Roma by Steven Saylor

[Ursus]

First there was Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd's mammoth 1000+ page documentary novel of 10,000 years of history surrounding the Neolithic monument known as Stonehenge and the towns that grew around it. Rutherfurd went on to repeat this epic format in several novels, all of which remain in print some twenty-odd years on. We should not be surprised, therefore, that one of America's foremost historical novelists, Steven Saylor, has decided to turn his hand to writing the epic novel of ancient Rome.

 

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[M. Porcius Cato]

Thanks to Augusta for reviewing Roma. The key to appreciating it, I think, is to recognize it as an attempt to fill in the pieces that are missing from the historical record -- e.g., the origins of the Lupercalia, how Romulus and Remus had it out, how exactly they were raised by a she-wolf, where "Roma" got her name, what gave rise to patricii, and so forth. On these topics, Saylor was imaginative, interesting, and might just change the way you think about early Roman history. Unfortunately, as the source material gets more dense, Saylor's approach ceases to work, and so the quality of the novel ends up being inversely proportional to the quality of the historical record. This, I think, explains why the last 2/3 of the novel ends up being just dreadful.