The Ark and the Empire

Name: The Ark and the Empire
Rating: 4.8 (5 reviews)

by Michael Livingston Book 1 in the The Shards series.

First published 2015

Amazon

3.8(5)

After Julius Caesar’s assassination, Rome fractures between Octavian, Mark Antony and the surviving defenders of the Republic. Antony’s alliance with Cleopatra draws the struggle towards Egypt, while Caesarion and Cleopatra’s other children become living claims to political legitimacy. Behind the civil wars, Juba of Numidia searches for relics called the Shards of Heaven, weapons associated with the gods and with the sacred traditions of several peoples.

Exiled legionaries, spies, librarians and Cleopatra Selene are drawn into the contest as battles from Rome to Alexandria determine the future of the Mediterranean. Historical events surrounding the Second Triumvirate and the War of Actium are reimagined as the visible surface of a much older supernatural war. First published as The Shards of Heaven, the novel opens a trilogy about the transition from Republic to Empire and the human cost of possessing divine power.

Historical Periods

Assassination of Julius Caesar44 BCE War of Actium32–30 BCE Second Triumvirate and Proscriptions43 BCE

Genres

Court & Political Fiction Dynastic & Royal Fiction Historical Fantasy Historical Sagas Maritime Fiction Mythological Fiction War Fiction

Historical people

Augustus64 BCE–14 Julius Caesar101 BCE–45 BCE Mark Antony83–30 BCE Cleopatra70 BCE–31 BCE Caesarion47–30 BCE Cleopatra Selene II41 BCE–6 BCE Juba IIc. 48 BCE–23 CE