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Empire: the Novel of Imperial Rome

Steven Saylor · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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I, Claudius

Robert Graves · 454 pages

Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. Here he recounts his surprisingly successful reign: how he cultivates the loyalty of the army and the common people to repair the damage caused by Caligula; his relations with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain. But the growing paranoia of absolute power and the infide

Ancient RomePolitical IntrigueMultigenerational FamilySprawling Epic
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The Blood of Gods

Conn Iggulden · 432 pages

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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The Singing Sword

Jack Whyte · 547 pages

A fictional portrait of King Arthur's great-grandfather, Publius Varius, and his wife, Luceiia, follows their desperate struggle to protect their land from the barbarian hordes threatening to overrun the last remnants of Roman civilization in Britain.

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicMultigenerational FamilyHistorical Fiction
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The First Man in Rome

Colleen McCullough · 1,076 pages

This historical fiction takes prominent Roman names of the time, and tells their tale in an astonishingly descriptive way. It follows the life of Gaius Marius, and his fellow Roman, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and their struggles for power through war, politics, and blood.

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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The Confessions of Young Nero

Margaret George · 514 pages

"New York Times bestselling author Margaret George has brought history to vivid life with her chronicles of queens and kings. Now, she turns her gaze to an Emperor ... Built on the backs of those who fell before it, Julius Caesar's imperial dynasty is only as strong as the next person who seeks to control it. In the Roman Empire no one is safe from the sting of betrayal: man, woman--or child. As a

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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Priestess of Avalon

Marion Zimmer Bradley, Diana L. Paxson · 394 pages

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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Ancient RomePolitical IntrigueHistorical FictionSeries
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Praetorian

Simon Scarrow · 353 pages

The thrilling Roman adventure from the author of THE LEGION and THE GLADIATOR. The city of Rome in AD 50 is a dangerous place. Treachery lurks on every corner, and a shadowy Republican movement, 'the Liberators', has spread its tentacles wide. It is feared that the heart of the latest plot lies in the ranks of the Praetorian Guard. Uncertain of whom he can trust, the Imperial Secretary Narcissus s

Ancient RomePolitical IntrigueHistorical FictionSeries
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The Pillars of the Earth

Ken Follett · 979 pages

Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known. Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of t

Multigenerational FamilySprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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A Pillar of Iron

Taylor Caldwell · 580 pages

“The sweep and splendor of the Roman past blazes anew in this mighty story of Cicero and the Republic he fought to save.” “Unfolded here in rich detail are the private dramas behind the great Roman hero's triumphs and defeats—and the intimate, deeply moving story of his desperate love affair with the beautiful Livia.”

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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Sprawling EpicMultigenerational FamilyHistorical FictionPolitical Intrigue
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War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy · 716 pages

War and Peace delineates in graphic detail events surrounding the French invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society, as seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families. The novel begins in the year 1805 during the reign of Tsar Alexander I and leads up to the 1812 French invasion of Russia by Napoleon. The era of Catherine the Great (1762–1796), when t

Multigenerational FamilySprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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Masters of Rome

Robert Fabbri

Britannia, 45 AD: Vespasian's brother, Sabinus, is captured by druids. The druids want to offer a potent sacrifice to their gods - not just one Roman Legate, but two. They know that Vespasian will come after his brother and they plan to sacrifice the siblings on mid-summer's day. But to whom will they be making this sacrifice? What were the gods of this land before the Celts came? Only the druids

Ancient RomePolitical IntrigueHistorical FictionSeries
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Be Careful What You Wish For

Jeffrey Archer · 400 pages

"Be Careful What You Wish For opens with Harry Clifton and his wife Emma rushing to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been in a fatal car accident. But who died, Sebastian or his best friend? When Ross Buchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company, Emma Clifton wants to replace him. But Don Pedro Martinez intends to install his puppet, Alex Fisher, in ord

Multigenerational FamilySprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Lew Wallace · 551 pages

A bestseller since 1880...The classic saga of the Roman EmpireFrom a thrilling sea battle to its famous chariot race to the agony of the Crucifixion, this is the epic tale of a prince who became a slave and by a twist of fate and his own skill-won a chance at freedom.

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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The Invasion of Gaul

S.J.A. Turney

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicHistorical FictionSeries
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Dreaming the Bull

Manda Scott

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicHistorical FictionSeries
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Jade Legacy

Fonda Lee · 713 pages

Sprawling EpicMultigenerational FamilyPolitical IntrigueSeries
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A Voice in the Wind

Francine Rivers · 515 pages

Following the prides and passions of a group of Jews, Romans and Barbarians living at the time of the siege, the narrative is centered on an ill-fated romance between a steadfast slave girl, Hadassah, and Marcus, the brother of her owner and a handsome aristocrat. After surviving the massacre of her family and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, Hadassah is captured and sold to a well-to-d

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicHistorical FictionSeries
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A Sparrow Falls

Wilbur Smith · 600 pages

Sprawling EpicMultigenerational FamilyHistorical FictionSeries
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Caligula

Douglas Jackson · 416 pages

A major new historical epic - in the tradition of Conn Iggulden...Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the third Roman Emperor, is better known by another name: Caligula, a name synonymous with decadence, cruelty and madness. His reign was marked by excess, huge building projects, the largest gladiatorial battles Rome was ever to see – men and animals killed in their hundreds – conspiracies, a

Ancient RomePolitical IntrigueHistorical FictionSeries
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The Caspian Gates

Harry Sidebottom · 432 pages

AD262 - the Imperium is in turmoil after the struggle for the throne. Furthermore, Ephesus, Asia's metropolis, lies in ruins, shattered by a mighty earthquake. Its citizens live in fear as the mob overwhelms the city, baying for blood to avenge the gods who have punished them. Yet an even greater threat to the Empire advances from the North. The barbaric Goth tribes sail towards Ephesus, determine

Ancient RomePolitical IntrigueHistorical FictionSeries
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Quo Vadis

Henryk Sienkiewicz · 488 pages

Ancient RomeSprawling EpicHistorical FictionViolent
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Written in My Own Heart's Blood

Diana Gabaldon · 988 pages

"In her now classic novel Outlander, Diana Gabaldon told the story of Claire Randall, an English ex-combat nurse who walks through a stone circle in the Scottish Highlands in 1946, and disappears into 1743. The story unfolded from there in seven bestselling novels, and CNN has called it "a grand adventure written on a canvas that probes the heart, weighs the soul and measures the human spirit acro

Multigenerational FamilySprawling EpicHistorical FictionSeries
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