Ancient Historical Fiction

Sold by her impoverished mother. Enslaved in an infamous brothel in Pompeii. Determined to fight for her freedom at all costs. . . . Enter into the Wolf Den.

Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom. Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne—not yet.

Edinburgh merchant Tavish Cameron has no choice but to pay outrageous tolls to the nobility, until fate gives him an unexpected opportunity for advancement. To claim Tower Roscraig, all he has to do is admit that he is the bastard son of a murdering baron...and evict the proud, impoverished Lady Glenna Douglas from her crumbling castle. With her father ailing and her village devastated by illness, Glenna has lost everything except her home. Now a handsome stranger intends to take that, too. Until the king arrives to determine the rightful laird, Glenna and Tavish must share her castle.

When her mother, the Persian king’s famous senior scribe, is kidnapped, Jemmah and her sister must sneak undetected into enemy territory to rescue her. But infiltrating their adversary’s lands proves easier than escaping them. Fleeing through dangerous mountain passes, their survival depends on the skills of a stranger they free from prison: a mysterious prince named Asher. Asher is not who the world believes he is. Despite his royal blood, he has had to climb his way out of poverty. A manufacturer of some of the best weaponry in the East, Asher has only one goal: to destroy his father.

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, passionate, musical, and guarded. Purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea will become her mistress' rival for the love of Arius the Barbarian, Rome's newest and most savage gladiator. His love brings Thea the first happiness of her life, but that is quickly ended when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

Weaving history, legend, and new archaeological discoveries into a spellbinding narrative, critically acclaimed novelist Steven Saylor gives new life to the drama of Rome's first 1,000 years - from the founding of the city by the ill-fated twins Romulus and Remus, through Rome's astonishing ascent to become the capital of the most powerful empire in history.

The second novel in Simon Scarrow's best-selling Roman series. When Centurion Macro arrives on British soil as one of Emperor Claudius's invasion force in 43 AD, he is facing one of the toughest campaigns of his battle-scarred career. In a series of bloody skirmishes, Macro and his young subordinate, Optio Cato, and the desperately outnumbered Roman army must find and defeat the enemy before he grows strong enough to overwhelm the legions. But the Britons are not the only foe facing Macro and Cato....

Into this fevered forum, a child is born. His mother is Agrippina, granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. But their imperial blood is no protection. The closer you are to the heart of the empire, the closer you are to power, intrigue, and danger. She faces soldiers, senators, rivals, silver-tongued pretenders, each vying for position. One mistake risks exile, incarceration, execution. Or, worst of all, the loss of her infant son.

After the death of his beloved Queen Lostris, Taita retreats into the forbidding deserts of North Africa to become a hermit. He devotes himself to the study of the occult and, armed with extraordinary powers, he gradually transforms himself into a warlock. After years of study, he discovers the divine purpose of his bereavement when he is called upon to save the dynasty of Lostris from the clouds of evil that loom over Egypt.

171 AD. Rome is at war with the northern tribes - and is yet to win a significant battle. The Germanic armies have crossed the Danube and have attacked the Empire, slaughtering thousands. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is losing the support of the people and the Senate. Yet he has formed a plan he believes will change the balance of power in the region. Aurelius has dispatched an officer in the Praetorian Guard, the centurion Gaius Maximus, to escort the son and daughter of a powerful German tribal chief.

In A Gladiator Dies Only Once, the second collection of his award-winning stories featuring Gordianus, Saylor more than meets his own high standards. Set between the events of his novels RomanBlood and Catilina’s Riddle, these nine stories of previously untold adventures from the early career of Gordianus - when his adopted son, Eco, was still a mute boy and his wife, Bethesda, was but his slave - will delight Saylor’s many fans while illuminating details of the ancient world like no other writer can.

When the immortal goddess Hera and her brother Zeus overthrow their tyrannical father, she dreams of ruling at his side. But as they establish their reign on Mount Olympus, Hera begins to see that Zeus is just as ruthless and cruel as the father they betrayed. While Zeus ascends, Hera is relegated to the role of wife and mother, a role she never wanted. She was always born to rule, but must she lose herself in perpetuating this cycle of violence and cruelty? Or can she find a way to forge a better world?

Rome 174 AD. As the war continues in the north, Marcus Aurelius orders Gaius Maximus and Rufus Atticus to return to Rome. Enemies lurk in the shadows in the capital, spreading propaganda and sowing dissent. The praetorian guards must lure their enemies out - and defeat them. Yet Maximus is returning home for something, or rather someone, else: Aurelia. The soldier will be caught between his duty and his happiness. Rufus Atticus will also be forced to make a choice, between duty and family.

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.

Demeter: a goddess of life, living half of one. Demeter did not always live in fear. Once, she loved the world and the humans who inhabited it. After an act of devastating violence, though, she hides herself away among the grasses and wildflowers. Her only solace is her daughter . . . Before she was Persephone, she was Core. Core is as bright as summer and devoted to her mother, even during their millennia in exile from Olympus. But she craves freedom. Naïve and determined, she secretly builds a life of her own—and as she does so, she catches the eye of a powerful god . .

The beloved daughter of Jewish captives in Babylon, Keren is sold into Daniel’s household to help her family survive. She becomes Daniel’s most trusted scribe, while taking lessons and swordsmanship training alongside Daniel’s sons and their best friend, Jared. But after a tragic accident changes the course of her life, Keren finds herself in a foreign country, charged with a mysterious task: teaching a shepherd boy how to become a lord. When she overhears whispers that hint at his true identity, she realizes she must protect him from the schemes of a bloodthirsty king.

In a magnificent, war-torn world cut by soaring red canyons, an evil ruler launches a search for a mystical artifact that he hopes will bring him ultimate power - an ancient witch’s pot that reputedly contains the trapped soul of the most powerful witch ever to have lived. The aged healer Tocho has to stop him, but to do it he must ally himself with the bitter and broken witch hunter, Maicoh, whose only goal is achieving one last great kill.

In the tumultuous world of ancient Israel, Ahinoam—a dagger-wielding Kenite woman—flees her family farm with her unconventional father to join the ragtag band of misfits led by the shepherd-turned-warrior David ben Jesse. As King Saul's treasonous accusations echo through the land, Ahinoam's conviction that David's anointing makes him Yahweh's chosen king propels her on a perilous journey to Moab and back into Judah's unforgiving wilderness, only to encounter more hardship and betrayal.

6,000 years ago, the land is one dark forest. Its people are hunters and gatherers. They know every tree and herb and they know how to survive in a world steeped in enchantment, menace, and powerful magic.

The third novel in Simon Scarrow's best-selling Roman series. After a series of bloody battles, Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester) has fallen to the invading Roman army. The Emperor has returned to Rome, leaving the fearless Centurion Macro and his young Optio, Cato, to rest and regroup, along with the rest of the Second Legion. As their leader, General Plautius, plans the next phase of their campaign, word arrives that the ship carrying his family to join him was wrecked in a storm off the south coast.