Fiction set in the Roman empire
The following article Fiction set in the Roman Empire lists some 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.
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 in English, apart from Saylor's Roma, are known to be set partially or wholly in the Middle Republic before the Punic Wars. Books about Hannibal, such as David Anthony Durham's Pride of Carthage (2005) or Ross Leckie’s Scipio (1997), 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.
- Of Merchants & Heroes, published 2008 by Paul Waters. Set at the end of the 3rd century BC, about the life of a fictional Roman called Marcus. In the novel Marcus becomes involved in the war against Philip V of Macedon, which was led by Titus Quinctius Flamininus, who later became Consul and is a major character in the story.
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
- 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
- Imperial Caesar (1960) also by Rex Warner
- The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder, about the year culminating in Caesar's assassination.
- Three's Company (1958) by Alfred Duggan. The career of Lepidus, triumvir with Octavian and Marcus Antonius after the death of Julius Caesar.
- Marius' Mules series (2009) by S.J.A.Turney, a fictionised account of Caesar's campaigns in Gaul, currently covering 59 & 58 BCE.
- The Door in the Wall, The Key, The Lock by Benita Kane Jaro
Early/High Empire (27 BC to 190 AD)
- An Imaginary Life by David Malouf. A fictional account of the poet Ovid's exile from Rome.
- Augustus: A Novel by John Edward Williams
- Legion by William Altimari set during the reign of Augustus Caesar, takes place in 11 BC 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 9 AD, Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
- The Quest For the Lost Roman Legions by Tony Clunn, Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, with his account of his discovery of the battlefield
- Three Legions series by Rosemary Sutcliffe set in Roman Britain c. 130 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.
- 68 AD. by D.G. Bellenger
- The Wall by Paul Tilbury (2007) an account of a soldier's life in the garrison manning Hadrians' Wall.
The Julio-Claudian Dynasty
- 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). Also by this author: Caesar, Anthony, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero's Heirs.
Books about early Christians or the Christ include:
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 Roman (1964) by Mika Waltari
- Rubies of the Viper (2010) by Martha Marks; interwoven stories of a young Roman woman who inherits a fortune when her brother is murdered and a Greek slave she inherits as part of the estate.
The Flavian Dynasty
The Antonine Dynasty
Middle Empire (191 AD to 305 AD), when Diocletian splits the Empire
- Family Favourites (1960), by Alfred Duggan; a tale of court life under the teenage emperor Elegabalus, as recounted by his personal bodyguard
- 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)
- 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.
- Murder Imperial, (2003) and The Song of the Gladiator (2004) by Paul Doherty, Helena, mother of Constantine, employs a meek spy named Claudia.
- * Frontier Wolf by Rosemary Suttcliff (1980). Set in 343 AD. As a punishment, a detachment of Roman legionaries are ordered on a hopeless mission beyond Hadrian's Wall.
- 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
- The Last Legion: A Novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi; fictionalized story of the emperor Valerian and what might have happened to his surviving retinue.
- 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.
- 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
Late Empire: Byzantine (457-1453 AD)
Other books about the Byzantine empire and the Crusades are listed under fiction set in Byzantium
Unknown period
- Avventura nel primo secolo (Adventure in the First Century) by Paolo Monelli
- Sand of the Arena by James Duffy
- The Nero Prediction by Humphry Knipe
- In the Army of Marcus Batallius by David M. Ross
- Domitia & Domitian by David Corson
- Games of Venus by Sylvia Shults
- 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 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
- The Gaius Petreius Ruso series by Ruth Downie, about a military doctor stationed in Britannia during Hadrian's reign
- Roman Justice: SPQR: Too Roman To Handle, by Anne Hart
- 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
- The Aurelia Marcella mystery series by Jane Finnis; set in Britannia in the late 1st century, and featuring an innkeeper near York who claims she runs "the best mansio north of the Humber"
Science fiction
Science fiction/time travel novels
Alternate universe fiction
The following alternate history novels are set in fictional universes prior to the present day.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Gunpowder Empire, a 2003 novel by Harry Turtledove
- Roma Eterna, a 2003 novel by Robert Silverberg
- Romanitas (2005), by Sophia McDougall
- Rome Burning (2006), sequel to Romanitas, by Sophia McDougall
- The Germanicus trilogy, a collection of books by Kirk Mitchell.
- 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
Works inspired by Roman history, or by works of fiction and non-fiction about Rome
Science fiction inspired by Rome or works about Rome
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
Plays
Television
Video games
See also
References
External links
This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.