Catharine Edwards

Orator: The Life of Cicero and the End of the Roman Republic by Catharine Edwards

When the Roman statesman Cicero was murdered in 43 BCE, his head was cut off and his tongue pierced with pins – a final, brutal act of revenge against a man whose words had shaped a generation and made him many enemies. Rising from provincial obscurity to the highest elected office in Rome, Cicero became the greatest orator of his age, a figure who believed that speech itself could defend a republic.

In this gripping new biography, the distinguished classicist Catharine Edwards brings Cicero vividly to life, revealing both the brilliance and the contradictions of a man caught between principle and ambition. At a moment when democratic institutions feel fragile, and the power of persuasion is once again under scrutiny, Cicero’s life speaks to us with renewed urgency.

Catharine Edwards is a professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London. She is one of the world’s foremost experts on Roman History. A Fellow of the British Academy, she is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, presented a three-part TV series on Roman imperial women for BBC Four in 2018, and writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement.

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