Roman Blood: A Novel of Ancient Rome

Enjoying HBO’s new Rome series? Then you’ll want to read Steven Saylor’s books too.

Many of us find it easier to get a handle on complex historical eras by approaching them first through fiction and later tackling the labyrinth of historical facts. If that’s your preferred approach, then Steven Saylor’s Rome Sub Rosa series is made to order.

Saylor’s mystery novels are set in the 1C BC and they star Gordianus the Finder as a Roman “detective” with a nose for truth and an uncanny ability to find himself in unusual predicaments. Roman Blood, the first of the ten books in the series, throws Gordianus into cahoots with the young Cicero and takes the reader deep into the political, legal and family arenas of ancient Rome. Rome’s hottest new lawyer, Cicero, is faced with defending a wealthy farmer accused of killing his father. Cicero hires Gordianus to discover what really happened and Saylor gives a lively rendition of Sextus’s trial including Cicero’s defense speech.

Gordianus’s work on the case will win him acclaim and through the course of Saylor’s next nine books, his status in life will rise as he moves from a middle class house on the Esquiline Hill to a noble abode on the Palatine. His adventures will become ever-more exciting too - in subsequent books Gordianus interacts with Rome’s major movers and shakers, including Pompey the Great and Caesar.