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Author

Steven Saylor

1956

Steven Saylor is important for Roman historical mystery and for readers interested in the final decades of the Republic.

Steven Saylor was born in Port Lavaca, Texas, in 1956 and grew up in the state before studying history and classics at the University of Texas at Austin. He worked in publishing and as a freelance writer while developing the research that became his first Roman mystery. His academic background and long engagement with classical sources shaped a career devoted almost entirely to the ancient city and its political transformations.

Roman Blood, published in 1991, introduced Gordianus the Finder, an investigator whose cases intersect with Cicero, Caesar and other major figures of the late Republic. The Roma Sub Rosa series uses crime plots to explore courts, elections, slavery, family authority and civil war from the viewpoint of a man who moves between social classes. Saylor also wrote Roma, Empire and Dominus, which follow generations of a family across a much longer span of Roman history. His novels combine known events with plausible fictional observation and are especially valuable for readers who want political history grounded in streets, households and legal disputes.

Periods and events

Ancient Rome Roman Republic Caesar’s Civil War Assassination of Julius Caesar Ancient World Roman–Parthian Wars Late Roman Republic Imperial Rome Late Roman Empire Severan Dynasty Crisis of the Third Century Tetrarchy Nerva–Antonine Dynasty Hellenistic Greece

Series

Series by Steven Saylor (3 series)

Roma Sub Rosa in Order

by Steven Saylor 13 books 4.1

The Roma Sub Rosa series follows Gordianus the Finder through the last generation of the Roman Republic. His investigations begin in the aftermath of Sulla’s dictatorship and continue through slave revolt, aristocratic trials, Catiline’s conspiracy, Caesar’s civil war and the assassination of Julius Caesar. The series uses murder…

Roman Blood

4.0

Arms of Nemesis

4.1

Catilina’s Riddle

4.2

The Venus Throw

4.1

A Murder on the Appian Way

4.2

The House of the Vestals

4.1

Rubicon

4.1

Last Seen in Massilia

4.2

A Mist of Prophecies

4.1

The Judgment of Caesar

4.0

A Gladiator Dies Only Once

4.1

The Triumph of Caesar

4.0

The Throne of Caesar (Roma Sub Rosa Book 16)

4.4

Roma Trilogy in Order

by Steven Saylor 3 books 4.0

The Roma Trilogy follows generations of the fictional Pinarius family across the long history of Rome. Roma begins with the city’s legendary foundation and continues through the Republic and the rise of Augustus; Empire carries the family through the Julio-Claudian, Flavian and adoptive-emperor periods; Dominus follows the later…

Roma

4.0

Empire

4.1

Dominus

4.2

Ancient World in Order

by Steven Saylor 3 books 4.1

The Ancient World prequels follow Gordianus before his established career as Rome’s Finder. The sequence begins with his youthful journey to the Seven Wonders in 92 BC, then moves to Alexandria, Egypt and Asia Minor during the opening phase of the Mithridatic Wars. These books are linked by…