padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I confess to finding the Empire vastly less interesting than the RepublicI've read some stuff about the Ceasar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero era
I don't think I'm alone, it's why the very end of the Republic - Caesar etc thru Antony/Cleoptra - is by far the favorite in literature, film, etc
aside from the odd exception like I Claudius, or things that may relate to a particular modern nation, like Boudica
not that the Empire is wholly uninteresting, but imperial family machinations I specifically uninteresting in pretty much any context
Augustus is quite a fascinating figure, an absolute master politician (and psychologist, I don't wonder)
his genius in squaring the circle of Republican distaste for kings with the demands of governing an empire