Fiction set in the Roman empire

The following article Fiction set in the Roman Empire lists all works set in the Middle and Late Roman Republic and in the (Western) Roman Empire but not those set in the city of Rome or Byzantium.

The article lists works only from the Middle Republic when the city-state of Rome began to expand over Italy.

Contents 1 Historical novels listed in chronological order 1.1 Early and Middle Republic 1.2 Late Republic 1.3 Early/High Empire (27 BC to 190 AD) 1.3.1 The Julio-Claudian Dynasty 1.3.2 The Flavian Dynasty 1.3.3 Middle Empire (191 AD to 305 AD), when Diocletian splits the Empire 1.4 Late Empire: West (to 476 AD) 1.5 Late Empire: Byzantine (457-1453 AD) 2 Unknown period 3 Detective fiction 4 Science fiction 5 Science fiction/time travel novels 5.1 Alternate universe fiction 6 Comic books 7 Works inspired by Roman history, or by works of fiction and non-fiction about Rome 7.1 Science fiction inspired by Rome or works about Rome 7.2 Comic books 8 Movies 9 Plays 10 Television 11 Video Games 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

Historical novels listed in chronological order

Early and Middle Republic

If you know of works set in the Middle Republic, please expand this section.

• Roma, published March 6, 2007, by Steven Saylor. The book covers Rome's Republican history from before the founding of the city.^[1]

No works, apart from Saylor's Roma, are known to be set partially or wholly in the Middle Republic. Books about Hannibal, such as David Anthony Durham's Pride of Carthage (2005), do feature Romans from the Middle Republic.

• Traitors’ Legion (Ace G-532,1963) by Jay Scotland, a swashbucker about a disgraced legion, set in Hannibal’s time.

Late Republic

• The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy (2005) by Michael Curtis Ford. The career of Mithridates VI (134-63 BC)
• The Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough. Beginning before the birth of Julius Caesar to after his death, it details the self-immolation of the Roman Republic.
• Spartacus by Howard Fast
• Spartacus by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
• The Emperor series, by Conn Iggulden, is more alternate history than fictionalized biography in some respects.
• Young Caesar (1958) by Rex Warner
• Pro Caelio by Stephen Ciraolo, possibly based on Cicero's famous speech Pro Caelio defending a friend on various charges.
• Imperium by Robert Harris, showing Cicero's rise to the consulship in 63 BC; a fictionalized biography told by his slave, later freedman, Tiro
• A Pillar of Iron (1965) by Taylor Caldwell, a fictionalized biography of Cicero.
• Winter Quarters (1956) by Alfred Duggan. Two Gauls in the time of Julius Caesar, one of whom is under a curse from the Mother Goddess, whose worship he finds throughout the Roman world.
• The Conquered by Naomi Mitchison (1923). Gaul & the Gallic Wars 1st century BC
• Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion (1893) by G. A. Henty
• The Education of Julius Caesar: A Biography, A Reconstruction by Arthur D. Kahn Schocken Books, New York 1986
• Imperial Caesar (1960) also by Rex Warner
• The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder, about the year culminating in Caesar's assassination.
• Julius Caesar (play) (1599) by Shakespeare
• Three's Company (1958) by Alfred Duggan. The career of Lepidus, triumvir with Octavian and Marcus Antonius after the death of Julius Caesar.
• Augustus: A Novel by John Edward Williams

Early/High Empire (27 BC to 190 AD)

• Legion by William Altimari set during the reign of Augustus Caesar, takes place in 11 B.C. battle of the Lupia River
• Centurion: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Peter W. Mitsopoulos set during the reign of Augustus Caesar, takes place in 9A.D., battle of Teutoburg Forest
• Three Legions series by Rosemary Sutcliffe set in Roman Britain c130 AD. The three novels consist of The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), The Silver Branch (1957), and The Lantern Bearers (1959). The three were first collected in one volume as Three Legions in 1980.
• Frontier Wolf (1980). Set in 343 AD. As a punishment, a detachment of Roman legionaries are ordered on a hopeless mission beyond Hadrian's Wall.
• 68 A.D. by D.G. Bellenger
• The Wall by Paul Tilbury (2007) an account of a soldiers' life in the garrison manning Hadrians' Wall.
• Let the Emperor Speak: A novel of Caesar Augustus by Allan Massie, Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York, 1987 (First published in Great Britain in 1986 by the Bodley Head as AUGUSTUS).

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty

• Caesar, Anthony, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero's Heirs by Allan Massie.

Books about early Christians or the Christ include:

• Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880) by Lew Wallace; famously made into a film starring Charlton Heston; set in the reign of Tiberius in Judaea, the Mediterranean, and Rome. Epilogues carry the story into the reign of Nero
• The Robe (1942), by Lloyd C. Douglas, set in the same period as Ben-Hur; like Ben-Hur, more famous as a film.

• I Am a Barbarian (1967, written 1941) by Edgar Rice Burroughs; the fictionalized memoirs of Caligula's slave.

Books about Claudius or set in his reign include:

• I, Claudius (1934) and its sequel, Claudius the God (1935), by Robert Graves. The classic and influential dramatised account of the life of the emperor Claudius, made into a popular TV series (see below).
• The Eagle series by Nigerian-born British novelist Simon Scarrow. The first book Under the Eagle (part of the Eagle series) was published 2000 by Simon Scarrow. Story of Roman invasion of Britain, featuring a young Vespasian. Other books in the series include The Eagle's Conquest (2001 set in 42 AD (introducing Boudicca at the end); When the Eagle Hunts (2002) set in 44 AD. Other books in the series include The Eagle and the Wolves (2003), The Eagle's Prey (2004), The Eagle's Prophecy (2005), The Eagle in the Sand (2006), and the forthcoming Centurion (January - 2008).

Books set in Nero's reign include:

• Quo Vadis (1895/1896), by Henryk Sienkiewicz set in the reign of Nero in 64 AD.
• A. D. 62: Pompeii by Rebecca East
• A Song for Nero (2003) by Tom Holt, writing as Thomas Holt.
• Domina (2002) by Paul Doherty, story of Agrippina, Claudius’wife, mother of Nero.
• Imperial Governor (1968, reprinted 2002), George Shipway, the Icenii revolt under Boudicca.

The Flavian Dynasty

• The Last Days of Pompeii by E.G.Bulwer-Lytton
• Pompeii by Robert Harris, set in the reign of Titus.

Middle Empire (191 AD to 305 AD), when Diocletian splits the Empire

• Helena by Evelyn Waugh; follows the quest of the Empress Helena, a Christian and the mother of Emperor Constantine to uncover the remains of the cross upon which Christ was crucified.
• Mémoires d'Hadrien (Memoirs of Hadrian) by Marguerite Yourcenar
• Following Hadrian: A Second-Century Journey through the Roman Empire by Elizabeth Speller
• Family Favourites (1960), by Alfred Duggan; a tale of court life under the teenage emperor Elegabalus, as recounted by his personal bodyguard
• The Last Legion: A Novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi; fictionalized story of the emperor Valerian and what might have happened to his surviving retinue.
• The Water Thief (2007) by Ben Pastor; in 304 AD the historian to Diocletian investigates the death of Antinous, Hadrian's favored male consort.

Late Empire: West (to 476 AD)

• The Young Julian by Thomas J. Hairston, Ph.D.
• Julian (1964) by Gore Vidal, fictionalized biography of the emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried to revive Paganism
• Eagle in the Snow (1970) by Wallace Breem; set in Britannia and Germania in the late 4th and early 5th Century; features a Mithraic Roman general.
• Titus Andronicus (play) (1590's) by William Shakespeare, based on a fictional Imperial Roman general fighting the Goths.
• The Little Emperors (1951) by Alfred Duggan. A succession of coups in late-Roman Britain.
• Dominic (1991) by Kathleen Robinson. The life and times of a dwarf, set in Gaul, Egypt, Constantinople, and finally Germania, 397 AD.
• Gods And Legions: A Novel of the Roman Empire (2002) by Michael Curtis Ford
• The Sword of Attila: A Novel of the Last Years of Rome (2005) by Michael Curtis Ford
• The Fall of Rome: A Novel of a World Lost (2007) by Michael Curtis Ford
• The Fall of Rome by R. A. Lafferty. A sympathetic reconstruction of the life of Alaric, the Visigoth who sacked the city of Rome in 410 AD.

Late Empire: Byzantine (457-1453 AD)

Other books about the Byzantine empire and the Crusades are listed under fiction set in Byzantium

• Count Belisarius (1938), by Robert Graves, set in the 6th century AD, in the reign of Justinian
• Justinian, a novel, by H N Turteltaub (Harry Turtledove), August 1998
• Murder Imperial, (2003) and The Song of the Gladiator (2004) by Paul Doherty, Helena, mother of Constantine, employs a meek spy named Claudia.

Unknown period

• Avventura nel primo secolo (Adventure in the First Century) by Paolo Monelli
• The Roman (1964) by Mika Waltari
• The Door in the Wall, The Key, The Lock by Benita Kane Jaro
• Sand of the Arena by James Duffy
• The Nero Prediction by Humphry Knipe
• In the Army of Marcus Batallius by David M. Ross
• Gods and Legions: A Novel of The Roman Empire by Michael Curtis Ford
• The Quest For the Lost Roman Legions by Tony Clunn
• Domitia & Domitian by David Corson
• Games of Venus by Sylvia Shults
• The Flames of Rome by Paul L. Maier
• Antonia by Brenda Jagger
• The Tribune: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Patrick Larkin
• Hadrian's Wall: A Novel by William Dietrich
• The Centurion: A Novel (1986) by Jan de Hartog

Detective fiction

• The Roma Sub Rosa series (1991-2005) by Steven Saylor, starts with Roman Blood (1991); the books cover the period 80 BC to 48 BC.
• The Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis, starts with The Silver Pigs; set in the reign of Vespasian, and taking place in many locales around the Empire.
• The SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts, set in the early Empire.
• The I, Claudia series of novels by Marilyn Todd featuring her picaresque heroine Claudia Seferius
• The Publius Aurelius series by Danila Comastri Montanari
• The Eagle series by Simon Scarrow (see above)
• The Marcus Corvinus series by David Wishart; early Empire.
• Roman Justice: SPQR: Too Roman To Handle, by Anne Hart
• Medicus (2007) by Ruth Downie; debut in a mystery series concerning a military doctor stationed in Britannia during Hadrian's reign.
• The Germanicus Mosaic series by Rosemary Rowe - set in later Roman Britain.
• The Roman Mysteries young adults' detective/drama series by Caroline Lawrence
• The Caius Trilogy by German author Henry Winterfeld: Caius ist ein Dummkopf (Caius is an Idiot); Caius geht ein Licht auf (Caius has an Inspiration), and Caius in der Klemme (Caius in a Fix). The first part was published in English with the alternate title Detectives in Togas. The second was published in English with the alternate title Mystery of the Roman Ransom.
• The Third Princess: A Septimus Severus Quistus Roman Mystery by Philip Boast

Science fiction

Science fiction/time travel novels

• Caesar's Bicycle (1997) (Timeline Wars series) by John Barnes
• Household Gods (1999), by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove set in the reign of Marcus Aurelius
• The Time Travelling Cat and the Roman Eagle (2001) by Julia Jarman
• Toss of the Coin (Time Rangers) (1998) by Rob Childs
• The Chance (2006) by Hils Wilson
• A. D. 62 Pompeii (2003) by Rebecca East

Alternate universe fiction

The following alternate history novels are set in fictional universes prior to the present day.

• Lest Darkness Fall (1939) by L. Sprague de Camp; a time-travelling American alters history, set in 535 AD.
• Agent of Byzantium by Harry Turtledove set in an alternate 14th century with no Islam.
• Hannibal's Children and its sequel The Seven Hills by John Maddox Roberts. A victorious Hannibal sends all the Romans into exile, but they found a new city and their descendants return for vengeance.

The following alternate history story is set in a fictional universe prior to the present day

• "Delenda Est" (1955) by Poul Anderson; now available in Guardians of Time (1960 and 1985) editions); Rome defeated by Carthage in the Second Punic War and what follows.

The following alternate history novels are set in fictional universes where the Roman Empire never fell, and has endured to the present day:

• Romanitas (2005), by Sophia McDougall
• Rome Burning (2006), sequel to Romanitas, by Sophia McDougall
• Roma Eterna, a 2003 novel by Robert Silverberg
• The Germanicus trilogy, a collection of books by Kirk Mitchell.
• Orbis (novel) (2002), by Scott Mackay. Romans return to a modern day Earth to retake it from Alien invaders who exiled them centuries ago and imposed a strange form of Christianity.
• The Aquiliad (1983), by Somtow Sucharitkul. Circa 50 AD. A romp in which Roman legions discover America, battle the Aztecs, encounter Big Foot, and drive off flying saucers.
• Emperor (2006), by Stephen Baxter. After a Celtic chieftain obeys an ancient prophecy, and sides with the invaders, the history of Roman Britain takes a different path. First in a series.

Comic books

• Astérix series by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). A tiny village in Gaul holds out against the Roman Army, and its doughtiest warriors meet all the famous Romans.

Works inspired by Roman history, or by works of fiction and non-fiction about Rome

Science fiction inspired by Rome or works about Rome

• Empire of the Atom, by A. E. van Vogt, translates Graves' novel about Belisarius (above) into a science fiction context.
• The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, about the fall of a galactic empire, is derived from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
• Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson, about a post-apocalyptic America transformed into a neo-Roman Empire, and a high born youth who, like Julian the Apostate, fights the power of the Church.

Comic books

• Leading Comics - in the 1940s, a series called "Nero Fox" (about a funny animal named Nero Fox, who was emperor of Rome) was published as a backup series in this comic title.
• Trigan Empire was a Science Fiction comic series telling of adventures on the planet Elekton with many similarities to the Roman Empire

Movies

• Quo Vadis - U.S. 1951 director Mervyn LeRoy
• The Robe - U.S. 1953 director Henry Koster
• Demetrius and the Gladiators - U.S. 1954 director Delmer Daves (sequel to The Robe)
• Jupiter's Darling - U.S. 1955 director George Sidney, based on a play by Robert Sherwood
• Ben-Hur U.S. 1959 director William Wyler
• Spartacus - U.S. 1960 director Stanley Kubrick
• Cleopatra - U.S. 1963 director Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• The Fall of the Roman Empire - U.S. 1964 director Anthony Mann
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - U.S. 1966 director Richard Lester
• Satyricon - Italy 1970 director Federico Fellini
• Sebastiane - U.K. 1976 director Derek Jarman
• Caligula - U.S. 1979 director Tinto Brass
• History of the World Part 1 - U.S. 1981 director Mel Brooks
• Titus - U.S. 1999 director Julie Taymor
• Gladiator - U.S. 2000 director Ridley Scott
• Quo Vadis - Polish/U.S. 2001 director Jerzy Kawalerowicz, remake of 1951 film
• King Arthur - U.S. 2004 director Antoine Fuqua
• Agora - Spain 2009 director Alejandro Amenábar

Plays

• Joseph Addison
  • Cato
• Albert Camus
  • Caligula
• Henrik Ibsen
  • Emperor and Galilean
• Ben Jonson
  • Sejanus, His Fall
• Heinrich von Kleist
  • Die Hermannsschlacht
• William Shakespeare
  • Titus Andronicus
  • Julius Caesar
  • Antony and Cleopatra
  • Coriolanus
  • Cymbeline
• Robert Sherwood
  • The Road to Rome (1927), on which a little-known 1955 film Jupiter's Darling was based.
• Stephen Sondheim
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Television

• I, Claudius
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 (part of season 8)
• Up Pompeii!
• The Roman Holidays
• Rome
• Spartacus miniseries by Robert Dornhelm (director)
• Pompeii: The Last Day a dramatized documentary
• Julius Caesar minisieries by Uli Edel
• Masada (miniseries)

Video Games

• Rome: Total War
• Rome: Pathway to Power
• The Caesar video games series
• Centurion: Defender of Rome
• Legion Arena
• Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars
• Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance
• Spartan: Total Warrior

See also

• Fiction set in Ancient Greece

References

External links

• Fictional Rome
• The Detective and the Toga - Roman mysteries