Emperor at the Gates of Rome...

[fajrdrako]

This morning I finished reading the novel Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden.

This was recommended to me by Jack Whyte as a good historical novel in a world of mediocre historical novels. Flush from my enjoyment of the Steven Saylor novels, I picked this up because it was about Rome, and discovered that the hero was a boy named Gaius, son of Julius (and his friend Marcus). I was delighted - I'd guessed it was about one of the later Emperors, Trajan or Marcus Aurelius or something. It turns out to be my Julius Caesar. It didn't have to say so.

But though I found it more readable than Colleen McCullough, I didn't enjoy it much more. It was heavy on violence, light on fisticuffs. For the first section, young Gaius and Marcus get beaten up by a neighbour. Then they get a gladiator to teach them to fight, and he beats them up Then the rebelling slaves attack the estate and they fight. Then Gaius goes to Rome and his uncle makes him prove himself in a knife fight. And so on. Much violence. Minimal sex. Almost no women in the story, though we go get a few entertaining bits with female points of view - his aunt, and a slave who is Gaius' first love, his first wife. This young Caesar isn't bisexual, not by any stretch to the imagination. No, this is a very het viewpoint. Even his deep friendship with Marcus is perfectly straight.

It's when he marries that we get his full name for the first time - Gaius Julius Caesar - nice to have it confirmed, but it wasn't as if I was in any doubt. That left me to guess about Marcus. My guess was that Marcus' name would turn out to be Antonius.

But no, it's Brutus.

Huh? If this is the Brutus who killed Caesar in the end, then shouldn't he be a generation younger? In this version, I guess not.



In the notes at the end, Iggulden explains some bits of the history he took liberties with - for instance, he makes Marius Caesar's mother's brother, while, he said, in fact Marius was an uncle on his father's side. So why make the change? I couldn't think of a reason for it.

I didn't feel I was getting a full picture of Rome or its society. With Saylor, I felt as if I was seeing the place with my own eyes. With Iggulden, it was just glimpses. And some I didn't understand: for instance, Marius has a Triumph. He' goes throught he streets of Rome in a fancy throne. Caesar is standing behind it. There are men and horses. I couldn't picture it - were they on a carriage? a float? was it wheeled, or carried by men? I couldn't tell from the description.

Will I read the sequel? Maybe. maaseru was teasing me about reading books that bore me through to the end. But I want to see what's being written in the field, even if I don't like it. And I want to read about Caesar.

Ah well. Back to Suetonius and Plutarch!