Context. Context. Context.

A big part of our study of history is keeping people and events straight. It doesn't do us much good to know that a decisive, history-changing battle was fought... if we can't quite remember in which century or even which millennium to place it!

Timelines are a big help in this. We keep a running timeline of events that we read about. To whet the kids' appetite when we first started, we put their birthdates on the timeline, and their parents', and their grandparents'! All of a sudden, history was relevant and the timeline was an exciting thing, a tool to measure all of history against one's own lifespan!

Genevieve Foster's books are another tool. She takes the lifespan of a famous figure from history and recounts what was going on in the world at various points in the man's life. We own her books about Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Captain John Smith, and Columbus, in addition to Augustus Caesar's World. The latter spans the timeframe B.C. 44 to 14 A.D.

The book is broken into five parts:

When Augustus was the Schoolboy Octavius
When Octavius was the Young General Octavian
When Octavian was Given the Title of Augustus
When Augustus was Worshipped as a God
When Augustus was Honored as the Father of His Country

Each section begins with a two-page spread of people who were living, and some events that took place, during the time covered in that section, with pen and ink illustrations and a brief description of each, such as "Agrippa: loyal friend of Octavius, - always his most trusted advisor" and "Cicero: Rome's great and famous old orator was beheaded."

And then... the storytelling begins. And what a storyteller the author is! History reads like a storybook, bringing the people to life though their bones crumbled to dust centuries ago. The author infuses scenes with her imagining of the figures' thoughts and emotions, woven in and around the narration of known historical fact.

The book contains an index of characters and a "General Index" for ease of reference.

While you are reading about Octavian, Cleopatra, Mark Anthony, Livy, and others, you are also looking at maps and diagrams ("Roman House," "German village," "the Zodiac") and reading details about ancient culture, society, customs and religious practices. Some of the customs detailed in this book have endured to the present day, and it was fascinating to learn about their background.

Yes, there's a lot about ancient religious beliefs in this book, so I'd suggest you approach with caution, ready to point out fallacies and discuss differences in beliefs. For example, the book begins with young Octavius consulting an astrologer. His absolute belief in astrology is presented without editorial comment, and so it was up to us to take time to discuss astrology in light of what the Bible has to say, without any help from Genevieve Foster's narrative. The narrative presents religious practices in a neutral manner, as practiced by Romans, Druids, Jews, Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, Mayans, ancient Peruvians, and more. The Ten Commandments are written with the same tone as the emperor of China receiving "the wisdom of Buddha," "a strangely bright star appeared in the sky," and "a boy of Nazareth learned about the Hebrew prophets."

I must admit that the narrative that describes the Hebrew prophets, from Elijah to Malachi, does a great job of putting them into context, and the author writes with passion and dramatic flair. But the same passion and dramatic flair is applied to a host of other religions as well, so a word of caution is advised. This is a good book to provide food for thoughtful discussion, making sure that your student has a clear grounding in the Truth. After all, there are people all around us in society today who believe in horoscopes and animism, and even maintain that all beliefs have equal weight just so long as the believer is sincere!

With these cautions, I'd recommend Augustus Caesar's World as a well-written tool for increasing your student's grasp of historical context.