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’.
Dawn Empress: A Novel of Imperial Rome (The Theodosian Women)
Genres:
In 404 AD in Constantinople’s imperial palace, Emperor Arcadius of the Eastern Roman Empire pulls his five-year-old daughter, Pulcheria, into her dead mother’...Read Review
The Last Assassin: The Hunt for the Killers of Julius Caesar
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From its first pages, The Last Assassin is a trustworthy and compelling read, qualities the best histories share. I thought I’d dipped ...Read Review
A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome
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This is a witty and erudite summary of murder and death as a part of Roman daily life. Emma Southon’s work spans ...Read Review
The Conqueror (Constantine’s Empire)
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In the early 4th century AD, Rome is ruled by the Tetrarchy or “rule by four.” The empire is divided into geographic quadrants ...Read Review
The Wall at the Edge of the World
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When surgeon Postumus Justinius Corvus performs an act of bravery and gallantry, he is awarded an honour, a promotion, and a reassignment from ...Read Review
The Time Travel Diaries: Time Travel Diaries 1
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When London schoolboy Alex is asked to travel through time to Roman London with a paycheck of one million pounds on offer and ...Read Review
The Grove of the Caesars: Flavia Albia 8
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This is the eighth book in Lindsey Davis’s mystery series featuring Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, an investigator in ancient ...Read Review
The Return
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You might suppose that a man who has earned the garlands of a Corona Civica for saving the life of a fellow Roman ...Read Review
Hiding From the Past: An Eighth Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger
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A murder from the past and an ambush on a hurried trip by Pliny the Younger in 87 CE to join his best friend, ...Read Review
The Lost Chapter
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Nero rules Rome in the first century AD and is destroying its best citizens with his ever-growing perversity, cruelty, and terrifying reprisals. Marius, ...Read Review