
Spurius: A Novel
Consul of Rome who crushed the cult of Bacchus, 186 BC
David Laszlo Conhaim(Author)
Kulturalis (Publisher)
Published on 17. March 2026
Book
Hardback
226 pages
978-1-83636-040-7 (ISBN)
Description
It is a perilous time for the Roman Republic. Victory over her nemesis Hannibal in the Second Punic War and the subsequent conquest of Greece have led to widespread debauchery and mayhem on the Italian peninsula. Into the breach steps Spurius Postumius Albinus, Consul of Rome in 186 BC, who turns detective to investigate a series of crimes attributed to the cult of the wine god Bacchus that, he argues, threaten the very heart of the State.
Based on events recorded by the Roman historian Livy and confirmed by a surviving bronze plaque in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, Spurius is at once an ancient political whodunit and the first major treatment of a cataclysmic event in Roman history: according to Livy, some 3,500 Romans perished in the witch hunts resulting from Spurius' investigation. In its finely balanced examination of freedom of belief and expression, and the manipulation of truth in times of national emergency, the novel has great relevance to today's troubled world.
Kulturalis's edition of Spurius gives the novel a striking and luxurious new treatment. Renowned Argentinian-born illustrator Jorge Gonzalez's vivid images - including full-page and double-page illustrations within the text and an arresting slipcase design - brings the graphic events of the novel to life. Based in Madrid, Gonzalez previously illustrated the edition of William Golding's Lord of the Flies published by Los Libros del Zorro Rojo and The Folio Society's edition of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind. Working hand-in-glove with Gonzalez through Maria Cardelli's IllustrationZone is award-winning hand-lettering artist Ruth Rowland who has designed album covers for Elton John, Kate Bush and Cliff Richard.
Based on events recorded by the Roman historian Livy and confirmed by a surviving bronze plaque in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, Spurius is at once an ancient political whodunit and the first major treatment of a cataclysmic event in Roman history: according to Livy, some 3,500 Romans perished in the witch hunts resulting from Spurius' investigation. In its finely balanced examination of freedom of belief and expression, and the manipulation of truth in times of national emergency, the novel has great relevance to today's troubled world.
Kulturalis's edition of Spurius gives the novel a striking and luxurious new treatment. Renowned Argentinian-born illustrator Jorge Gonzalez's vivid images - including full-page and double-page illustrations within the text and an arresting slipcase design - brings the graphic events of the novel to life. Based in Madrid, Gonzalez previously illustrated the edition of William Golding's Lord of the Flies published by Los Libros del Zorro Rojo and The Folio Society's edition of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind. Working hand-in-glove with Gonzalez through Maria Cardelli's IllustrationZone is award-winning hand-lettering artist Ruth Rowland who has designed album covers for Elton John, Kate Bush and Cliff Richard.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 155 mm
Width: 243 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
802 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83636-040-7 (9781836360407)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
David Laszlo Conhaim is passionate about discovering stories and people somehow lost to history - and to inspire or renew public interest in them. His socially conscious, exhaustively researched novels in recent years have focused on the multiracial struggle for the American West, emphasising issues of family, identity and belonging. Conhaim's Paul Robeson-inspired Western All Man's Land (Broken Arrow Press, 2019) was selected Finalist Best Novel in the Western Writers of America Spur Awards and won 'Maverick' in the Will Rogers Medallion Awards. His 2021 novel The Unredeemed - a sequel to 2017's Comanche Captive - was a Best Novel winner in the Will Rogers Medallion Awards and a Best Novel finalist in the Western Fictioneers' Peacemaker Awards. In 1995, Conhaim co-founded The Prague Revue, the longest-running literary journal to serve the community of international writers in Prague. For The Prague Revue, he wrote a fictional remembrance of Miguel de Unamuno, which Gore Vidal 'read with delight', republishing it in the 2024 All Man's Land expanded second edition as Don Miguel - The Wise. Conhaim was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968.
Content
'List of illustrations
Foreword by the author
Map: The Mediterranean in the Age of Spurius
The Novel
Prologue: Embassy to Ephesus: Spurius and Scipio Africanus encounter Hannibal, 193 BC
Chapter I: Affairs in Rome, 146 BC; Bacchic disturbances, 186 BC; consul's inquiry begins
Chapter II: Bacchanalians' murderous response; cult exposed
Chapter III: Rome terrorised; consul addresses Senate, Assembly; proscription of Bacchanalians
Chapter IV: Bacchic cult crushed in Latium and Rome; events in Ostia
Chapter V: Affairs in Rome, 146 BC; celebrations in Rome, 186 BC; war with Gauls; intervention in Bithynia
Epilogue: Northeast to Nicomedia: Spurius demands surrender of Hannibal, 185 BC
Beyond Spurius
Author's Note
Remembering Gore Vidal
Acknowledgements
Chronological Summary
Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus (the inscription on which the novel is based)
Select Bibliography
About the Author
Foreword by the author
Map: The Mediterranean in the Age of Spurius
The Novel
Prologue: Embassy to Ephesus: Spurius and Scipio Africanus encounter Hannibal, 193 BC
Chapter I: Affairs in Rome, 146 BC; Bacchic disturbances, 186 BC; consul's inquiry begins
Chapter II: Bacchanalians' murderous response; cult exposed
Chapter III: Rome terrorised; consul addresses Senate, Assembly; proscription of Bacchanalians
Chapter IV: Bacchic cult crushed in Latium and Rome; events in Ostia
Chapter V: Affairs in Rome, 146 BC; celebrations in Rome, 186 BC; war with Gauls; intervention in Bithynia
Epilogue: Northeast to Nicomedia: Spurius demands surrender of Hannibal, 185 BC
Beyond Spurius
Author's Note
Remembering Gore Vidal
Acknowledgements
Chronological Summary
Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus (the inscription on which the novel is based)
Select Bibliography
About the Author