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Author Topic: Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books  (Read 20689 times)

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Offline David Atherton

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Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« on: February 24, 2004, 04:55:10 am »
I love books just about as much as I love my Roman coins and thought I would post my own personal top ten list of Roman historical fiction and non-fiction books I've read.

Ok, the serious stuff first ( non-fiction)

10. Tacitus - Ronald Syme
  9. Beloved and God - Royston Lambert
  8. Romans and Barbarians - Derek williams
  7. Flavius Josephus - Mireille Hadas-Lebel
  6. The Year of the Four Emperors - Kenneth Wellesley
  5. Travel in the Ancient World - Lionel Casson
  4. Nero - Michael Grant
  3. The Way of the Gladiator - Daniel P. Mannix (could be considered fiction also)
  2. From Tiberius to the Antonines - Albino Garzetti
  1. The Roman Imperial Army - Graham Webster

Now the lighter stuff (fiction)

10. The Roman - Mika Waltari
  9. The Light Bearer - Donna Gillespie
  8. The Antagonists - Ernest K. Gann
  7. Imperial Governor - George Shipway
  6. The Centurions - Damion Hunter
  5. I, Claudius - Robert Graves
  4. Pompeii - Robert Harris
  3. The Illusionist - Anita Mason
  2. The Golden Ass - Robert Graves (trans)
  1. Domitia and Domitian - David Corson

All of the above books help me appreciate and enjoy my coins more than I'll ever know. Without them collecting would'nt be as much fun.

I would like to know what everone else's top ten books are. I'm always on the lookout for a good read.





the_Apostate

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2004, 07:34:10 am »
Gibbon, the Decline and Fall
Tacitus, Annals
Tacitus, Histories
Sallust, the Conspiracy of Catiline
Sallust, the Jugurthine War
Ammianus Marcellinus
Syme, the Roman Revolution
Psellus, Chronographia (if the Byz may be included)
Bowersock, Julian the Apostate
Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians

germanicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2004, 07:45:01 am »
I am halfway through the "ROMA SUB ROSA" series by STEVEN SAYLOR

very well written and enjoyable.  

http://www.stevensaylor.com/RomaSubRosa.html

Have about another 20 lined up ready, including

Conn Iggulden - "Emperor" series (read pt 1 , had to wait for 2nd)

Valero Manfredi - "Alexander" series / sparten

Colleen McCullough - "Masters" Of Rome series

over a years reading........


Offline Robert_Brenchley

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2004, 12:42:08 pm »
Here are a few I've found useful:

Michael Grant, The Emperor Constantine

Christian Meier, Caesar

Anthony Everitt, Cicero

Antonio Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire
Robert Brenchley

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Offline Jochen

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2004, 03:14:10 pm »
May I add some books from Germany (don't know wether there are translations available):

1. Theodor Mommsen: Römische Geschichte (8 volumes, a standard work!)
2. Theodor Mommsen: Die römische Kaisergeschichte (Newly found as a script in
     the estate of one of Mommsen's bachelors)

and here some new ones (There seems to be a boom in historical books in Germany today)

3. Karl Christ: Sulla - Eine römische Karriere (The biography of a monster)
4. Jochen Bleicken: Augustus - Eine Biographie (From a killer to the Princeps)
5. Zvi Yaretz: Tiberius (A new look on this mysterious emperor and his 'innuendo' from
    an israelic historian)

Regards,
Jochen

Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2004, 10:33:16 am »
My list would include:
Robert Graves's I, Claudius and Belisarius;
Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian (perhaps the finest "Roman" novel of all);
a Lindsey Davis novel (because they're fun)(I haven't got round to Saylor or McCullough yet);
one each from the children's writers Geoffrey Trease, Henry Treece and Rosemary Sutcliff;
Bryher's Roman Wall;
Howard Fast's Spartacus;
Naomi Mitchison's The Conquered (Caesar in Gaul);
and Alfred Duggan's Family Favourites (about Elagabalus!).
Also worth a look: Gore Vidal's Julian, Thomas Costain's The Darkness and the Dawn (about the Huns) and Geza Gardonyi's Slave of the Huns (ditto).
Some of Kipling's Roman stories are quite pleasant.






William J Bligh

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2004, 03:02:13 pm »
While I won't write a top ten list, as it'd take entirely too much duelling amongst my favorites - I have to HIGHLY recommend Colleen McCullough's series on Rome. It starts with the rise of Gaius Marius and goes to the fall of Julius Caesar. An absoultely stunning, compelling read, rife with accurate historical jargon, facts, and personalities. I've read it twice through successively and it's been a page turner all the way through both times!


Offline wolfgang336

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2004, 06:43:22 pm »
Anybody read "The Battle that Stopped Rome", about General Varus and his respective disaster?

Evan

Offline David Atherton

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2004, 05:41:32 pm »
Yeah Evan, i read the book "the battle that stopped rome" and it was okay.

A better telling of the tale is in Romans and Barbarians by Derek Williams...very interestingly told.

Offline rick fox

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2004, 07:59:30 pm »
I like nonfiction and fictionalized history (history is accurate by conversations are made up)

For me...

1. Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol I & II by Edward Gibbon
2. Chronicles of the Roman Emperors by Chris Scarre
3. First Man of Rome I & II by Colleen McCullough
4. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol I, II & III by Allen Lane
5. Lost Cities of the Roman Empire

I am currently in the second volume of the First Man of Rome  - Great series  It is the life of Gaius Marius... The only man other than an emperor to hold the Consulship for  7 straight years.  He is also famous for winning battles against enemies, that everyone else lost, and for creating the pension system for the legions.
Iacta alea est  - 'The die has been cast' (Julius Caesar Jan 10, 49 BC Rubicon River, Italy)

Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2004, 06:07:22 pm »
I am currently in the second volume of the First Man of Rome  - Great series  It is the life of Gaius Marius... The only man other than an emperor to hold the Consulship for  7 straight years.  He is also famous for winning battles against enemies, that everyone else lost, and for creating the pension system for the legions.
As a contrast to which I would recommend Peter Green's excellent novel The Sword of Pleasure, about Marius's bitter enemy Sulla.

Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2004, 06:31:00 pm »
How about the ten worst novels about Rome? They could be bad because they're historically inaccurate (Lloyd Douglas, The Robe) or stilted and preachy(Lew Wallace, Ben Hur) or just downright awful (almost every novel in which a gladiator is the central figure).
Get those nominations rolling - there are hundreds to choose from!

Offline David Atherton

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #12 on: November 29, 2004, 08:18:31 pm »
Lol Britannicus! Yeah, lots of bad Roman fiction and non fiction floating around out there.

Fictionwise I would say the book i'm currently wading through fits the bill (Mons Graupius by Clifton-Wallace), it is best avoided. :P

Still, even the worse books have their charms. ;)

Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #13 on: November 30, 2004, 04:26:47 am »
Lord Lytton's The Last days of Pompeii set the Victorian standard for historical turgidity. I was once stuck in a remote house on my own in bad weather for a weekend, with only this book to read.  :( The Christian message that "Yes, those wicked, immoral Romans had it coming to them!" particularly stuck in my throat.  :P

Offline PeterD

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2004, 07:10:41 am »
Someone nominated Conn Iggulden's  "Emperor" series for the top ten. While they are a good read, for historical accuracy they must figure in the bottom ten!
Peter, London

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Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2004, 08:47:40 am »
I haven't discovered them yet. Who is the "emperor" referred to in the title of the series?

Offline Gilgamesh

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #16 on: November 30, 2004, 09:59:46 pm »
Let us not forget Livy's History of Rome, a great read easilly available in Penguin.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus' 'Roman Antiquities' is a great source on early Rome because he often provides alternate versions of situations, available from Loeb in 7 volumes.

Rodolfo Lanciani's 'Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome' is great for putting many of the ancient buildings into perspective. easilly available via abebooks, as are his other interesting works (he was hands on when it was all being dug and, sometimes destroyed, in C19).

George Long's 'Decline of the Roman Republic" published in 5 volumes in 1874 is still one of the most comprehensive on the period and can be got via abebooks from time to time.
Every day I know less and less about more and more. Soon I expect to know nothing about everything.

Offline Postumus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #17 on: December 02, 2004, 10:11:04 am »
The best ... but I don't Know if is translate in english is:
L'ultima legione (The last legion) - Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

The romanced history of Romolus Augustolus ... simply the best !!! ::)
Caius Marcus Latinus Cassianius Postumus

Offline PeterD

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #18 on: December 02, 2004, 11:39:36 am »
Britannicus - The books referred to are "Emperor -The Gates of Rome" and "Emperor -The Death of Kings". They are about Julius Caesar, who of course was not an emperor or a king! The first book starts off with JC and Brutus as playmates -you get the picture.
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Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #19 on: December 02, 2004, 03:56:43 pm »
Britannicus - The books referred to are "Emperor -The Gates of Rome" and "Emperor -The Death of Kings". They are about Julius Caesar, who of course was not an emperor or a king! The first book starts off with JC and Brutus as playmates -you get the picture.
Weird! Actually, if Caesar is supposed to be an emperor, wouldn't there be a good case for describing Sulla as the first Roman emperor? ;)
Do you think Conn Iggulden is the guy's real name? Sounds almost too good to be true - like something out of Conan the Barbarian.

Offline Robert_Brenchley

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #20 on: December 02, 2004, 04:21:15 pm »
I think he was probably Caesar's inspiration in many ways; Caesar was 18 at the time of his triumph, and may have seen it. But is Caesar a model for the later emperors? He precipitated the final collapse of the Republic, which was doomed anyway, but his approach to power was radically different from Augustus', and it was the latter who created the Principiate.
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Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #21 on: December 02, 2004, 05:42:58 pm »
If Sulla had come to be seen as the first emperor, we might consequently have had "Nicholas, Sulla of all the Russias", "Sulla Bill" (in the First World War), "Render therefore unto Sulla the things which are Sulla's", and so on!  :D

Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #22 on: December 02, 2004, 05:46:40 pm »
But is Caesar a model for the later emperors? He precipitated the final collapse of the Republic, which was doomed anyway, but his approach to power was radically different from Augustus', and it was the latter who created the Principiate.
Diocletian was probably instinctively right to make the senior emperor an "Augustus" and the junior one a "Caesar".

Offline curtislclay

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #23 on: December 02, 2004, 06:23:58 pm »
Since that was standard practice since the second cent. AD at least, I don't think Diocletian's decision required much intuition!
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Offline Britannicus

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Re:Top ten Roman historical fiction/non-fiction books
« Reply #24 on: December 02, 2004, 08:02:46 pm »
Yes, of course, touché! (it's very late at night over here)  ;) but what I meant was that the comparative status of the titles was formalised by Diocletian (he could have done things differently, introduced other titles, etc.) Before Dio the Caesars tended to be sons or adopted family members - with Clodius Albinus as a bit of an exception? - but afterwards the Augustus/Caesar business was much more obviously a power setup, cemented by dynastic marriages.
Curious, how the real life roles of Caesar and his adopted son Octavius/Augustus become reversed in the relationship between the titles.

 

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