**Discover explosive action and white-knuckle drama in the spectacular second instalment in Harry Sidebottom's vivid five-part series, perfect for fans of Bernard CornwellMesopotamia, AD 260**Betrayed by his most trusted adviser, the Roman Emperor Valerian has been captured by the Sassanid barbarians. The shame of the vanquished beats down mercilessly like the white sun, as the frail old emperor prostrates himself before Shapur, King of Kings.Ballista vows to avenge...

A battle-hardened soldier has just 24 hours to expose a deadly conspiracy at the heart of the Roman Empire in this brilliantly gripping historical thriller from Sunday Times bestseller and Ancient Rome expert, Harry Sidebottom.________________________A lone figure stands silhouetted atop the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Behind him, the sun is setting over the centre of the known world. Far below, the river is in full flood. The City of Rom...

The thrilling new historical adventure in the Warrior of Rome series from Sunday Times bestseller Harry Sidebottom.AD 265, Gaul - The Roman Empire is on the brink.Emperor Gallienus has amassed a huge army across the Alps to seize back the mountains from the usurper Posthumus.War has come.Ballista and his cavalry are on the frontline, battling in the most brutal of conditions. But if he is to survive the campaign and finally retire to his beloved Sicily, it's...

AD256 - Treachery hangs ominously over the Roman Empire and sparks of Christian fervour have spread through the empire like wildfire. The battle-bloodied general Ballista returns to the imperial court from the fallen city of Arete only to find that there are those who would rather see him dead than alive.

Greek and Roman warfare differed from other cultures and was unlike any other forms of warfare before and after. The key difference is often held to be that the Greeks and Romans practised a 'Western Way of War', where the aim is an open, decisive battle, won by courage instilled in part by discipline. Harry Sidebottom looks at how and why this 'Western Way of War' was constructed and maintained by the Greeks and Romans, why this concept is so popular and prevalent today, and at whether or...

AD 260 - Betrayed by his most trusted adviser, the Roman Emperor Valerian has been captured by the Sassanid barbarians. Ballista looks on helplessly, but vows to avenge those who have brought the empire to the brink of destruction with their treachery. First he must decide what price he will pay for his own freedom. Only the fearless and those whom the gods will spare from hell can now save the empire from a catastrophic ending. Ballista, the Warrior of Rome, faces his greatest challenge y...

He came home a hero.But death isn't finished with him yet . . .145BC - CALABRIA, ANCIENT ROME. After years of spilling blood for Rome, Gaius Furius Paullus has returned home to spend his remaining days working quietly on the family farm.But it seems death has stalked Paullus from the battlefield. Just days after his arrival, bodies start appearing - murdered and mutilated. And as the deaths stack up, and panic spreads, the war hero becomes the prime suspect. After al...

A tense and brilliantly dramatic 20-page short story from the bestselling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series.AD238. Emperor Maximinus’ reign is under threat as Gordian the Younger and Elder are proclaimed as Emperor.Julius Burdo, official of the Empire, must accompany the knife-boy Castricius north, to assassinate Maximinus. The order is from the new Augusti; death is a certain fate to both men, whether they succeed or fail.But as the two men journey north, ...

A ragtag group of elite Roman soldiers are sent on a suicide mission in this epic historical thriller from Sunday Times bestseller and leading Ancient Rome expert, Harry Sidebottom.____________________No man who enters the Castle of Silence ever walks out alive. A remote fortress prison set high in the mountains, escape is impossible - and to break someone out, unthinkable.But this is exactly what Roman officer Marcus Aelius...

A tense and brilliantly dramatic 30-page short story from the bestselling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series.This thrilling short story opens at the end of BLOOD AND STEEL and is the perfect trailer for Harry Sidebottom’s new novel FIRE AND SWORD.AD 238. When Gordian the Younger is brutally cut down at the battle of Carthage, his ally Phillyrio and a centurion from his army must make for the hills of northern Africa, to escape Maximinus’s army. But their enemy, led ...

From the bestselling author of WARRIOR OF ROME comes the first book in a new series set in third century Rome, a dramatic era of murder, coup, counter-rebellions and civil war.In a single year six Emperors will lay claim to the Throne of the Caesars…SPRING AD235Dawn on the Rhine. A surprise attack and the brutal murder of the Emperor Alexander and his mother ends the Severan dynasty and shatters four decades of Roman certainty.Military hero Maximinus Thrax i...

The sensational breakout historical thriller from Sunday Times bestseller and Ancient Rome expert Harry Sidebottom.______________________He came home a hero.But death isn't finished with him yet . . .145BC - CALABRIA, ANCIENT ROME. After years of spilling blood for Rome, Gaius Furius Paullus has returned home to spend his remaining days working quietly on the family ...