The Roman, by Mika Waltari, follows the life of a man doing the waning. years of Emperor Claudius through the reign of Nero - the subsequent Emperors, ending with Domination.
The unexpected happened at the end of the book. Many will probably disagree with me, saying it was expected, but what I wanted was for this character and his family to live a long life... looking out into the sunset. But it didn't end like that and the ending was very disturbing.
I liked the book but it is not a 5 Star like. There are areas where it drones on and on. As is usual with his main male character, his Roman protagonist is captivated by women, marries them and then is very unhappy. Oh well, that's all ok as each wife moves him to the next phase of his life.
Also he is very sympathetic to Nero. I found that interesting. He did't sugar-coat any of Nero's actions, but put them in context of the times and way of life of the elite and the Uber-elite.
I will think of this book often and have already begun investigating the various Emperors and time period in which this book takes place. YouTube is great for additional information. ( )

Excellent historical novel -- the fictional memoir of a Roman patrician, written for his son. It spans many decades: from Emperor Claudius's reign until Domitian.

The hero fights with the II Legion in Brittania. His loves, his stint as beastmaster for the arena, government positions and postings to far-flung corners of the Roman Empire are all detailed, against the backdrop of Roman political upheaval. Always, the theme of Christianity, that small, proscribed sect, runs through the story, and influences the climax, given in an epilogue. Written more than 50 years ago, there are some factual errors but it is surprisingly well researched for those days. The book bogged down in Nero's reign and became tedious for awhile, then picked up again. The book probably could have used a more judicious editor at the part on Nero's reign. It is the 2nd volume in a duology: the first volume being The Secret of the Kingdom. ( )

I liked the book. The main character, Minutus, is not really all that likable, but he is not a hero and does not try to be. His name means "diminished" or "mediocre" in Latin, and his family tree is notoriously vague for noble descent. He is a common man with the frailties and the moral ambiguity that most people have. The son of a man who had converted to Christianity, he doesn't welcome Christians or Christian teaching. He just goes along without much firmness through life, doing what other people expect of him. As a historical novel, the main character goes through life meeting important people that are known to the reader, but often in different circumstances. Nero is an overwhelming character in the story, as he was in Rome, and Minutus tries to keep living through an increasingly chaotic political scene.
An interesting subplot is the son, Minutus, first trying to prove his noble descent so he can go through the upper Roman society, and then trying desperately to hide the fact that his mother was a Greek dancing slave.
Not excellent writing, but an interesting and slow account of someone living in Rome and the empire in the ten to twenty years after the death of Christ. Minutus has the holy grail, the cup used by Christ at the last communion, and it appears several times in the book, but again this is a subplot and may have been placed in the story to form the basis of the next novel.
The book is a great filler for long flights or rainy days at the beach. ( )

Waltari takes on the story of spread of early Christianity in Rome. It is not among his best books and there is quite a lot of the main character happening to meet all the movers and shakers of the era of emperors Claudius and Nero, and being involved in many significant historical events too, which requires some suspension of disbelief (but is a common cliche in many historical novels).

As also can be expected, the Roman main character does get increasingly involved in this new Christianity thing. However, the best part of the book is that it is not particularly sparing in its characterisation, Waltari does have somewhat bleak view to humanity.
While he obviously sympathises Christians, they are unruly, confused lot keen on fighting and betraying each other, non-Christians are not better, and most characters are very keen on taking care of their own interests, regardless of what lofty ideals they have expressed at any point. This is especially true of the main character who really is lacking on moral fibre: that's the tragedy, it is a book about human incapability of doing good (and possibly the quality of divine mercy, even if it is not expressed).

This book is written as an autobiography of a fictional person who rises out of a marginalised family based in Antioch to a supposedly influential person and friend of Emperor Nero. He "fantastically" manages to meet many of the important/well-known people of the time, and more fantastically influences key events at the time. Not a character one gets to like whilst reading the book, and if the story is supposed be about his gradual 'conversion' to Christianity it is not very convincing. ( )