Ancient Rome was a frequent subject of Victorian historical fiction and also popular throughout the 20th century. It was similarly popular in movies, though it fell out of fashion for a couple of decades until the game-changing success of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, released in 2000. Since then the floodgates of fictional Rome have been torn open.
But Rome means different things to different people. For some it is a military story of imperialism and war in foreign lands. For others it is the victim-tale of the conquered (especially if the conquered happen to be British or Judaic). For others it is broadly cultural: how could people be so similar to us and so different? There is a broad strand of historicals that touch on the New Testament stories, including many new ‘gospels’ and a wealth of faith stories, as well as some militantly anti-Christian novels. There are Roman detective novels, military historicals, sea stories, epics, and literary novels.
Biographical novels are perhaps the richest vein – for literature and ‘box office’.
The Work of Thy Hand: A Novel of Early Christianity
AD 66. Mira Bat-Chet is the daughter of a prosperous Christian family from Yaffa. When the Romans attack, she is taken as a slave ...Read Review
A Dreadful Destiny (A Libertus Mystery of Roman Britain, 19)
In late 2nd-century Roman Glevum (present day Gloucester), Libertus, duumvir and former slave, is his patron Marcus’s main advisor in how to ...Read Review