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#1
05-06-2010, 07:50 AM
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novels set during 60BC-400AD
For some unknown reason I'm fascinated with this period, the mingling of pagan world and early christianity, maybe because I'm fascinated with exactly how an obscure fanatical Judean cult ended up dominating the western world. (note I'm not a believer...)
So recommend some novels that really bring alive day to day life of different aspects of this world... "I claudius" and "Claudius the God" of course... Just reading "Augustus" by Allan Massie right now, gives another view of the lives of Augustus and Livia. Anything set in Roman britain or Judea in this time? 
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#2
05-06-2010, 08:03 AM
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Steven Saylor's novels of ancient Rome are outstanding. The last time I checked he was up to number eleven. The all take place in Rome between roughly 100 B.C. and 10 B.C. They deal with a "private detective" named Gordianus the Finder who interacts with all the leading political figures of the day. He doesn't make or change history but rather gets involved as an observer in all the major events in Rome. In addition to the story telling, the books contain vivid descriptions of what it must have been like to live in Rome during this period; customs, food, houses, etc. Highly recommended!
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#3
05-06-2010, 08:04 AM
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Good Lord -- there a lot of them, and of various types
Historical: Colleen mcCulloch's "Makers of Rome" series, starting with The First Man in Rome and going through umpteen books Gore Vidal's Julian Howard Fast's Spartacus Lew Wallace's Ben Hur Thomas B. Costain's notorious The Silver Chalice Mysteries: Lindsay Davis' Marcus Didius Falco novels, starting with Silver Pigs and going to over a dozen by now. Stephen Saylor's mystery novels
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#5
05-06-2010, 08:45 AM
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I'll add a second vote for the Falco novels, the later ones are a little formulaic, but the first ten or so are fantastic and, as far as I can tell, quite historically accurate.
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#6
05-06-2010, 08:50 AM
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 Falco - my particular favourite - has been mentioned. Unlike Ronald C. Semone I found Saylor's books hard going.
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#7
05-06-2010, 08:51 AM
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Avram Davidson wrote a few historical-fantasy novels featuring Virgil (imagined as a magician-scholar) as a protagonist - the only one I've read is THE PHOENIX AND THE MIRROR, which was pretty good and definitely featured some of the things you're talking about. (A minor character is a disciple of Daniel Christ, "torn apart by lions for our sins").
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#9
05-06-2010, 08:52 AM
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#10
05-06-2010, 08:53 AM
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I believe that Rosemary's Sutcliffe's Sword at Sunset is pretty good. It is a "King Arthur" story that is a historically plausible tale about post-Roman pretty.
I am slightly hesitant because I have not read it for many years.
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#11
05-06-2010, 09:03 AM
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Simon Scarrow has a series featuring two Roman Centurians who end up undertaking various dodgy missions. The series starts in 42 A.D. and the first few are set in England following the Invasion, although they go other places later on.
Roman military buffs generally think they're pretty good on details, afaik. The 1st is called Under the Eagle, and the most recent (9th) is The Gladiator, although I think it's a bit too formulaic and has a deliberately open ending for the next volume...
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#12
05-06-2010, 09:05 AM
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You could read Robert E. Howard's Bran Mac Morn stories -- they're set in Roman Britain. But he's not noted for his historical accuracy (although he'd clearly read quite a bit about it), and, of course, his stuff is largely literal fantasy. Read the Asterix books -- they're set in the period you want (and there's even an Asterix in Britain), with lots of Latin education in-jokes.
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#13
05-06-2010, 09:14 AM
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Should have added some new choices!
You could try the Robert Harris books Imperium, Conspiraita, and Pompeii. The first two are about Cicero and his life told by his scribe/secretary and the third - as you would expect - about the eruption of Versuvius. Sutcliffe's Sword in the Sunset is post-Roman but her The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, Frontier Wolf, and The Lantern Bearers are all right in period (like Reno Navada it's a long time since I read them).
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#14
05-06-2010, 09:20 AM
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Was just about to suggest Robert Harris. Imperium was fantastic. I didn't like Pompeii as much. Also, he plans to add a third book at some point to make a Cicero trilogy.
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#15
05-06-2010, 09:24 AM
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ok, let me narrow it down a bit... I'm specifically interessted in the seemingly little discussed dominance of Mithraism across the Roman empire just before Christianity took over.
Any novels that specifically get into this aspect of the culture? Thats around 200-300 AD, I should have realised there is a ton of earlier Roman series set in the times of Julius/Augustus/Tiberius etc Last edited by coremelt; 05-06-2010 at 09:28 AM.
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#16
05-06-2010, 09:24 AM
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Not gonna vouch for her historical accuracy, but Taylor Caldwell did a few...
A PILLAR OF IRON about Cicero DEAR & GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN about St. Luke GREAT LION OF GOD about St. Paul These were in her ultra-Catholic days. Her faith faltered & she became something of a New Ager for a while, and wrote I, JUDAS (Iscariot, of course) Anthony Burgess (of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE fame) did the very religious screenplays for the TV miniseries' JESUS OF NAZARETH and A.D. (The Book of Acts & the Caesars from Augustus to Nero)- he then wrote the more earthy, less pious novel versions MAN OF NAZARETH and THE KINGDOM OF THE WICKED.
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#17
05-06-2010, 09:26 AM
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rake's Belisarius series is actually pretty interesting, set in the period *but* is a fantasy novel. There is actually a lot of research gone into it, and it is an enjoyable read. If you do read it, keep in mind he sort of plaed fast and loose, some of the characters are from different eras of Indian history ... but if you can accept that it is not dogmatic history, it is an enjoyable read.
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#18
05-06-2010, 09:30 AM
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That's the Masters of Rome series [/nit] Really excellent - considered very accurate from a scholar/academic standpoint and a really great read if you can wrap your brain around the reptitive, long Latin names (like reading Tolstoy). A great place to start...
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#19
05-06-2010, 09:36 AM
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It's not a novel. but David Ulansey's The Origins of theMithraic Mysteries is an interesting read, with a new interpretation of Mithraism. http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Mithra...3156190&sr=1-1 There care a number of books on Mithraism. Those by Franz Cumont are older and more respected. This book is by a New Age-y author, but he has some interesting criticisms of Ulansey: http://www.amazon.com/Mithras-Initit...3156250&sr=1-7 searching for Mithraic fiction turns up a lot of Zoroastrian fiction pages, like this: http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/mtoksanen/persian.html But I think it likely that Roman Mithraism was very different from Persian Zoroastrianism (even if you don't believe Ulansey). For one thing, the characteristic artwork and the Mithraea where the rites took place aren't characteristic of Persian religion, and coijcide with Roman military outposts. Last edited by CalMeacham; 05-06-2010 at 09:36 AM.
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#20
05-06-2010, 09:40 AM
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The Moon Under Her Feet is a novelization of the "Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife" myth, and portrays Mary as a priestess of the Goddess. There's historical and Biblical footnotes for every chapter, but not being an historian, I can't vouch for the quality of those sources (the historical ones, that is).
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#21
05-06-2010, 09:59 AM
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If you're interested in some time-travel, Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove takes place in this period and deals with some themes of Christianity coming to the fore, as well as other popular cults of the period. It also does quite a lot of daily-life-in-the-era stuff as well.
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#22
05-06-2010, 10:49 AM
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If children's fiction is okay, I remember reading The Bronze Bow as a kid, though that was long enough ago that I hesitate to vouch for it now.
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#24
05-06-2010, 12:13 PM
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I don't think anyone has yet mentioned the classic Last Days Of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton which takes place in 79 A.D.
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#25
05-06-2010, 12:17 PM
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#27
05-06-2010, 01:29 PM
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I can't vouch for the translation, (the original French is great!) but The Gardens of Light by Amin Maalouf is set in the third century AD, and deals with the prophet Mani, whom we know today because of Manichaeism. May be of interest to the OP.
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#28
05-06-2010, 02:44 PM
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I'd add in The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas. The novel is much better than the Richard Burton movie.
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#29
05-06-2010, 02:48 PM
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Ernest K. Gann's The Antagonists is set in Judea in 73 AD. It was made into the TV series Masada
He wrote a sequel, too.
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#30
05-06-2010, 03:49 PM
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If you're willing to look at a different viewpoint (e.g. the "barbarians"), I'd recommend Druids by Morgan Llywelyn. It's about the Gallic War, but from the perspective of the Celts rather than the Romans. Specifically, it's about a druid from one of the major Celtic tribes getting wrapped up with Vercingetorix, the chieftain who united many of the tribes in Gaul to resist the Romans.
The one warning I'll give is that, being from the perspective of someon who completely believes in the ancient Celtic religion (including magic, gods, and reincarnation), and these beliefs are presented from his viewpoint -- as observable facts of reality, not just superstitions. This leads a lot of people to label the book 'fantasy' because it's written in the first person, and he describes a couple of religious experiences, but I don't feel that's really fair. Lots of books are written from the perspective of the beliefs of Christianity being true and factual that aren't labeled as fantasy novels. Still, I thought I'd let you know. I love that book. It's one of the books that has been most influential on my life; I read it as a teenager, and seeing history from a completely different perspective than I was used to was earthshattering to me. One of the reasons I still keep my old BBS handle as my username, here and elsewhere. It's easy to think of Romans as the light in the darkness and how cruel and evil the 'barbarians' were, but remember who wrote those histories.
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#31
05-06-2010, 03:58 PM
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The plot is slow, but I liked Quo Vadis? by Henryk Sienkiewicz. I think some Dopers might have problems with its obvious pro-Christian agenda though.
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#32
05-06-2010, 04:12 PM
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The Sea Lord by Alet Schouten. I love her books in Dutch, and this one is translated into English, which is no mean feat for a Dutch writer and which shoudl tell you how awesome it is.
Set in a little backward village in a dune-marshland on the Dutch-Frisian shore, it captures the time about 400 BC. First the village is christened. Then a bunch of Vikings arrive, technically Christians but in practice just a bunch of pirates looking for a pirates' nest. The next fifty years describe how the village gets rich enough on pirate loot (not to mention how the inbred malnourished villagers benefit from an infusion of viking blood) to build a road to the nearest town and to build an actual stone stronghold. I won't spoil the rest of the novel for you, but it has love, madness, betrayal, plague, floods and dykes. It was my favourite book as a young adult and I still think it is an exceptionally well written, moving tale, set in a time few other historical novels treat well.
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#33
05-06-2010, 04:29 PM
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#34
05-06-2010, 04:34 PM
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Judas, My Brother by Frank Yerby is a novel about the life of Christ with a reinterpretation of Judas. Yerby is most famous for being one of the bestselling U.S. writers of the 1950s whose sales plummeted when his core audience (white women) learned he was black; by the time he wrote the Judas novel he was an expatriate living in Spain and an agnostic. The novel is heavily researched and includes annotations and supporting evidence for some of his factual claims.
Song for a Dark Queen is a novel by Rosemary Sutcliffe about the rebellion led by Boudica. It's well researched, well written, and doesn't make her look like a saintly freedom fighter (though certainly she was sympathetic in the novel as in real life).
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#35
05-06-2010, 04:36 PM
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#36
05-06-2010, 04:36 PM
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#37
05-06-2010, 04:46 PM
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 Of course, you're right. I mentioned that book because it focuses on what the OP indicated: the mingling of pagan world and early christianity. For instance, the village is christened by an enterprising monk who bribes the near starving inhabitants by offering them shirts.
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#38
05-06-2010, 05:15 PM
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The Tros of Samothrace novels by Talbot Mundy are unusual in that they are set from the viewpoint of a Greek rebel against Rome who is neither Roman nor Christian. Not sure hes' a Mithraite either. They are more pulp adventures than historical novels, but are considered much more historically accurate than most pulp novels. If you want historical accuracy, though, read nonfiction histories. Well ... some of them.
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#39
05-07-2010, 08:27 AM
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Personally I've found Saylors novels(before I gave up on them) full of anachnorisms which tended to make the narrative somewhat unbelievable. Maybe he's improved, I couldn't say, now but his earlier novels displayed a shocking ignorance of how Romans thought and lived. Amongst other things, he shows that he is pretty much clueless on the upbringing of the upper two classes, his main character is anti slavery (In ancient Rome!), he marries a slave........... . He said himself he studied Roman HISTORY in his local library, but unfortunately it would seem that he contented himself with that . Like I say maybe he's switched on a bit more now about his chosen subject or maybe he isn't. I'm sorry but I found his books truly dreadful. In the spirit of fairness I'm going to read his latest book; but I'm not looking forward to it, though maybe I'll get a pleasant surprise. Or maybe I won't. I would second the posters who recommend Colleen McCulloughs "Masters of Rome "series. Apart from the her being a really talented author; she totally understands the motivations, etiquette and lifestyles of Romans of that time.
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#41
05-08-2010, 07:00 AM
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Last edited by Maastricht; 05-08-2010 at 07:00 AM.
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#43
05-08-2010, 09:42 AM
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You might be interested in The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart - the beginning of her series about Merlin. The action moves back and forth from Britain to Gaul, just at the point when druidism was on the decline, Mithraism was still around (Merlin himself followed Mithras for a period in the novel), and Christianity was just one of several religions in the area.
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#44
05-08-2010, 11:54 AM
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http://www.amazon.com/King-Ys-Poul-A...3337518&sr=1-5 The SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts are excellent mysteries set in the last days of the Republic. Way better than Saylor in terms of authenticity. I know that's not what you wanted, Coremelt but in case others are reading this. 
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#45
05-08-2010, 12:13 PM
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but will give them a go...
Linear Mode
