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Roman Times -- Older Children
Note. All these books are for children over 12
A series of graphic novels about Asterix, a Gallic chieftain who defies the Romans. Translated from the French. Not to be taken too seriously. If read in the original French will help both History and French. These books are very popular among the young.
This book is actually set in the present time but it is an adventure story in which the solution is found to a mystery from Roman times.
Shortly after the sack of Rome Alaric, the King of the Goths, died and was buried in Calabria with his treasure. There is an account of it in Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. Captive labourers diverted the course of a small river and built a tomb in the vacant bed. The river was then allowed to return to its natural course and the labourers were slaughtered so that they could not reveal the site of Alaric's tomb.
Geoffrey Trease has taken these facts and woven a story from them.
During the Second World War a young American soldier finds a Roman christening spoon which he keeps as a good luck token. Fifty years later he is touring Britain with his wife and grandson. In a stately home he finds a spoon which appears very like his own. Max, his grandson, is interested in history and he meets some young people with similar interests. One thing leads to another. Some historical detective work is done and Max joins three other teenagers on a summer tour of Europe. They manage to find the valley in Calabria where Max's grandfather found the spoon but if they are to find Alaric's treasure horde they have serious problems to overcome.
In a month the valley is due to be flooded to form a reservoir. To make things worse, the local branch of the Mafia are intent on keeping people out of the valley. Then Max is kidnapped.
An exciting and enjoyable story written around a historical mystery.
Teenage
It says on the back of this book that
this is part one of an epic adventure about Victoria, the supreme
gladiatrix. So we know right from the start that Victoria is going
to become a female gladiator.
Victoria lives in London. Her mother is a native woman, a member
of the Iceni tribe but the man she believes to be her father is
a Roman merchant. Victoria is learning to fight in secret. Then
one day she learns that her real father was a member of the Iceni
tribe too. Victoria is told that she must marry an older man.
When she hears this she runs away to join the Iceni. They let
her live with them but they do not really trust her. Despite this
Victoria goes with them when they join Boudicca's rebellion and
she is present at the sack of Camulodunum. Things come to a head
when a Roman she had known in London is about to be tortured.
To spare him torment Victoria kills him with one blow from her
sword. This means that she cannot now hope to be accepted by the
Iceni and she flees back to London where she sees her mother and
sisters slaughtered by the tribesmen.
Victoria is neither Roman or Iceni and she is torn between them.
But before she dies Queen Boudicca gives her a solemn and sacred
commandment. She is to punish the Romans. She is to destroy Rome.
But how? She decides she will strike right at the heart of Rome
-- as a gladiatrix.
At first sight this book may seem just perfect for a Hollywood
blockbuster but that should not detract from the fact that there
is much serious history intertwined in the story. The absence
of the legions in Anglesey allowed Boudicca her initial success
and this is made quite clear. The savagery and brutality of the
times is really brought home to the reader, particularly in the
descriptions of the treatment of the children -- the children's
heads displayed at Camulodunum and the slaughtered body of a baby
left underneath a tree in a sacred grove.
Comes with a map and a glossary.
An exciting story which brings out the harshness and barbarity
of the times.
Young adult
This is the second book in the trilogy about Victoria the female gladiator -- or gladiatrix.
The book starts with Victoria in Pompeii, at the gladiators'school being interviewed by the lanistra, the head of the school. Eventually, after a series of tests, Victoria is accepted as a volunteer gladiatrix and she assumes the name Victrix.
After this introduction we follow Victoria as she trains to be a gladiatrix. There is much information about the living conditions in the school, the actual training and the different kinds of gladiators such a retiarius who fought with net and trident, or a lightly armed Thracian.
And as well as all this strict training even volunteers are subject to harsh, even savage discipline. Victoria loses her temper and would have attacked a trainer if not restrained by the other women. If she had actually attacked the trainer she could have been crucified but as she did not reach him she is only sentenced to a dozen lashes. Later a Spanish girl is crucified. Another girl was caught stealing and made to run the gauntlet after which she died.
But the very worst thing that Victoria learns is that if she is victorious in the arena and her opponent is only wounded she may have to kill the defeated gladiator -- who may even be a friend of hers.
Even so Victoria survives this harsh training and goes on to fight in the arena where she soon becomes a favourite of the crowds. After a while she is given permission to accept invitations to dinner parties. She relishes these as she remembers the commandment Boudicca gave her -- to destroy Rome. Victoria listens so that she might learn something which wiould help her to carry out this sacred trust.
Eventually she is invited to Rome to stay in the palace and fight before the Emperor Nero himself. Nero gives her an estate outside Rome. But it is while in Rome that Victoria has her very worst experience. She is forced to fight her lover in the arena. Victoria wins the contest and hopes that Nero will be merciful but no, he gives the thumbs down signalling that Victoria must kill the man she loves.
This second part of the trilogy draws to an end with the great fire of Rome and Victoria planning the next part of her campaign to destroy Rome. If she were to kill Nero he would probably be replaced by another Emperor just as bad. But could she replace him with a good Emperor? She thinks of a possibility -- Vespasian. A good clue to what the third book is going to be about.
The savagery of the arena, the luxury and debauchery of Roman society, political intrigue and even a touch of romance. This book certainly brings Ancient Rome to life.
Comes with a historical note and a glossary.
Young adult
This is the last in the trilogy about Victrix the female gladiator. Free again Victrix is now settled She has her own gladiator school with her Amazons and friends. But she is still mindful of the duty the dying Boudicca had placed on her -- to destroy Rome. Instead of trying to destroy Rome entirely she settles for trying to remove the people who had caused the devastation in England. That means she has to arrange the death of Nero and the corrupt Emperors who follow him. Victrix hopes to see Vespasian made Emperor as she is sure he will be a good Emperor -- and he had nothing to do with the death of Boudicca.
The first part of this book has less action than the two earlier volumes in this trilogy as it is largely concerned with political intrigue. But in the final chapters Victrix has to fight for her life before the Emperor Vitellius and through her eyes we seen something of the carnage in Rome as the forces of Vespasian march on it.
This last book clearly brings out the corruption, debauchery and brutality in the years before Vespasian becomes Emperor. But there is a softer side to it too as Victrix gathers round her a few loyal servants who become more like family.
But despite this there remains the fact that her way of life as a lanistra (or head of a gladiator school) means death for many.
This is a thoroughly researched book which comes with a glossary and historical note.
Young adult
The strange defensive towers known as 'brochs' are found only in the north of Scotland and in the Orkney Islands. It is not known why or how they were built, but it is thought that they may have been a defence against Roman ships raiding for slaves.
In The Stronghold Mollie Hunter has supplied her own answer. She has given an imaginative reconstruction of a primitive society in the Orkney Islands in the first century A.D. Coll has worked out how to build a tower which will be unassailable by the Romans. But before it can be built he has to face danger. Can he save Fand, the chief's daughter, from being offered up as a sacrifice by the Druid priest and can he unmask the traitor Taran?
The fact that part of this book involves the question of the sacrifice of a virgin pushes it into the teenage category.
This is an exciting, well told story which provides a possible explanation to a historical mystery.
12 +
This book was first published in 1954. It is the first in a series.
There is rebellion among the northern tribes in Britain and the Ninth Legion, the Hispana, is sent to deal with it. Once across Hadrian's Wall the legionaries march into the mists - and never come back.
Twelve years later Marcus, the son of the second-in-command of the lost Ninth, comes to Britain as a centurion in an auxiliary cohort. There are rumours along Hadrian's Wall that the Eagle of the Ninth has been seen and that it is receiving divine honours in some tribal temple in the far north. If this is true it would mean that the Eagle could become a weapon against the Romans. The Eagle could become a symbol and rallying point for the northern tribes.
Marcus is invalided out of the Roman Army after being wounded in a skirmish. He now volunteers to go north and try to find out what happened to the Ninth Legion and, if possible, recover the eagle standard. His friend and freed slave, Esca, goes with him. They travel north and, after many adventures, solve the mystery of the lost legion and recover the eagle - which has lost its wings. Hunted by the tribesmen they manage to reach Hadrian's Wall and safety.
As the Ninth Legion was dishonoured the truth can never be made public. The eagle is given an honourable, and secret burial. (It is found again in The Silver Branch). Marcus is given the gratuity of a time-expired cohort centurion - paid partly in money, partly in land - and starts the farm which features in the rest of this series. This provides something of a mystery for his descendants. Why was Marcus treated so well by the Roman authorities?
Rosemary Sutcliff works into the story much information about Roman Britain. As well the villas and civilisation of Rome there is also the dark, cruel side with the arena and the gladiators, and, for the army, the punishment of decimation - where the soldiers of the legion draw lots and one in ten is put to death by stoning. From the story point of view this is one of Rosemary Sutcliff's best books. She conveys a real sense of mystery about the lost legion.
I feel, however, that a glossary is needed to explain such words as legate and optio. There is one map of Marcus' journey north of Hadrian's Wall but another is required - one of the whole of Britain, also the modern names of places such Aquae Sulis (Bath). It would be helpful if these could be added to Rosemary Sutcliff's original manuscript.
Rosemary Sutcliff has woven this story out of two facts. Around the year 117 AD the Ninth Legion marched north and was never heard of again. Nearly eighteen hundred years later a wingless eagle was dug up near Silchester.
12+
This book was first published in 1957.
The power and strength of the once great Roman Empire are waning. Barbarians are threatening every frontier. Justin, a young surgeon, is sent to Britain where he becomes friendly with a young centurion, Flavius - who is a direct descendant of the Marcus Flavius Aquila of Eagle of the Ninth. Justin and Flavius try to warn the Emperor Carausius of treachery but instead of being listened to they are sent north to the Wall. (Hadrian's Wall). After Carausius is murdered they make their way back south and join up with a small band fighting the usurper.
This is a good story with much detail about both domestic and military Roman life. The character of Justin in particular comes to life. Justin is shy and insecure but he is still a good and caring surgeon and an effective soldier. But some of the minor characters are even more interesting. There is the Dalriad, Evicatos of the Spear and the curious little Cullen -- the hound, or Househood Fool, first of Carausius and then of Justin and Flavius. It is Cullen who gives the book its name. Cullen carries a silver branch from which hang a number of silver bells which he plays.
No one should be put off this book by the fact that the political details and characters are rather obscure. The story is so clear and so well told that it does not matter if the reader has not heard of Carausius before.
It is good to see books like this still in print.
12+
This book was first published in 1959.
The once great Roman Empire is under threat from the barbarians on every frontier. The order goes out for the last of the Roman army to leave Britain. Aquila, a young decurion (and a direct descendant of Marcus Flavius Aquila of The Eagle of the Ninth) was born in Britain and he now realises that he belongs in Britain. Instead of embarking in the Roman galleys he deserts and hides in the tower of the Pharos of Rutupiae. When the galleys are far out at sea, on a wild impulse Aquila lights the beacon and starts a legend.
Aquila returns to his home farm. There is a Saxon raid and Aquila's father is killed and his sister dragged off by the raiders. Aquila himself becomes a Saxon thrall. He escapes and becomes one of the Companions of Ambrosius. Ambrosious is the son of the last British emperor. He is half British, half Roman. He has grouped round him a band of warriors - the defenders of the solitary outpost of an empire which has ceased to exist. The story follows the struggle for twenty years and ends with a victory for the forces of Ambrosius over the Saxons led by Hengest. The barbarians have been held off for a while.
Interspersed with the details of the Saxon-Roman conflict are details of Aquila's personal life:- his concern about his sister and her son, his marriage to Ness and his relationship with his own son Minnow.
This is a gripping well-told story with very believable characters from one of the greatest twentieth century children's writers.
12+
This book was first published in 1955.
'It is unlucky to rob the sea,' Merddyn said, licking his lips, 'If you bring it among us, it will bring sorrow on us all -- sorrow and to spare on those who rob the sea.'
The 'it' is a baby boy who has just been rescued from the wreck of a Roman ship. Merddyn is an old man and a Druid and he says that the child should be returned to the sea. He is not listened to and the boy is saved. He is named Beric and, in due course is taught to hunt and, when he is fifteen, he is initiated into the Clan. Beric carries his spear and feels he belongs but then things start to go wrong. There is a bad harvest, lambs are born dead, and finally there is fever. It is then that Merddyn's words are remembered. Beric is cast out of the Clan. He goes to his own people, the Romans. He means to join the Eagles.
But before he can do that he is tricked aboard a ship by some Greek traders, knocked on the head and imprisoned. Later he is sold as a slave in a Roman market place. Beric works as a slave for a wealthy Roman. He escapes but ends up as a galley slave on a ship bound for Britain. Finally, after a brutal flogging he is flung overboard.
But Beric, as his foster father once said, was not born to be drowned and he is cast up on the shore. By chance he comes upon the house of the engineer Centurion Justinius, the Maker of Roads and Drainer of Marshes. Beric is nursed back to health by Justinius' housekeeper. He then helps Justinius with his work. There are fascinating details of the work of the Roman engineers - especially of a great storm which threatens to undo the work of years.
Belonging is an important theme of this book. Beric never really belonged anywhere. He tried to make himself a member of the British tribe but failed. It is not until many years later, until he has lived and worked with Justinius for some time that,
"Beric ... had a sudden feeling of coming home from a journey. 'This is my belonging place,' he thought. 'Whether I stay or whether I go forth again, it will still be here. It will keep faith with me.'"
This book is written around the themes of betrayal and belonging. It brings out the crueller side of Roman life. In particular the plight of the galley slaves is highlighted - poor food, chained to an oar even when sleeping, working continually under the lash of the overseer and the callous way in which any slaves who died were just thrown overboard.
But this is balanced by the details of the work of Justinius in trying to drain Romney Marsh. For me this is the most interesting part of the book - the descriptions of Romney Marsh and the details of building the sea wall and the sluices.
Outcast gives a fascinating insight into an often overlooked facet of the work of the Roman Army -- the work of the engineers.
12+
A fictionalised biography of Queen Boadicia.
10+
This is a story of friendship across a divide.
Thirteen year old Gwydion is growing up near Camulodunum (Colchester). He is the only son of a lord and warrior of the Belgae. When the Belgae are defeated and his father killed in a battle with the Romans Gwydion is due to be sold as a slave in the markets but a kindly centurion takes pity on him and buys him as a companion for his young son. Gwydion goes to live in Lugundum, which is now known as Lyons. He settles down and is happy there until the plague strikes. The aunt of Gaius, his young master, dies and the two friends - for that is what the boys are - are now under the control of the local garrison. They decide to run away. They survive a crossing of the Channel where they risk either being captured by the Romans or being sold into slavery by the boatmen and, once in Britain, find Gaius' father lying wounded on a battlefield.
And this is only the beginning of their adventures. They face danger from the Silurians and eventually, charges of betrayal from the Romans.
Comes with following appendices at the end: place names in the story, locations of the tribes mentioned and words about the Roman army.
10+
Historical fantasy.
Seriously injured after a car crash Patrick Saunders (Patch) is in hospital on a life support system. Then a young man, Will O’Bryan, appears at his bedside. Will tells Patch he has come to take him to the Twilight Zone –– although his body will remain on the hospital bed. Patch goes with Will. In the Twilight Zone he is told he is being given a second chance. With Will to help him he will be sent back to a time in history. If he can help someone while he is there he will be returned to his former life and family and restored to health again.
Patch and Will are sent back to Roman times. Patch is a slave while Will –– or Marcus as he now is –– is the elder son of his cruel master. Marcus is also the nephew of Pliny and he spends a few days in Pliny’s Villa before going to stay with his father in Pompeii. Will is experiencing the life of comfort and luxury enjoyed by wealthy Romans but Patch has to struggle to survive as a slave in a gang working to build a new temple. But both Will and Patch share the same fears. Every so often a boom like thunder emanates from the mountain Vesuvius and the ground shakes. Both Patch and Will know that Vesuvius is about to erupt but they cannot tell anyone. Who would believe them?
This book gives a good picture of the life of privileged Romans. In order to find out about his background Will plays a game with his younger brother. Will pretends that he knows nothing. His brother Octavius is his slave and shows him around and tells him everything. In this way Will, and the reader, sail across the bay and get a conducted tour of Pompeii. Incidentally we are never told what happened to the real Marcus.
Patch, on the other hand, does not have to establish a new identity. The other slaves just assume he is a new slave. Two of the other slaves befriend him and tell him what is expected of him. Under fear of the whip, he has to work in the burning heat pulling huge marble slabs while the slightest show of disrespect can bring dreadful punishment. Later Patch is condemned to be a galley slave and has to row his master over to another of his villas on Capri. It is on the ship that Patch and Will come together again as the book races towards the climax and the eruption of Vesuvius.
This is a very moral book. The emphasis is on helping people. And Patch is always ready to do that. But would a slave who was just struggling to keep alive really be so altruistic and ready to help his fellow slaves?
An unusual story about Pompeii and Vesuvius.
Young adult
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