The Gates of Rome (Emperor, Book 1) | Conn Iggulden | Fun read but takes some liberties

The Gates of Rome (Emperor, Book 1) | Conn Iggulden | Exciting, but historically dubious.

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The Gates of Rome ...

	The Gates of Rome (Emperor, Book 1) Conn Iggulden Dell, 2004 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 126 reviews view larger image
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Fun read but takes some liberties

As others have noted, the novel is not historically accurate and indeed may even contain one sci fi/fantasy aspect. In some cases who cares, in others there will be a few challenges to resolve (Gaius is an only child so how will he be Octavian's maternal uncle?). In other cases there are a few pointless anachronisms (likely presence of distilled alcohol). Nonetheless the book keeps moving at a brisk pace. It also manages to avoid some of the historical fiction writerly flaws of too much exposition, by-the-numbers cuts between characters ( Harry Turtledove ), etc. If you like ancient world history, check it out. You can hardly fault the source material---we're still living with consequences of Julius Caesar's actions today.

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Exciting, but historically dubious.

The book is exciting enough as an adventure story, but the historical inaccuracies will be troublesome to readers familiar with this well documented period in Roman history. Julius Caesar and Brutus did not grow up together on a farm and Octavian (the future Augustus) certainly was never a street urchin. These are only the most jarring of the historical liberties. Rewriting Roman history is not quite the same as a new take on the mythical King Arthur - something that's been done again and again, with varying success. Conn Iggulden clearly knows the actual history and has made a deliberate choice to write his story in this way. He even adds a historical after word with a mild apology for the use of literary license and sites Christian Meier's biography of Julius Caesar as one of his sources, lest we doubt his scholarship. That, by the way, is an excellent biography and makes a convincing case for why Caesar's assassination was inevitable. For a more convincing popular, fictionalized account readers will do well to try the last books of Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. Otherwise, the subsequent books in Conn Iggulden's series offer much more of the same as this book.

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