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Historical person
101 BCE–45 BCE
Julius Caesar was a Roman general, politician and author whose career helped bring the Roman Republic to an end. He rose through the republican magistracies, formed a political alliance with Pompey and Crassus, and won extraordinary military prestige through his conquest of Gaul between 58 and 50 BCE.
Caesar’s decision to cross the Rubicon in 49 BCE began a civil war that ended with Pompey’s defeat and Caesar’s emergence as dictator. He introduced wide-ranging political and administrative reforms, including the Julian calendar, but the concentration of power in his hands provoked fierce opposition. He was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March in 44 BCE, triggering further civil wars.
Adrian Goldsworthy’s Augustus follows Octavian from the assassination of Julius Caesar through civil war, alliance with Antony and the creation of a monarchy that could still present itself as a restored republic. In Colleen McCullough’s Caesar, Julius Caesar commands an experienced army and uses conquest, clemency and relentless campaigning to secure wealth and prestige beyond the Alps. Rebellion under Vercingetorix culminates in the siege of Alesia, where Caesar’s legions confront both a trapped army and a vast relief force. Victory makes him Rome’s most formidable commander, but the deaths of Julia and Crassus remove the personal ties that had held his alliance with Pompey together. Further fictional perspectives on Julius Caesar can be found in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. For broader historical treatment of Julius Caesar, see Richard Woodman’s Caesar’s Gallic Triumph, Antonia Fraser’s Cleopatra, Lindsay Powell’s Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, and Mary Beard’s Emperor of Rome.
Series
The Emperor series is a highly fictionalised retelling of Julius Caesar’s life and the violent end of the Roman Republic. It follows Caesar from youth through war, political ascent and conquest, then continues beyond his assassination into the struggle between Octavian, Antony and Caesar’s killers.
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The Marius’ Mules series follows Marcus Falerius Fronto and Caesar’s legions from the invasion of Gaul to the destruction of the Roman Republic. Battles recorded in Caesar’s commentaries are viewed through officers and soldiers who must endure the practical cost of his ambition, while conspiracies in Rome steadily…
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The Masters of Rome series reconstructs the final century of the Roman Republic from the rise of Gaius Marius in 110 BCE to the settlement that made Octavian Augustus in 27 BCE. Across seven novels, military commands, elections, family alliances, provincial wealth and personal patronage become instruments in…
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Robert Harris’s Cicero Trilogy reconstructs the final decades of the Roman Republic through Tiro, Cicero’s enslaved secretary and eventual freedman. Imperium follows the advocate’s prosecution of Verres and campaign for the consulship; Lustrum places his consulship inside the Catilinarian crisis; and Dictator carries him through exile, Caesar’s civil…
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The enslaved twins Romulus and Fabiola are separated when Romulus is sold to a gladiator school and Fabiola to a brothel. Romulus comes under the protection of the Gallic gladiator Brennus and meets Tarquinius, an Etruscan warrior and seer. The three men are forced into Crassus’s army and…
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Epic Historical Adventure is Colin Falconer's publisher-defined collection of stand-alone historical thrillers rather than a continuous narrative sequence. The novels range from Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and the Mongol Empire to the Ottoman court, the conquest of Mexico, colonial India, shipwreck and twentieth-century Palestine. Most volumes can be…
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The Mark Antony series presents a biographical saga of the Roman commander from the Catilinarian crisis to his defeat by Octavian. Antony’s youth is shaped by the execution of his stepfather, service under Aulus Gabinius in Judaea and Egypt, and the campaigns in Gaul that bind him to…
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The Gladiator novels follow the young Marcus Cornelius Primus in the final decades of the Roman Republic. Enslavement, gladiatorial training and the search for his abducted mother draw him into the rivalries surrounding Julius Caesar, Pompey and the continuing memory of Spartacus’s revolt.
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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…
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The Dream of Rome is an omnibus collection rather than a single continuous saga. Its volumes gather the complete Sword of Rome campaigns, the two Augustus novels, the first three Spies of Rome investigations, the complete Sword of Empire sequence and three later Rufus Varro novellas. The collection…
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The Caesar’s Spies series follows Iacomus Artemidorus, code-named Septem, and the intelligence unit operating for Julius Caesar and later Mark Antony. The sequence begins with the attempt to prevent Caesar’s assassination in March 44 BC and continues through the pursuit of the conspirators, the struggle among Antony, Cicero…
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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…
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The Lucius Sestius Mysteries follow the historical Roman senator Lucius Sestius Quirinalis through the destruction of the Republic and the consolidation of Augustus’s principate. Beginning as a young lawyer under Julius Caesar, Forsyth’s Lucius is repeatedly drawn into murder inquiries whose evidence threatens the political settlement of the…
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The Augustus series follows Gaius Octavius from the assassination of Julius Caesar to the point at which Caesar’s heir can compete for control of Rome. The two novels place his personal development within the collapse of republican government, showing an inexperienced claimant learning to use adoption, veteran loyalty,…
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The Shards is a historical fantasy sequence in which divine relics shape the wars and dynastic struggles of the ancient Mediterranean. The prequel The Aegis and the Oasis follows Alexander the Great and Hephaestion in Egypt; the main trilogy begins after Julius Caesar’s assassination and follows the conflict…
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Historical Heroes is a three-volume collection of shorter fiction drawn from Foreman’s recurring worlds. Roman soldiers and spies appear beside a crusading knight, Dick Turpin, Raffles and the Hollywood screenwriter Pat Hobby. The books are not a continuous narrative; they are curated introductions to characters whose longer adventures…
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Sword of Rome follows the fictional centurion Lucius Oppius through Julius Caesar’s campaigns from Britain and Alesia to the civil war against Pompey. The first three novellas establish Oppius as a soldier repeatedly diverted into intelligence work, where missions behind enemy lines and political violence in Rome demand…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
