The epic story of Julius Caesar. Born in 100 BC, Caesar eventually became one of the most influential leaders in history. After a bloody civil war, where, famously, he crossed the Rubicon with his army, he defeated Pompey and the Republicans and was appointed as dictator of Rome, preparing the path for the Imperial might […]
Cleopatra Queen of Egypt by Lindsay Powell
Cleopatra had the rare distinction of connecting three great cultures. She was born of an ancient Greek dynasty that stretched back to the time of Alexander the Great, and as the last Pharaoh of Egypt she ruled before the once mighty kingdom became a vassal state under the all-powerful Roman Empire in the first century […]
Agrippa, Augustus’ friend and fixer
Marcus Agrippa was Emperor Augustus’ right-hand man. From humble birth, Agrippa rose to become Augustus’ friend and fixer, married his daughter and helped build the Empire. As Agrippa’s biographer, Lindsay Powell, says, the former Octavian would likely neither have triumphed nor held on to power without Agrippa by his side. To rule effectively, a national […]
Rome’s lost exiles
Exile was a very Roman punishment, Fiona Forsyth says. But under Augustus it got personal. Fiona looks at the fate of the lost Romans who lived — and often died — in exile, including members of the Emperor’s own family, and the poet Ovid, subject of her latest novels. When Rome’s first emperor died, there […]
Tiberius by Lindsay Powell
History has not been kind to the memory of Tiberius Caesar (42BC to AD37), second emperor of the Romans. His reputation for capable generalship and sensible civic leadership are marred by reports of cruelty, treason trials and sexual depravity. Some historians have described him as a ‘tyrant’ or even a ‘monster’. But does he deserve […]
Legionary by Griff Hosker
When poverty strikes, an ageing farmer is forced to make a heartbreaking choice: relinquish his oldest son in the hope of appeasing the gods or see his family face certain starvation. And so it follows that young Lucius Ulpia Porcianus is sacrificed to Rome. Embarking on his new life, Lucius travels to Ancona to enlist […]
Queen Cleopatra edited by Lindsay Powell
Cleopatra had the rare distinction of connecting three great cultures. She was born of an ancient Greek dynasty that stretched back to the time of Alexander the Great, and as the last Pharaoh of Egypt she ruled before the once mighty kingdom became a vassal state under the all-powerful Roman Empire in the first century […]
Ovid the policeman
The poet Ovid spent some time as one of Rome’s tresviri, the men who supervised activities such as policing. Could he have been involved in solving crimes? For Fiona Forsyth, this is “one of those gaps in history that it is my job as a historical novelist to fill”. Here she writes about how she […]