Any antique titles?

[Callandoril]

To start of, no I don't mean really old books... Are there any good books/series of books which have an antique type(roman-greek-barbarian times) setting? I really love both the medieval/medieval-fantasy and newer settings, but I love the antique setting and unless I'm mistaken(which I hope I am), there are neither good RPG games with that setting(I only know of Titan's quest, and that one isn't the type of RPG I want, although it's a good game) nor books which such setting(Prince of Nothing comes to mind as the closest one to it, but it's still not really antique type setting). Again, does anyone know a good book/series of books with this setting?

[Opisthokont]

Do you mean specifically fantasy with iron age-level technology and society, or just historical novels from that era in general?

[Callandoril]

Do you mean specifically fantasy with iron age-level technology and society, or just historical novels from that era in general?

Both would be nice, although I'd rather read the fantasy type, as long as it's enjoyable.

[Antonius Pius]

First to come to mind is Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, which is generally great but suffers from odd structuring and an insane crush on Caesar. Second for Rome, try David Anthony Durham's Hannibal about the Second Punic War.

For Ancient Greece, see Steven Pressfield. I loved Gates of Fire especially.

[Seli]

For the Trojan War there is the trilogy by David (and Stella) Gemmell (Lord of the Silver Bow, Shield of Thunder, Fall of Kings), highly recommended but light on the fantastic elements.

On the aftermath of that conflict there is Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin, again low on the fantasy but still a great read.

For people familiar with Homer's work I'd recommend "The Lost Books of the Odyssey" by Zachary Mason as well, a collection of the stories bending and at times breaking the tradition.

For the Greek period "The Macht" books by Paul Kearney are often recommended.

ETA: there are of course also the Asterix Comic books, and the Alix series could be nice if only it was available in English.

[Underfoot]

Definitely going to second Pressfield. Gates of Fire doesn't really have any fantasy elements, but his Last of the Amazons is a bit more mythical. Also, can't go wrong with Bernard Cornwell. I'd probably suggest you try his Arthur series, starting with The Winter King. It has the best take on the Arthurian legend that I've ever read or seen and has quite a lot of magic.

[MrsManderly]

R. Leckie's Hannibal trilogy is pretty cool, as are R. Harris' Cicero novels - historic novels and not exactly light but very good reads

There is also an ancient Egypt Ramses series by I forget who, and a similar series by Michelle Moran (one or two novels on the Akhenaten Amarna period + something on Cleopatra) - while these are good ok on the historical detail, as I recall they are a bit cheezy and bodice-ripping intensive, so not to everyone's taste

[Opisthokont]

There is also an ancient Egypt Ramses series by I forget who, and a similar series by Michelle Moran (one or two novels on the Akhenaten Amarna period + something on Cleopatra) - while these are good ok on the historical detail, as I recall they are a bit cheezy and bodice-ripping intensive, so not to everyone's taste

Waltari's The Egyptian is less bodice-ripping, but I found it a bit dull. I was only 12 or 13 when I read it though.

[Callandoril]

Thank you, I'll definitely check at least on wikipedia all of them. Also I now remembered Rick Riordans Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus and The Kane Chronicles, but , though they're really heavy mythicaly, they aren't set in an antique type world.

[Lupigis]

It sounds as if you might be interested in Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist/Arete/Sidon trilogy. From the Amazon blurb:

the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who while fighting in Greece received a head injury that deprived him of his short-term memory but gave him in return the ability to see and converse with the supernatural creatures and the gods and goddesses, who invisibly inhabit the ancient landscape.

I read the first two books when they were published and liked them a lot. Then there was a 17 year long hiatus until he wrote the third book and I kind of lost track of the series, but I mean to read that as well. Wolfe has a lot of fans on the board, so you can probably find some info about these books if you search the old threads.

[williamjm]

Are there any good books/series of books which have an antique type(roman-greek-barbarian times) setting?

I don't know whether it's antique enough for you, but I liked Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic duology, which is set in a fantasy world but is very heavily based on the Byzantine Empire during the reign of the Emperor Justinian.

[Darth Richard]

Bernard Cornwell's Arthur books are the best thing ever.

Everything mentioned so far that i've read is good. Just avoid that Iggulden trash.

[Antonius Pius]

R. Harris' Cicero novels - historic novels and not exactly light but very good reads

Ooh, seconded. Good call on Wolfe too.

[Maid Sansa]

Seconding David and Stella Gemmell's Troy series, and also Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine mosaic. There's a little low-key magic, and GGK writes in an alternate world (alternate Justinian-era Byzantium), but both series are really good.

Also by David Gemmell, I loved his multiple-worlds-some-magic version of Alexander the Great and his father: starting with Lion of Macedon, where the protagonist is the strategos Parmenion, and continuing with The Dark Prince about Alexander himself.

For historical fiction, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Mary Renault. I've only read three of her books: Persian boy about Bagoas, the Persian lover of Alexander the Great, Funeral games about events after Alexander's death, and The King Must Die, which is sort of about the mythical Theseus. They're well-written, and well researched. And I don't mean that in the Michelle Moran sense, who wouldn't know a primary source if it danced naked in front of her and utterly misses the point of many historic characters.

I liked Waltari's Egyptian a lot, even if it isn't exactly a mad adventure. I liked the weird and different vibe of the society that he describes much better than the more modern novels that sometimes seem too tailored to the Western reader - for example, the attitude to death, slavery and social inequality.

[Callandoril]

Thanks everyone again, I should've mentioned the early Byzantine era as also one I'd really like to read with such setting.

Seconding David and Stella Gemmell's Troy series, and also Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine mosaic. There's a little low-key magic, and GGK writes in an alternate world (alternate Justinian-era Byzantium), but both series are really good.

Also by David Gemmell, I loved his multiple-worlds-some-magic version of Alexander the Great and his father: starting with Lion of Macedon, where the protagonist is the strategos Parmenion, and continuing with The Dark Prince about Alexander himself.

For historical fiction, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Mary Renault. I've only read three of her books: Persian boy about Bagoas, the Persian lover of Alexander the Great, Funeral games about events after Alexander's death, and The King Must Die, which is sort of about the mythical Theseus. They're well-written, and well researched. And I don't mean that in the Michelle Moran sense, who wouldn't know a primary source if it danced naked in front of her and utterly misses the point of many historic characters.

I liked Waltari's Egyptian a lot, even if it isn't exactly a mad adventure. I liked the weird and different vibe of the society that he describes much better than the more modern novels that sometimes seem too tailored to the Western reader - for example, the attitude to death, slavery and social inequality.

Are you from Slovenia/Macedonia? Your signature indicates so, I can read it as Croatian although not really well.

[Maia]

For historical fiction, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Mary Renault. I've only read three of her books: Persian boy about Bagoas, the Persian lover of Alexander the Great, Funeral games about events after Alexander's death, and The King Must Die, which is sort of about the mythical Theseus.

Seconding Renault! One of my favorite authors of historical novels.

IMHO, "The Last of the Wine" - her novel about Athens, is also amazing, as is her Arthurian trilogy starting with "The Crystal Cave". It is still my favorite Arthuriana, though Cornwell is also very good ( and very different) of course.

Not so hot on "The King Must Die", personally, but all her other stuff is great, IMHO.

I also love "The Ides of March" by Thornton Wilder. Not very accurate historically, but beautifully written and incredibly poignant.

[cseresz.reborn]

To start of, no I don't mean really old books... Again, does anyone know a good book/series of books with this setting?

(Give a chance to Herodotus and his co.)

(from the top of my head:)

Chariton: Callirhoe

Longus: Daphnis and Chloe

Sienkiewicz

Pauline Gedge: Child of the Morning

Boleslaw Prus: Pharaoh

Mika Waltari: The Egyptian

Gárdonyi Géza: Slave of the Huns

Anatole France: Sur la pierre blanche (The White Stone)

Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji

The Secret History of the Mongols

+ Karen Essex, Steven Saylor, Wilbur Smith etc.

edit: anything by Lucian

[Maid Sansa]

Are you from Slovenia/Macedonia? Your signature indicates so, I can read it as Croatian although not really well.

Slovenia. Ali bila sam u Dalmaciji dovoljno puta da znam šta su "pomodor" i "šugaman". :)

[Callandoril]

Slovenia. Ali bila sam u Dalmaciji dovoljno puta da znam šta su "pomodor" i "šugaman". :)

Pomidore ne pomodor i šugoman, al ovisi i di si bila... drago mi je da vidin da ima s ovih prostora ljudi...

[Jazzer32]

Pomidore ne pomodor i šugoman, al ovisi i di si bila... drago mi je da vidin da ima s ovih prostora ljudi...

Ima nas, ima... Izgleda da je GRRM popularniji na ovim prostorima nego na zapadu. A sto se tice knjiga sa tematikom starog veka - procitaj Bernarda Cornwella.Covek je istoricar i sve njegove knjige imaju tešku podlogu u pravim isttorijskim cinjenicama. Uglavnom su mu glavni junaci izmišljene licnosti koje se provlace kroz te dogadjaje. Saxonske price (Saxon stories) su fenomenalne (invazija vikinga na britaniju pocetkom 9og veka), a takodje i Warldord Chronicles (4-5 vek - Saksonsko osvajanje britanskog ostrva) . Ova druga ima malo više "magije" (ne baš magija, vec se druidi i kojekakvi carobnjaci i veštice pojavljuju i bacaju cini i kletve, a sujeveran narod ih se uzasno plaši). Dok nisam poceo da citam Cornwella, nisam mislio da je moguce da neko piše bolje i interesantnije od GRRMa (grdno sam se prevario).

Ako baš zeliš istorijske knjige(bez fantazije), probaj Colleen McCullough - Masters of Rome, veoma interesantna, ali i veoma dugacka knjiga (verovao ili ne - ima mnogo više likova nego u ASIOAF).

Što se tice presfilda i "vatrenih kapija"..hmmm..nije mi se dopala uopšte - mozda je problem u srpskom prevodu, pošto su preterali sa korišcenjem aorista (valjda u nadi da ce zvucati "antickije", ali ustvari postaje naporno za citanje nekon nekog vremena)

pozdrav iz BG