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’.
Dominus: A Novel of the Roman Empire
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Following his novels Roma and Empire comes Steven Saylor’s latest about the Pinarii family, Dominus. Spanning seven generations between 165 to 326 AD, Dominus ...Read Review
The Fort (City of Victory 1)
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105 AD. Trajan is Emperor of Rome, and Decebalus is king in Dacia (modern Romania). An uneasy peace exists between the empire and the ...Read Review
Touching Fire: A Vestal Virgin’s Tale
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In this tale set between 81 and 90 AD, Cornelia is a young Vestal Virgin who comes from a Patrician family in ancient Rome. Like ...Read Review
Antonius: Soldier of Fate (The Antonius Trilogy)
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42 BC. With Julius Caesar’s assassins now found and executed, Octavian’s rise to power is as fast as it is devious. Marcus ...Read Review
Masters of Rome (Rise of Emperors)
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Masters of Rome is the second in the series The Rise of the Emperors. The story picks up from the previous Sons of ...Read Review
A Comedy of Terrors (Flavia Albia 6)
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Lindsey Davis is unsurpassed when it comes to murder, mischief, and mayhem at Saturnalia, or indeed at any other time in ancient Rome. ...Read Review
Pillars of Barabbas (The Barabbas Trilogy)
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I’m sure readers of the Bible sometimes wonder what happened next. Was that prophecy fulfilled? Did that tax collector or that prostitute ...Read Review
From the Ashes
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In 79 AD Pompeii, a slave and scribe, Althea, is offered to Marcus, a former soldier, and operator of the amphitheater. Althea’s master ...Read Review
Cleopatra: The Queen Who Challenged Rome and Conquered Eternity
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Popular Italian historian Angela’s docudrama covers a crucial fourteen years of Roman history, complete with feasts, battles, and two legendary love affairs. ...Read Review
Jewel of the Nile
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AD 56. Chariline has always been told that her father, the man who spoiled her late Roman mother, is dead. With her morose aunt, ...Read Review