Fantasy fiction based on the classical world

[Anonymous No.2185587]

So i've always loved SF and F, and my other love is ancient history, particularly classical Greece and Rome.

What would you guys think of a low fantasy setting, mainly taking place in a state similar to late republican Rome/Delian League Athens. It would be an oligarchy with democratic elements (assemblies) and would practically be falling apart due to internal struggles between various factions (somewhat like the optimates and the populares in Rome, or the democratic and oligarchic factions in classical Greece).

There would also be some magical and fantastic elements, based on classical religion, philosophy and myth.

It's kinda crazy how most fantasy is just kings and medieval/late antiquity European settings when ancient republics and democracies are so much more relevant.

I thinking of basing some of my characters on historical figures - a big tyrant like Sulla and demagogues like Cleon and the Gracchi.

Does of any of this sound like something you might be interested in reading?

[Anonymous No.2185599]

You may be interested in Gene Wolfe's "Soldier In The Mist"

[Anonymous No.2185688]

Hiero the Tyrant - Xenophon
The History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Metamorphoses - Ovid

[Anonymous No.2185783]

If you want fantasy set in that kind of setting.. Look up Jim Butcher's Codex Alera. The books are set in another world, where a bunch of roman ships landed somehow then spent several hundred years developing, as well as gaining supernatural powers to combat the other threats on the world, all of which would kill normal humans. So its very fantasy based, but with the humans of the world following a strict roman pattern, in everything from names, architecture, clothing. And the armys being legions, with roman weapons and armor and rank system, very cool books.

[Anonymous No.2185788]

>>2185688
OP here, I've read all those except Xenophon, I'll check it out

>>2185599
>>2185783
I've heard of these, interested in reading them, though I've also noticed that it's always either historical fantasy or alternate history. I wonder why nobody has done a completely new fantasy world like Tolkien, just based on the ancient world.

[Anonymous No.2185793]

>>2185788
Lol, do you want a completely new world, or a world based off of what was?

Anyway, I posted codex of alera, and you should know that its set in a completely different world, so its a bit of both of what your asking for... the humans in the books, the Alerans, are the only things in the book from our world, everythinge else is new, like giant wolf people, and crazy yeti people that manipulate ice, and psuedo indian(native american)'s that forge totemistic bonds with animals, with many of the animals being fictional creatures made up by the author that inhabit that world.