This book plunges you like no other in ancient Rome of the 1st century, by telling us a beautiful love story in the reign of Nero the despot and in the throes of the constitution of the first Christian communities and their persecution. Henryk Sienkiewicz did much research and Rome he describes is as faithful as possible to historical reality, we unveiled by miles details on the customs and daily life of the Romans of that time. The fictional characters alongside historical figures, some famous, like Seneca (which you can read an excerpt from his book On the shortness of life in this reading speed test), Nero, Petronius, although it is difficult to separate fact from fiction for the latter. The novel is openly pro-Christian, but that does not interfere with the atheist or non-Christian reader, who may interpret it as a historical description of the Constitutions of the first Christian communities and how they are perceived and viewed their faith. Anyway the story is thrilling, breathless same rich detail, and with beautifully described characters whose least is not Petronius, which is in itself a story in history and whose end is one of the finest it was given me to read for a secondary character. It is an epic novel, bloody and beautiful, a peplum before the time which probably inspired the creation of this genre.
His only fault is to be of his time (late nineteenth century) and thus be a little too pro-Christian and a bit too prudish: the sex scenes are sketched, only implied. But this is only a minor flaw that does not prevent you to sample his epic, grandiose and tragic fates of his characters.
The author received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905 for his body of work.
Strengths:
* We plunged into the Rome of the 1st century like no other * Epic, bloody and tragic * Characters beautifully posed to fascinating destinies
Weak points:
* Too pro-Christian * A little too prudish (but in his time)