Word: octavian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...been eight years since Cleopatra put an asp to her bosom, Mark Antony had fallen upon his sword, and Rome's victorious Octavian had taken over Egypt. But the Nubian villagers of Dendur, 400 miles up the Nile from Alexandria, had nothing against the Romans. In fact, on the orders of the new Emperor, now called Augustus, visiting Egyptian artisans were building a temple dedicated to two young Nubian princes, Pedesi and Pihor. Both had drowned in the Nile, and victims so chosen by the god of the Nile were automatically apotheosized, as a Greek might be by a lightning...
These problems, plus the need to fashion a viable political structure for the country, will test the Directory's staying power. Prospects for its stability are not too good, since most collective leaderships have been the victims of their members' quests for unshared power. Octavian outmaneuvered his fellow triumvirs-Mark Antony and Lepidus-to become undisputed ruler of ancient Rome, and Soviet history is littered with collective leaderships that failed. Following Lenin's death, Stalin served on two consecutive triumvirates, each time ruthlessly eliminating his supposedly coequal partners. After Stalin, the various members of the Kremlin...