# Novels about Ancient Rome **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957 "2005-04-25T02:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/1 "2005-04-25T02:27:43Z")
I recently finished McCullough’s Masters Of Rome series, and of course I’ve been jonesing for more. Immediately after finishing the last book in her series I read _Augustus_ by Allan Massie. I was slightly disappointed, but I think part of it was that I was so used to McCullough’s overwrought style that Massie’s laid-back and slightly snarky prose was a bit jarring. On the other hand, I’m now reading _Roman Blood_ by Steven Saylor, and enjoying every word of it. My mother lent me all her Gordianus the Finder books and I’m looking forward to devouring the rest. I have, of course, read _I, Claudius_ and _Claudius the God_. So what are your favorite novels set in ancient Rome? Any recommendations – military, mystery, straight history, even romance, it doesn’t matter. And which should people avoid at all costs? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/2 "2005-04-25T02:35:22Z")
John Maddox Roberts SPQR series. It’s set in the same period as the Saylor books, before the end of the Republican period. Since you read the Masters of Rome you’ll recognize the family of the person telling the stories in the SPQR series. He’s one of the numerous Mettellus clan. For a later period, set during the reign of the emperor Vespasian, there are the books by Lindsey Davis, featuring Marcus Didius Falco. He’s a sort of private investigator, as Gordianus is. These books often have a lighter tone, but there are serious parts too. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/3 "2005-04-25T02:40:17Z")
Forgot to mention, especially with the Davis books, it helps to read them in order, starting with Silver Pigs. Many characters are carried over, and if read out of order you’d find yourself wondering how certain things came to happen. And Davis lets the characters evolve, they aren’t static, or cardboard cutouts. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/4 "2005-04-25T02:54:35Z")
I have an extra copy of the first SPQR novel, if you’d like it. Send me an email if you are interested. It’s a paperback so it will be easy to mail. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/5 "2005-04-25T03:18:53Z")
I love both Linsey Davis and Steven Saylor. The The Course of Honor by Davis is one of my favorites. It’s out of print in the states, but a lot of libraries have it. Another great author is Gillian Bradshaw. Beacon of Alexandria is terrific. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/6 "2005-04-25T03:52:02Z")
Thanks, **Baker**! I sent you an e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/7 "2005-04-25T04:08:15Z")
And I just sent you an email as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/8 "2005-04-25T05:51:10Z")
Margaret George’s _Memoirs of Cleopatra_ is the fictional retelling of the Cleopatra and Caesar story. A lot of the action takes place in Egypt, of course, but Cleopatra goes to Rome. ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/9 "2005-04-25T07:51:05Z")
Robert Harris’s _Pompeii_ is a good thriller. Harris, who wrote _Fatherland_ and _Engima_, is talented at weaving together fact and fiction and building up a realistic world. He also drops in occassional guest appearances from real historical figures such as Pliny the Elder. I have also recently read a decent non-fiction book about the end of the Republic called _Rubicon_. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Agent\_Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Cooper)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/10 "2005-04-25T13:34:07Z")
probly not what youre after but … Pandora by Anne Rice ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/11 "2005-04-25T13:43:57Z")
I read a good one last year about Ovid, and his exile…anyone know the title? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/12 "2005-04-25T13:45:27Z")
> [@gfloyd](#): > > I love both Linsey Davis and Steven Saylor. The The Course of Honor by Davis is one of my favorites. It’s out of print in the states, but a lot of libraries have it. Another great author is Gillian Bradshaw. Beacon of Alexandria is terrific. The Course of Honor is NOT out-of-print in the USA. It’s been in every Borders bookstore I’ve shopped in; I believe the publisher is Mysterious Press and you can also get it through Amazon. As you might have guessed, I’m a hge Lindsey Davis fan. Check her [site](http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk). ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/13 "2005-04-25T14:08:16Z")
> [@snorlax](#): > > I have also recently read a decent non-fiction book about the end of the Republic called _Rubicon_. I just read that too. I liked it a lot. After the Masters series it was basically a good, quick summary of everything I had just read! ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/14 "2005-04-25T14:21:02Z")
I am assuming you read I Claudius second part: Claudius the god. If you have, then I can only recommend “Hadrian’s Memoirs” by Marguerite Yourcenar. She is one of France’s best writers of the 20 century, (the first woman to be admitted into the French Academy), and this is her masterpiece.- The novel is basically Emperor Hadrian telling his life story to his future succesor, Marco Aurelio. The reason this is a great novel is the way to Yourcenar manages to portray Hadrian and incredible complex man who was a soldier, a poet, a tyran and humanity’s benefactor. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/15 "2005-04-25T14:32:57Z")
‘Household Gods’ by Harry Turtledove and Judith Tarr. In it, a modern woman gets sent back in time and has to cope with living in the Empire in second century Austria. It gives a great feel for the time and is worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/16 "2005-04-25T14:36:21Z")
I picked up Silver Pigs at a used book sale, because the concept of a mystery in Roman times intrigued me - had never heard of Davis or Falco prior to that. It was a pretty good read. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/17 "2005-04-25T15:02:01Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > ‘Household Gods’ by Harry Turtledove and Judith Tarr. > > In it, a modern woman gets sent back in time and has to cope with living in the Empire in second century Austria. > > It gives a great feel for the time and is worth reading. Seconded. That’s why I opened the thread in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/18 "2005-04-26T17:45:54Z")
_The Unwilling Vestal_ is a fun one. I think it’s available at Project Gutenberg. I first found it when I was 12 or so, and still love it. When my mother wanted to scan it for Gutenberg, she borrowed the copy I stole from her years ago, and graciously gave it back to me. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/19 "2005-04-26T19:31:32Z")
_I Am a Barbarian_ by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a good, pulpy little read. It’s about the Emperor Caligula as seen through the eyes of his personal slave. ---
**Author:** ![furthur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@furthur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furthur)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957/20 "2005-04-26T20:54:53Z")
Other series set in Rome: David Wishart has a series with a main character called Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus. I don’t think it’s quite as good as Lindsey Davis’ series, but still pretty readable. Marilyn Todd does a series, nominally mystery, about a woman called Claudia Seferius, set in 13 BC onward. Claudia’s a little anachronistic and completely badly behaved, but amusing. Rosemary Rowe has a series set in Roman Britain, 186 AD, with freedman Libertus as the main character. Rosemary Sutcliff has a brilliant one-off called The Eagle of the Ninth. My Lindsey Davis books are among my most treasured possessions – I love Falco, Helena, and all the crew. John Maddox Roberts and Steven Saylor write great books too. And of course I, Claudius was wonderful. Mrs. Furthur [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-about-ancient-rome/300957.md?page=2)