To research his latest book, historian Lindsay Powell set out on the trail of the rebel leader who, in AD132, led an uprising of the Jewish people against the Roman Emperor. Who was Bar Kokhba? And what caused the war? For my latest book I wanted to tell the true story of the consequential clash […]
Bar Kokhba by Lindsay Powell
In AD132 the bloody struggle between two strong-willed leaders over who would rule a nation began. One was Hadrian, the cosmopolitan ruler of the vast Roman Empire, then at its zenith, who some regarded as divine; the other was Shim’on, a Jewish military leader in a district of a minor province, who some believed to […]
The Burning Road by Harry Sidebottom
AD265, and in the shadow of Mount Etna, slaves are rising up. As the rebel leader declares Sicily the new land of the free, men and women are slaughtered, and cities across the island are sacked and burned. When a ship is wrecked off the island’s west coast, all but two survivors are cut down […]
Sex in Ancient Rome
Sexual activity in Ancient Rome wasn’t the licentious free-for-all we may imagine (especially for women); in fact it was strictly regulated. But author and historian LJ Trafford has unearthed plenty of weird and lurid facts about Ancient Roman sex for her new book, as she tells Historia. When my publisher suggested to me that I […]
Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome by LJ Trafford
From emperors and empresses, poets and prostitutes, slaves and plebs, Ancient Rome was a wealth of different experiences and expectations. None more so than around the subject of sex and sexuality. The image of Ancient Rome that has come down to us is one of sexual excess: emperors gripped by perversion partaking in pleasure with […]
Sands of the Arena and Other Stories by Ben Kane
A collection of short stories by Ben Kane. Sands of the ArenaCan a wet-behind-the-ears gladiator survive a bloody contest ordered by Emperor Caligula? The ShrineCenturion Tullus discovers that Fate will always hold him in her grip. The ArenaLegionary Piso’s much anticipated payday plays out very differently from what he expected. Eagles in the EastCaught up […]
Historia giveaway! Sands of the Arena by Ben Kane
Historia’s giveaway for September is for five copies of Ben Kane’s new collection of stories, Sands of the Arena and Other Stories, which is published on 16 September, 2021. Entries open at 9am on 12 September, 2021, and close at 11.59pm on 21 September, 2021. Five winning entrants will each receive one copy of Sands […]
Traitor by Geraint Jones
In the bloodied mountains of Pannonia, the Roman army struggles to put down a brutal rebellion. Corvus is now the standard bearer of the Eighth Legion, which has borne the brunt of the fighting. The famed soldier has lost one comrade after another, and now his oldest friend, Marcus, has betrayed him, shaking him to […]