Recent Historical Novels,

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• Recent Historical Novels,
• An Update

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Outline

• Introduction Definitions Questions for Audience
• History versus Fiction Quotes from novelists
• Tour of WebSite, with overview Search
• Recent Fiction Series Authors
• Conn Igguldens Emperor Series, pluses minuses
• Freds Favorites - capsule comments
• Questions from Audience

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How would you define a historical novel?
For the purposes of my database, a Roman
historical novel must be set in Roman
times (pre-monarchy to late empire --Justinian
), in Roman lands (Britain to Near East,
Germany to Africa) And with at least a few
Roman characters. Note also that I include only
novels available in English. For other languages,
see Stefan Crammes website Historical Rome (in
German)
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Why do people read Historical Fiction? Do they
choose it over non-historical fiction or
history? What are their expectations of a
historical novel? Why do novelists choose to
write historical fiction? What do they conceive
of as their responsibilities in so choosing?
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What do we mean by history and how much do
historical accounts differ among
themselves? What element of historical events
is least often recorded or least often able to
be verified? How much and in what ways does the
depiction of a particular complex historical
character (such as Caesar) change with the
times and political/moral/economic situation of
the author? (Consider, e.g., 1800s vs. WWII or
now.)
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History versus Fiction
Sharon Kay Penman comments about the storm scene
in Simon de Montfort's last battle in her novel
Falls the Shadow. "The wild thunderstorm that
broke over Evesham field during the battle was
not a novelist's indulgence. So violent a storm
was it that men invested it with a superstitious
significance out of all proportion to an act of
nature one chronicler even compared it to the
tempest that raged over Calvary as Jesus Christ
was crucified. And Simon's son Bran did arrive
at the battlefield in time to see his father's
head upon a pike."
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Ippokratis Kantzios HISTORICAL RESEARCH AND THE
NOVEL BALANCING HISTORICITY AND NOVELISTIC
ASPECT CAAS spring 2000 Princeton The term
"historical novel" consists of two parts,
"historical" and "novel", elements which, by
definition, are almost incompatible with each
other, since the former claims the world of
veracity while the latter abides in the world of
imagination. But where does the emphasis fall?
The term is "historical novel" and not
"novelistic history" and one could reasonably
argue that it is the noun that carries the major
attribute rather than the epithet. A good
historical novel, therefore, must be, above all,
a good novel, a good piece of literature.
But since the particular kind of novel of which
we speak is "historical", certain of the
author's liberties are restrained the basic
facts of real, known events, for instance, cannot
be distorted. Since the plot takes place in the
past and often uses for its characters real
historical figures, the author must abide by
what we know about these characters and the
events that surround them. But the past is not
wholly known to us. The remoter the period
described, the more substantial are the gaps in
our knowledge. For example, many of the details
regarding daily life, customs, celebrations, and
interpersonal relationships in the classical
world still elude us. There are many historical
events of paramount importance about which we
know either little or nothing at all beyond
their bare outlines. Yet, unlike the historian,
who must frequently make sense of the past from
fragmentary evidence, the reader of a historical
novel expects to be presented with a complete
and satisfying set of causes and effects which
will lead to some convincing resolution or shed
light on the motivation of the characters. A
historical novelist must have an understanding
of the period in which he sets his novel. And he
must also, by using known information, come up
with some kind of moral verdict towards his
protagonists. The novelist has the right to
bring in imaginary episodes. But the made-up
action must be compatible with the traits of the
character which are established on the basis of
known facts.
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"I try to be absolutely true to known facts. When
writers consciously introduce impossibilities
into historical fiction for their own
convenience, it drives me crazy. (E.g., all the
inaccuracies Thornton Wilder concedes in his
introductory note to The Ides of March, such as
using people in his story who would actually have
been long dead ...). This is not to say that
many events do not lend themselves to
interpretation revisionism -- like events in
our own lifetime....But I do make a great effort
to be accurate about dates, sequence of events,
where characters actually were at a given time,
etc. ... I love finding little details about an
obscure person or place and realizing I can work
them into my story. (Steven Saylor, in a letter
to me)
12
Joan O'Hagan, author of A Roman Death (Doubleday,
1989) says (letter to me), "I think that to
catch the spirit of the times is the important
thing, even at the sacrifice of strict
historical fidelity. On the highest level I
suppose a writer could produce historical
nonsense that is at the same time a work of art.
Or he can (as Evelyn Waugh did in 'Helena') write
a book that is soundly based in what actually
happened on the broad historical plane create
in Constantine's mother Helena a character who
brings tears of joy to your eyes. And behind his
satire, Waugh seemed really to get into the minds
of Constantine the others. You felt they might
very well have thought just like that."
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"I try to be accurate, as far as I can. I would
rather face the challenge of using
events/ information I believe to be true, than
bend them to assist the narrative. 'Artistic
license' is too often an excuse for
laziness. (Lindsey Davis, in a letter to me.)
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"In all of history, the society that most
resembles ours is Rome in the late Republic. To
me, it is the modern world reflected in a fun
house mirror. Some things are so familiar to us
that the Romans seem like ourselves. Then they
do something might well be done by Martians. The
October Horse festival for one thing which
figures into his 2nd novel, SPQR II (John
Maddox Roberts, in a letter explaining why he
chose a Roman setting for his series of novels
about Decius)
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John Hersey - letter of 11 Oct 1992 on
fidelity/creativity "I suppose a writer of
fiction is more interested in trying to arrive
at 'truths' about human nature than in trying to
convey historical 'truths' (whatever they may
be, as you suggest). But I am guided by an
observation of Garcia Marquez to the effect that
if a novelist gets a widely accepted 'fact'
wrong, he risks losing the reader's faith in the
work as a whole, while by including some things
that are historically 'true', he reinforces that
faith...I come down frankly on the side of
invention in a work of fiction, a requirement,
indeed, that the novelist move freely toward the
goal of human 'truth' he wants to reach, using
historical details to support that motion but
not representing what he writes as 'the way
things really were.' on the particular format
of The Conspiracy Nero his secret police,
presided over by Tigellinus "I chose the form
because I wanted to satirize the imperial
Presidency' of Richard Nixon, with its 'enemies
list,' mostly of writers, its paranoia, its
constant suspicion of conspiracy, which caused
the Watergate break-in (after I wrote the book)."
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Robert Graves, Author's Note to Claudius the
God, 1935 "Some reviewers of I,
Claudius...suggested that in writing it I had
merely consulted Tacitus' Annals Suetonius'
Twelve Caesars, run them together, expanded
the result with my own 'vigorous fancy.' This
was not so nor is it the case here. Among the
Classical writers who have been borrowed from in
the composition of Claudius the God are Tacitus,
Dio Cassius, Suetonius, Pliny, Varro, Valerius
Maximus, Orosius, Frontinus, Strabo, Caesar,
Columella, Plutarch, Josephus, Diodorus Siculus,
Photius, Xiphilinus, Zonaras, Seneca, Petronius,
Juvenal, Philo, Celsus, the authors of the Acts
of the Apostles the pseudo-gospels of Nicodemus
St. James, Claudius himself in his surviving
letters speeches. Few incidents here given are
wholly unsupported by historical authority of
some sort or other I hope none are historically
incredible. No character is invented."
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Thornton Wilder Ides of March
(preface) Historical reconstruction is not
among the primary aims of this work. It may
be called a fantasia on certain events and
persons of the last days of the Roman
republic. The principal liberty taken is that
of transferring an event which took place in 62
B.C. the profanation of the Mysteries of the
Bona Dea by Clodia Pulcher and her brother to
the celebration of the same rites seventeen years
later on December 11, 1945. By 45 many of my
characters would have long been dead Clodius,
murdered by bullies on a country road Catullus,
though we have only St. Jeromes word for it
that he died at the age of thirty the younger
Cato, a few months earlier in this very year, in
Africa, resisting Caesars absolute power
Caesars aunt, widow of the great Marius, had
died even before 62. Moreover by 45, Caesars
second wife Pompeia had long been replaced by
his third wife Calpurnia. A number of the
elements in this work which may most seem to have
been of my contriving are in deed historical
Cleopatra arrived in Rome in 46, was installed
by Caesar in his villa across the river she
remained there until his assassination when she
fled back to her own country. The possibility
that Junius Marcus Brutus was Caesars son is
weighed and generally rejected by almost every
historian who has given extended consideration
to Caesars private life.
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Caesars gift to Servilia of a pearl of
unprecedented value is historical. The
conspiratorial chain-letters directed against
Caesar were suggested by the events of our own
times. They were circulated in Italy against
the Fascist regime by Lauro de Bosis, reportedly
on the advice of Bernard Shaw. The attention
of the reader is called to the form in which the
material is presented Within each of the four
books the documents are given in approximately
chronological order. Those in Book One cover
September and October. Book three, mainly
occupied with religion begins earlier still and
runs through the autumn, concluding with the
ceremonies of the good Goddess in December.
Book Four, resuming all the aspect of Caesars
inquiry, particularly those dealing with himself
as possibly filling a role as an instrument of
destiny, begins with the earliest document in
the volume and concludes with his
assassination. All the documents in this work
are from the authors imagination with the
exception of the poems of Catullus and the
closing entry which is from Suetoniuss Lives of
the Caesars. Source material dealing with Cicero
is copious with Cleopatra, meager with Caesar,
rich but often enigmatic and distorted by
political bias. This is a suppositional
reconstruction provoked by the inequalities in
those records.
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Now lets try to go online and look at the website
www.stockton.edu/roman/fiction/
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Sample Data Obtainable - mystery 121
Pagan 667 Julius Caesar 46? (S Julius
Caesar) 90? (S Caesar p) Jesus 263?
Caesar Jesus depend on how Subject field is
worded Britain 237 published 1940-1969
537 published since 1990 313 published
since 2000 127
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Here are the 11 authors I will be talking about
for the rest of the time. All are currently
writing (or have recently finished) a Roman
series, 7 of them a mystery series
Rosemary Rowe Mary Reed Eric
Mayer Caroline Lawrence Simon
Scarrow Conn Iggulden
Colleen McCullough Steven Saylor
Lindsey Davis John Maddox Roberts
David Wishart Marilyn Todd
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COLLEEN MCCULLOUGH (UK) Series of novels
spanning the life of Julius Caesar, from his
youth under his uncle Marius to his assassination
in 44 BC (third person narrator) The First Man
in Rome 1990 The Grass Crown 1991 Fortunes
Favorites 1993 Caesars Women 1996 Caesar
Let the Dice Fly 1997 The October Horse 2002
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LINDSEY DAVIS (UK) Marcus Didius Falco, private
eye (the empires Philip Marlowe) - impecunious
ex-soldier meets, marries senators daughter,
Helena. (first person/mystery) t/o
Vespasian Silver Pigs 1989 Shadows in
Bronze 1990 Venus in Copper 1991 The Iron
Hand of Mars 1993 Poseidons Gold 1994 Last
Act in Palmyra 1994 A Dying Light in
Corduba 1996 The Course of Honour 1997 Three
Hands in the Fountain 1997 A Time to
Depart 1997 Two for the Lions 1998 One
Virgin Too Many 1999 Ode to a
Banker 2000 The Jupiter Myth 2002 A Body in
the Bath House 2001 The Accusers 2003 Scandal
Takes a Holiday 2004 See Delphi and
Die 2005 Saturnalia 2006
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JOHN MADDOX ROBERTS (US) Decius Caecilius
Metellus - adventurous young senator,
investigates private and public crimes, mainly
murder.(first person/mystery) t/o Caesar SPQR
I The Kings Gambit 1990 SPQR II The
Catiline Conspiracy 1991 SPQR III The
Sacrilege 1992 SPQR IV The Temple of the
Muses 1992 SPQR V Saturnalia 1999 SPQR VI
Nobody Loves a Centurion 2001 Hannibals
Children (alt hist) 2002 SPQR VII Tribunes
Curse 2003 SPQR VIII The River Gods
Vengeance 2004 SPQR IX The Princess and the
Pirates 2005 The Seven Hills (alt hist) 2005
SPQR X A Point of Law 2006 non-series -
Carthage won the war against Rome
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STEVEN SAYLOR (US) Gordianus the Finder,
not-young private eye, the Republics Sam Spade,
married to his ex-slave, Bethesda, aided or
troubled by his 2 sons and 1 daughter. (first
person/mystery) t/o Caesar Roman
Blood 1991 Arms of Nemesis 1992 Catilinas
Riddle 1993 The Venus Throw 1995 A Murder on
the Appian Way 1996 House of the
Vestals (SS) 1997 Rubicon 1999 Last Seen in
Massilia 2000 A Mist of Prophecies 2002 The
Judgment of Caesar 2004 A Gladiator Only Dies
Once 2005
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DAVID WISHART (UK) Marcus Valerius Messalla
Corvinus- adventurous young senator.
Investigates murders, public, most affecting
imperial security. (first person/mystery) t/o
Tiberius Ovid 1995 I, Vergil 1995
Nero 1996 Germanicus 1997 Sejanus
1998 The Lydian Baker 1998 Horse Coin
2000 (Brit) Old Bones 2001 Last Rites
2001 White Murder 2002 A Vote for Murder
2003 Parthian Shot 2004 Food for the Fishes
2005 non-series
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MARILYN TODD (UK) Claudia Seferis, a beautiful
but fairly unscrupulous 24-year old courtesan
and an ambitious aristocrat, Marcus Cornelius
Orbilio, work with much interpersonal friction
to investigate murders (generally affecting
Claudia, or her inherited wine business,
personally) In the Augustan Age, around 13 BC.
(third person, mystery) I, Claudia
1995 Virgin Territory 1996 Man Eater
1997 Wolf Whistle 1998 Jail Bait
1999 Dream Boat 2001 Black Salamander
2001 Second Act 2003 Widows Pique
2004 Stone Cold 2005 Sour Grapes
2006 Scorpion Rising 2006 Dark Horse 2006
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ROSEMARY ROWE (UK) Libertus, amateur sleuth,
Celt, mosaic-maker, and former slave, in Britain
around 186 AD (first person/mystery) Germanicus
Mosaic 1999 Pattern of Blood 2000 Murder in
the Forum 2001 The Chariots of Calyx 2002 The
Legatus Mystery 2003 The Ghosts of
Glevum 2004 Enemies of the Empire 2005 A Roman
Ransom 2006
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MARY REED ERIC MAY (US) John the Eunuch, Lord
Chamberlain to Justinian, solves murders of
political importance, while avoiding the enmity
of empress Theodora. (third person, mystery)
around 542 AD in Constantinople One for
Sorrow 1999 Two for Joy 2001 Three for a
Letter 2001 Four for a Boy 2003 Five for
Silver 2004 Six for Gold 2006 Seven for a
Secret in process
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SIMON SCARROW (UK) L Cornelius Macro,
battle-scarred Centurion in the Second Legion,
teams with his new optio, Q Licinius Cato,
formerly an imperial slave, in Britain, around
42 BC, to undertake delicate missions against
local tribes. Under the Eagle 2000 The
Eagles Conquest 2001 When the Eagle
Hunts 2002 The Eagle and the Wolves 2003 The
Eagles Prey 2005 The Eagles
Prophecy 2005 The Eagle in the Sand 2006
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CAROLINE LAWRENCE (UK) Flavia Gemina, daughter
of a sea-captain, Nubia, her former slave,
Lupus, a rescued street urchin, and neighbor
Jonathan, a Jewish Christian, - 3 young teens
and a pre-teen - solve mysteries/riddles (not
murders, but often important) in various cities
and countries (third person, juvenile/young
adult) 79-80 AD The Thieves of
Ostia 2001 The Secrets of Vesuvius 2001 The
Pirates of Pompeii 2002 The Assassins of
Rome 2002 The Dolphins of Laurentum 2003 The
Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina 2003 The Enemies
of Jupiter 2003 The Gladiators from
Capua 2004 The Colossus of Rhodes 2004 The
Fugitive from Corinth 2005 The Sirens of
Surrentum 2006 The Charioteer of Delphi 2006
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CONN IGGULDEN (UK) Series of novels spanning the
life of Julius Caesar, from his youth under his
uncle Marius to his assassination in 44 BC
(third person narrator) Emperor 1 The Gates
of Rome 2003 Emperor 2 The Death of
Kings 2004 Emperor 3 The Field of
Swords 2005 Emperor 4 The Gods of War 2006
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The Iggulden Emperor Series
All 4 books are well-written, vivid, clear, with
interesting characters and hardly any graphic
sex, so they could be used in high schools
without problem, I think. There are many battle
scenes, but most of them are not gory in detail,
though lots of soldiers get killed. The
landscape is historical and many of the
characters are historical, but many of them do
things in the books that they never did (or
could do) in the historical account or real life
in Roman times. Iggulden has substantial
authors notes at the end of each of the 4
volumes, in which he corrects the historical
record and, some of the time, explains why he has
changed it. Normally, it is to simplify a
complex story line (such as the fighting between
Marius and Sulla) some of the time it is to
allow him to bring out a character at a time of
his own choosing (Clodius, dead long before the
Bona Dea episode, as Iggulden presents it)
because it develops his plot. Some of the time
it is hard to understand why Iggulden has
distorted or misattributed events and characters
from the historical record or the norms of Roman
practice, and the feeling one gets in many of
those instances is that he simply didnt know
any different - he was just mistaken. The
change that is most at the heart of the story as
Iggulden tells it involves making Brutus about
17 years older than he actually was (and about
the same span for Octavian), allowing them both
to serve with him.
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• Emperor I The Gates of Rome (2003)
• Opens with 2 9-year-old boys, Marcus Gaius
  (about the commonest Roman praenomina) in
  trouble.
• x47 patrician seems to mean here nobiles
• ?50 A Roman named Enzo?
• x70 Roman law said a consul could only be
  elected once BY THE SENATE and must step down
  from that position.
• Wrong electorate. Should be Centurial Asssembly.
• ?74 28 legions in 90 BC? That is precisely the
  number under Augustus should have been less in
  90.
• ?133 A magistrate with a lictor could order death
  on the spot if someones horse bumped him in
  Rome?
• x180 The people elect the Senate to make
  enforce the laws. No one elects the senate.
• x195 Sounds like Iggulden is saying the rostrum
  is on the senate house.

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Emperor II The Death of Kings (2004) Opens
with the taking of the fort at Mytilene (where
Gaius earns the honor wreath/oak crown), and
thats an exciting sequence of action. x22
Cornelias father Cinna is still around, (He was
actually killed in 84 Caesar is at Mytilene in
80, so Cinna should be 4 years dead by
now.) x25 The centurion burns the enemy dead but
takes his own for burial at sea. Surely no Roman
would pass up cremation for his men. x58 Caesar
is captured by pirates, not on his way to study
in Rhodes but in a sea battle while trying to
clear the area of pirate ships. (ca 80 rather
than the historical 75). x69 Tobruk poisons
Sulla to keep him from Cornelia, but its too
soon. Sulla should have retired from his
dictatorship before his death -- that by slow
wasting away. 80 No suggestion in sources that
Caesar was injured in being taken by pirates -
thus a different explanation of the
circumstances are set up a different
explanation for his fits (a blow to head) x 162
Enter Atia soon her 9-yr-old son Thurinus --
aka Octavian, though he should not be called that
so early. He should be Octavius until Caesar
adopts him in his will. If Octavian is 9, the
year should be 63 BC, much later than t he time
here (if this is 80) - but that allows Octavian
to become a general under Caesar. x 166 Cato
had been close to Sulla. Historically no, but
Igguldens Cato has little to do with any
historical character at all. x190 Struck what? A
match? (old mistake) ?248 Iron finger ring that
marked a slave. Didnt senators wear iron rings.
Why would slaves wear one?
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270 Bibilus -- clearly Bibulus (confirmed at p.
189 of vol III) ?269 What is this Master of
Debate in the Senate? Princeps senatus? (see also
p. 362) x280 I called her Julia after you. But
all daughters of the Julian clan would officially
be named Julia. ?295 a tribune (Caesar) could
levy troops Could tribuni militum levy on their
own? ?333 Did one bow in prayer? Or lift ones
head? 361 Pompey was actually in Spain at the
time of the Spartacus revolt, coming back only to
mop up. x372 She unbuttoned her stola to ease
Brutus in. What kind of a garment is this
supposed to be? No buttons or button-holes in
ancient Rome. 434 Igguldens notion of how the
10th legion came into being got its name (from
decimation) closeness to Caesar. Maybe not
impossible, but highly unlikely. Still it makes a
good story.
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Emperor 3 Field of Swords Four years after end
of vol 2 - in Spain with Legio X Historically
this should be 69, Caesar is shown as quaestor in
Spain, but he was there only 1 year (or less),
not 4-6 years as the novel has it. But that
might not allow time for Servilia to come open
a brothel. 34-37 Interesting discussion of
forging steel blades x 38 Pompey Crassus
consuls. (Should be 70 BC) and Cornelia should
have died later ?40 Crassus bets a measly 2
sesterces on a chariot race while Pompey bets
100 gold? 47-48 The Alexander the Great
episode handled differently here. ? 64 Cabera
would be paid 12 HS/month to doctor at a brothel
(on call). Doesnt seem like much (about 3x daily
wage of a laborer at end of century, which would
be 1 denarius 4 HS) ?65 Would Caesar have
invited Servilia to a senior staff meeting? 94
Caesar as praetor. Didnt happen until 62 (after
Spain -61), so a big jump. x95 tribunal immunity
- Caesar couldnt be a tribunus plebis, being a
patrician x97 Servilia wearing diamonds. They
didnt come in until 1st cent AD x103 Crassus
had appointed Caesar aedile? Not in his
gift. ?129 Legio X is waiting, swords in hand --
then throw spears? How can they do that?
(Referring to different lines??) x142 Executions
would not have been public. ?158 Would there
ever be a torchlight session for a sword
tourney? How well would people see? The
description of the tourney itself is interesting
vivid, without being too gory. x 220 M Antony
was commander for 4 years of the legion in Gaul
before Caesar came? No way.
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?243 King of the Helvetii ? Caesar says in BG
II.1 that when Orgetorix tried to make an
arrangement whereby he would become king, he was
tried by a national court escaped death by
flight. 246 Idea to send Helvetii back home as
buffer against Germans comes here from Antony,
not Caesar x 257 Would any Roman be surprised at
watering wine at a meal? ? 267 Clodius Milo as
merchants who have become senators? x 273 Caesar
should have known what was going on back in Rome
while he was away. Surely he had letter writers
sending him messages. ?282 Clodius born in the
gutters of the city Unlikely. And does Iggulden
consider there to have been only 2 tribuni
plebis? (rather than 10) ? 319 Any evidence
that Caesar did invite settlers from Rome to Gaul
with promise of free land? ?320 Pompey sponsors
Clodius for chief magistrate they had chosen
candidates for consular elections? What then is
chief magistrate? 368 ff Iggulden gives a
vivid view of lawlessness in Rome while Clodius
Milo are fighting it out Pompey is
powerless. x 370 Milos men are responsible for
the death of Clodius, but its in a melee in the
forum, not on the Via Appia. 438 Iggulden
describes in more detail than I have seen the use
of horns for complicated battle signals. How
correct? Sources? Vegetius? ? 452 Senate had
left Caesar the rank of tribune? (militum?
certainly not plebis) x 454 legionaries had
recovered the bodies of Crassus his son from
Parthia? No. They would have had a hard time
finding the head of Crassus after it was used in
a Parthian play. 466 If I have changed history
in the book, I hope it has been deliberate rather
than simple error. I have certainly tried to be
as accurate as I could be. Limited success,
judged by historical, rather than literary,
standards. Overall--Well written, interesting,
vivid novel -- not sure whether thats a good or
bad thing given the misinformation.
39

• Emperor 4 The Gods of War
• Octavian didnt exactly take the name Gauis
  Julius Caesar to honor Caesar. He did what any
  adopted son did
• ( he already was Gaius) -- and added his old
  nomen, Octavius, as a cognomen, Octavianus.
• x Iggulden doesnt give a date at the start of
  the novel, but the dust jacket says Caesar
  crossed the Rubicon in 53 BC
• (it was 49)
• 23-24 Force of personality ( clever psychology)
  well portrayed when Caesar deals with Ahenobarbus
  his troops
• at Corfinium.
• x 25 Pompey sails from Ostia (rather than
  Brundisium) p 95 Caesar also departs for Greece
  from Ostia.
• ? 96 a map as tall wide as man hangs on the
  wall -- would be pretty narrow.
• Iggulden moves Bona Dea affair to after Rubicon.
  Clodius has been killed in the novel earlier, so
  he names
• the intruder Publius, echoing the real Publius
  Clodius Pulcher Not clear, in Igguldens
  account, how the intruder
• was discovered at Bona Dea. Why would Pompeia
  raise the alarm?

40
Patricia Anne Hunter, in an email "Emperor The
Gates of Rome", the first in a series about
Caesar by Conn Iggulden. Quite a good read if
it were merely a novel about fictitious people,
but I soon realized that the author hadn't done
much research. Firstly, he makes a dominant and
martially inclined Marcus Brutus the same age as
Caesar - they're seven when the story opens.
Brutus, reputedly the son of a whore, has been
raised by Caesar's father on his country estate.
Why we're not told, but the two lads are
inseparable companions until Brutus goes off to
join a legion. Then we learn that Marius was the
brother of Caesar's Dad, and his wife was
called Metella. Not only that, Caesar is an only
child - and since his birth his mother has been
half-mad and prone to frequent epileptic fits,
so she plays no part in raising him. I think
I've listed enough clangers to prove what an
inaccurate book this is.
No picture for Son of Fortune
41
My favorites - sort of in order
Thornton Wilder Ides of March - just fun in
every way marvelously written (despite his
transforming of time). A must read. Steven
Saylor Roman Blood - shows what you can do by
reading a Ciceronian defense speech the other
way round. All of his novels are good, but the
ones that use a murder speech as the basis are
best. Catilinas Riddle is a bit weaker. Saylors
novels are not light fare, and rather darker
than Davis. Gordianus the Finder develops a lot
over the series, and does some things that you
wouldnt have predicted (or he) from the early
volumes -- but they all come naturally. Lindsey
Davis Silver Pigs -(despite the gaffe that is
central to it, the ink on the dress around the
wound above Helenas sisters heart. ) All of
Davis novels are fun to read, for the
adventure, romance and wit. They are reasonably
light fare, but quite accurate. (Her second
novel, Shadows in Bronze, is one of her weaker
ones.) A large part of the enjoyment is watching
Falco get himself out of scrapes, many of which
involve members of his family. Lots of good
daily life detail.
42
Robert Graves I, Claudius Claudius the God -
because they are well-written, eventful, and
give the most stunning blackening of Livias
character on record. Heavy reading, with lots of
sex and violence. Mary Reed Eric Mayer
The John the Eunuch novels (all with numbers in
the title) are excellent character studies of
major minor characters alike and give an
opening into a time and world (6th century
Constantinople) not as much written about as
republican or early imperial Rome -- and no
battles. Caroline Lawrence The Thieves of Ostia
and all the subsequent volumes (and the many yet
to come). These are written for British
middle-schoolers - or younger- but there is no
dumbing down of vocabulary or plot (the messages
may be just a little more clearly spelled out
than in an adult book). The writing is excellent
and adults should enjoy the series as much as
young children do -- though high-schoolers would
probably consider them beneath them (their loss).
Little to no sex, so thats not a problem for
younger readers. There is violence, but not
graphic. Her command of historical detail is
good, and readers would get a good sense of
Roman small towns at the time of the Vesuvius
eruption. As the series progresses, stories get
a bit darker (with some characters we like dying
off), but generally upbeat.
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Colleen McCulloughMaster of Rome series.
Intricate plots, long, long books, much detail,
some find excessive, but corking good stories,
well-told. Like Dorothy Sayers before her (with
Lord Peter Wimsey), McCullough has fallen in
love with her hero, and Caesar can do no wrong
until the very end of her series. Not a quick
read or a light one, and some mistakes, despite
her extensive authors notes and glossary in the
back, but she does give a good sense of the
social and political world of the last
half-century of the Roman republic. Simon
Scarrow Under the Eagle ( the Eagle series). If
you like lots of adventure, pitched battles and
ambushes and raids, this is your series. The 2
main characters, the tough centurion and his
very young, no-military-background second, show
nice (but predictable) development. A number of
characters are deceitful and self- promoting, but
its pleasant to see the later emperor Vespasian
when he is still a fairly young man (under
Claudius). Fast paced, quick reading.
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I think that one of the commonest excesses of the
more conscientious authors of historical novel
however is a tendency to pedantry. One is often
tempted to suspect that these writers are
hypersensitive about not being professional
historians and are determined to convince us of
their knowledge of their subject by bombarding
us with tedious information. An example of such
an author is Colleen McCullough, a prolific and
successful writer of many kinds of novel, among
them the "Masters of Rome" series, which
consists of First Man in Rome, Grass Crown,
Fortune's Favorites, Caesar's Women, and Caesar.
These volumes comprise a saga which opens in
about 120 B.C. and ends with Caesar's second
expedition to Britain, his conquest of the
Gauls, and the battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C.
Perhaps many of you know her works and like them,
as do many other readers, who have made her
novels international bestsellers. Colleen
McCullough, it must be conceded, has chosen the
complicated world of Roman politics and some
effort might legitimately be expected on the
mise-en-scene. But I contend that a skillful
author can accomplish this almost actively
within the text and in an oblique way. Details
which cannot be integrated in this manner are
probably superfluous. As if the bombardment of
data within her novel The First Man in Rome is
not sufficient however, Ms. McCullough provides
a 94-page glossary, a 15-page pronunciation guide
to Roman masculine names, an author's note,
maps, portraits of Romans, and so forth. One gets
the impression that the author is setting out to
create some kind of a textbook for a class on
Roman politics. Clearly for her the emphasis
falls not upon the word "novel" but the word
"historical. Ippokratis Kantzios, in his talk
HISTORICAL RESEARCH AND THE NOVEL BALANCING
HISTORICITY AND NOVELISTIC ASPECT CAAS spring
2000 Princeton
45
John Maddox Roberts (in his SPQR series) and
David Wishart (in his Corvinus series) both have
an engaging young senator who keeps winding up
investigating murders and government problems.
These are fairly breezy but fun to read and
pretty accurate, Roberts for the time of Caesar
and Wishart for a generation (or 2) later. Their
sleuths are not confined to Rome but wander
fairly widely. Both authors write a number of
other novels, some Roman, others not. Roberts
writes sci-fi and alternate history (2 novels
posit that Carthage won the war with Rome), and
Wishart writes Roman novels outside the time of
Corvinus. Marilyn Todd If you like witty
repartee and a sleuthess with attitude, meet
Claudia Seferis, who starts out as a courtesan,
but becomes a different kind of business woman
when she inherits an winery, Her sometime love
interest, sometime nemesis is an FBI type who
saves her from time to time and who looks at
times as if he might arrest her on behalf of
Augustus. Her historical detail is good and the
story lines are clear and reasonably short.
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Rosemary Rowe is the author I know least well,
but her command of detail is excellent, she
plots a good story with many twists and
occasional ironic touches, and her setting,
Britain at the end of the 2nd century AD, opens
new vistas for the genre (2 other examples in
the DB aside from her own). Murder in the Forum
well rewards your reading, not too heavy but not
light and airy either. You will know from the
first page who deserves to be murdered - and be
glad when it happens, though it starts up all
kinds of problems for Libertus and his
patron. Conn Iggulden All of his emperor
series are well-written, well-plotted, and
peopled with interesting characters. He, like
McCullough, seems to have fallen a bit in love
with Caesar (as do most authors who have him as a
central, as opposed to peripheral, character),
but he has so many intentional distortions of
historical fact and time and so many
questionable or outright wrong errors in detail,
that I have mixed emotions about him. If he were
a less good writer, he would be less read
remembered, but I fear many of his readers will
be unable to sort out the right from the wrong in
his stories and that they will come away with
reams of misinformation and misperceptions. Its
very good reading, but very poor Roman history.
I accepted that in Thornton Wilders Ides of
March. Im less willing to accept it in
Igguldens 4 books.
47
Valete, omnes. Audivistis bene et gratias
vobis do. Cavete foras viae sunt
plenae periculorum.
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And, as a footnote, if youd like to read a
stirring book about Caesar in Gaul, with lots of
incident and a touch of magic, try Morgan
Llywellens novel, Druids. The difference is
that you see Caesar the Romans from the
standpoint of the Gauls, especially Vercingetorix
and the narrator, Ainvar, who becomes chief
druid. Do not confuse this with the movie of the
same name that has the same setting and some of
the same characters, but it has noting to do with
the book and is only so-so as a movie.
Further footnote They are not novels, but anyone
interested in Julius Caesar has to read 2 plays,
Shakespeares Julius Caesar and George Bernard
Shaws Caesar and Cleopatra. Both excellent,
with contradictory views of Caesar, and Shaws
wonderfully Irish view of Britons.
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And Thats Really All, Folks