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After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.
posted by TheophileEscargot on Nov 19, 2024 - 10 comments

Titus rehabilitates his image; Tenax's past is revealed; Kwame prepares for his fight with Flamma. [more inside]
posted by TheophileEscargot on Aug 28, 2024 - 2 comments

Titus shuts down the Gold Faction; Scorpus joins the White Faction; Tenax meets a man from his past.
posted by TheophileEscargot on Jul 31, 2024 - 1 comment

Kwame and Viggo bond; Queen Berenice warns Titus of Domitian's plans; Vespasian picks an heir.
posted by TheophileEscargot on Jul 23, 2024 - 2 comments

Tenax and Domitian form a racing faction and recruit Scorpus; Vespasian ponders on his successor.
posted by TheophileEscargot on Jul 22, 2024 - 1 comment

The elite plot against rioters; horses are sold for the Roman Games; an African family is kidnapped.
posted by TheophileEscargot on Jul 20, 2024 - 6 comments

Romulus and Remus, two shepherds and loyal brothers, end up taking part to a journey that will lead one of them to be the founder of the greatest nation ever seen. However, the fate of the chosen one will pass from killing his own brother. [more inside]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI on May 22, 2021 - 1 comment

A chief detective murders his lover and tries to escape punishment, or perhaps court it — if the sick authoritarian society can allow such a thing. [more inside]
posted by fleacircus on Jun 6, 2020 - 2 comments

BOOK ONE: (Soldier of the Mist, 1986. Wikipedia.) Latro, a mercenary soldier from the north, has suffered a head wound in battle resulting in an inability to retain short term memories, but has developed the ability to see and converse with all of the invisible gods, goddesses, ghosts, demons, and werewolves that inhabit the land. Gene Wolfe’s followup to the Book of the New Sun, set in Classical Greece. [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on Feb 18, 2020 - 20 comments

In SPQR, an instant classic, Mary Beard narrates the history of Rome "with passion and without technical jargon" and demonstrates how "a slightly shabby Iron Age village" rose to become the "undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean" (Wall Street Journal). Hailed by critics as animating "the grand sweep and the intimate details that bring the distant past vividly to life" (Economist) in a way that makes "your hair stand on end" (Christian Science Monitor) and spanning nearly a thousand years of history, this "highly informative, highly readable" (Dallas Morning News) work examines not just how we think of ancient Rome but challenges the comfortable historical perspectives that have existed for centuries. With its nuanced attention to class, democratic struggles, and the lives of entire groups of people omitted from the historical narrative for centuries, SPQR will to shape our view of Roman history for decades to come.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis on Mar 22, 2019 - 8 comments

A sweeping new history of how climate change and disease helped bring down the Roman Empire Here is the monumental retelling of one of the most consequential chapters of human history: the fall of the Roman Empire. The Fate of Rome is the first book to examine the catastrophic role that climate change and infectious diseases played in the collapse of Rome's power, a story of nature's triumph over human ambition. Interweaving a grand historical narrative with cutting-edge climate science and genetic discoveries, Kyle Harper traces how the fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians but also by volcanic eruptions, solar cycles, climate instability, and devastating viruses and bacteria. [more inside]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis on Mar 20, 2019 - 2 comments

A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Jul 15, 2018 - 7 comments

In the wake of the Pope's controversial homily, Sister Mary is thrust into the spotlight, and Voiello is determined to discover the Pope's weaknesses.
posted by Rock Steady on Jan 23, 2017 - 14 comments

What started as a standard podcast episode morphed into an audio book on what used to be called "The Dark Ages" in Europe. Dan gets into many areas he should probably avoid...Gods, Germans, bikers, Jesus... [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Dec 29, 2014 - 7 comments