Book picks similar to
Sand of the Arena by James Duffy


historical-fiction
ancient-rome
fiction
roman-fiction

The Twice Born


Pauline Gedge - 2007
    Thanks to his generous benefactor, this farmer's son will now have a chance at a better life as a scribe. But once away at school, Huy is unprepared for the jealousy his easy success stirs in fellow pupils, and he becomes the victim of a vicious attack that leaves him dead-or so it would seem.His inexplicable return to life makes Huy a pariah, ostracizes him because of his visions of the deaths of those around him. But priests believe his powers could be the key to interpreting the Book of Thoth, and Huy's newfound fame attracts the attention of Pharaoh Amunhotep. It's only then that Huy begins to realize his power is not granted to him, but owns him, for he is no longer his own master. He is the King's Man.

Fight for Freedom


Simon Scarrow - 2011
    Recruited as a gladiator, young Marcus Cornelius Primus faces a new life of brutal training, governed by strict rules, as he learns the skills of an elite warrior. But Marcus cannot simply forget his past. His father lies murdered by soldiers and his mother has been kidnapped and forced into slavery. Marcus is determined to find his father's old commander, Pompeius the Great, to seek justice for his family and set his mother free. Yet, unbeknown to him, Marcus is hiding a life-threatening secret. And if the Romans discover it, there will be no escape...

The Course of Honor


Lindsey Davis - 1997
    saw the corrupt and bloody reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as well as the Year of the Four Emperors. It also saw the rise of Vespasian, the destitute son of a provincial senator who brought peace to the empire after years of strife, court intrigue, and murder. Written from the perspective of Caenis, a female slave who was Vespasian's forbidden love, the future emperor advances in his climactic struggle for power. But as Vespasian brings hope to the people of Rome...he brings only despair to the one woman who loves him most.

Heart of the Gladiator


Lydia Pax - 2015
    or denied.Aeliana hates gladiators. They’re crude, violent, arrogant, and will toss the skirts up of any available woman after a fight. It may be her job to treat their injuries, but she has no interest in being just another conquest.So, when the former gladiator champion Caius arrives in her life, she is stricken by how immediately she falls for him. He's a merciless killer in the arena, not at all her type. But he’s also damnably handsome, built like a god, and turns Aeliana on like nothing she’s felt before.Being with a gladiator is always a bad idea. Even if they’re known the Empire over for the intensity of their bedchamber passions, they have a lifespan about as long as a sword. Aeliana’s convinced that there’s no way that someone who could have any woman in Rome would want to stay with her for long. But his affection, while rough, seems completely genuine. Caius’s return to the arena is shrouded in mystery, but the more Aeliana discovers, the more she falls in love. When his lifetime of violence catches up with them both, Aeliana must decide whether she can afford to bare her heart to a man so effortlessly dangerous. As it becomes obvious that their love shouldn’t be, Caius and Aeliana fight the odds like warriors in the arena.Aeliana's strength will be tested again and again, along with their love. But it is her strength that will win the heart of a gladiator.

The Wolf Den


Elodie Harper - 2021
    Enslaved in Pompeii's brothel. Determined to survive. Her name is Amara. Welcome to the Wolf Den...Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father's death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii's infamous brothel, owned by a man she despises. Sharp, clever and resourceful, Amara is forced to hide her talents. For as a she-wolf, her only value lies in the desire she can stir in others.But Amara's spirit is far from broken.By day, she walks the streets with her fellow she-wolves, finding comfort in the laughter and dreams they share. For the streets of Pompeii are alive with opportunity. Out here, even the lowest slave can secure a reversal in fortune. Amara has learnt that everything in this city has its price. But how much is her freedom going to cost her?Set in Pompeii's lupanar, The Wolf Den reimagines the lives of women who have long been overlooked.

The King's Gambit


John Maddox Roberts - 1990
    Vicious gangs ruled the streets of Crassus and Pompey, routinely preying on plebeian and patrician alike. So the garroting of a lowly ex-slave and the disembowelment of a foreign merchant in the dangerous Subura district seemed of little consequence to the Roman hierarchy. But Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger, high-born commander of the local vigiles, was determined to investigate. Despite official apathy, brazen bribes and sinister threats, Decius uncovers a world of corruption at the highest levels of his government that threatens to destroy him and the government he serves. Set in 70 B.C.

Fire in the East


Harry Sidebottom - 2008
    . . 'The year is AD 255 - the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged along every border. The greatest threat lies in Persia to the east, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. There the isolated Roman citadel of Arete awaits inevitable invasion.One man is sent to marshal the defences and shore up crumbling walls. A man whose name itself means war: a man called Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces, and the courage to stand first and to stand hard, against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium.This is part one of WARRIOR OF ROME: an epic of empire, of heroes, of treachery, of courage, and most of all, a story of brutal, bloody warfare.

Wounds of Honour


Anthony Riches - 2009
    The plan is to take a new name, serve in an obscure regiment on Hadrian's Wall and lie low until he can hope for justice. Then a rebel army sweeps down from the wastes north of the Wall, and Marcus has to prove he's hard enough to lead a century in the front line of a brutal, violent war.

Dreaming the Eagle


Manda Scott - 2003
    She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome -- and triumph.It is 33 AD and eleven-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica), the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior. Dreaming the Eagle is also the story of the two men Boudica loves most: Caradoc, outstanding warrior and inspirational leader; and Bàn, her half-brother, who longs to be a warrior, though he is manifestly a Dreamer, possibly the finest in his tribe’s history. Bàn becomes the Druid whose eventual return to the Celts is Boudica’s salvation.Dreaming the Eagle is full of brilliantly realised, luminous scenes as the narrative sweeps effortlessly from the epic -- where battle scenes are huge, bloody, and action-packed -- to the intimate. Manda Scott plunges us into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Roman invasion: a world of druids and dreamers and the magic of the gods where the natural world is as much a character as any of the people who live within it, a world of warriors who fight for honour as much as victory, a world of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.Dreaming the Eagle stunningly recreates the roots of a story so powerful its impact has lasted through the ages.

24 Hours in Ancient Rome: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There


Philip Matyszak - 2017
    In each hour of the day we meet a new character - from emperor to slave girl, gladiator to astrologer, medicine woman to water-clock maker - and discover the fascinating details of their daily lives.

Lost Legio IX


Marc Alan Edelheit - 2017
     One of history’s greatest mysteries, the Ninth Imperial Legion guarding Rome’s northernmost frontier in Britannia disappeared around the year 122 AD. This is their story. Badly outnumbered, facing certain destruction, and cut off from supply, the Imperial Roman Ninth Legion Hispana is in a desperate position. Surrounded by the hostile Celtic army, Senior Centurion Lucious Grackus Lisidus Karus must lead his men to safety after unexpectedly finding himself thrust into command of the legion. Then the unthinkable happens. Karus and the Ninth are transported to a strange place, far away from the Britannia they knew. The legion’s deliverance from danger at first appears to be a blessing from the gods, but slowly they begin to uncover the secrets of this new land, a world that is slowly being overrun by a terrible evil. A young woman is discovered in a dungeon, where she has been abandoned and left to starve. Inextricably linked with Karus’ own destiny, she may be the key to salvation, or worse, the instrument of destruction for the Ninth. Cast adrift in a terrible war, Karus must find his way through the mysteries of this unfamiliar world, one that is filled with true magic, strange alien races, evil gods, and dragons. More importantly, Karus must discover his destiny, and complete a desperate task set for him by a god of Rome. Should he fail, it will mean certain destruction for the Ninth, the triumph of evil, and the rise of a new order. Lost Legio IX is the first book in this exciting series. ‘For these I set no bounds in space or time; but have given empire without end.’ —Jupiter, Virgil’s Aeneid.

The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora


Stephanie Marie Thornton - 2013
    But the woman whose image was later immortalized in glittering mosaic was, in fact, a scrappy, clever, conniving, flesh-and-blood woman full of sensuality and spirit whose real story is as surprising as any ever told…When her father dies suddenly, Theodora and her sisters face starvation on the streets. Determined to survive, Theodora makes a living any way she can—first on her back with every man who will have her, then on the stage of the city’s infamous amphitheater in a scandalous dramatization of her own invention. When her daring performance grants her a back-door entry into the halls of power, she seizes the chance to win a wealthy protector—only to face heartbreak and betrayal. Ever resilient, Theodora rises above such trials and by a twist of fate, meets her most passionate admirer yet: the Emperor’s nephew. She will thrive as his confidant and courtesan, but many challenges lie ahead. For one day, this man will hand her a crown. And all the empire will wonder—is she bold enough, shrewd enough, and strong enough to keep it?

Soldier of Rome: The Legionary


James Mace - 2006
    9, three Roman Legions under Quintilius Varus were betrayed by the Germanic war chief, Arminius, and destroyed in the forest known as Teutoburger Wald. Six years later Rome is finally ready to unleash Her vengeance on the barbarians. The Emperor Tiberius has sent his adopted son, Germanicus Caesar, into Germania with an army of forty-thousand legionaries. The come not on a mission of conquest, but one of annihilation. With them is a young legionary named Artorius. For him the war is a personal vendetta; a chance to avenge his brother, who was killed in Teutoburger Wald. In Germania Arminius knows the Romans are coming. He realizes that the only way to fight the legions is through deceit, cunning, and plenty of well-placed brute force. In truth he is leery of Germanicus, knowing that he was trained to be a master of war by the Emperor himself. The entire Roman Empire held its collective breath as Germanicus and Arminius faced each other in what would become the most brutal and savage campaign the world had seen in a generation; a campaign that could only end in a holocaust of fire and blood.

All Roads Lead to Murder


Albert A. Bell Jr. - 2002
    Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, and Luke, travelers in a caravan bound for Rome, become investigators when no Roman magistrates are available. Suspects abound: gamblers, arcane priestesses and Christians. What is the secret of one of the victim's own slaves, a beautiful blonde, and the German giant shadowing her?

The Fall of Britannia


K.M. Ashman - 2010
     The last unconquered stronghold of the Celts and a land of gold and slaves. A dangerous place of men without fear, led by mystical Druid warriors, yet still to face the might of Rome in the unrelenting expansion of the Empire. Four Roman legions have assembled in Gaul undertaking final preparations for the invasion of Britannia. Two young men are posted to a training cohort under the sadistic tutorage of a battle scarred veteran, Remus. The training is brutal but eventually the trainees find themselves involved in their first campaign, The invasion of Britannia. The legions invade in a frenzy of brutality and aggression, and one of the defending Celtic warriors is forced to flee the battle to embark on a frantic rescue mission the isle of Druids, where a young girl is due to be sacrificed. Meanwhile a cohort of legionaries under the command of Remus, is tasked with finding the source of the Celtic gold. The Romans find themselves in strange and unfriendly environment and, as they close in on their quarry, the fates of all four men become intertwined and a long held secret revealed, culminating in a savage and astonishing climax that affects the very future of Britannia..