Alistair Tosh has a lifelong interest in Roman history and a love of Andalusia. When he began writing historical fiction it was natural to combine the two in his Edge of Empire series. Here he looks at the history of Roman Andalusia and at some of the places he features in his books. Warrior, the […]
Human trafficking or slave trading? A Roman industry
In Ancient Rome, slavery was seen as perfectly acceptable, and seizing and trafficking other humans was a useful trade supplying a demand. But there were circumstances in which the Roman authorities tried, more or less successfully, to clamp down on it. Jacquie Rogers examines the evidence. Trafficking is ‘dealing or trading in something illegal’ according […]
The Barbarian by Douglas Jackson
AD 406. Abandoned by friends and hounded by enemies, Roman cavalry commander Marcus Flavius Victor and a small band of loyal warriors know that the time has come to leave an increasingly fractured Britannia. Their journey takes them across the bleak, pirate-infested seas of the Mare Germanicum to Saxonia and on into the dark heart […]
The Wall by Douglas Jackson
In AD 400, Rome and its Empire are failing… Veteran cavalry commander Marcus Flavius Victor sets out with his regiment to make what may be his final tour of the forts along Hadrian’s Wall. Through a combination of military prowess, brutality and bribery, Marcus has spent twenty years keeping the savage Picts at bay. Feared […]
Domitian, an unlikely emperor
Nobody expected Domitian to become Emperor of Rome in AD81, least of all him. And though he was murdered (an occupational hazard of the role) and condemned to oblivion, he left Rome unified and stable. SJA (Simon) Turney writes about this unlikely emperor, the subject of the third in his Damned Emperors series of novels. […]
Domitian by SJA Turney
Rome, AD52, and the Julio-Claudian dynasty is in its death throes. Over the next 20 years, chaos descends as Claudius then Nero are killed. The whole empire bucks and heaves with conspiracy, rebellion and civil war. Out of the ashes and discord, a new imperial family emerges: the Flavians. Vespasian is crowned emperor, with his […]
Falling Sky by Harry Sidebottom
AD 265 in Gaul, and the Roman Empire is on the brink. Emperor Gallienus has amassed a huge army across the Alps to seize back the mountains from the usurper Postumus. War has come. Ballista and his cavalry are on the frontline, battling in the most brutal of conditions. But if he is to survive […]
Why I write about the ‘obscure’ third century AD
Harry Sidebottom, the novelist and lecturer in Ancient History, explains why he writes both fiction and history relating to a period of Roman history which is so little known about that he describes it as obscure. What is it about the third century AD that makes it a goldmine for scholars and for novelists? Why […]