The Roman
Encyclopedia
The Roman is a fiction novel by Mika Waltari
published in 1964. Set in Rome, the book is a sequel to The Secret of the Kingdom
, a novel about the early days of Christianity. The protagonist and narrator is Minutus, the son of Marcus, the main character of the previous novel. Minutus is a Roman citizen striving to survive without political entanglements.
In the novel, he travels from Corinth to Britain, to Rome and then to Jerusalem. Through a boyhood friendship with Nero, he becomes a sometimes advisor, sometimes a tool, and sometimes a fool of the capricious emperor. A cruel fate makes him the commander of the menagerie which supplied the wild animals that tore his father and son to pieces, and the book was obstensibly written as a guide for his son, great-grandson of the Emperor Claudius.
As usual, Mika Waltari has a good grasp of human nature and of historical events, and can reproduce the feel of ancient Rome and the Roman world.
by the tv-producer Colin Slater in his novel Lindum Colonia, published in 2003.
Mika Waltari
Mika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian .- Early life :...
published in 1964. Set in Rome, the book is a sequel to The Secret of the Kingdom
The Secret of the Kingdom
The Secret Of The Kingdom is a 1959 novel by Finnish author Mika Waltari about the early days of Christianity. The story is told through the eyes of Marcus, a Roman citizen who arrives in Jerusalem on the day Jesus is crucified. As he rides into the city he sees a distant hill on which three men...
, a novel about the early days of Christianity. The protagonist and narrator is Minutus, the son of Marcus, the main character of the previous novel. Minutus is a Roman citizen striving to survive without political entanglements.
In the novel, he travels from Corinth to Britain, to Rome and then to Jerusalem. Through a boyhood friendship with Nero, he becomes a sometimes advisor, sometimes a tool, and sometimes a fool of the capricious emperor. A cruel fate makes him the commander of the menagerie which supplied the wild animals that tore his father and son to pieces, and the book was obstensibly written as a guide for his son, great-grandson of the Emperor Claudius.
As usual, Mika Waltari has a good grasp of human nature and of historical events, and can reproduce the feel of ancient Rome and the Roman world.
Plagiarism of the novel
In July 2008, news emerged that the novel had been plagiarizedPlagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
by the tv-producer Colin Slater in his novel Lindum Colonia, published in 2003.