Rome Fiction

Murder, blackmail and drug dealing on the Tiber combine in one of Ngaio Marsh’s liveliest and most evocative novels. When their guide disappears mysteriously in the depths of a Roman basilica, the members of Mr. Sebastian Mailer’s tour group seem strangely unperturbed. But when a body is discovered in an Etruscan sarcophagus, Superintendent Alleyn, in Rome incognito on the trail of an international drug racket, is very much concerned.

Rome, AD 41. Caligula has been assassinated and the Praetorian Guard have proclaimed Claudius Emperor – but his position is precarious. His three freedmen, Narcissus, Pallas and Callistus, must find a way to manufacture a quick victory – but how? Pallas has the answer: retrieve the Eagle of the Seventeenth, lost nearly 40 years before. Who but Vespasian could lead a dangerous mission into the gloomy forests of Germania?

As mysterious injuries, and even deaths, begin to appear in the medical ledgers, it's clear that all is not well amongst the native recruits to Britannia's imperial army. Is the much-decorated centurion Geminus preying on his weaker soldiers? And could this be related to the appearance of Emperor Hadrian? Bound by his sense of duty and ill-advised curiosity, Ruso begins to ask questions nobody wants to hear. Meanwhile his barbarian wife Tilla is finding out some of the answers....

Hannibal was a great and skillful general who defeated the Romans at Trebia, Lake Trasimenus, and Cannae, and all but took Rome.

Sebastos Pantera, known to his many enemies as the Leopard and something of a lone wolf, is the spy the Emperor Nero uses only for the most challenging and important of missions. His next mission: to find the most dangerous man in Rome's empire and bring him to bloody justice. His prey is cunning, subtle and ruthless. Saulos has pledged to bring about the destruction of Rome and her provinces, and now fate, good luck and planning have given him the means to do so. The brilliance of Saulos' plan will be difficult to combat, but Pantera has a new ally.

Rome, 56 BC. The great general Pompey has conquered the East; Julius Caesar is defeating the Gauls; only Egypt, with its strategic granaries and vast treasuries of gold, still eludes the grasp of Rome. The city itself is becoming ever more corrupt, as the last generation of the Roman Republic indulges in political backstabbing, endless lawsuits, scandalous love affairs, and the occasional murder.

Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling is one of the most iconic masterpieces of the Renaissance. Here, in Raphael, Painter in Rome, Storey tells of its creation as never before: through the eyes of Michelangelo's fiercest rival - the young, beautiful, brilliant painter of perfection, Raphael. Orphaned at age 11, Raphael is determined to keep the deathbed promise he made to his father: become the greatest artist in history. But to be the best, he must beat the best, the legendary sculptor of the David, Michelangelo Buonarroti.

In 48 BC the Roman generals Caesar and Pompey are engaged ina battle to rule the world. As Pompey plots a reckless stand on the banks ofthe Nile, Gordianus the Finder - who has brought his dying wife, Bethesda, to the Nile seeking a cure from its sacred waters - finds himself suddenly at the heart of a series of treacherous and history-altering events. While Caesar and Cleopatra embark on a legendary romance, Egypt remains ravaged by the brutal contest between the queen and her brother, King Ptolemy.

Fresh from his trip to Britain, Falco needs to re-establish his presence in Rome. A minor role in the trial of a senator entangles him in the machinations of Silius Italicus and Paccius Africanus, two real-life lawyers at the top of their trade. These notorious ex-consuls play a dangerous game, where success brings rich pickings but a mistrial or a wrong verdict entails huge financial penalties.

The war in Africa is over and the rebel cause hangs by a thread. With opposition to Caesar now led by Labienus and by Pompey’s sons in Hispania, Caesar is one step from ending the civil war that has plagued Rome for years. Before the war can be pursued, though, Caesar has matters to attend to in Rome. And against a backdrop of glorious triumphs and civil friction, the general’s old warhorse Marcus Falerius Fronto begins to uncover a series of events that may have a cause in common.

Et si la ​bibliothèque d'Alexandrie n'avait pas disparu... Plongez dans un passionnant roman historique grâce à la lecture enveloppante de Geert Van Herwijnen. 47 av. J.-C. César profite de la confusion générale à Alexandrie, en proie aux flammes, pour s'emparer de la bibliothèque, où toute la connaissance de l'humanité est consignée. Car posséder le savoir, se dit-il, c'est détenir le pouvoir absolu. L' imperator convoque une équipe de marins, de soldats et de savants capables d'accomplir cette entreprise périlleuse et folle : déplacer 700 000 ouvrages sans que personne le sache, dans un lieu lointain et invisible.

To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....

The extant letters of Pliny, written between AD 97 and 112, give us a unique insight into Imperial Rome under the early Antonine emperors. Organised into 10 books, the letters reflect a wide range of topics, mirroring Pliny’s own public and private interests. Among many other subjects, the letters also include an eye-witness account of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, with the final book containing the exchange of letters between the writer (whose career culminated as Governor of Bithynia) and the emperor Trajan.

A stirring adventure novel set amid the tumultuous clashes between the Roman and Carthaginian empires, battling for control of the Mediterranean, north Africa and Rome itself. Atticus, the young Greek captain, is now a commander of the growing Roman navy, blockading a port near Tunis, when the Roman legions suffer terrible defeat by the triumphant Carthaginian army, spearheaded by the elephant charges.

AD262 - the Imperium is in turmoil after the struggle for the throne. Furthermore, Ephesus, Asia's metropolis, lies in ruins, shattered by a mighty earthquake. Yet an even greater threat to the Empire advances from the North. The barbaric Goth tribes sail towards Ephesus, determined to pillage the city. Only Ballista, Warrior of Rome, knows the ways of the barbarians, and only he can defeat them.

A scandal is threatening to engulf the popular spa town of Aquae Sulis (modern-day Bath). The wife of Ruso's best friend, Valens, has been found dead in the sacred hot spring, stabbed through the heart. Fearing the wrath of the goddess and the ruin of the tourist trade, the temple officials are keen to cover up what's happened. But the dead woman's father is demanding justice, and he's accusing Valens of murder. If Valens turns up to face trial, he will risk execution. If he doesn't, he'll lose his children.

Une seule femme peut forger une dynastie. Un roman historique captivant inspiré de la vie de Julia Domna, l'un des personnages féminins les plus fascinants et pourtant méconnus de l'histoire de Rome. 192 après J.-C. : Rome est sous le contrôle de Commode, un empereur fou. L'assassinat du tyran, puis du nouvel auguste nommé par le Sénat, ouvre la porte à un tourbillon d'intrigues et de luttes pour le pouvoir. Les prétendants sont prêts à tout, pensant que le jeu est sur le point de commencer. Mais pour Julia Domna, il a déjà commencé.

Get ready to have all your illusions of the glamorous Italian expat life shattered in this hilarious, irreverent memoir of a young American woman's romantic (or rather, unromantic) misadventures in the eternal city. Handsome, charming Roman men; perfectly made cappuccino and risotto; breathtakingly beautiful antiquities and that incomparable Italian light - none of these are perhaps quite as idyllic as they might seem to the casual traveler.

Cowardice in a legionary carries a heavy punishment: the sentence of decimation—to live or die at the whim of the gods with the unlucky ones clubbed to death by their fellow soldiers. Ursus, the man killed in Quintus's group, lays a heavy charge on the youth, asking him to look after the remaining men and to take care of his family back in Rome.

In this sequel to Dominus, Gaius Fabius Rufus, the victorious general of Rome’s brutal Dacian Wars, finds his loyalties and his affections pulled in different directions. Should he return to Rome and secure his claim to the imperial throne, or remain at his seaside villa and protect his pleasure slave, the fierce Dacian prince, Allerix? Retaliation for the murder of his beloved friend beckons him home, but his desire for justice could put both him and Allerix in mortal danger. As Gaius’s deceptions multiply, another tragedy strikes.