Client details
Harry Sidebottom
| James Gill | Assistant: Ben Evans +44 (0) 20 3214 0887 |
Dr Harry Sidebottom teaches Classical History at Lincoln College, Oxford University, and is a specialist in the military campaigns of the late Roman Empire, and particularly in the Middle East. His first two novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers in hardback and paperback, and he is a firmly established author of historical fiction. His work displays the historical sweep of Valerio Massimo Manfredi, the political drama of Robert Harris, the military flamboyance of Conn Iggulden and the academic/writerly accuracy and bona fides of Patrick O’Brian and Mary Renault. His novels are published in the UK and the US, and are translated into nine languages worldwide. PRAISE FOR HARRY SIDEBOTTOM "The lionisation of war makes my blood run cold, but Dr Harry Sidebottom’s prose blazes with such searing scholarship that there is enormous enjoyment in this rumbustuous tale of the late Roman Empire ... Sidebottom treads in the footsteps of the greatest mimetic historian-storytellers of the 18th and 19th centuries. He makes you feel as though you are there." Bettany Hughes, The Times "Harry Sidebottom works on Rome’s 3rd-century army the magic that Patrick O’Brian applied to Nelson’s navy. He has the touch of an exceptionally gifted story-teller drawing on prodigious learning." Tim Severin "In the third century AD the Roman Empire was beginning its meltdown. It was horrible and violent. Harry Sidebottom’s epic tale starts with a chilling assassination and goes on, and up, from there." Professor Mary Beard, Chair of Classics, University of Cambridge "Harry Sidebottom brilliantly reconstructs the life of the ancient world, and in particular its military technology, and wraps it in a powerful narrative whose themes are classic in more ways than one. It’s the best sort of red-blooded historical fiction – solidly based on a profound understanding of what it meant to be alive in a particular time and place." Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of The American Boy "A vivid, racy, and gripping novel ... from a major scholar who happens also to be a brilliant master of fiction." Dr Jas Elsner, University Fellow of Archaeology and Classical Art, University of Oxford "In modern fiction, from Valerio Massimo Manfredi to Conn Iggulden, there is often an awkward tendency for instruction to triumph over excitement ... Dr Sidebottom successfully avoids this pitfall. Instead he concentrates on providing a complex and human account of urban people under siege. The strength of Warrior of Rome lies in the portrayal of its central character and his evolving relationships with a cast of minor characters, some of whom – his household slaves and lover – seem destined to survive, and others whose lives are, usually gruesomely, cut short by battle ... Sidebottom provides a well constructed, well paced, and gripping account of life in ancient war-torn Asia Minor which, as a good series ought, leaves the reader eagerly anticipating the next instalment." Times Literary Supplement |
Fire In The East 
King Of Kings
| Publication Details | Notes |
|---|---|
| FIRE IN THE EAST 2008 MICHAEL JOSEPH | FIRE IN THE EAST is the first instalment in the immense grand narrative of the WARRIOR OF ROME series: a trilogy spanning the first tumultuous events of the decline of the Roman Empire. AD255 – the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged throughout the territories and along every border. Yet the most lethal threat lurks far to the east in Persia, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. The far flung and isolated citadel of Arête faces out across the wasteland, awaiting the inevitable invasion. One man is sent to martial the defences of this lonely city – one man to shore up the crumbling walls of a once indomitable symbol of Roman power – a man whose name itself means war, a man called Marcus Clodius Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces and the courage to stand first and to stand hard against greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium. |
| LION OF THE SUN 2010 MICHAEL JOSEPH | Set in AD260, Ballista faces yet another enemy; the man the locals in Syria call the Lion of the Sun. The third novel in the WARRIOR OF ROME series. |
| THE CASPIAN GATES 2011 MICHAEL JOSEPH |
| Publication Details | Notes |
|---|---|
| ANCIENT WARFARE: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION 2004 OUP | Greek and Roman warfare differed from that of other cultures and was unlike any other forms of warfare before and after. The key difference is often held to be that the Greeks and Romans practised a 'Western Way of War', where the aim is an open, decisive battle, won by courage instilled in part by discipline. Harry Sidebottom looks at how and why this 'Western Way of War' was constructed and maintained by the Greeks and Romans, why this concept is so popular and prevalent today, and at whether or not this is an accurate interpretation. All aspects of ancient warfare are thoroughly examined - -from philosophy and strategy to the technical skills needed to fight. He looks at war in the wider context - how wars could shape classical society, and how the individual's identity could be constructed by war, for example the Christian soldier fighting in God's name. He also explores the ways in which ancient society thought about conflict: Can a war be just? Why was siege warfare particularly bloody? What role did divine intervention play in the outcome of a battle? |
