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Historical person
70 BCE–31 BCE
Cleopatra VII was the last active ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt. She fought a dynastic struggle with her brother, allied with Julius Caesar and later formed a political and personal partnership with Mark Antony. Their defeat by Octavian at Actium in 31 BC led to the fall of Alexandria and the annexation of Egypt. Cleopatra died by suicide in 30 BC, and Roman propaganda helped create the enduring image of the dangerous eastern seductress.
Margaret George’s The Memoirs of Cleopatra gives the queen a first-person voice and treats her as a multilingual monarch defending her kingdom. She is also central to Colleen McCullough’s The October Horse and Antony and Cleopatra, as well as many earlier novels. Historical fiction increasingly emphasises statecraft, religion and Egyptian identity rather than reducing her career to romances with powerful Roman men.
Historical context
Series
The Mark Antony series presents a biographical saga of the Roman commander from the Catilinarian crisis to his defeat by Octavian. Antony’s youth is shaped by the execution of his stepfather, service under Aulus Gabinius in Judaea and Egypt, and the campaigns in Gaul that bind him to…
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The Emperor series is a highly fictionalised retelling of Julius Caesar’s life and the violent end of the Roman Republic. It follows Caesar from youth through war, political ascent and conquest, then continues beyond his assassination into the struggle between Octavian, Antony and Caesar’s killers.
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The Marius’ Mules series follows Marcus Falerius Fronto and Caesar’s legions from the invasion of Gaul to the destruction of the Roman Republic. Battles recorded in Caesar’s commentaries are viewed through officers and soldiers who must endure the practical cost of his ambition, while conspiracies in Rome steadily…
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The Masters of Rome series reconstructs the final century of the Roman Republic from the rise of Gaius Marius in 110 BCE to the settlement that made Octavian Augustus in 27 BCE. Across seven novels, military commands, elections, family alliances, provincial wealth and personal patronage become instruments in…
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The Forgotten Legion Chronicles follow the enslaved twins Romulus and Fabiola, the Etruscan seer Tarquinius and the gladiator Brennus during the final decades of the Roman Republic. Their stories stretch from Rome and Gaul to Carrhae, Parthia, Egypt and Asia Minor, intersecting with Crassus, Caesar, Brutus and Mark…
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Epic Historical Adventure is Colin Falconer's publisher-defined collection of stand-alone historical thrillers rather than a continuous narrative sequence. The novels range from Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and the Mongol Empire to the Ottoman court, the conquest of Mexico, colonial India, shipwreck and twentieth-century Palestine. Most volumes can be…
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The Caesar’s Spies series follows Iacomus Artemidorus, code-named Septem, and the intelligence unit operating for Julius Caesar and later Mark Antony. The sequence begins with the attempt to prevent Caesar’s assassination in March 44 BC and continues through the pursuit of the conspirators, the struggle among Antony, Cicero…
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The Roma Sub Rosa series follows Gordianus the Finder through the last generation of the Roman Republic. His investigations begin in the aftermath of Sulla’s dictatorship and continue through slave revolt, aristocratic trials, Catiline’s conspiracy, Caesar’s civil war and the assassination of Julius Caesar. The series uses murder…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
