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/lit/ - Literature

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4476229 No.4476229 [Reply] [Original]

What's some good modern historical fiction set during Classical Antiquity?

>> No.4476238

>>4476229
the New Testament

>> No.4476235

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

>> No.4476255
File: 43 KB, 320x498, claudius-the-god.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4476255

this

>> No.4476265
File: 34 KB, 289x475, claudius the god.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4476265

>>4476255
that is not the picture I posted ( ._.)

>> No.4476267

>>4476229
Greek Myths by Robert Graves.
The White Goddess by Robert Graves.
Anything by Robert Graves, face it, he's entirely untrustworthy.

Last Temptation of Christ (of course), far more interesting as a _modern_ historical fiction than the New Testament, which fails to qualify, not being a "modern" text.

>> No.4476304

>>4476265
On some other board a poor vampire/christ slash fetishist is wondering what CLAVDIVS THE GOD is

>> No.4476526
File: 23 KB, 220x333, 220px-The_First_Man_In_Rome.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4476526

the Masters of Rome series

>> No.4476551

Ursula Le Guin's Lavinia was really really fucking good, if you've already read the Aeneid

>> No.4476656
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4476656

>> No.4476659
File: 21 KB, 271x400, Vidal - Julian.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4476659

>>4476229
I loved Julian, and plan to read more Vidal because of it.

>>4476551
Should I read The Aeneid first though?

>> No.4476666
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4476666

Julian and Creation by Gore Vidal.

>> No.4476722

>>4476659
I second Julian. The character is brilliantly conceived and multi- dimensional, and it makes great use of the idea of the subjectivity of autobiographies, as well as the dawn of the age of Christianity, and the fall of Paganism.

>> No.4476753

>>4476659
I would definitely recommend doing so. I don't want to do the author a disservice but I can't think of any part of the book that didn't rely on knowledge of Vergil or the Aeneid as a base.

It's really neat seeing Aeneas from the "outsider perspective" of Lavinia, after seeing him so intimately. He's a Homeric hero, so he's like a force of fucking nature, and she and her whole society are just kind of caught in the wake of that.

Also the parts with Vergil were amazing.

>> No.4476796
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4476796

>>4476753
Will do!

>> No.4476830

>>4476526
Awww hell yes, this series is the grand daddy of them all.

>> No.4476840

Augustus by John Williams

>> No.4476849

Soldier in the mist by Gene Wolfe

>> No.4477038

The Song of Achilles

It legitimately made me cry at the end, no joke

>> No.4477070
File: 28 KB, 309x475, Latro in the Mist.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4477070

>> No.4478634

thirding the soldier/latro recs. awesome stuff

>> No.4478670

the golden mean is pretty shit

>> No.4478679

>>4476753
Aeneas is specifically NOT a Homeric hero.
Homeric heroes, such as Achilles and Odysseus, are heroes akin to soldiers, displaying honor and sacrifice in battle; they are very war-like. At the beginning of the poem, Aeneas wants to be a Homeric hero and die in Troy, but he is specifically visited by Venus and Creusa, who tell him to leave Troy and found a new settlement for the Trojans, who will evolve into the Romans.
The entire complexity of Aeneas's character is that for the majority of the poem he resists the very person which he must become: the civic hero.

>> No.4478681

mary renault, the last of the wine

>> No.4478707

>>4476659
This was great. You might also like Creation by Vidal too.

>> No.4478803

>>4476229

Ok.

Recommending the TV series too, and I honestly enjoyed them more than the books.

>> No.4478892

>>4478679
That probably wasn't apparent to the people who simply witnessed a man show up in Latium, completely unsettle life as it had been for generations, butcher half the locals, and establish himself as a dynast. Like several other actual heroes actually featuring in Homer had done in nearby regions for ages.

>> No.4479105

>>4478892
I'm not trying to imply that Aeneas wasn't a warrior; obviously the second half of the poem disputes any argument about that. Aeneas was fighting for different ends than were Achilles and Odysseus, though.
The Homeric heroes had no intention of colonizing, they fought for vengeance and retribution. Aeneas was fighting for new life and settlement.