Los Balbo: El poder gaditano en Roma

Did you know that a man from Cadiz was Rome's first non-Italian consul, and that Cadiz became the most important city in the empire after its capital? Have you heard of any of the three Lucius Cornelius Balbus? How did a family of merchants from the Iberian Peninsula rise to the top of Roman power? Which theaters and aqueducts bear their mark? Why is their history unknown? The coasts of Gades saw the birth of a lineage of great merchants who, demonstrating singular intelligence and proving their loyalty, would eventually reach the highest political spheres in the Urbs Aeterna. In this commendable work, Francisco Uría rescues, from both historiographical limitations and fictional distortions, three generations without whom the legend cannot be understood: Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Elder, the visionary who laid the foundations for a remarkable fortune and an entire patronage network; his son, the consul Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger, friend and protégé of Caesar; and his nephew, Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger, a bold military man who, after defeating Africa, would become the first provincial to celebrate a triumph in Rome and leave a legacy of monumental works. This book is not only the epic biography of a saga that navigated the turbulent waters of government, business, and war, but also a detailed and exciting chronicle of the profound Romanization of part of Hispania and the unusual influence that one of its cities came to wield in the Roman world.