What happened to the Lost Legion of Carrhae?

In 1955, an Oxford University professor called Homer Hasenpflug Dubs published an astounding theory. He claimed to have found a town in China where Roman legionaries had lived fifty years before the birth of Christ. As evidence, he said he had unearthed two-thousand-year-old Roman pottery and pointed out the fact that many of the local […]

The Silk Road of the Sea

Valerius’ journey: Ends of the Earth Many people have heard of the Silk Road, mainly because of Marco Polo. But few are familiar with the ancient maritime silk route that linked the East and West at the same time. The people who pioneered this sea trade were originally from the desert – the Nabatean Arabs. The […]

Valerius’s Journey: Ends of the Earth

The world beyond the Roman Empire The journey made by Valerius from far western China to Rome was around 25,000km and took him almost two years. Researching this journey made Ends of the Earth the most challenging novel I’ve ever written. The Roman Empire and the events of 53 to 44 BC are well documented. So is the […]

The Rise and Rise of the Roman Empire

Fight Club meets The West Wing ‘There was a dream that was Rome. It shall be realised.’ You might remember these as the last words spoken by Russell Crowe when he lay dying in the sands of the Colosseum in Ridley Scott’s classic Roman epic, Gladiator. Crowe was playing the part of gladiator and disgraced […]