Sword of the War God

Sword of the War God by Tim Hodkinson, 601 pages

When Hagan was in his first battle at just 15 years old, he witnessed the massacre of his people, the Burgundars, by a combined Roman and Hun army. Included in the death toll were his mother and the man that, until the eve of the battle, he believed was his father. Over the next 20 years, Hagan became a man without a home, traveling across Europe as parts of different armies and mercenary groups, before being sent by the Romans to Geneva, where the last Burgundars had gathered under a new king. While the new king was once Hagan's friend, something about the new position of power has corrupted him, and Hagan must do his best to stay on the king's good side, and thus stay alive.

This book was obviously well researched, and includes some really well-written battle scenes (some of which stretch on for 50+ pages). And it's nice to see historical fiction set in this largely ignored time period. However, there wasn't much depth to the characters, making it hard for me to fully care about them when their lives were on the line in the aforementioned battles. Read it if you want to read battle scenes, but find something else if you want something with a bit more meat.

The Misplaced Legion

 

The Misplaced Legion by Harry Turtledove (1987) 323 pages

This is the first book in a series called The Videssos Cycle. I picked it up at a nerdy yard sale because it was recommended by the host. A Roman Legion is fighting "barbarians" in Gaul. When the leaders of both forces stand off against each other, both carrying Celtic swords, and the swords make contact, as pictured on the cover, the whole legion is transported to the Empire of Videssos, a strange magical land. No elves, or orcs, or dragons make an appearance, just different human cultures living within or outside of Videssos. There are wizard/priests who can do magic drawing from either the light or dark divine realms of the local religious system. I mainly enjoyed the story because of the main character, Marcus Scaurus, the leader of the Romans. He is inquisitive, observant, fair-minded, disciplined, and brave. The way he and his men adjust to this new world, and the way this world is revealed through Scaurus's eyes kept me engaged. Another Goodreads reader points out that the author is an expert on the Byzantine empire and that this is the basis for the world of Videssos. There are not many fantasy elements. It does feel like the Legion, which is somewhat over 1,000 men, has jumped 1,000 years into the future into the medieval Middle East. It all leads to a big battle. It is the start of a series, so maybe I shouldn't have expected a neatly wrapped happy ending. I don't imagine it is easy to find this old series, so in my mind it will probably remain a stand-alone adventure, and it was enjoyable enough for what it was.

The Orchard

The Orchard by Yochi Brandes, 381 pages.


This fictional account of the life of Rabbi Akiva and the sages and Rabbis living in the first and early second centuries is engrossing and makes the remote past come to life. Brandes does a great job of telling a story that feels real, with a good sense for these historical figures as characters and with a setting that is believable. We read as the Sages and leaders of Israel have to contend with the longstanding disputes between the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Nazarenes. Rabbi Akiva, who started formal study of the Torah in his forties is at the center of the later stages of these struggles, ending with the Bar Kakhba revolt against the Romans, and is, along with his wife, Rachel at the heart of this book. Renowned Rabbis of the era, Rabbi Elisha, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Joshua, Rabbi Tarfon, Rabban Gamaliel also play central roles in the narrative.

Claudius the God

Claudius the God: And His Wife Messalina by Robert Graves  544 pp.

This is the continuation of the fictionalized history begun in I, Claudius which ended with the death of the Roman Emperor Caligula. This part begins with the battles in the Roman senate over whether or not the lame and "mentally deficient" Claudius should, in fact, become the emperor. The rest of the story covers his thirteen year reign including the political intrigues, treachery and backstabbing that was common in that era. After the horrific reign of Caligula with its violence and excesses, Claudius' time in power seems quite calm and reasonable. Messalina, the favorite of Claudius' four wives, embraces the power of being the emperor's wife. Behind his back, she carries out her own intrigues and affairs. His love for her led him to overlook what is happening when it came to her activities. While Claudius sincerely tried to improve things for his Roman subjects, including the ones in conquered lands, there was still plenty of violence, retaliatory murders, and execution but not close to the scale of Caligula's time. This book was a bit of a slog to get through. It gets bogged down in the military operations in Britain. Now I need to re-watch the PBS series from the 1970s.

I, Claudius

I, Claudius From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius Born 10 B.C. Murdered and Deified A.D. 54  by Robert Graves  468 pp.

This autobiographical novel based on actual histories of the Roman Empire. It is narrated by Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus and covers the intrigues and machinations during the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula. Claudius' grandmother was Livia, the third wife of Augustus. Claudius referred to Augustus as his grandfather although that was actually Tiberius Claudius Nero. Livia is portrayed as a conniving shrew whose plots to elevate Augustus and herself to the status of gods include poisonings, blackmail, exile, and murder. Claudius, who walked with a limp, was partially deaf, and stuttered, kept himself out of harms way by playing along with the family opinion that he was an idiot. Claudius was no paragon of virtue but his faults pale in comparison to the rest of his family. This book ends with the death of his nephew Caligula and the declaration of Claudius as Emperor. The sequel, Claudius the God, continues the story. Both books were used as the basis for the BBC/PBS Masterpiece Theater television series "I, Claudius" in 1976. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nelson Runger.  

Pontius Pilate: Deciphering a Memory

Pontius Pilate: Deciphering a Memory / Aldo Schiavone, translated by Jeremy Carden, 238 pp.

Schiavone is a classicist, and this is an especially erudite linguistic and historical analysis of the encounter between Pilate and Christ in the four Gospels, along with Pilate's interactions with the people of Judaea as these events are recorded by Josephus and others.

"Especially erudite" is code for "this reader didn't understand everything she read;" still, there was a lot for me to enjoy as I slowly worked my way through the text.  I was especially interested in what Schiavone had to say about the Q and A between the prefect and his prisoner and how their conversational nuances lay down important distinctions between the empire Pilate serves and that other kingdom, the one that's harder to draw on a map.

Votan

Votan by John James, 232 pages.

I had not heard of this book until I read about it in Neal Gaiman's collection of essays and reviews, A View from the Cheap Seats. Photinus, a Greek trader, bouncing around the Roman Empire, must flee deeper into Germanic lands when he believes that his lover's husband, a Roman officer (I forget the rank) is on to him and seeking to have him killed. On his travels through the wilds of the Germanic lands, while seeking access to the sources of amber and gold, Photinus undergoes strange hardships, and with his wits and the help of Apollo, he come through them. Witnesses to his trials call him the all-father, and he takes the name Votan. Seeking to follow Apollo's commands and to, incidentally, replenish his fortunes, he seeks refuge in the trading village of the Aser. He meets Tyr, Loki, and others with familiar Norse names, and embarks on a series of adventures that will have his name, in a slightly different form, become a part of the mythology. Fans of Mary Renault, Neal Gaiman, and older fans of Rick Riordan will enjoy.

Imperium

Imperium by Robert Harris  305 pp.

This is a fictionalized biography of the great statesman and orator of ancient Rome, Marcus Tullius Cicero, told from the point of view of Tiro, his slave and secretary for 36 years. As an outsider to the circles of power, Cicero first comes to prominence during the legal proceedings against the corrupt Roman governor of Sicily. As the story follows Cicero's career we see the corruption in Roman politics including attempts to buy elections, Cicero being forced to ride the coattails of the great general Pompey to further his career, and unspeakable acts by the power-hungry. In spite of what could be a dry topic, Harris has given it a life not found in the history books. Interesting, but I do believe this author's Pompeii is a better novel.

The Dovekeepers

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman  504 pp.

I picked this up to read it in anticipation of the upcoming miniseries based on the book. Most of the action of the story is set in the mountain fortress of Masada in the days leading up to the mass suicide which ended the Roman siege of the fortress. The story revolves around the lives of four women, Yael, Shirah, Revka, and Shirah's oldest daughter, Aziza. Their lives are intertwined in a myriad of ways including their duties in the dovecotes of Masada. As their individual stories are told more and more connections between the women are revealed. Yael lives with the hatred of her assassin father for being child whose birth caused the death of her mother. Revka is bitter over witnessing the horrifying death of her daughter at the hands of Roman soldiers which rendered her young grandsons mute from the shock, Shirah was trained in ancient magic and healing by her mother in Alexandria. Aziza is a warrior, raised as a boy and skilled in the use of weaponry. All arrive at Masada via different paths and circumstances. Their collective story is one of depth and passion. I hope the televised version is not a disappointment.

A Jew among Romans: the Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus / Frederic Raphael 336 pp.

I knew very little about Josephus before reading this; I know a very little bit more now.  In the run-up to the fall of  Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Josephus, of a prominent Jerusalem family, led the defense of towns surrounding Jerusalem.  Through a combination of courage, quick wits, and luck, Josephus survived these conflicts, was taken captive, and managed to become an interpreter and (sort of) kingmaker for the up-and-coming Vespasian.  Once on the throne, Vespasian made Josephus a free man and an advisor, and Josephus spent his remaining days chronicling the downfall of Jerusalem and the dispersion of his people, who no longer recognized him as one of their own.

Josephus' status as a man without a country, a consummate assimilator and survivor who in all likelihood never stopped grieving the community he lost, is a fascinating subject.  It's too bad, then, that this book was mostly an excruciating slog.  Each and every page contained 10-20 lines of footnotes, many of them interesting, most of them nonessential, and all of them disruptive to the flow of the text.  This is bad enough; worse is Raphael's meandering, musing style.  It's certainly true that issues of Jewish exile and assimilation echo throughout history and into the present day and it is valuable to examine more contemporary comparisons to Josephus' life and circumstances.  And it is inarguable that Christians persecuted Jews.  But it is hard to see why, in ostensibly looking at the life of a man who died a full 200 years before Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, that this particular drum needs to be banged every few pages.  It's true and it's important, and it belongs in another book.  Poor Josephus mostly disappeared; as I said I learned disappointingly little about him.