the enemy could not return it to sender.
Page 34: This wall of dead bodies put up around the besieged city of Munda is another figment of the novelist's imagination.
Page 44 and page 95: The Senate declared Cesar Divus Iulius in 42BC, two years after his assassination.
Page 59: Antony's ambition couldn't be to become the next dictator for the very simple reason that after Cesar's death, Antony himself tabled a motion, which was adopted without difficulty, to abolish the office of dictator.
Page 60: Pater Patriae, Father of the Nation, was a title bestowed by the Senate upon Cicero to thank him for squashing the Catilina conspiracy.
Page 73: Quintilis became July while Cesar was still alive.
Page 78: Antony resorted to decimation in order to deal with troublemakers within his legions plagued with subversive Octavian's agents.
Page 80: Convening the Senate in the dead of night was totally illegal and impious. No night session could ever be held, as Antony only knew too well. This was one of his many bold moves to rattle the senators.
Page 85: Let's split hairs! There was no such thing as the office of senator. Power was wielded by the magistrates, not the senators. This is not to say that the Senate was a rubber stamp.
Page 119: At Messina in 43 BC, Octavius failed in his first attempt to crush Neptune's son, Sextus Pompey.
Page 150: Antony is first in Cilicia to cross swords with the Parthians. Then, he goes to Tarsus to meet Cleopatra, and together the lovebirds set sail to Egypt.
Page 177: There are no pyramids in the Valley of the Kings.
Page 235: Roman marble statues were gaudily painted to make them more lifelike.
Page 242: I won't say much because I'm no spoiler, but this half-brother thing is fiction. You can bet that if there had been any suspicion on the matter, Republicans would have weaponised such tidbit at once.
Page 260: Octavius set up a two-tier sham to secure power for himself for an extended period of time. In 28 BC, his fake resignation led the Senate to declare him Princeps Senatus. The following year, after another deceit of the same ilk, the Empire was reorganised into senatorial and imperial provinces. Octavian was from then on called Augustus, wielding a ten-year proconsular imperium over Spain, Gaul and Syria.
Page 302: Suetonius is the only ancient source to mention Augustus’s intention to read his will aloud in the Senate. True to form, he provides no date and no chronological context. In fact, the political crisis of 23 BC — and the supposed fall‑out between Augustus and Agrippa — remains widely misunderstood. Agrippa was always the man Augustus trusted above all others.
Page 342: six lictors, not twelve, as a symbol of proconsular imperium.
In his latest instalment of historical fiction, Robert Harris sets himself the task of telling Agrippa’s story. He is fully aware of the scale of the undertaking: there is so much to say, and only so many pages in which to say it. The job is well done: the novel goes like clockwork when it comes to tracing the chain of events and disentangling such a flurry of facts.
Yet the exercise has its limits. When he wrote about Cicero, Harris rightly gave himself the space of a trilogy to paint a convincing portrait of a complex historical character. Agrippa may not be as intricate as Cicero, but he too lived at a time when events unfolded with dizzying speed, and I am not entirely sure this book will appeal to a reader who does not already have a fair idea of what he is getting into. At the beginning of chapter VIII, for instance, Lepidus, Brutus and Cassius turn up out of the blue — no introduction, no explanation — as if Harris takes it for granted that the reader is already well acquainted with them.
Some passages are therefore wanting in narrative scaffolding, but the overall impression remains good. And Harris’s witticisms are delightful, such as: “All was peace, the perfect conditions for war.”
Still, some may wonder whether it wouldn’t be faster — and cheaper — simply to log in to Wikipedia. This is the book’s main shortcoming: a crying lack of epic breath. Harris writes his Agrippa like a meticulous forensic chronicler, all cold facts and no affect. I admire him for being a thoughtful researcher and a stickler for historical accuracy (despite a few mistakes now and then — see my list below), but I would have liked to be reminded that historical figures were human beings above all. What is the point of historical fiction if it fails in this regard?
But I want to go easy on it, because all things considered, this book "prolongs the glorious life of Rome".
Edit.
Page 6. No weeks in the Roman calendar, only days and months.
Page 16. Cesar was appointed dictator before, not after, Pharsalus.
Page 26: "Cesar seizing a demonstrator with his own hands and ordering his execution"? That is pure fiction.
Page 32: Even in the midst of civil war, Roman citizens remained Roman citizens, and as such they couldn't be crucified. That was a punishment meted out only to slaves and foreigners when lawfully condemned to death.
Page 33: "Retrieving the fallen javelins". The spike of the pilum, the famous Roman javelin, was designed in such a way that once stuck into its target, it could not be taken off without breaking in two, so that the enemy could not return it to sender.
Page 34: This wall of dead bodies put up around the besieged city of Munda is another figment of the novelist's imagination.
Page 44 and page 95: The Senate declared Cesar Divus Iulius in 42BC, two years after his assassination.
Page 59: Antony's ambition couldn't be to become the next dictator for the very simple reason that after Cesar's death, Antony himself tabled a motion, which was adopted without difficulty, to abolish the office of dictator.
Page 60: Pater Patriae, Father of the Nation, was a title bestowed by the Senate upon Cicero to thank him for squashing the Catilina conspiracy.
Page 73: Quintilis became July while Cesar was still alive.
Page 78: Antony resorted to decimation in order to deal with troublemakers within his legions plagued with subversive Octavian's agents.
Page 80: Convening the Senate in the dead of night was totally illegal and impious. No night session could ever be held, as Antony only knew too well. This was one of his many bold moves to rattle the senators.
Page 85: Let's split hairs! There was no such thing as the office of senator. Power was wielded by the magistrates, not the senators. This is not to say that the Senate was a rubber stamp.
Page 119: At Messina in 43 BC, Octavius failed in his first attempt to crush Neptune's son, Sextus Pompey.
Page 150: Antony is first in Cilicia to cross swords with the Parthians. Then, he goes to Tarsus to meet Cleopatra, and together the lovebirds set sail to Egypt.
Page 177: There are no pyramids in the Valley of the Kings.
Page 235: Roman marble statues were gaudily painted to make them more lifelike.
Page 242: I won't say much because I'm no spoiler, but this half-brother thing is fiction. You can bet that if there had been any suspicion on the matter, Republicans would have weaponised such tidbit at once.
Page 260: Octavius set up a two-tier sham to secure power for himself for an extended period of time. In 28 BC, his fake resignation led the Senate to declare him Princeps Senatus. The following year, after another deceit of the same ilk, the Empire was reorganised into senatorial and imperial provinces. Octavian was from then on called Augustus, wielding a ten-year proconsular imperium over Spain, Gaul and Syria.
Page 302: Suetonius is the only ancient source to mention Augustus’s intention to read his will aloud in the Senate. True to form, he provides no date and no chronological context. In fact, the political crisis of 23 BC — and the supposed fall‑out between Augustus and Agrippa — remains widely misunderstood. Agrippa was always the man Augustus trusted above all others.
Page 342: six lictors, not twelve, as a symbol of proconsular imperium.
September 23, 2026
Agrippa is the first book I’ve ever read by author Robert Harris. Initially I thought I picked up a book by the author who wrote The Silence of the Lambs Wrong. That would be Thomas Harris. Apparently Robert Harris writes historical fiction.
Agrippa is set in Ancient Rome - a period in history I’m fascinated by. (Gladiator is one of my favourite films.) It’s a faux memoir of Marcus Agrippa - a low-born soldier and the “right-hand man” of Julius Caesar’s heir - Octavius/Augustus. We witness the political intrigue of the Roman Empire through the first-person narrative of Agrippa.
Power is the main theme that’s explored, with a strong focus on Octavius’s rise to power - from a sickly teenager to a ruthless, power-hungry emperor. At least that’s how he comes off, as told by Agrippa.
Before this book, I had never heard of Agrippa. He accomplished a lot related to Rome’s infrastructure and architecture. He built the original Pantheon!
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✔️ I liked the first-person narration. I’m partial to this POV.
✔️ I liked the weaving of fact and fiction.
✔️ I found Robert Harris’s writing style to be very readable. Easy to follow.
✔️ The typeface and font size made my reading experience more pleasant. I am a stickler for that stuff. If the font is too small, for example, it makes me not want to read the book.
❌ It got a little confusing to decipher characters because so many people had the same name. I realize that is not Harris’s fault - that’s just how things were.
❌ Near the end, it got a tad dry or dragged for a bit. The story could have concluded sooner.
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✎ This is how power destroys itself, by the fearsome energy of its own achievement.
✎ Like all the best lies, it contained a kernel of truth. And people wanted to believe it, so they did.
✎ [...] if I have learned nothing else, it is that human beings are irrational, guided more by their emotions than by reason.
Final Thoughts
My experience was enjoyable enough that I have already started reading my second Robert Harris book - Imperium. I wanted another Ancient Rome fix.
(I read the paperback, but I couldn't find the edition on Goodreads)
June 18, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy in exchange for a review.
Harris does it again. If you enjoyed conclave and Pompeii, no doubt you will appreciate this work. Agrippa shines a light on a (for me) little known piece of history. No doubt I was taught about these characters in school but there is nothing like a great historical fiction to bring it to life. The descriptions of the politics of the time show us that not a lot has changed as powerful men collaborate to stay in power.
I feel like this is a “guy novel” with the politics and the war, so I might not have loved it as much as Pompeii or Conclave, but no doubt it is still a wonderful read.
4*
Harris does it again. If you enjoyed conclave and Pompeii, no doubt you will appreciate this work. Agrippa shines a light on a (for me) little known piece of history. No doubt I was taught about these characters in school but there is nothing like a great historical fiction to bring it to life. The descriptions of the politics of the time show us that not a lot has changed as powerful men collaborate to stay in power.
I feel like this is a “guy novel” with the politics and the war, so I might not have loved it as much as Pompeii or Conclave, but no doubt it is still a wonderful read.
4*
September 10, 2026
I enjoyed Pompeii and the first two Cicero novels, but this is far from one of his best. It's not helped by the heavy-handed parallels with modern autocrats, which oblige the writer to populate the book with modern character types.
Would the Egyptian royal family really dress like characters from a Cecil B DeMille movie? (p19)
Agrippa has to seem like the real driving force (p52) which would be fine if Harris were a good enough writer to make this an interestingly unreliable account, but if he was this capable and this much of an egotist then he wouldn't have played second fiddle to Augustus for so long.
I was surprised that oars and sails were being used at the same time (p120) and would normally trust Harris's research if he hadn't had Ptolemy and Cleopatra relaxing on the terrace in antique Egyptian court clothing.
Telling instead of showing (p151) when Agrippa refers to Octavius's "force of character", which never comes across. Mostly Octavius frets indecisively, other people make suggestions, and he says OK.
I don't believe in this friendship (p166).
Can you throw a one-year-old up into the air (p172)? I don't have any experience with babies, but it seems risky.
Poor editing: Statilius Taurus goes from having two legions to three.
And then there's what The Economist calls "a clever plot twist" but is actually the sort of hackneyed trick that even Cecil B DeMille's screenwriters would have been embarrassed to stick into a story: . Harris may have hoped that would make the reader gasp; I just said, "Oh, fuck right off."
Overall, there is a fascinating story to be told about how Augustus stabilized the Roma Republic after years of civil war. He must have been a remarkable person, and he was lucky enough to have capable and trustworthy associates like Agrippa. Their relationship must have been fascinating and complex. None of that comes across here.
Addendum: a few days after I wrote the review, Trump offered a $5000 bribe to voters. I take back what I said about the modern parallels being forced. That bribe is a classic Roman move. I still think Harris hasn't done his best work here, and Trump is no Augustus, but I can't fault the book for its political metaphors.
Would the Egyptian royal family really dress like characters from a Cecil B DeMille movie? (p19)
Agrippa has to seem like the real driving force (p52) which would be fine if Harris were a good enough writer to make this an interestingly unreliable account, but if he was this capable and this much of an egotist then he wouldn't have played second fiddle to Augustus for so long.
I was surprised that oars and sails were being used at the same time (p120) and would normally trust Harris's research if he hadn't had Ptolemy and Cleopatra relaxing on the terrace in antique Egyptian court clothing.
Telling instead of showing (p151) when Agrippa refers to Octavius's "force of character", which never comes across. Mostly Octavius frets indecisively, other people make suggestions, and he says OK.
I don't believe in this friendship (p166).
Can you throw a one-year-old up into the air (p172)? I don't have any experience with babies, but it seems risky.
Poor editing: Statilius Taurus goes from having two legions to three.
And then there's what The Economist calls "a clever plot twist" but is actually the sort of hackneyed trick that even Cecil B DeMille's screenwriters would have been embarrassed to stick into a story: . Harris may have hoped that would make the reader gasp; I just said, "Oh, fuck right off."
Overall, there is a fascinating story to be told about how Augustus stabilized the Roma Republic after years of civil war. He must have been a remarkable person, and he was lucky enough to have capable and trustworthy associates like Agrippa. Their relationship must have been fascinating and complex. None of that comes across here.
Addendum: a few days after I wrote the review, Trump offered a $5000 bribe to voters. I take back what I said about the modern parallels being forced. That bribe is a classic Roman move. I still think Harris hasn't done his best work here, and Trump is no Augustus, but I can't fault the book for its political metaphors.
September 5, 2026
3.5 rounded up
This is how power destroys itself, by the fearsome energy of its own achievement.
Fascinating, a look at the almost unknown Agrippa and a view on what Augustus could have been like and their very complicated friendship.
This is how power destroys itself, by the fearsome energy of its own achievement.
Fascinating, a look at the almost unknown Agrippa and a view on what Augustus could have been like and their very complicated friendship.
July 28, 2026
I have read and enjoyed many Robert Harris novels, and he is one of the few authors that my husband and I can agree on for road trip listens. This latest was no exception, and I appreciated the references to a few of his other novels along the way. Harris's Cicero trilogy is my favorite of his works, so I was pleased to have a few appearances by the old statesman in this book too. It also helped me place Agrippa on my hazy timeline of Roman history. All the changing/similar names, marriages/divorces/affairs - am I the only one who has to look stuff up when I read Roman historical fiction?
Harris brings a great balance of politics, battle scenes, and personal drama to Agrippa's story that is also a story of Rome. If you enjoyed the author's other novels set in Roman times, you are sure to like this one as well. At times I felt sorry for Agrippa and at others he made me angry. The character was realistically portrayed as a complex, sometimes contradictory person. The novel was entertaining, and I learned a lot along the way. I appreciated the author's note that explained what is known and where Harris filled in gaps.
Another great book from Robert Harris that I'm sure will make a fantastic audiobook as well.
Thank you to NetGalley for my Kindle copy. Opinions are my own.
Harris brings a great balance of politics, battle scenes, and personal drama to Agrippa's story that is also a story of Rome. If you enjoyed the author's other novels set in Roman times, you are sure to like this one as well. At times I felt sorry for Agrippa and at others he made me angry. The character was realistically portrayed as a complex, sometimes contradictory person. The novel was entertaining, and I learned a lot along the way. I appreciated the author's note that explained what is known and where Harris filled in gaps.
Another great book from Robert Harris that I'm sure will make a fantastic audiobook as well.
Thank you to NetGalley for my Kindle copy. Opinions are my own.
September 21, 2026
There is taking liberties. And then there is whatever the fuck this is.
This book is mind-numbingly dull and flat. So devoid of any substantial character conflict is Harris's Agrippa, that the conflict at the heart of this novel not only undermines the historical foundations upon which it is built, but also is so ludicrous and nonsensical, it makes any enjoyment impossible for anyone who knows anything at all about Augustus and Agrippa. And to my great misfortune, I am one such sucker. Boo me hoo for going into this book with foreknowledge.
Be warned: If you don't know about the life stories of Augustus and Agrippa, don't let this be your first book about this topic. Read an actual biography of Augustus first. Or if you'd rather read a novel, read John William's Augustus. There is the true soul of their relationship captured.
Here, the conflict between them is beyond contrived--and it made Augustus, the greatest Roman Emperor, flat and one-note. And the tune goes something like "Agrippa is better than me, but I am a special, little boy so I should always be the one on top and in the public conscience."
...
If you want to read a better book, seriously, read John William's Augustus. His portrayal of all the Augustan figures, including Agrippa, is infinitely more complex and entertaining.
Boo me hoo for reading this.
This book is mind-numbingly dull and flat. So devoid of any substantial character conflict is Harris's Agrippa, that the conflict at the heart of this novel not only undermines the historical foundations upon which it is built, but also is so ludicrous and nonsensical, it makes any enjoyment impossible for anyone who knows anything at all about Augustus and Agrippa. And to my great misfortune, I am one such sucker. Boo me hoo for going into this book with foreknowledge.
Be warned: If you don't know about the life stories of Augustus and Agrippa, don't let this be your first book about this topic. Read an actual biography of Augustus first. Or if you'd rather read a novel, read John William's Augustus. There is the true soul of their relationship captured.
Here, the conflict between them is beyond contrived--and it made Augustus, the greatest Roman Emperor, flat and one-note. And the tune goes something like "Agrippa is better than me, but I am a special, little boy so I should always be the one on top and in the public conscience."
...
If you want to read a better book, seriously, read John William's Augustus. His portrayal of all the Augustan figures, including Agrippa, is infinitely more complex and entertaining.
Boo me hoo for reading this.
September 10, 2026
Agrippa vertelt zijn memoires. Hij is 50 en heeft haast om alles op papier te zetten want hij heeft niet lang meer te leven. Hij is net teruggekeerd van een expeditie om een opstand van barbaren in het huidige Duitsland te bedwingen, maar bij zijn aankomst in Rome trof hij zijn vrouw aan in bed met zijn schoonzoon, de toekomstige keizer. Hij heeft een beetje medelijden met zichzelf en besluit op zijn buitenverblijf zijn leven te vertellen. Hoe hij Octavius hielp om de macht te grijpen maar ook hoe hij aquaducten bouwde en het pantheon dat nog steeds in Rome te bezoeken is...
Robert Harris schreef al eerder geweldige boeken over het oude Rome met 'Pompei' en de 'Cicero' trilogie. Agrippa is een belangrijk figuur in de Romeinse geschiedenis omdat hij feitelijk over Rome regeerde met Octavius. Hij liet nauwelijks brieven of geschriften na en zijn afkomst is vaag. Hij was een man zonder franjes, getuige de inscriptie op het Pantheon: "Marcus Agrippa, zoon van Lucius, maakte dit tijdens zijn derde consulaat.“ Harris kruipt als een acteur in de huid van Agrippa en neemt je mee doorheen zijn levensverhaal die de dorst naar macht van Octavius aan de kaak stelt en de teloorgang van de Romeinse republiek vertelt. Het boek is helder en gebald geschreven, leest als een trein, is goed gedocumenteerd en vaak ook onverwacht grappig.
Robert Harris schreef al eerder geweldige boeken over het oude Rome met 'Pompei' en de 'Cicero' trilogie. Agrippa is een belangrijk figuur in de Romeinse geschiedenis omdat hij feitelijk over Rome regeerde met Octavius. Hij liet nauwelijks brieven of geschriften na en zijn afkomst is vaag. Hij was een man zonder franjes, getuige de inscriptie op het Pantheon: "Marcus Agrippa, zoon van Lucius, maakte dit tijdens zijn derde consulaat.“ Harris kruipt als een acteur in de huid van Agrippa en neemt je mee doorheen zijn levensverhaal die de dorst naar macht van Octavius aan de kaak stelt en de teloorgang van de Romeinse republiek vertelt. Het boek is helder en gebald geschreven, leest als een trein, is goed gedocumenteerd en vaak ook onverwacht grappig.
September 1, 2026
Robert Harris knows how to write a page turner, and this return to the world of Ancient Rome is no exception. The novel is presented as Agrippa's memoirs, written during his final few days of illness in isolation at his villa after a career of soldiering and building in service of the emperor Augustus.
It's an action-packed narrative - but one with previous little depth. To my mind, great historical novels show how people in the distant past shared many of the same thoughts, feelings, and motivations that we do today, while simultaneously viewing the world, society, and their place within it in ways that are completely alien and shockingly different to our own modern conceptions and ideas. There's not much evidence of that here.
It's an action-packed narrative - but one with previous little depth. To my mind, great historical novels show how people in the distant past shared many of the same thoughts, feelings, and motivations that we do today, while simultaneously viewing the world, society, and their place within it in ways that are completely alien and shockingly different to our own modern conceptions and ideas. There's not much evidence of that here.
September 8, 2026
Told like a memoir of Agrippa it was a good read, but I think I was expecting more action or more of a story. I really appreciate all the research that went into this read and for once I didn't get confused by the Roman names.
I did not know who actually had a hand in making the aqueducts of the Roman times, but now I do!
I did not know who actually had a hand in making the aqueducts of the Roman times, but now I do!
September 25, 2026
Kind of a tepid, fictional autobiographical ramble. Not that Agripping.
September 26, 2026
This is definitely one of the better books I’ve read set in Ancient Rome of late.
Harris has a talent for making complicated and difficult history into an accessible, engaging story!
Harris has a talent for making complicated and difficult history into an accessible, engaging story!
September 4, 2026
Robert Harris is always good, but I don’t think this is his strongest! But it’s still so nicely put together and Agrippa is such a solid narrator.
September 12, 2026
I almost named my son Agrippa, and this book reminded me why.
I only have one complaint—this should’ve been a trilogy.
I only have one complaint—this should’ve been a trilogy.
September 16, 2026
Agrippa is Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the military general, right-hand man, and childhood friend of the Roman Emperor Augustus. In Robert Harris’s book, he explores Agrippa’s life as if he were resharing Agrippa’s memoir. I found this style to create a rather one-dimensional view of Agrippa but maybe this was intentional as to preserve the factual history as much as possible while keeping any creative liberties plausible. I thoroughly enjoy Harris’s well-researched collection of books and I always learn something new however Agrippa is 100% for the history buffs out there… in my very unimportant opinion.
September 24, 2026
Een klassiek staaltje Robert Harris
September 9, 2026
“i like soldiers. i don’t like politicians, they leave their wounded behind.”
marcus agrippa i’ve grown very fond of you
marcus agrippa i’ve grown very fond of you
September 10, 2026
This book reads like the syllabus of a history lecture that ChatGPT put into the first person.
The dates and events are all there, but the characters are cardboard cutouts. You can’t really call it a novel.
The dates and events are all there, but the characters are cardboard cutouts. You can’t really call it a novel.
September 15, 2026
Really great. Agrippa finally gets his flowers in this novel.
September 3, 2026
monotonous
The book really never takes off, become more descriptive, thrill the reader. It just enumerates Agrippa’s deeds . I believe, as an admirer of Mr. Harris’s books that he is capable of writing much better content.
The book really never takes off, become more descriptive, thrill the reader. It just enumerates Agrippa’s deeds . I believe, as an admirer of Mr. Harris’s books that he is capable of writing much better content.
September 2, 2026
2.5 stars. Roman politics after the assassination of Caesar. The descriptions and characters are very flat; basically a string of events with no real style and atmosphere.
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