"Roman Novels?" Topic

I loved the Colleen McCullough novels covering Marius to Augustus. I've also enjoyed the Steve Saylor series. Did not much like the Conn Igguldon Caesar books. Any others that you would recommen?

The Eagle series by Simon Scarrow follows 2 Legionairres on adventures around the empire. (Early Imperial iirc).
The Warrior of Rome series by Harry Sidebottom follows a middle period (260ad) adventures of a German born general in Rome's service.
These are more in the spirit of Sharpe's Rifles than heavy intrigue.

Anthony Riches 'Empire' series, starting with 'Wounds of Honour'
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The Robert Harris ones on Cicero are quite good: Imperium, Lustrum, and there's a third in the works as well.

Lindsey Davis writes about private investigator Marcus Didius Falcus. The series occur in the Flavian era.

Steven Saylor writes the Gordanus mysteries which are set mainly in the area of Rome ( although Gordanus does get around) about 60-100 BC.

There are also the Ruso mysteries by Ruth Downie. Ruso is an army doctor with the legions in Britannia in about 120 AD.

Wallace Breem, "Eagle in the Snow" and "Legate's Daughter"
Alfred Duggan, "Family Favourites", "Founding Fathers", "Winter Quarters", "Three's Company", "Little Emperors"
John Gloag, "Caesar of the Narrow Seas", "The Eagles Depart", "Artorius Rex"
Somerset de Chair, "Friends, Romans, Concubines".
David Wishart, "The Horse Coin", "I Virgil", etc.
Robert Harris, "Pompeii", "Imperium", etc.
Robert Fabbri, "Vespasian" series
Douglas Jackson, "Hero of Rome" etc.
George Shipway, "Imperial Governor"
John Stack, Masters of the Seas trilogy
Gregory Solon, "The Three Legions"
Gore Vidal, "Julian"
Rex Warner, "Young Caesar" & "Imperial Caesar"
Robert Graves, "I Claudius" & "Claudius the God"
Marguerite Yourcenar, "Memoirs of Hadrian"
Gillian Bradshaw, "Island of Ghosts"
Nick Brown, "Cassius Corbulo" series
Allan Massie, "Augustus", "Caligula", etc.
Manda C Scott "The Emperor's Spy"
John James, "The Bridge of Sand", "Votan" & "Not for All the Gold In Ireland"
Mika Waltari, "The Roman"
Howard Fast, "Agrippa's Daughter"

Second Lindsay Davis….terrific atmosphere in those books

"Eagle of the Ninth" by Rosemary Sutcliffe is a classic.

Second everything Huscarle listed especially
Wallace Breem, "Eagle in the Snow"
Alfred Duggan, "Winter Quarters"
George Shipway, "Imperial Governor"
John Stack is good too.

Marching with Caesar by RW Peake. It was a great series. Starts with a new recruit in the 10th Legion and follows his entire career.

I too recommend the Falco series by Lindsey Davis.

More centered on mystery/detective style. However, it captures the everyday flavour like nothing else I have read. From street riots and attitudes of the provincials to dealing with German tribes and inner court macchinations, it is all there superbly and thouroughly done. More over it is incredibly funny when dealing with the problems of ones' own family the entire time.
Do try it.

David Wishart's Marcus Corvinus is a great series of Noir mysteries set in Rome during the time of Tiberius.

Another great series that deserves more attention is the SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts. Covering the period from the rise of Caesar to the "First Citizen", it follows the life of Decius Caecilius Metellus as he rises thru the political ranks in Rome. Peppered with numerous historical characters and incidents they are great reads. While more in the mystery vein than military conflicts it offers a rich background of life in Rome and the intrigues of the Senate and the generals.

Highly recommended.

Dave

+1.

And supposedly hundred of genuine ones written back then, lost when an ignorant moron (French) set the Alexandria library aflame.

The last time I looked, there was a whole list of audio Falco books the BBC iplayer. Google Iron hand of mars bbc and go from there.

There is always Casca…though he doesn't stay Roman very long…

Breem's Eagle in the Snow is my favorite.

As per Huscarle's list Rex Warner wrote two novels on Julius Caesar they are fantastic. Here is one the other is called Caesar.

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Really enjoyed Manda Scott's 'Boudica' series. 4 books on the uprising, very entertaining.

Warrior of Rome is very good. Especially first three in the series. Author Harry Sidebottom is an Oxford University Professor in classics and the detail is exceptional!

I met him signing books in Oxford. He is only delusional when it comes to the England Rugby team…oh and thanks for hosting another All Black RWC Victory England!

Sidebottom's series is excellent. He's the best of the Roman military novelists.

Ben Kane's work – there's lots of it – is a shade predictable but very readable.

I didn't care for Scarrow or Iggulden.

Of the Roman crime novelists, special thumbs up o to Lindsey Davis and David Wishart.

Eagle in the Snow has a particular resonance nowadays. The tribes massed on the far bank of the Rhine are seen not simply as savage barbarians, eager to loot and pillage the declining Roman Empire, but as refugees and asylum seekers, getting more desperate as their families starve.

Wallace Breem, "Eagle in the Snow" is a classic imho.

Another vote for Wallace Breem and Eagle In The Snow
However I'm now very much intrigued about the John Gloag series.
Are they (as I think) situated in the Late Roman era?

Thank you all for the great suggestions!

I am right now in the middle of I Am Livia by Phyllis T Smith which is the story of Augustus as told from Livia Drusilia. It's not a rip-roaring battle-filled book, but the insight into Roman life and politics is good.

Since I just joined TMP I missed this Nov. discussion. Two series I enjoyed were:
SJA Turney's series "Marius Mules" which provides lots of gaming scenarios.
John Maddox Roberts fictional series about a Roman lawyer. Roberts also wrote other sci-fi and fantasy books.

Just to mention that the Romans didn't actually have novels as far as we can tell, so none were burnt in Alexandria. The concept seems to have only begun in the 17C via Puritans! (Daniel Defoe with 'Robinson Crusoe', and Nathaniel Hawthorne with 'The Scarlet letter'.) Fiction existed in medieval times. The novel did not. Even fiction had to essentially be poetic ('Piers Plowman', Gawaine and the Green Knight', 'Canterbury Tales'.)

A Roman could write 'speculative' poetry or 'creative' drama. If he did narrative he called it 'history'.

Beaumap – obviously you are unfamiliar with Apuleius' 2nd century AD 'Metamorphoses' which, sadly, is the only known Roman novel to survive intact.

In addition the Hellenistic Greek novel, or romance, is a recognised genre, which continued into Roman times – Heliodorus' "Aethiopica" is the only one I can think of with a battle-scene in it.

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