Recommendations

[Ursus]

Your attention to proper English is greatly appreciated!

[Gaius Octavius]

Heard on NPR. "Medicus - A Novel of the Roman Empire" by Ruth Downey.

 

A murder mystery about a 'medicus' (Gaius Petreius Russo) from southern Gaul who bought a slave girl and finds her dead. Takes place at Chesters in Britannia. Written with some humor.

[Northern Neil]

'Frontier Wolf' - novel by Rosemary Sutcliffe. Set in the late 4th century, at an outpost fort north of Hadrian's Wall. Good coverage of the delicate political situation between the pro - Roman Votadini and hostile Caledonii. The Fort commandant leads a numerus of frontier scouts and a group of Arcani, who he doesn't exactly trust... rumours of diplomatic links between Caledonii, Irish and Saxons...ignorant senior officers being arrogant with allies and threatening to upset a delicate balance...soldiers grumbling because of increasing pay arrears and substandard, intermittent supplies...great description of the fort and ramshackle late Roman repairs and alterations. Do not be put off by the unlikely cover pic of horseman, dressed in Lorica Segmentata, dressed like a trajanic period legionary in mediterranean kit, in the middle of winter in the Cheviot hills in the 4th century - this is a terrific read, and Sutcliffe goes to great pains to describe what life was like in a frontier garrison in the late 4th century.