The Judgment of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perhaps this superb historical novel will be the breakthrough Saylor richly deserves. His previous nine entries in his Roma Sub Rosa series (Roman Blood, etc.) convincingly recreated first-century B.C. Rome through the eyes of a clever and empathetic detective, Gordianus the Finder, whose pursuit of truth has enmeshed him in complicated political intrigues involving such legendary figures as Julius Caesar, Cicero and Pompey. The 10th installment, set in Alexandria, once again features Caesar, now maneuvering between the two rivals for the Egyptian throne, Ptolemy and Cleopatra, in an effort to consolidate his own claim to rule Rome. Gordianus's reputation as an honest fact finder, and his familiarity with the centers of power, make him a valuable asset to all three leaders, even as he grapples with a bitter personal loss. The mystery—the identity of the poisoner who claimed the life of the royal taster and almost killed both Caesar and Cleopatra—is a subplot that appears only late in the book. That the reader is engaged throughout despite this is a compelling testament to Saylor's growth as a writer and to his seemingly effortless ability to imagine characters who feel real. Longtime fans will find the evolution of Gordianus's personal relationships fascinating, but the backstory is not so complex as to bar new readers from entering Saylor's world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Saylor is certainly among the best history-mystery writers going. Historical mysteries are problematic. Can the writer inform the reader without sounding like a condescending lecturer? Can the writer integrate actual historical figures and happenings convincingly, without burying plot and theme under a too-thick mulch of details? Saylor can in his acclaimed Rome Sub Rosa series: he not only draws the reader into the fully realized, intrigue-filled era of Caesar and Pompey, he does so with grace, wit, and full-throttle suspense. His hero, Gordianus the Finder, is a Roman citizen whom the gods have blessed with the gift of finding people and solving mysteries. The tenth Sub Rosa is a political thriller of the first order. Saylor places Gordianus (who brings his ailing wife to her native Alexandria for a water cure in the Nile) at the convergence of a number of forces in 43 B.C.E.: Caesar has just defeated Pompey in a battle at sea; the boy-king Ptolemy and his sister, Cleopatra, are in a death struggle for the Egyptian throne. Readers will be equally absorbed by the bloody history unfolding (Saylor's description of the beheading of Pompey is both suspenseful and wrenching); by the historical figures depicted (Ptolemy listening to his flute player with the head of Pompey in a clay jar at his feet is a miniature study in royal pathology); and by the mysteries Gordianus must solve to keep his own head. Wonderful reading. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312932979
• ISBN-13: 978-0312932978
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #196,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-read for lovers of Caesar or Roman history, July 8, 2004

By	Suzanne Cross "Virtual Graeco-Roman" (Santa Fe, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Judgment of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome) (Hardcover)

I've read all Saylor's books since "Roman Blood" over a decade ago, and have watched him deepen in texture and subtlety in the process. His marvelous fictional detective, Gordianus the Finder, is a Roman private eye in Rome during the time of Julius Caesar and the late Republic. Saylor has always been (unlike many others in the "Roman gumshoe" novels, now so popular) meticulous in his research and takes a given historical set of facts, then plays with their possibilities without straying from history as we know it. However, of the history we do know, there is much that can be questioned, and no one is better at finding out the truth than Gordianus.

I have noticed, particularly since his "Last Seen in Massilia," that Saylor seems to have lately gone beyond simply writing a good historical mystery, which may account for some reviewers' who don't like this book for precisely the reason I find it one of his best.

Saylor no longer hangs his entire plot around a murder, but has branched out, as his fictional characters have developed, into a more mature and complex web. At the same time, the actual historical period he's entered is one of the most amazing periods in all world history - the Civil War brought on between Caesar and the Republicans, after Caesar crosses the Rubicon. Many long books ago, Gordianus' adopted son, Meto, became a staff aid to Caesar when he was just another ambitious general in the provinces. Now, of course, it's 48 BC and Caesar, having destroyed Pompey's armies, rules the Roman world. Personal events bring Gordianus and his wife, Bethesda, to Alexandria just at the time that Pompey has fled there after his defeat by Caesar at Pharsalus, seeking to grasp Egypt's riches to save his cause. Caesar follows hot on his heels, with much the same plan. Gordianus, Meto - even Bethesda - are caught in this web of shifting allegiance, lies, betrayal, high politics, and stunning world characters; thus this book becomes much more than just a simple murder mystery. Gordianus is strengthened in his character of the staunch Republican who prefers truth to diplomatic truths and integrity to self-aggrandizement - but you will see what it brings him in this new, raw, Roman world.

I've studied much about Alexandria in Caesar's time, but I recall no book that made me 'see' its magnificent streets and temples, its tempestuous mobs and tortuous rulers, as clearly as Saylor does in "The Judgment of Caesar." Just as his plots are much richer than before, so the very title speaks to many facets of the plot - the most important being, how Caesar's judgments, large and small, right or wrong, are now capable of changing the Roman world. Whether adversaries succeed in twisting his judgment, is part of the fun of the story. The murder is integral to the story and I found it well written and well solved; but it's only one of the pleasures of this book.

I've written at length on Caesar, Pompey, and Cleopatra in my own web site, but Saylor also finds a fascinating twist in his view of King Ptolemy - and deftly weaves that into the facts of history as we know it, as if he was painting in the backdrop for historical characters to strut before.

I would highly recommend this book for those who want a good touch of mystery, but far more well-written fictional history. Saylor just gets better.

S. Cross
Web Author, Julius Caesar: The Last Dictator

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine addition to an excellent historical mystery series, August 7, 2004

By	Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Judgment of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome) (Hardcover)

Steven Saylor's novels about Gordianus the Finder of Ancient Rome have not only been one of the most consistently compelling historical mystery series written, the individual volumes have grown over time in depth and power. And "The Judgment of Caesar" continues in that path. The Gordianus books unlike most "historical mysteries do not merely use the past as a setting for the stories, but instead employ great historical figures and real events as the driving motors behind the plots. The reader is carried through a succession of events in one of the most tumultuous eras of Roman history, the mid-First Century BCE when the old Republic was dying and the emergence of the Empire was not far distant. But at the same time, the novels are also very much about the evolving story of Gordianus himself as the years pass, ever challenged by the stresses and pains of life. For that reason, the stories are best read in sequence, and a reader of "The Judgment of Caesar" would be deprived of much of the force of this novel without previous familiarity with what has passed over the decades before with Gordianus, his wife, and his children. Yes, there is a mystery to be solved in the midst of the rest of the plot, but it is virtually secondary in comparison with historical events and what is happening regarding Gordianus's personal life, right up to the enigmatic ending.

Saylor's Gordianus novels are without doubt among the very best historical mystery series ever written, works of genuine complexity and subtlety. Inevitably, comparison will be made with Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco series set a century and more later in Rome. As much as I enjoy Davis's books, their tone is utterly different, being in part a pastiche of contemporary hard-boiled detective stories - Sam Spade in a toga - and for the most part in them history is a backdrop, not the heart of the tale. And while Falco is an engaging, wisecracking character, Steven Saylor's Gordianus is much more a genuine fallible human being in whom we can find ourselves.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Old Friend Returns, June 1, 2004

By	Gerard S. Lannigan - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Judgment of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome) (Hardcover)

Steven Saylor has been an occasional guest on educational TV commenting upon the history and cultural mores of ancient Rome. This expertise clearly is evident in the way in which the past is brought to life in his excellent series of books dealing with Gordianus the Finder. The title "Finder" describes Saylor's hero - a amn who seeks to "find' the truth in the labyrinth of deceit and half truthes that seem to be the fabric of much of ancient Rome's society.
His character is neither young nor dashing but possesses several endearing, old fashioned qualities - a commitment to truth and honor. He no longer moves as easily as he once did as he enters his early sixties but that allows him to seek the assistance of others in his family circle. This circle provides support as well as more than a few challenges and one of the interesting things done by Mr. Saylor is to bring forward the conflict with his son, Meto, that led to their estrangement in the last book in the series.
All this is done in the rich backdrop of the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Gordianus has gone to Egypt with his critically ill wife, bethesda, who believes that the cure for the illness causing her to waste away will be found in the mystical waters of the god-river, the Nile. The setting provides the reader with a wonderful stage upon which the historic romance of Caesar and Cleopatra is begun.
Our hero watches the cruel betrayal and death of Pompey at the hands of Ptolemy, is present when the rug with Cleopatra is unrolled in front of Caesar, and witnesses the death of Cleopatra's taster. The last is the crime for which Gordianus must find the answer as his son, Meto, is charged with not only that death but an attempt upon the life of Caesar himself.
Saylor remains true to the history of the period and his historical notes at the end of the novel are an interesting read as well. But more than history, Saylor writes a strong story with a hero who is at once vulnerable and strong, richly human and given to deep feelings of loyalty, kinship, honor and familial love. He deals with all of the great personalities who inhabit the world of the declining days of the Roman Republic. We get to view the end of that institution through the eyes of a man who influences and who, in turn, is influenced by the likes of Cato, Caesar, Cicero and Pompey. He has aged and like the Republic itself is slowly coming to the end of his time. It remains to be seen how the last four years of Caesar's life will intertwine with that of Gordianus in future stories.
For those who love a well written historical mystery, this book comes highly recommended. Saylor lays out the answer to the mystery if a perceptive reader can but put them together like the pieces of a fine Roman mosaic. But beyond that, the author offers the reader a picture of a Rome that is rapidly transforming and of a character, Gordianus, whose notions of human decency and honor hearken back to a better time. The latest story in the Gordianus saga resolved at least one major story line in a way which left this reader both satisfied and looking forward to the author's next instalment in the series.