The Death of Kings
Encyclopedia
The Death of Kings is a novel
by British author Conn Iggulden
, and is the second book in the Emperor series, which follows the life of Julius Caesar
.
The book was released in the UK in January 2004, published by HarperCollins
.
by the new Dictator
, Sulla, Gaius Julius Caesar
is serving with a naval legion. After playing a crucial part in liberating a Roman fort in Mytilene
under the command of rebels, Julius receives the honour wreath
and increases his standing among his men yet further. Despite this success, his war galley is attacked and captured by pirates, with Julius himself receiving a serious head injury. His household fares no better with its head serving at sea: Cornelia
, Julius' wife is assaulted by Sulla despite being heavily pregnant. Julius and Cornelia's daughter is born and named Julia
in honour of her father.
Marcus Brutus meanwhile has finished his term with a legion in Macedon and is causing trouble with the locals on his return journey to Rome. He and Renius manage to meet jealous husbands and vindictive fathers before returning to the city. In the city itself, Julius' estate manager Tubruk swears revenge on Sulla and schemes to sell himself back into slavery in order to enter Sulla's household. Tubruk then successfully poisons Sulla before managing to escape the city before he can be traced. Antonidus, Sulla's right-hand, promises to track down Sulla's killer and tears Rome apart in his search.
As Julius and the survivors of his galley gradually recover while detained on the pirates' ship, their captors demand a ransom. While the men attempt to negotiate lower ransom prices, Julius demands a much high price than the one proposed, defying the pirates and declaring that he will re-claim whatever is paid anyway. Eventually the survivors are left on the north African coast when the ransoms are paid.
After returning to Rome and the estate where he and Julius grew up, Brutus asks Tubruk for the whereabouts of his mother, Servilia
. After visiting her home, he gradually comes to know the woman who abandoned him as a child, as well as forming a reluctant acceptance of her life. In delight of her new-found relationship with her son, Servilia uses her influence with Crassus
, one of the richest men in the Senate
, to re-form the legion of Marius
(Primigenia) under Brutus' command. Antonidus believes he has narrowed down the list of culprits for Sulla's murder to three: Cinna
, father of Cornelia; Crassus; or Pompey
, a renowned general and rising star in the Senate. With the backing of Cato
, one of the most powerful men in the Senate, Antonidus hires an assassin to kill a loved one of each of the three. Pompey is the first to suffer Antonidus' misplaced vengeance, with his daughter murdered in Pompey's garden.
Marching across north Africa, Julius calls for volunteers and, where necessary, presses young men into service to assist in the finding and destruction of the pirates. Risking the wrath of the Roman authorities with Ciro, one of Julius' recruits, accidentally killing a soldier and then Julius and his men stealing a ship, the small force sets out to find the survivors and recover their ransom money. Eventually the pirates are found and destroyed, with a huge hoard found on the pirate's ship, and Julius resolves to land in Greece and return to Rome. Upon landing in Greece, Julius discovers several Roman forts lying destroyed with their inhabitants killed, and learns not only of the return of Mithridates
, but also of the death of Sulla.
While Cato and the supporters of Sulla delay the Senate's decision to appoint a leader to confront Mithridates, Julius decides to confront Mithridates himself, and recruits many surviving veterans to fight alongside him, calling them the Wolves of Rome. Conducting several major hit-and-run
attacks on Mithridates' forces, the Wolves eventually defeat the forces of Mithridates before the forces sent by the Senate even arrive in Greece. After delivering Mithridates' body to the approaching legions, Julius leads the Wolves to Rome and finally returned home.
While home at his estate Julius meets his daughter Julia for the first time and learns of Sulla's assault on his wife. In his fury he comes close to killing Tubruk, one of his oldest friends, before learning Tubruk was Sulla's killer. Swearing revenge on Sulla's associates and followers, Julius publicly allies himself with Crassus and Pompey, who publicly denounces Cato as responsible for his daughters death. Tension also flares briefly between Julius and Brutus when Julius demands Brutus hand over Primigenia to him, until Brutus acquiesces and puts his friendship above his pride. Julius' marriage also suffers, with Cornelia feeling increasingly ignored by Julius. When Cato's son is forcibly signed up to Primigenia and is forbidden to withdraw from his service, Julius gathers another opponent.
Crisis strikes Rome again when a gladiator
known as Spartacus
leads a slave revolt
and destroys two legions in the north. Infighting in the Senate leads to indecision as to who will lead the legions north leads to Crassus being given command, despite his perceived lack of skill as a general. Knowing this, Crassus makes Pompey his second in command and Pompey responds by summoning Julius and Primigenia. Primigenia marches north and performs admirably, though it is forcibly merged with another legion. Julius remains in command of the newly formed legion, and names it the Tenth. Tragedy strikes Julius before he can see the end of the campaign.
Cornelia is murdered on Cato's orders, with Tubruk dying trying to protect her. Julius returns to his estate with Pompey and Brutus, and Pompey discovers Cato's involvement in the murders of Cornelia and his daughter. Cato however commits suicide before he can be executed. A grief-stricken Julius returns to his troops in time to see Spartacus and the slave revolt crushed. Pompey however begins to see Julius as a threat and arranges for him to take up a position in Spain.
In particular, the dictator Cornelius Sulla, who was based on the dictator Sulla, is shown to have been murdered; in reality, Sulla apparently died in retirement of his excesses. Sulla's loyal general appears to have been based on Lucullus
.
It should also be noted that the person known as Cato in this novel and his life bears little to no resemblance to the historical Cato the Younger who was Caesar's political opponent from about 60 BC.
Nor was Servilia Caepionis
a high-class prostitute as she is shown in the novel; according to most historical sources, she was twice married and committed adultery only with Caesar himself. She was a wealthy and well-respected Roman matron in this particular decade of Roman history (when Caesar was under thirty).
Caesar did not distinguish himself through a march through Africa (something that Cato Uticensis did shortly before he committed suicide). Some of his earlier military exploits are attributable to other Roman commanders.
Another inaccuracy: Caesar serves on board the War Galley as a non-commissioned officer (tesserarius) reporting to a centurion. The Julii were member of the Patrician class who started their military service as Tribunes. Only Plebeians would have served in such a low rank. The turning from Rome and the circumstances pressed against him may well have meant that he would have been willing to take any position. After all, he just needed to get away and gather an army to return to Rome and defeat Sulla.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by British author Conn Iggulden
Conn Iggulden
Conn Iggulden is a British author who mainly writes historical fiction. He also co-authored The Dangerous Book for Boys.-Background:...
, and is the second book in the Emperor series, which follows the life of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.
The book was released in the UK in January 2004, published by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
.
Plot summary
Exiled from RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
by the new Dictator
Roman dictator
In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...
, Sulla, Gaius Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
is serving with a naval legion. After playing a crucial part in liberating a Roman fort in Mytilene
Mytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...
under the command of rebels, Julius receives the honour wreath
Civic Crown
The Civic Crown was a chaplet of common oak leaves woven to form a crown. During the Roman Republic, and the subsequent Principate, it was regarded as the second highest military decoration to which a citizen could aspire...
and increases his standing among his men yet further. Despite this success, his war galley is attacked and captured by pirates, with Julius himself receiving a serious head injury. His household fares no better with its head serving at sea: Cornelia
Cornelia Cinna minor
Cornelia Cinnilla , daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna , and a sister to suffect consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna, was married to Gaius Julius Caesar, who would become one of Rome's greatest conquerors and its dictator...
, Julius' wife is assaulted by Sulla despite being heavily pregnant. Julius and Cornelia's daughter is born and named Julia
Julia Caesaris
Julia Caesaris is the name of all women in the Julii Caesares patrician family , since feminine names were their father's gens and cognomen declined in the female form...
in honour of her father.
Marcus Brutus meanwhile has finished his term with a legion in Macedon and is causing trouble with the locals on his return journey to Rome. He and Renius manage to meet jealous husbands and vindictive fathers before returning to the city. In the city itself, Julius' estate manager Tubruk swears revenge on Sulla and schemes to sell himself back into slavery in order to enter Sulla's household. Tubruk then successfully poisons Sulla before managing to escape the city before he can be traced. Antonidus, Sulla's right-hand, promises to track down Sulla's killer and tears Rome apart in his search.
As Julius and the survivors of his galley gradually recover while detained on the pirates' ship, their captors demand a ransom. While the men attempt to negotiate lower ransom prices, Julius demands a much high price than the one proposed, defying the pirates and declaring that he will re-claim whatever is paid anyway. Eventually the survivors are left on the north African coast when the ransoms are paid.
After returning to Rome and the estate where he and Julius grew up, Brutus asks Tubruk for the whereabouts of his mother, Servilia
Servilia Caepionis
Servilia Caepionis was the mistress of Julius Caesar, mother of one of Caesar's assassins, Brutus, mother-in-law of another Caesar assassin, Cassius, and half-sister of Cato the Younger.-Life:...
. After visiting her home, he gradually comes to know the woman who abandoned him as a child, as well as forming a reluctant acceptance of her life. In delight of her new-found relationship with her son, Servilia uses her influence with Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar and entered into the political alliance known as the...
, one of the richest men in the Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
, to re-form the legion of Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
(Primigenia) under Brutus' command. Antonidus believes he has narrowed down the list of culprits for Sulla's murder to three: Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving four consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Roman Cinna family of the Cornelii gens....
, father of Cornelia; Crassus; or Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
, a renowned general and rising star in the Senate. With the backing of Cato
Cato the Younger
Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis , commonly known as Cato the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather , was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy...
, one of the most powerful men in the Senate, Antonidus hires an assassin to kill a loved one of each of the three. Pompey is the first to suffer Antonidus' misplaced vengeance, with his daughter murdered in Pompey's garden.
Marching across north Africa, Julius calls for volunteers and, where necessary, presses young men into service to assist in the finding and destruction of the pirates. Risking the wrath of the Roman authorities with Ciro, one of Julius' recruits, accidentally killing a soldier and then Julius and his men stealing a ship, the small force sets out to find the survivors and recover their ransom money. Eventually the pirates are found and destroyed, with a huge hoard found on the pirate's ship, and Julius resolves to land in Greece and return to Rome. Upon landing in Greece, Julius discovers several Roman forts lying destroyed with their inhabitants killed, and learns not only of the return of Mithridates
Mithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...
, but also of the death of Sulla.
While Cato and the supporters of Sulla delay the Senate's decision to appoint a leader to confront Mithridates, Julius decides to confront Mithridates himself, and recruits many surviving veterans to fight alongside him, calling them the Wolves of Rome. Conducting several major hit-and-run
Hit-and-run tactics
Hit-and-run tactics is a tactical doctrine where the purpose of the combat involved is not to seize control of territory, but to inflict damage on a target and immediately exit the area to avoid the enemy's defense and/or retaliation.-History:...
attacks on Mithridates' forces, the Wolves eventually defeat the forces of Mithridates before the forces sent by the Senate even arrive in Greece. After delivering Mithridates' body to the approaching legions, Julius leads the Wolves to Rome and finally returned home.
While home at his estate Julius meets his daughter Julia for the first time and learns of Sulla's assault on his wife. In his fury he comes close to killing Tubruk, one of his oldest friends, before learning Tubruk was Sulla's killer. Swearing revenge on Sulla's associates and followers, Julius publicly allies himself with Crassus and Pompey, who publicly denounces Cato as responsible for his daughters death. Tension also flares briefly between Julius and Brutus when Julius demands Brutus hand over Primigenia to him, until Brutus acquiesces and puts his friendship above his pride. Julius' marriage also suffers, with Cornelia feeling increasingly ignored by Julius. When Cato's son is forcibly signed up to Primigenia and is forbidden to withdraw from his service, Julius gathers another opponent.
Crisis strikes Rome again when a gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
known as Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
leads a slave revolt
Third Servile War
The Third Servile War , also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last of a series of unrelated and unsuccessful slave rebellions against the Roman Republic, known collectively as the Roman Servile Wars...
and destroys two legions in the north. Infighting in the Senate leads to indecision as to who will lead the legions north leads to Crassus being given command, despite his perceived lack of skill as a general. Knowing this, Crassus makes Pompey his second in command and Pompey responds by summoning Julius and Primigenia. Primigenia marches north and performs admirably, though it is forcibly merged with another legion. Julius remains in command of the newly formed legion, and names it the Tenth. Tragedy strikes Julius before he can see the end of the campaign.
Cornelia is murdered on Cato's orders, with Tubruk dying trying to protect her. Julius returns to his estate with Pompey and Brutus, and Pompey discovers Cato's involvement in the murders of Cornelia and his daughter. Cato however commits suicide before he can be executed. A grief-stricken Julius returns to his troops in time to see Spartacus and the slave revolt crushed. Pompey however begins to see Julius as a threat and arranges for him to take up a position in Spain.
Differences from historical persons
Although it is a work of fiction, many of the characters and events are based on historical sources. Iggulden added a historical note to the book in which he explains the differences between his novel and history.In particular, the dictator Cornelius Sulla, who was based on the dictator Sulla, is shown to have been murdered; in reality, Sulla apparently died in retirement of his excesses. Sulla's loyal general appears to have been based on Lucullus
Lucullus
Lucius Licinius Lucullus , was an optimate politician of the late Roman Republic, closely connected with Sulla Felix...
.
It should also be noted that the person known as Cato in this novel and his life bears little to no resemblance to the historical Cato the Younger who was Caesar's political opponent from about 60 BC.
Nor was Servilia Caepionis
Servilia Caepionis
Servilia Caepionis was the mistress of Julius Caesar, mother of one of Caesar's assassins, Brutus, mother-in-law of another Caesar assassin, Cassius, and half-sister of Cato the Younger.-Life:...
a high-class prostitute as she is shown in the novel; according to most historical sources, she was twice married and committed adultery only with Caesar himself. She was a wealthy and well-respected Roman matron in this particular decade of Roman history (when Caesar was under thirty).
Caesar did not distinguish himself through a march through Africa (something that Cato Uticensis did shortly before he committed suicide). Some of his earlier military exploits are attributable to other Roman commanders.
Another inaccuracy: Caesar serves on board the War Galley as a non-commissioned officer (tesserarius) reporting to a centurion. The Julii were member of the Patrician class who started their military service as Tribunes. Only Plebeians would have served in such a low rank. The turning from Rome and the circumstances pressed against him may well have meant that he would have been willing to take any position. After all, he just needed to get away and gather an army to return to Rome and defeat Sulla.