Centred on the historical court poet Claudian, here genuinely infatuated with the deeds of the general Stilicho, the Last Roman. Who wasn't Roman by nativity and few of the main cast are. Claudian and his conscience-stricken judge were Egyptian with Egyptian names, but Roman by conviction or by social climbing or an interesting tangle of both.

This is a nicely structured short novel, around a court case for pagan practice, told from several perspectives. The Dutch title translates as A Newer Testament – a pity to lose that – testaments are a theme. The perverts were a bit gaudy but she has the excuse of publication date. I'm not sure the end did it justice, but I say that of 90% of ends.

It must be the only novel about Claudian? I've only heard him aspersed as a Silver Latin poet, or were they into Tinsel by the 400s? – and made mock of in Napier's Attila. Napier quotes a swathe of authentic Claudian, flattery of the emperor, and I confess it was hilarious. This is a more serious novel. ( )

This novel is set during the cataclysmic transformation that accompanied the death of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the middle ages when the Christian Church stamped out the vestiges of Roam cultural and religious heritage.It was Theodosius in the late 4th century that mandated trinitarianism and struck down all pagan forms of worship. He hastened the fall of Rome by splitting the empire into two sections, leaving his inheritance to two sons, both incompetent: Honorius ruled in the West; Arcadius in Constantinople. The hostility between the two malcontents forms the backdrop for the novel which begins and ends in the year 414 A.D. although flashbacks take it back further.

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, is a prominent character. By thwarting Theodosius's demands for restitution to Jews for their destroyed property -- Theodosius protected Jews -- Ambrose began the struggle between the state and religious authority for supreme power. Ambrose and Hadrian, an ex-Roman civil administrator both view the world through restricted vision which was to become the predominant view for many centuries thereafter. These views are reflected by the drama surrounding a Roman who is arrested for ostensibly conducting archaic and illegal religious celebrations.

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This one was fantastic! Not a book of 'action', except in the memories expressed by two of the main characters, Prefect Hadrian
and the poet, Claudius Claudianus. Hadrian presides at the trial of a man accused of holding pagan rites in his home and the poet, who conducted ther decapitation of a cock. The novel takes off from there. It is more of a thoughtful novel. I loved the author's character psychology and her vivid descriptions. ( )

De prefect laat een paar mensen oppakken op verdenking van het aanhangen van "de oude godsdienst". Het christendom is inmiddels staatsgodsdienst en als je geen christen bent, word je min of meer als staatsgevaarlijk beschouwd. Bij degenen die zijn opgepakt is iemand die hij kent. Een in Egypte geboren jood, die hij indertijd onder zijn hoede heeft gehad, die een beroemde dichter was in Rome, en die later in ongenade is geraakt omdat hij meestal geen blad voor de mond nam. Verbannen uit Rome, maar tijdens de onrusten van de inval van de Goten teruggekomen naar de stad. Hij geeft niet meer om geld of goed, maar geeft de Romeinen in de volkswijk graag les in lezen, schrijven en rekenen. Hij ziet scherp hoe mensen nu christen worden omdat het hun een baan, aanzien en macht oplevert. Vaak heeft het weinig met het christendom te maken.
Ze staan tegenover elkaar, de prefect en de verbannen man. De arme lijkt de confrontatie aan te kunnen. Hij wordt er sterker van. De prefect gaat aan de confrontatie te gronde.

eind examen boek geexamineerd door kees fens