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Fire in the East (2008)

by Harry Sidebottom

Series: Warrior of Rome (1)

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3541572,114 (3.64)16
AD 255; the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged throughout the territories and along every border. Yet the most lethal threat lurks far to the east in Persia, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. The far-flung and isolated citadel of Arete faces out across the wasteland, awaiting the inevitable invasion. One man is sent to marshal the defences of this lonely city; one man to shore up the crumbling walls of a once indomitable symbol of Roman power; a man whose name itself means war, a man called Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces and the courage to stand first and to stand hard against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium.… (more)
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» See also 16 mentions

English (12)  Spanish (1)  French (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (15)
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
"Guerreiros de Roma - Fogo no Leste", me atraiu pela temática sobre a Legião Romana. Deve ser a minha parte favorita da história antiga.

Fui informado que o livro era parte do universo expandido de um jogo, o que não é verdade: a história não tem ligação com games e foi escrita por um especialista em história clássica e cultura do Império romano de Oxford.

No início do livro há dois mapas, um mostrando a viagem do protagonista até a cidade onde se desenrola o conflito, e a partir da página 437 há um detalhado e interessante pósfacio histórico.
A narrativa alterna explicações pontuais de como era a vida/costumes/guerra neste período, com os acontecimentos propriamente ditos. O avanço dos persas até a cidade de Arete (Síria), fronteira Oriental do imperium Romanum, será o palco dos grandes acontecimentos do livro.

Gostei de todos os personagens, sobretudo Balista, o narrador principal da trama, Dux Ripae de origem bárbara. É um personagem que mostra todas as complexidades humanas diante dos dilemas morais e técnicos de um líder, levando-se em conta sua cultura de "bárbaro".
Balista expõe os dilemas entre um soldado formidável e um homem cansado, que só gostaria de voltar para sua família.

Seus coadjuvantes são muito bons: Demétrios, o accensus grego; Maximus, o guarda-costa, ex-gladiador de origem bretã; Calgaco, seu servo particular e Mamurra, seu Praefectus fabrum. São personagens interessantes e com papéis bacanas na trama. Além deles, muitos outros bons personagens ganham algum destaque.

O uso de expressões em latim para situar títulos dos soldados e dar nomes aos maquinários é utilizado de forma elegante e enriquecem o texto (obviamente neste contexto esses termos são necessários) e não atrasam a leitura. O mesmo vale para as narrativas de combate.

Para quem se interessa por ficção histórica e curte saber mais sobre o Império Romano, civilizações antigas e seus costumes ou guerra antiga, esse livro deve agradar. Mas se você não quer sujar as mãos de sangue lendo este livro, procure outra leitura.

PS: Marquei aqui o livro em inglês pois não havia como marcar a edição brasileira da Record de 2011, com tradução da Ana Ban. ( )
  tarsischwald | Oct 23, 2021 |
While throwing out some old copies of TLS I ran across a review of Sidebottom’s King of Kings, the second title in the Warrior of Rome series. Thought I’d check it out starting with v. 1, and as it turned out the only Sidebottom title at the New Haven Public was this one, Fire in the East.

Roman military novels are a thing I’ve since learned. Who knew?

Sidebottom is, as it turns out, an academic specializing in ancient warfare and art and seems to have good references from the TLS house classicist Mary Beard. Recall that Harry Turtledove, the alternate history genre novelist, teaches Byzantine history in the US and has written a novel or two using the knowledge from his day job as well. Turtledove is quite a bit more professional at the genre biz, however. Comparison with Larry McMurtry’s historical novels would be embarrassing. Credit Sidebottom for wanting to share his enthusiasm for the late Roman Empire with the non-specialist, but sometimes this is like being trapped with a model train or Civil War enthusiast at a boozy out of town convention. Still, a relatively painless introduction to a very narrow and obscure period in ancient history (mid-3rd century, Near East siege warfare, West vs. Persian/Sassanid/The East). Cowboys and Indians, Samuel Huntington with call outs to Mary Renault. Speaking of East v. West, the mouthpiece for the Zoroastrian Sassanids, the slave boy Bagoas, echoes the rhetoric of a jihadist predating the rise of Islam and the Arab conquests four centuries later. The Christians are as annoying as they are today; Sidebottom brings out the nihilistic aspects of the creed.

A historical novel where the characters themselves are steeped in classical history. For Demetrius, a Greek slave and secretary to the Dux, they’re fighting a rehash of Herodotus’ history of the Persian Wars, and the commanders and the author model some of their tactics on The Histories and The Iliad. Ovid and Petronius are the high class and supermarket erotica of the literate. The end of the novel is an unspoken allusion to the fall of Troy in The Aeneid, where Virgil creates a founding myth of Rome’s origins. So here the closing of the empire’s circle begins?

Props to the author for including lists of characters and Latin-Greek terms and even a short bibliographical essay. Key characters: Marcus Clodius Ballista: a non-Roman “northern barbarian,” Dux Ripae, commander of the Roman forces during the siege of Arete, a fictionalized Dura-Europa in modern day Syria. “Ballista” is a type of Roman catapult-artillery. His circle includes: Maximus, his Celtic bodyguard – the slave-scribe Demetrius, for the Greek perspective – the prisoner Bagoas, the aforementioned Persian mouthpiece -- Calgacus, the old valet (think Walter Brennan type) – Mammura, chief of engineers. The key military commanders, besides Ballista, are Titus Flavius Turpio, first centurion of Cohors XX Palmyra, looking to redeem himself for his late commander’s and his own corruption who has a notable part in a night raid modeled after the one in The Iliad – Marcus Acilius Glabrio, aristocratic commander Legio III Scythia (Ballista doesn’t like his hair style; Glabrio thinks Ballista is as dumb as Thor) – Iarhai, commander of the mercenaries used to supplement the inadequate Roman garrison, and especially his Amazonian daughter Bathshiba; also his lieutenant Haddudad who functions as the principal mercenary leader during the siege – Theodotus: leader of the Christian sect (Arete is full of gods and sects and cults, typical of the period) – Shapur: the Sassanid King of Kings (presumably has more screen time in the next volume of the series). ( )
  featherbear | Jun 30, 2019 |
I came to this from the author's excellent Throne of the Caesars series. As a first book in this series, a lot of it was introduction to the characters, time and place, although we've met Ballista before. Years have passed since the death of Maximinus Thrax and Aquileia; this story places us in the reign of Valerian, years later. Ballista strikes me as an "outsider" who struggles to fit in, much as the characters of Gillian Bradshaw. Perusing the list of characters and recognizing some names from Throne of the Caesars, I wondered: are these the same people, but a few years on? Not much originality in the cover: the same ubiquitous Roman soldier. Can't any publisher come up with something more striking for Roman military novels?

I've seen other people's reviews and many complaints about how slowly the book begins, with many details of excruciating [to them] detail. Sometimes I enjoy a slow-burner--pun, based on the title :) -- with all the asides and tidbits of details. I didn't read the novel for the siege only, but enjoyed the journey to get to Arete and of course the final siege and conflagration. Arete lay very close to the Roman/Persian border. Ballista has been given orders by the emperor to prepare defenses and finally to defend the city from the Sassanid Persians. He can ask for extra troops from other cities and levy citizens. The emperor promises to send reinforcements. There were many exciting incidents: a storm at sea, fight with Gothic pirates, then various skirmishes, extramural missions and the final siege and its aftermath. Someone is a traitor. Near the end Ballista muses: Is [the outcome] my fault? Did I concentrate so much on the Sassanid siege works that I did not pay enough attention to the possibility of treachery? ... would clues have been there? Would I have seen them?

The first time through I read it solely for the adventure but when I reread I concentrated more on some of the loose ends, motivations I feel the author didn't explain. Who killed Scribonius Mucianus and why? One culprit or two? What was the blackmail surrounding Turpio, which he didn't explain and Ballista never pushed? Who sabotaged the armory? What was Acilius Glabrio's motivation in giving the perfume for Ballista's bath since the two hated each other? I feel there were genuine but subtle clues, also red herrings. I do have my suspicions, but....

I felt like the city of Arete was a thinly-disguised Dura-Europos: http://dura-europos.com/
put into a fictional context. In the author's notes, he states he DID base his fictional city on it. I felt like this novel was several cuts above any Roman potboilers flooding the market, due to the construction of the story and the author's impeccable historicity. The Ballista name was silly, but there WAS a historical Ballista.

Most highly recommended. (less) ( )
  janerawoof | Jan 11, 2017 |
Sometimes it seems that the supermarket shelves are groaning under the weight of historical novels set during the 'Glory that was Rome'. Sadly many of them are unreadable tosh (yes, Ben Kane, I mean you!). However, Harry Sidebottom is a different proposition altogether.

A teacher of classical history at Oxford, Sidebottom knows his stuff, but, more to the point, he can also write. The man knows how to construct a pacey, exciting story and keep it moving.

Fire in the East is volume one of the Warrior of Rome series, set around AD256, which follows the adventures of Marcus Clodius Ballista, a Germanic diplomatic hostage, who has been granted Roman Citizenship and has served in the Roman Army, rising through the ranks to the point where, at the start of the novel, he has been given command of the defence of the City of Arete, on the eastern fringe of the Empire, as the Sassanid hoardes under the King of Kings, Shapur, threaten to capture it and drive Rome from Aasia Minor. Ballista is a complex character and Sidebottom explains his motivations and anxieties well as he deals with shoddy and resentful troops and arrogant, aristocratic officers.

There is intrigue aplenty, as the Emporer's spies keep an eye on Ballista and somewhere a traitor threatens to undermine the defence of the city. Sidebottom stocks the story with a large cast of characters and there is humour here as well as exciting action set-pieces as the siege of the city gets underway. The author never flinches from showing us the harsh sacrifices a supreme commander must make in order to achieve the task he has been set. The reveal at the end is well handled and overall this is a great read, based on sound knowledge of the era and a true love of the subject matter.

The next volume beckons. Recommended. ( )
  David.Manns | Nov 28, 2016 |
It's good, but you could argue that not an awful lot happens over a lot of pages. But, once I got over that, I really enjoyed the developing character of the main man, and began to care about his, and the other character's fate. It could certainly have done with more action, but I'm going to see the big picture with this one, and get searching for number two in the series.
Where it does score, is in the depth of research and knowlege the author displays. He really does know his (Roman) onions, that's clear, but he shows it in a subtle and convincing way.
Enjoyed it and can recommend it. ( )
  Speesh | Mar 29, 2014 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
This action-filled adventure story focusing on the siege of Arete, an apocryphal town on the Euphrates River at the eastern edge of the Roman Empire, is a great read.
 

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AD 255; the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged throughout the territories and along every border. Yet the most lethal threat lurks far to the east in Persia, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. The far-flung and isolated citadel of Arete faces out across the wasteland, awaiting the inevitable invasion. One man is sent to marshal the defences of this lonely city; one man to shore up the crumbling walls of a once indomitable symbol of Roman power; a man whose name itself means war, a man called Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces and the courage to stand first and to stand hard against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium.

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In the reigns of third-century emperors Valerian and Gallienus, the low-born Marcus Clodius Bastilla achieved citizenship and the honorific of Dux Ripea serving in the Roman army. He is sent to the east to fight against the Sassanid Persian army.
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