Best Historical Novels About Postumus

Postumus

c. 3rd century–269

Postumus was a Roman commander who established the breakaway Gallic Empire around AD 260 during the wider third-century crisis. He controlled Gaul, Britain and parts of Spain and created an imperial administration with its own consuls and coinage while defending the Rhine frontier.

Postumus did not attempt to conquer Rome, suggesting that regional security mattered more than universal rule. His own soldiers killed him after he refused to allow them to sack Mainz following a rebellion.

Harry Sidebottom’s Falling Sky sets Ballista’s AD 265 campaign against Postumus, the emperor of the breakaway Gallic Empire. Postumus is not treated as a barbarian enemy but as a rival Roman ruler whose government in Gaul claims legitimacy while defending the Rhine provinces. Gallienus’s attempt to destroy that regime turns Ballista’s service into civil war, forcing the novel to examine divided loyalties, imperial propaganda and the cost of fighting other Romans while external enemies remain on the frontier.

Historical novels and book series featuring Postumus (1 series)

Warrior of Rome in Order

by Harry Sidebottom 8 books 4.3(9,729)

The Warrior of Rome series follows Marcus Clodius Ballista, an Angle raised within the Roman world who becomes a senior imperial commander during the Crisis of the Third Century. His service carries him from the Persian frontier to Palmyra, the Black Sea, the Eurasian steppe, Rome, Sicily and…