Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome First Edition, Kindle Edition

Roma: A Novel of Ancient Rome is by Steven Saylor. This novel tells the history of Rome through one family’s descendants. It adds a human interest addition to history. It fills out the facts with what could have happened. Steven Saylor did an excellent job of writing. One’s interest is held captive by his words. One can imagine the hills covered with trees and later covered with homes and buildings. One can see Romulus and Remus and friends running through the villages naked and covered with wolf pelts. Not having studied Roman history in some time, I decided to look up the history and found the same stories in an authentic website along with other versions. One of the sites even mentioned Saylor’s book as a good one to read.The novel begins with the salt traders in 1000BC. Larth is the leader of the traders and Lara is his daughter. While they are on the island in the middle of the river, they run into three men who are metalworkers and are also traveling. The paths of the two professions cross here. However, this is the first time they have met. That evening, Larth looks into the fire and sees the Fascinus, a winged phallus his family’s guide in the fire. He knows to pay attention to the problem he is wrestling with at the time and the guide will tell him what to do. This evening it told him to send his daughter to the metal worker Tarketios. She follows her father’s orders and goes to Tarketios and they copulate. The next morning as the two groups take leave of each other, she gives him a container of salt and she is given a piece of gold on a leather strap. In later years, this gold is changed into an amulet with the Fascinus on it. This amulet is passed down from father to son or daughter through the years. As we follow the family through the years, we also follow the kings and rulers of Rome to 1BC.I found some of the first stories quite interesting as mythology stories. The story of Cacus. He was a deformed child who was larger than most of the others. As he grew to manhood, no one could best him. When the village had a very hard time finding food for the winter, they would decide to send children out into the wilderness as an offering to the numina so the village would survive. The number was determined by augury and the children chosen by lottery. Cacus was chosen He and six others were turned out of the village at the rite of spring. They were on their own for food, water, and safety. When the first girl died, the others were reduced to cannibalism to survive. The same happened with the second child. The third one died of poison and the fourth of a fever so they buried them. Cacus killed the fifth and sixth children and ate them. When possible, he would also eat animals. Not having baths or haircuts or new clothes, he was turned from a child into an animal. He finally came to live in a cave near the settlement that would become Rome. Here he ate cattle or other animals and the occasional child who ran across him. Men tried to catch him or kill him but he was able to avoid them. Finally a stranger came to the village and Cacus ate one of his oxen. As the man went to look for him, he heard a woman’s screams and rushed to help. He found Cacus raping Politia, a girl from the village and a descendant of Lara. He kills Cacus by breaking his neck. Politia does not tell anyone she was raped. That night, the stranger tried to comfort Politia and ended up copulating with her. The stranger leaves and she is pregnant. She does not know whose son she had and even after his birth she couldn’t tell. The stranger is identified by the Phoenicians who come to trade. They say he is Melkat, a demigod. They say the Greeks call him Heracles. The people likes the second name better and built the first alter in Rome for Heracles. This goes right along with the Erymanthian Boar in the Twelve Labors of Heracles and other stories.I thoroughly enjoyed the book and had a hard time putting it down in the evening.

There's enough reviews giving a recap of the story, so here's my $0.02 opinion. I have to start with a big thumbs up because Saylor obviously used original source material and followed the history as best he could, so the reader is richly rewarded with valuable insights into the Roman past. The format was good in the sense that the reader travels through over 1,000 years of Tiberian history in 549 pages; a bold approach that is very difficult to deliver successfully, and I would say he pulled it off. At times it was a problem because certain characters and events suffered from reaching their full development. At other times it spares us tedium and after a slowish start, once the narrative got going the pace was fast.Saylor filled the book with a wealth of various Roman facts and trivia and did a very good job bringing Rome to life. Following the two families with all their famous branches was very interesting. He weaves in a good dose of mythology that gives the past vitality; for example his portrayal of Cacus & Hercules was well done. The book also does a pretty outstanding job of walking us through the growth and evolution of the city itself in the days up to the birth of the Empire.There were a few things that irritated me throughout the book. For one, the constant use of "Roma" grated on my mind and I found myself imposing "Rome" every time I came across it, which was very frequent. Saylor used many original Latin words to good effect, and while theoretically correct, I had trouble with the feminized version of the name. I also struggled to accept his ideas on the early founding of the Seven Hills because it seemed to ignore the Etruscan influence and presence (he does include them, but it never felt complete). On the other hand, his portrayal of an early chance encounter with traveling northerners who were expert metal-smiths was a subtle yet quality touch.The editing is embarrassing because there probably is a typo every 5-6 pages, which for an author who has published this many books is totally unacceptable. The beginning chapters were rather wordy at times and the story could have been better balanced. There are so many larger than life characters and each only receives a limited number of pages. Some characters felt all too feminine. The chapter dealing with Scipio Africanus spent a lot of valuable space focusing on sexual undertones at the expense of the great Roman general, and perhaps more tragic, his master opponent and Rome's greatest adversary Hannibal (a big disappointment which I am now remedying with "The Pride of Carthage").Caesar's character was way off, as was some of the portrayal of his death. A few characters like Coriolanus or the Gracchi were good but would have benefited from just a little more. Sulla was very well done. Sulla's meeting with Caesar was true in substance but fictitious in setting, however given the limited pages devoted to Sulla, the author did a good job creating a fairly accurate image of the dictator and the times.The mythology of the Fascinus was, dare I say it, quite fascinating. Saylor makes the case that a winged phallus was arguably the oldest god in Rome, which was a theme throughout the book that I was unfamiliar with and found interesting. While the Romans were known for their sexual liberty and any realistic story of Rome can hardly be faulted for portraying it, at times I felt a certain deviant nature that came directly from the mind of the author. Some of it was depiction and some was more subtle. Not really a big deal, but certainly different than most books I have read from this genre, and perhaps its just not my preference? Made me think of Melville at times, though no one would confuse the technique of either writer.Regardless of my stated criticisms I did enjoy the book for the most part, and would recommend it to anyone seeking a solid fictitious Roman experience. I would also highly recommend any of the books by Robert Harris like "Imperium" or "Pompeii".

Anyone who likes to learn about ancient Rome should read this. I've read it a few times now and I still love it. I love that it follows the descendants of one family through all the history of the city.

I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual novel that spans Rome's history from the very first inhabitants to the advent of Augustus. And this through the lives of two, then one, patrician families. Each episode has its own interesting story to tell and connaisseurs of Roman history will enjoy, I think, how the author brings the Gracchii brothers to life. The author's take on how Roman myths and feasts came to be is very plausible and interesting. Definitely recommended for all who are interested in the period.

Puro entretenimiento y al mismo tiempo un experimento de como muchos de los mitos fundacionales de Roma pudieron haber surgido.El formato es agradable y accesible a los mas jovenes, pero hay que saber que hay mas de fantasia, mito e interpretacion que de historia. Sabiendolo, son muchas paginas de lectura agil, agradable y accesible.Recomendable.Nota: no concozo las novelas policias romanas de Saylor, entiendo que pertenecen a otro genero y no deben ser confundidas

Wer jemals in der Schule Latein gelernt hat, wird von diesem Buch begeistert sein. Im Gegensatz zum Unterricht in der Schule - nach meiner Erfahrung - schildert Saylor das Leben im alten Rom nicht als ein unaufhörliches Nacheinander von Heldentaten, sondern lässt uns am "echten" Leben der Bewohner Italiens mit allen Sorgen und Freuden teilnehmen. Dabei fehlt auch ein Ausflug nach Etrurien nicht, dessen Bewohner Roma lange beherrscht haben.Die Schilderung des religiösen Lebens im alten Rom erinnert mic sehr stark an die heutige Art und Weise: für Glücks- oder Unglücksfälle wird immer ein höheres Wesen verantwortlich gemacht. Sehr gut hat mir uch die Art und Weise gefallen, wie Saylor die Tatsachen recherchiert hat; alles, was historische Personen getan haben, kann man - z.B. bei Wikipedia - nachlesen. Hinzu kommt noch, das das Buch in hervorragenden Englisch geschrieben ist.Diese Buch kann ich jedem historisch Interessierten empfehlen.

Great book, interesting read.