Whodunnits in Ancient Rome

The resourceful, bantering Marcus Didius Falco is the narrator in a series of novels by Lindsey Davis. Using the style of modern detective stories Davis portrays the world of the Roman Empire under Vespasian. The tone is arch and satirical, at times uproariously funny, but the historical information provided is carefully accurate.

A lot of the joy in reading Falco comes from the easy familiarity you feel with the settings. None of us have visited Rome in the 1st century, but in the series you really feel as if you know these places - just as you know your own city.

So you roam the Aventine with Falco, then cross to the seamy side of town across the Aurelian Bridge to the Transtiberina, usually shadowed by various numbers of thugs.

Falco himself is a dab hand at writing. In Last Act in Palmyra, he goes undercover as a playwright to Syria and writes The Spook Who Spoke, a Plautine comedy, tentatively identified as the prototype for Hamlet.

1. The Silver Pigs set in Rome and Britain in 70-71.
2. Shadows in Bronze set in Rome and Naples in 71.
3. Venus in Copper set in Rome in 71.
4. The Iron Hand of Mars set in Rome and Germany in 71.
5. Poseidon's Gold set in Rome and Capua in 72.
6. Last Act in Palmyra set in Rome, The Decapolis and Palmyra in 72.
7. Time to Depart set in Rome in 72.
8. A Dying Light in Corduba set in Rome and Spain in 73.
9. Three Hands in the Fountain set in Rome in 73.
10. Two for the Lions set in Rome and Carthage in 73.
11. One Virgin Too Many set in Rome in 74.
12. Ode to a Banker set in Rome in 74.
13. A Body in the Bathhouse set in Rome and Britain in 75.
14. The Jupiter Myth set in Britain in 75.
15. The Accusers set in Rome in 75.
16. Scandal Takes a Holiday set in Rome in 76.
17. See Delphi and Die set in Rome and various locations in Greece in 76.
18. Saturnalia set in Rome at year-end.
19. Alexandria set in Egypt.

Gordianus the Finder citizen of Rome, circa 80 BCE, is a professional finder, a "consorter with assassins and a professional ferret". This gumsandal is a touch more respectable than Falco, but only a touch.

A hard-boiled and clear-eyed detective-narrator, Gordianus the Finder is the perfect guide to Rome, bringing its mysteries to light and its monumental characterss to life, even as he cuts them down to size.

Steven Saylor bases most of his novels on real cases - such as Cicero's first case in the trial of Sextus Roscius against the charge of parricide.

It was said that the Egyptian god Horus (whom the Romans called Harpocrates) came upon Venus engaged in one of her many love affairs. Cupid, her son, gave a rose to Horus as a bribe to keep quiet and in this way did Horus become the god of silence. The rose became the symbol of confidentiality.

A rose hanging over a council table indicated that all present were sworn to secrecy. Sub Rosa,'under the rose', has come to mean 'that which is done in secret.' Thus Roma Sub Rosa, the secret history of Rome, as seen through the eyes of Gordianus.

Roman Blood
The House of the Vestals
A Gladiator Dies Only Once
Arms of Nemesis
Catilina's Riddle
The Venus Throw
A Murder on the Appian Way
Rubicon
Last Seen in Massilia
A Mist of Prophecies
The Judgement of Caesar
The Triumph of Caesar

SPQR is a set of Latin initials for Senatus Populusque Romanus, meaning 'The Senate and People of Rome', which was the official name of the Republic.

Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger, is the nephew of Metellus Pius and member of an important family of the Roman Senate. He narrates these stories in flashback-form when he is older, and writing during the reign of Augustus Caesar.

Decius also has some interesting companions. His slaves Cato, Cassandra, and Hermes, his friends, the Greek gladiatoral physician Asklepiodes and the gangster/politician Titus Annius Milo. Then there are his determined enemies, the siblings Clodia and Clodius.

Along the way, he is often helped by his father, as well as by Cicero and a young Julius Caesar.

In later books, Decius is betrothed and then married to the (fictional) niece of Caesar, Julia Caesaris. The dates are all listed at the end of each book in the ab urbe condita calendar system.

The Germanicus Mosaic :
A traditional country house mystery translated to the Roman world, even featuring the mandatory body in the bibliotheca.

The Place
Roman Britain of 186. Our detective is named Libertus because he is a freed slave. He is also a Celt, with a skill for making beautiful mosaics.

The Plot
The most unpleasant Germanicus was feared and hated, so much so that it wasn't really too surprising he would wind up murdered. But now his ghost is to be equally feared as, with his head and hand incinerated, there's no place to put the coins to pay for the ferryman to carry his soul to the land of the dead.

Libertus the freedman is called in to help solve the mystery of the murder in the library.

The Germanicus Mosaic

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