Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a frequent subject of Victorian historical fiction and also popular throughout the 20th century. It was similarly popular in movies, though it fell out of fashion for a couple of decades until the game-changing success of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, released in 2000. Since then the floodgates of fictional Rome have been torn open.
But Rome means different things to different people. For some it is a military story of imperialism and war in foreign lands. For others it is the victim-tale of the conquered (especially if the conquered happen to be British or Judaic). For others it is broadly cultural: how could people be so similar to us and so different? There is a broad strand of historicals that touch on the New Testament stories, including many new ‘gospels’ and a wealth of faith stories, as well as some militantly anti-Christian novels. There are Roman detective novels, military historicals, sea stories, epics, and literary novels.
Biographical novels are perhaps the richest vein – for literature and ‘box office’.
Enemy of Rome
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Enemy of Rome is the latest instalment in a series following the exploits of a former gladiator, Gaius Valerius Verrens. The book itself ...Read Review
The Eyes of Aurora: A Fifth Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger
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During the glory days of the Roman Empire, Pliny the Younger, a brilliant lawyer and a copious writer, had an unknown side to ...Read Review
Enemies at Home
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This is the second in the Flavia Albia series. When a wealthy, newly-married couple are murdered, their valuable silver stolen, and their porter ...Read Review
Finished Business
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In 1997 TLS announced that Richard Lee was starting the Historical Novel Society. I wrote him a letter expressing an interest in Roman novels ...Read Review
Curses and Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii
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Vicky Alvear Shecter, the author of three nonfiction books and the well-received YA novel Cleopatra’s Moon, sets her new novel in the ...Read Review
Augustus: From Revolutionary to Emperor
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As the sole ruler of Rome by the age of 33. After years of brutal unrest in the Roman world, he had finally overcome ...Read Review
Empire: The Emperor’s Knives
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The Emperor’s Knives is the latest in Anthony Riches’ Empire series, set in AD 184. It takes the hero of the saga, Marcus ...Read Review
Actium’s Wake
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Roman Senator and army officer Marcus Rutilius is portrayed, in first person point-of-view, as the perennial loser. The story begins in Egypt with ...Read Review
The Advocate
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As a young assessore serving as legal counsel to Pontius Pilate, Theophilus comes up with a brilliant way to avoid crucifying an innocent ...Read Review
Tabula Rasa: A Crime Novel of the Roman Empire (The Medicus Series)
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From the first book in Ruth Downie’s Gaius Ruso series, I fell in love with the gruff but good-hearted Roman medical officer ...Read Review
