Imperium: From the Sunday Times bestselling author (Cicero Trilogy, 4)

Product Information

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This novel reads like a breeze, and if you are at all interested in Roman history, the details of life in centre of Rome before the Empire you are in for a treat. I kept thinking of how politics through the centuries has never changed, up to the present day and recent elections. Vote buying, self interest, fake news, vast wealth of the elite, deal making, corruption of established values; it just goes on. Overall, a good, solid read. If you are a fan of historical fiction, this is book that I think you will enjoy. If you are a scholar of ancient Rome and looking for insight and exposition on the details of ancient Rome, this is not where you will find them. For me, I found it a light, pleasant story and was never bored. I also found the characters and the narrative compelling enough that I will likely continue on with the series to see what happens next. Harris shows an intimate knowledge of Rome and its history managing to portray all of it through the legal battle between Cicero and the great legal mind of Hortensius (who defends the role of rhetoric in Cicero’s Hortensius) the famous advocate in a trial in which Cicero defends a friend from Gaius Verres, a disreputable and thoroughly corrupt Senator (all historical figures.). Corruption, as we would understand it, was rampant and institutionalized. Votes were for sale; in fact, there were bribery merchants and it took a great deal of money to gain and remain in power, “voters never forgave a cheapskate.”

Reader Reviews

Persona Non Grata, Terra Incognita, Medicus and Caveat Emptor, a series of mysteries featuring the "reluctant sleuth" Gaius Petreius Ruso by Ruth Downie, set around 120 AD. Pompeii by Robert Harris, tells the story of Pompeii and the volcano Vesuveus during the reign of Titus. Harris's writing isn't always the most graceful - he's better on plot than style - but he's not incompetent. Here's a great passage describing Cicero:

There were perhaps a hundred people crying out that Herennius was a Roman citizen and could not be executed without a proper trial."Beric the Briton, A Story of the Roman Invasion (1893) by G. A. Henty; the story of a Romanized Briton captured as a rebel and sent to Rome as a gladiator As Sure as the Dawn (1995) by Francine Rivers; the continuing story of Atretes. Mark of the Lion Trilogy book 3

The Robe (1942), by Lloyd C. Douglas, set in the same period as Ben-Hur; like Ben-Hur, more famous as a film. urn:lcp:imperium00robe:epub:5a2f9320-7575-41d2-b1ff-89c3bb125e47 Extramarc OhioLINK Library Catalog Foldoutcount 0 Identifier imperium00robe Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t33211c5c Isbn 9780743498661 The confrontations in the courtroom, the senate and the frenzied voting pens of the Campus Martius provide as much tension as a Roman battlefield and Harris does a masterful job of peopling these scenes with memorable characters. He does not shy away from presenting Cicero's "warts" either. The parallels for situational politics are too numerous to name them all. The answer to the pirate swarms causing death and destruction issue is a close parallel to ISIS. What will be the ultimate outcome for "free stuff"? If it actually comes from privatizing public holdings or formerly "rich" aristocrat's land?

From the bestselling author of Pompeii comes the first volume in an exciting new trilogy set in ancient Rome -- an imaginary biography of Cicero, Rome's first and greatest politician. Dominic Flandry series by Poul Anderson, a space empire similarly inspired by Gibbon's history (and by Asimov) is decaying and about to collapse into a Long Night of barbarism; a heroic secret agent fights to stave off this fate.

El comienzo de la trilogía del gran Cicerón (106 AC a 43 AC) no puede ser más prometedor y fructífero. La vida de este político y estadista, uno de los mejores oradores de todos los tiempos, que vivió tiempos convulsos de la república romana, da para no una, sino las tres novelas que RH le dedica. Esta, en concreto, se divide en dos partes, la primera hasta su elección como edil, y la segunda hasta su nombramiento como cónsul. Todo ello narrado por Tirón, su secretario personal, que fue esclavo y luego manumitido por su dueño. Este Tirón no es un don nadie, pues a él se le atribuye la invención de una especie de taquigrafía, denominada notación tironiana.

BookBrowse Review

I did prefer the author’s An Officer and a Spy, about the Dreyfus affair, a lot more. That book I gave five stars.