Ancient Rome Fiction

After years of service to Rome, Quintus Sertorius has exchanged the bloodshed of the battlefield for the tranquility of his farm. He dedicates himself to his pregnant wife with the same vigor he displayed in the legion. But soon the bells of war toll again, and there is nowhere in Italy safe from its destruction. As rebel armies close in, Sertorius realizes his wife and child are in danger. The fate of his homeland is at stake, and he cannot ignore the call to arms.

From the city of Pompeii - frozen in time by volcanic ash and lava - to the Coliseum’s famed gladiators - treated like rock stars - ancient Rome had it all: Gods and Goddesses, infamous emperors, crippling warfare, and beautiful art. Spartacus, the famous gladiator and slave, led a revolt against a tyrannical government. Conspirators violently murdered Emperor Julius Caesar. Virgil wrote epic poetry, and Jesus of Nazareth was proclaimed the messiah.

On a blistering day in the 26th year of Augustus Caesar's reign, a young chef, Thrasius, is acquired for the exorbitant price of 20,000 denarii. His purchaser is the infamous gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius, wealthy beyond measure, obsessed with a taste for fine meals from exotic places and a singular ambition: to serve as culinary adviser to Caesar, an honor that will cement his legacy as Rome's leading epicure.

History awaits an unsuspecting young man, fleeing the imperial capital and Nero's wrath. Arriving in Pompeii, Marcellus witnesses the funeral of a local man; the course of his life will be altered by this stranger's death. Unable to stop the murder of a mysterious woman named Helen, Marcellus becomes the caretaker of the dead woman's newborn baby. Hiding in plain sight at a brothel, Marcellus is left to decipher Helen's secrets. With the help of his overbearing servant and a seductive oracle, Marcellus must deduce who in Pompeii has blood on their hands.

Before Julius Caesar ruled Rome, his uncle Gaius Marius was the most powerful man in the eternal city. Once a provincial nobody with a ruined family, Marius only had one way to power: the sword. Years later, he writes to his protege Quintus Sertorius, explaining to him how he rose through the ranks of the Roman legion to become the most powerful man in the Republic. He wants to encourage and inspire the young man but gets lost in the retelling of his first experience of war, love, and killing.

Elissa Rubria Honoria is a Vestal Virgin - priestess of the sacred flame, a visionary, and one of the most powerful women in Rome. Vestals are sacrosanct, sworn to chastity on penalty of death, but the emperor, Nero, holds himself above the law. He pursues Elissa, engaging her in a deadly game of wits and sexuality. Or is Elissa really the pursuer?

For listeners eager to experience Gibbon’s brilliant primary historicism, to understand the long decline of Rome—and the reasons for the Empire’s demise—there exists no better or more accessible condensation of Decline and Fall.

South of Rome on the Gulf of Puteoli stands the splendid villa of Marcus Crassus, Rome's wealthiest citizen. When the estate overseer is murdered, Crassus concludes that the deed was done by two missing slaves, who have probably run off to join the Spartacan Slave Revolt. Unless they are found within three days, Crassus vows to massacre his remaining 99 slaves.

It has been three years since the wars against Arminius and the Cherusci. Gaius Silius, legate of the 20th Legion, is concerned that the barbarians - though shattered by the war - may be stirring once again. He also seeks to confirm the rumors regarding Arminius' death. What Silius does not realize is that there is a new threat to the empire, but it does not come from beyond the frontier; it is coming from within, where a disenchanted nobleman looks to sow the seeds of rebellion in Gaul.

Book number two of the award winning Brooke & Abby cozy mystery series, where clues from the past help solve modern murder cases. Why does Abby tarot card her way back to Ancient Rome when there’s no need to? After all, the recent death in town has been declared by the local pathologist to be simply an accidental, epileptic tragedy and nothing more. Or is it?

When barbarians invade Rome, Miranda the cat and her daughter Punka must find a safe place to hide from the chaos. They make their way through the burning city, collecting motherless kittens as they go. At last they reach the Colosseum, but even there, danger lurks! How these fortunate felines survive to become the noble ancestors of the cats of modern Rome is all due to the cleverness of the cat they come to call Miranda the Great, Queen of the Colosseum!

Rome, 56 BC. The great general Pompey has conquered the East; Julius Caesar is defeating the Gauls; only Egypt, with its strategic granaries and vast treasuries of gold, still eludes the grasp of Rome. The city itself is becoming ever more corrupt, as the last generation of the Roman Republic indulges in political backstabbing, endless lawsuits, scandalous love affairs, and the occasional murder.

A Storytellers' reworking of Caesar's Commentaries as a new version. This follows the original line-by-line to create a modern voice that is faithful to Caesar's exacting text.

After saving the Empire's richest province from a foreign army, Marcus and the men who protect him have been in hiding. Their lives will be forfeit if they are seen in Rome. But times have changed. Marcus's protector, the patrician legion commander Scaurus, has been summoned home by his mentor, a powerful senator who has decided he must act to save the empire from its debauched ruler's reign of terror. Rome is a hotbed of conspiracy and treachery and the senator is not the only contender for power. The emperor himself plans to destroy those he mistrusts, and no-one is safe.

Rome, 90 BC. Quintus Sertorius is tired. Weary after eight years of warfare in Greece, the decorated hero longs to reunite with his family and repair their frayed bond. But no sooner has he returned than Rome is thrust into war again. This time, the attackers are their closest allies, the Italian tribes surrounding them. To make matters worse, Sertorius learns his son has joined the legion under the command of a scheming rival looking to exert leverage.

The final, gripping, instalment in "The Invincibles series". Octavian has revenged Caesar's name, and defeated the pirate Sextus Pompeius, but now he must ensure his complete rule of Rome. He feels the potential of betrayal around every corner: from his wife Livia, to his best friends and allies Maecenas and Agrippa. He needs heirs, and he needs security, but he has the shadow of Mark Anthony breathing down his neck from Egypt.

Hannibal was a great and skillful general who defeated the Romans at Trebia, Lake Trasimenus, and Cannae, and all but took Rome.

Caesar is dead. Revenge has armed his hand. His name is Octavian. Though little more than a boy, Octavian, Caesar's heir is determined to avenge his adoptive father's death. Battling against some of Rome's most imposing political figures, Octavian surrounds himself with a group of loyal allies who are as determined as himself to succeed: Maecenas, Agrippa and Rufus. They become known and feared as the 'Invincibles'; dedicated to vengeance, with the aim of punishing, one by one, all those who have Caesar's blood on their hands.

Wall of Hadrian, Britannia, AD 367. Tribune Sixtus Victorinus is scouting north of the Wall when he first sees the smoke. Riding south he finds a province in chaos, the local populace in flight, the soldiers absent. Britannia is ablaze, overrun with barbarians and Valentia is the word on everyone’s lips. But no one seems to have the first clue what it means... Victorinus may have let his life run to ruin and drunk his youth away, but now he must forge himself into the soldier he always wanted to be, the hero his children think he is.

Epictetus was brought as a slave to Rome, where he became a great teacher. His philosophy, called stoicism, was practical, not theoretical - aimed at relieving suffering here and now. And Epictetus knew suffering. Besides being a former slave, he was lame in one leg and walked with a crutch. Turning these obstacles to his advantage, Epictetus learned that lasting peace and happiness can only come from within. The Manual is a collection of Epictetus' essential teachings. It points the way to inner harmony and freedom, through all of life's storms and stresses.