Several hundred historical fiction fans gathered at Dartington Hall in Devon for a long weekend of indulging in their favourite topic. Speakers included Bernard Cornwell, Diana Gabaldon, Kate Quinn, S G Mclean, Elizabeth Chadwick and many others including yours truly. The full programme is here.
Ruth Downie, Kate Quinn and I presented about the Romans (What a surprise!). Togged up in period costume, we tried to be entertaining as well as informative about the perception of ancient Rome on screen and in fiction. (Hint: it’s not all about G.J.Caesar or M.Antonius or even G.Octavius (Augustus) )
Photo courtesy of the Historical Novel Society
Ruth represented Roman Britain in the early 2nd century AD, Kate was reflecting the women characters in her Mistress of Rome series around the period of Emperor Hadrian and I was in the late 4th century AD wearing the type of robe Julia and Galla might have worn.
We’d decided to wear period costume in order to make an impression and we certainly did!
Ruth and I have appeared at Roman events over the years and she especially has been very assiduous in ensuring the Roman clothes were right for the period. The cutting and sewing for my own robe was no quick thing, but when it gives such pleasure to readers, fans and visitors, the sewing is worth it.
We showed some Powerpoint slides before our conversation with the aim of provoking thoughts. (I’m not techie enough to import the show as it was, but here are the finished slides.) The first slide was static but I made the book covers and photos pop up one by one.
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Then the fun started as we tackled some questions about Ancient Rome’s image. The HNS has made a recording and I hope to post the link here when it has been edited and put together. In the meantime, this is what we talked about:
- Which is your favourite period, and is that the one you write about, and why?
- Why do you think writers and showrunners concentrate on the last century BC and the Julio-Claudians?
- What is it about blokes with swords and spears?
- What’s the most important thing to convey to our readers and the wider public about Ancient Rome?
- Do we think feature films, and series on the screen such as I, Claudius, Gladiator, HBO’s Rome, Domina, Britannia and Those about to Die succeed or fail in representing Rome on the screen?
Kate was good at inserting humour into the session as was as her in insightedness into the need to entertain. Ruth’s perceptions about the lives of ordinary people were particularly valuable. We all agreed about resonating with the audience was very important as a way of encouraging people to dive into looking further into the stories as presented in the fils and series. (Spoiler alert: representations on screen do not always reflect what we know from the sources.)
Ancient Rome in the West lasted 1229 years. I’d love to see a film or a good historical novel about the earlier days, the first sack of Rome by Brennus, the crisis of the third century, a feature film about Julian the Apostate. We have Elisabeth Storrs wonderful trilogy about the Roman Republic’s encounter with the Etruscans – what a film that would make!
Hopefully, our presentation gave food for thought and that our audience was, in the words of Maximus Decimus Meridius of Gladiator, entertained.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
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