Forged in Rome
An Epic Tale of Power, Ambition and Survival in Ancient Rome from the Sunday Times bestseller
Published on 20. November 2025
432 pages
978-1-4059-6533-0 (ISBN)
Description
THE UNMISSABLE ADVENTURE FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, CONN IGGULDEN
Can a slave . . . become a master?
AD 37. The Roman Republic has become a true empire, stretching from Egypt to the seacoast of Gaul. Sixty million people live under its rule.
A scribe in a noble household on the outskirts of the empire's greatest city, a young man who has no memory of his past or his family. Where freedom exists for the privileged few, he has only ever known a life of slavery. His name is Cormac.
When Cormac's master dies suddenly under suspicious circumstances, he finds himself furnished with documents freeing him from bondage. Surviving somewhere between slave and citizen, he quickly discovers the dangers that come with freedom. The city is a pitiless place for those without allies.
But the winds of fate are shifting. Cormac's talents - his treasured ability to read and write - will soon take him from city slums to the mines of Gaul, to the island of Britannia and back to the hills of Rome.
Slave, scribe, soldier - Cormac will have to play Rome's most dangerous game if he's to secure wealth and power. For in this city, with skill, ambition and luck, perhaps such things can be won . . .
Can a slave . . . become a master?
AD 37. The Roman Republic has become a true empire, stretching from Egypt to the seacoast of Gaul. Sixty million people live under its rule.
A scribe in a noble household on the outskirts of the empire's greatest city, a young man who has no memory of his past or his family. Where freedom exists for the privileged few, he has only ever known a life of slavery. His name is Cormac.
When Cormac's master dies suddenly under suspicious circumstances, he finds himself furnished with documents freeing him from bondage. Surviving somewhere between slave and citizen, he quickly discovers the dangers that come with freedom. The city is a pitiless place for those without allies.
But the winds of fate are shifting. Cormac's talents - his treasured ability to read and write - will soon take him from city slums to the mines of Gaul, to the island of Britannia and back to the hills of Rome.
Slave, scribe, soldier - Cormac will have to play Rome's most dangerous game if he's to secure wealth and power. For in this city, with skill, ambition and luck, perhaps such things can be won . . .
More details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Edition type
New edition
File size
1,04 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4059-6533-0 (9781405965330)
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CONN IGGULDEN is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today, with bestselling series on Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and the Wars of the Roses, as well as two stand-alone novels: Dunstan, set in the red-blooded world of tenth-century England and The Falcon of Sparta, in which Iggulden returns to the Ancient World. Both instalments of his Athenian series, The Gates of Athens and Protector, and his recent Golden Age series, Lion and Empire, are Sunday Times bestsellers. Tyrant and Inferno follow on from the Sunday Times bestselling Nero in Iggulden's most recent series.
