What do you think?
Rate this book
Master and God
From "New York Times" bestselling novelist Lindsey Davis comes an epic novel of first-century Rome and the Emperor Domitian, known to all of the Roman world as "Master and God""" Set in the reign of the Emperor Domitian in first-century Rome, "Master and God" is Lindsey Davis's meticulously researched epic novel of the life and times surrounding the last of the Flavian dynasty of emperors. Gaius Vinius is a reluctant Praetorian Guard--the Emperor's personal guard--and a man with a disastrous marriage history. Flavia Lucilla is also in the imperial court and she is responsible not only for having created the ridiculous hairstyle worn by the imperial ladies but for also making toupees for the balding and increasingly paranoid emperor. The two of them are brought together in an unlikely manner--a devastating fire in Rome--which then leads to a lifelong friendship.Together they watch Domitian's once talented rule unravel into madness and cruelty, until the people closest to him conspire to delete him from history. As an imperial bodyguard, Vinius then faces a tough decision. "Master and God" is a compelling novel of the Roman Empire--from the height of power to the depths of madness--told from the perspective of two courtiers and unlikely friends who together are the witnesses to history.
497 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
73 people are currently reading
794 people want to read
About the author
Lindsey Davis
78 books1,493 followersLindsey Davis, historical novelist, was born in Birmingham, England in 1949. Having taken a degree in English literature at Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall), she became a civil servant. She left the civil service after 13 years, and when a romantic novel she had written was runner up for the 1985 Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize, she decided to become a writer, writing at first romantic serials for the UK women's magazine Woman's Realm.
Her interest in history and archaeology led to her writing a historical novel about Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis (The Course of Honour), for which she couldn't find a publisher. She tried again, and her first novel featuring the Roman "detective", Marcus Didius Falco, The Silver Pigs, set in the same time period and published in 1989, was the start of her runaway success as a writer of historical whodunnits. A further nineteen Falco novels and Falco: The Official Companion have followed, as well as The Course of Honour, which was finally published in 1998. Rebels and Traitors, set in the period of the English Civil War, was published in September 2009. Davis has won many literary awards, and was honorary president of the Classical Association from 1997 to 1998.
Her interest in history and archaeology led to her writing a historical novel about Vespasian and his lover Antonia Caenis (The Course of Honour), for which she couldn't find a publisher. She tried again, and her first novel featuring the Roman "detective", Marcus Didius Falco, The Silver Pigs, set in the same time period and published in 1989, was the start of her runaway success as a writer of historical whodunnits. A further nineteen Falco novels and Falco: The Official Companion have followed, as well as The Course of Honour, which was finally published in 1998. Rebels and Traitors, set in the period of the English Civil War, was published in September 2009. Davis has won many literary awards, and was honorary president of the Classical Association from 1997 to 1998.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
June 18, 2012
First up, for those who didn't read the blurb--this is NOT a Falco mystery--No Falco, no Helena, nope, no, nada.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way...
This is a very readable and enjoyable look at the reign of Emperor Domitian as seen through the eyes of 1) a member of the Praetorian Guard and 2)a hairdresser to the imperial family. Gaius, our soldier, and Lucilla, our hairdresser, can thus give us inside looks at the workings of the court(from two very different perspectives, of course).
Ms Davis shows off her research, but with a very deft touch and a lot of snark. Warning for purists--there is a great deal of what seems like anachronistic slang. I loved it-it got the mood across quite easily; we can quickly discern our characters' feelings and personalities by the flow of the language. Like Falco, Gaius has a very sarcastic wit and Lucilla gives as good as she gets.
The ups and downs in their long relationship are a fine counterpoint to the fate of the empire.
The Emperor Domitian is almost always seen at an emotional distance. We come to know him only through his actions and how other characters act and react around him. But the short version is he was one paranoid ruler! (The book title refers to how the emperor demanded to be addressed late in his reign).
The book held my interest, I didn't get too lost in all of the unfamiliar names, and I really liked Gaius and Lucilla.
Recommended for lovers of Roman history with a tolerance for snark.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way...
This is a very readable and enjoyable look at the reign of Emperor Domitian as seen through the eyes of 1) a member of the Praetorian Guard and 2)a hairdresser to the imperial family. Gaius, our soldier, and Lucilla, our hairdresser, can thus give us inside looks at the workings of the court(from two very different perspectives, of course).
Ms Davis shows off her research, but with a very deft touch and a lot of snark. Warning for purists--there is a great deal of what seems like anachronistic slang. I loved it-it got the mood across quite easily; we can quickly discern our characters' feelings and personalities by the flow of the language. Like Falco, Gaius has a very sarcastic wit and Lucilla gives as good as she gets.
The ups and downs in their long relationship are a fine counterpoint to the fate of the empire.
The Emperor Domitian is almost always seen at an emotional distance. We come to know him only through his actions and how other characters act and react around him. But the short version is he was one paranoid ruler! (The book title refers to how the emperor demanded to be addressed late in his reign).
The book held my interest, I didn't get too lost in all of the unfamiliar names, and I really liked Gaius and Lucilla.
Recommended for lovers of Roman history with a tolerance for snark.
February 26, 2013
I’m not quite sure if this is a love story set against the reign of Domitian or the story of Domitian’s reign set against a love story.
The two main characters are a reluctant praetorian and an imperial free woman who is the hair dresser to many important figures in the imperial household. Domitian also plays a major role. The book opens is the last days of Titus reign when a young girl goes to the Vigiles to report that her mother’s jewelry has been stolen. There she meets a disfigured chief investigator. Thus starts the story.
That investigator later helps Domitian during a major fire in Rome and earns an unwanted promotion to the Praetorian Guard.
Davis uses these two characters to tell the story of Domitian’s reign. The picture she paints is different than the accepted view of the last Flavian Emperor. The Domitian Davis draws is a brooding loner, whose personality is not well suited to the demands of the job he inherits. However, she portrays him as a man who understands the military and has a firm grasp of the strategy of the defense of the Danube/Rhine River boarders as well as one liked by the military itself. One of the story lines is Domitian response to the Dacian Invasion of Moesia. He is also protrayed as on who was not a blood thirsty as commonly accepted. In fact in several spots, Davis states that he had fewer people executed then some of his more acceptable predecessors. She also traces his decent into the madness that ultimately led to his assignation.
The two fictional characters are drawn into the politics of the imperial family due to their positions and are thrown together again when they end up sharing a lease on an upscale apartment that neither of them can afford alone. They eventually become friends and then lovers – but that doesn’t happen until more than halfway into the book.
While, I found the story interesting, it is slow moving with little of the wit of her Falco mysteries.
I did like the chapter written from the fly's POV while she is annoying a brooding Domitian.
If partial stars were allowed - 3 1/2
The two main characters are a reluctant praetorian and an imperial free woman who is the hair dresser to many important figures in the imperial household. Domitian also plays a major role. The book opens is the last days of Titus reign when a young girl goes to the Vigiles to report that her mother’s jewelry has been stolen. There she meets a disfigured chief investigator. Thus starts the story.
That investigator later helps Domitian during a major fire in Rome and earns an unwanted promotion to the Praetorian Guard.
Davis uses these two characters to tell the story of Domitian’s reign. The picture she paints is different than the accepted view of the last Flavian Emperor. The Domitian Davis draws is a brooding loner, whose personality is not well suited to the demands of the job he inherits. However, she portrays him as a man who understands the military and has a firm grasp of the strategy of the defense of the Danube/Rhine River boarders as well as one liked by the military itself. One of the story lines is Domitian response to the Dacian Invasion of Moesia. He is also protrayed as on who was not a blood thirsty as commonly accepted. In fact in several spots, Davis states that he had fewer people executed then some of his more acceptable predecessors. She also traces his decent into the madness that ultimately led to his assignation.
The two fictional characters are drawn into the politics of the imperial family due to their positions and are thrown together again when they end up sharing a lease on an upscale apartment that neither of them can afford alone. They eventually become friends and then lovers – but that doesn’t happen until more than halfway into the book.
While, I found the story interesting, it is slow moving with little of the wit of her Falco mysteries.
I did like the chapter written from the fly's POV while she is annoying a brooding Domitian.
If partial stars were allowed - 3 1/2
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2021
**Should read as 4.5 Stars!**
Read this book in 2014, and its a standalone tale about Emperor Domitian seen through the eyes of and told by way of two people who'll play a major part in this great novel, the Praetorian Guard, Gaius Vinius Clodianus and Flavia Lucilla, who's tending the privileged women at court.
This book is set as from the year AD 80 until AD 96, and it tells the story of the Emperor, from AD81-96, who saw himself as Master of the World and God of the Universe, the insane, Domitian.
From close up they witness and hear about Domitian's classic paranoia, and in this court of danger and depravation Clodianus and Lucilla must find their own secret way so they can share their resilience, friendship and love against a demonic tyrant.
Their love for each other will finally decide which path to take if they want freedom and live, before Domitian will take them also down within his own insanity.
What is to follow is a glorious telling of the demonic life and chaotic rule of Emperor Domitian, where everybody is in danger, whether they are being senators, his advisors, his wife or normal people at court or on the streets of Rome, and which will conclude with the definite end of an unfit and ruthless Emperor.
Very much recommended, for this is a marvellous attempt in bringing to life the life and rule of Emperor Domitian seen from the people close around him, and what it must have been like to serve an insane personality, and because of this great effort I would like to call this tale: "A Most Compelling Roman Tale"!
Read this book in 2014, and its a standalone tale about Emperor Domitian seen through the eyes of and told by way of two people who'll play a major part in this great novel, the Praetorian Guard, Gaius Vinius Clodianus and Flavia Lucilla, who's tending the privileged women at court.
This book is set as from the year AD 80 until AD 96, and it tells the story of the Emperor, from AD81-96, who saw himself as Master of the World and God of the Universe, the insane, Domitian.
From close up they witness and hear about Domitian's classic paranoia, and in this court of danger and depravation Clodianus and Lucilla must find their own secret way so they can share their resilience, friendship and love against a demonic tyrant.
Their love for each other will finally decide which path to take if they want freedom and live, before Domitian will take them also down within his own insanity.
What is to follow is a glorious telling of the demonic life and chaotic rule of Emperor Domitian, where everybody is in danger, whether they are being senators, his advisors, his wife or normal people at court or on the streets of Rome, and which will conclude with the definite end of an unfit and ruthless Emperor.
Very much recommended, for this is a marvellous attempt in bringing to life the life and rule of Emperor Domitian seen from the people close around him, and what it must have been like to serve an insane personality, and because of this great effort I would like to call this tale: "A Most Compelling Roman Tale"!
September 17, 2016
This was a reread in Sept. 2016--just as fantastic the second time as the first reading. This novel told of the on-again/off-again friendship then love between Lucilla, a hairdresser to the Flavians and Roman nobility, and a Praetorian, Gaius Vinius Clodianus, who had been badly injured, disfigured, and held as a POW in Dacia for several years. Their story was set against the background of the reigns of Titus, then Domitian. It chronicles Domitian's reign, his descent into paranoia despite good things he achieved and his assassination, in which Gaius takes part. Ms. Davis created a persona for Gaius, mentioned in Suetonius and for a hairdresser who must have had a whimsical sense of humor, devising the risible Flavian hair-do [and also making toupees for Domitian].
Illustration of Domitia Longina: wife of Domitian. https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8536/86...
I felt there was a lot of "info-dumping", but it was interesting because of the author's breezy style.
Highly recommended.
Illustration of Domitia Longina: wife of Domitian. https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8536/86...
I felt there was a lot of "info-dumping", but it was interesting because of the author's breezy style.
Highly recommended.
October 2, 2012
Master and God chronicles the reign of Domitian (AD 81-96)* through the lives of Gaius Vinius Clodianus, who rises through the ranks to become cornicularius (chief-of-staff) of the Praetorian Guard , and Flavia Lucilla, an Imperial freedwoman and Gaius' lover.
As with her other non-Falco novel, The Course of Honor, the interest for this reader is not so much in the historical details (of which Davis is a master)** but the relationship of the main characters. Like Vespasian and Caenis in the former book, Gaius and Lucilla are forced to spend years apart with other people and sometimes under the most depressing misapprehensions of the other's motives. But in the process, they become "real" people I care about.
I've found that Davis' characters tend to be worldly wise and cynical romantics at heart, which is why they appeal to me and why I've come to enjoy her writing so much.
* Domitian, for me, is one of those tragic emperors - the ones who might have been good but had a fatal flaw that mooted any positives they achieved. In Domitian's case it was his paranoia and megalomania (the title of the novel refers to the emperor's preferred mode of address). By most accounts he kept the Roman government reasonably honest and appointed competent officials but his descent into madness finally alienated even his closest supporters and he had to be eliminated for everyone's safety.
** Davis remarks in her "Author's Note" that Suetonius is the only author to provide the cornicularius' name and from there she constructed Gaius Vinius.
As with her other non-Falco novel, The Course of Honor, the interest for this reader is not so much in the historical details (of which Davis is a master)** but the relationship of the main characters. Like Vespasian and Caenis in the former book, Gaius and Lucilla are forced to spend years apart with other people and sometimes under the most depressing misapprehensions of the other's motives. But in the process, they become "real" people I care about.
I've found that Davis' characters tend to be worldly wise and cynical romantics at heart, which is why they appeal to me and why I've come to enjoy her writing so much.
* Domitian, for me, is one of those tragic emperors - the ones who might have been good but had a fatal flaw that mooted any positives they achieved. In Domitian's case it was his paranoia and megalomania (the title of the novel refers to the emperor's preferred mode of address). By most accounts he kept the Roman government reasonably honest and appointed competent officials but his descent into madness finally alienated even his closest supporters and he had to be eliminated for everyone's safety.
** Davis remarks in her "Author's Note" that Suetonius is the only author to provide the cornicularius' name and from there she constructed Gaius Vinius.
October 30, 2015
Now this was a delight. Set in Rome in the reigns of Titus and Domitian, this standalone novel by Lindsey Davis offers warmth, humour and the kind of characters you feel sorry to leave behind. It traces the intertwined fortunes of Gaius Vinius Clodianus, investigator of the vigiles and then (somewhat unwilling) Praetorian Guard, and Flavia Lucilla, hairdresser to the imperial court. Davis writes with lightness and flair, always conscious of the innate absurdity of life. A political thriller combined with a grown-up rom-com, this was a deeply enjoyable book and (the 'romance' element being handled sensibly and well) it comes highly recommended for anyone who enjoys good historical fiction that doesn't take itself too seriously.
For a full review please see my blog:
http://theidlewoman.blogspot.co.uk/20...
For a full review please see my blog:
http://theidlewoman.blogspot.co.uk/20...
August 30, 2015
Whew! This is no easy read. It's fiction but barely. Lindsey Davis is completely seated within 1st Century Rome under the Emperor, "Master & God" Domitian- the last of the Flavian dynasty.
How she portrays these years in Roma is by doing duo biography for two people who have eyes in this core and culture. A hairdresser to the patrician women and a Roman soldier who becomes a member of the P. Guard. This length and detail leave very little of minutia out of either life. This is a history of an "ordinary" citizen with all the uncertainty and tension of a life in an era of short length and uncertain health or position within it.
It lost a 1/2 star in over length to the inclusion of many side bar bench marks and collusions, as in the trial and execution of Cornelia. But saying that, I have to admit, that the Dacian War and prisoner experience was one of the best psychological views of a POW, I have ever read.
This book will not be for the light reader, or for the more nimble historical fiction fan who likes the story without all the reality and politico nuance of 50 layers. It is for those who have interest in philosophy and law as it developed under Roman rule. How it changed, and how the forms of government morphed and eventually imploded.
This is not Falco or Albia- there is some flippancy but it appears as cover for the inner purpose as opposed to the outer public face. Gravitas! 4.5 star with incredible research and location information.
How she portrays these years in Roma is by doing duo biography for two people who have eyes in this core and culture. A hairdresser to the patrician women and a Roman soldier who becomes a member of the P. Guard. This length and detail leave very little of minutia out of either life. This is a history of an "ordinary" citizen with all the uncertainty and tension of a life in an era of short length and uncertain health or position within it.
It lost a 1/2 star in over length to the inclusion of many side bar bench marks and collusions, as in the trial and execution of Cornelia. But saying that, I have to admit, that the Dacian War and prisoner experience was one of the best psychological views of a POW, I have ever read.
This book will not be for the light reader, or for the more nimble historical fiction fan who likes the story without all the reality and politico nuance of 50 layers. It is for those who have interest in philosophy and law as it developed under Roman rule. How it changed, and how the forms of government morphed and eventually imploded.
This is not Falco or Albia- there is some flippancy but it appears as cover for the inner purpose as opposed to the outer public face. Gravitas! 4.5 star with incredible research and location information.
August 12, 2012
This is NOT one of Lindsey's Falco mysteries, but a stand alone novel of Imperial Rome. Set betweeen 80-95 AD, it covers a little-recorded period of ancient Rome--the reign of the paranoid Domitian, whose father Vespasian and brother Titus ruled before him.
At the beginning we meet Gaius Vinius Clodianus, a man on the brink of being promoted unwillingly to the Praetorian Guard, and Lucilla, a young freedwoman who works as a hair dresser at the palace. There is NOT instant romance (this is not a Romance)--in fact, he goes off to fight a massive three-day fire and she has to cope with mother problems. But we have fifteen years to cover.
The history in Master and God is pretty daunting if you aren't familiar with the period, but Lindsey takes time out to explain people and politics (This can be a drawback if you want to get on with the story, but stick with it, because you'll need to know this by the end of the book)((And no, there is not a test at the end.) This may be the first historical fiction I've encounter with one chapter dedicated to looking at the action from a housefly's point of view.
I really liked this book 4 1/2 stars worth.
At the beginning we meet Gaius Vinius Clodianus, a man on the brink of being promoted unwillingly to the Praetorian Guard, and Lucilla, a young freedwoman who works as a hair dresser at the palace. There is NOT instant romance (this is not a Romance)--in fact, he goes off to fight a massive three-day fire and she has to cope with mother problems. But we have fifteen years to cover.
The history in Master and God is pretty daunting if you aren't familiar with the period, but Lindsey takes time out to explain people and politics (This can be a drawback if you want to get on with the story, but stick with it, because you'll need to know this by the end of the book)((And no, there is not a test at the end.) This may be the first historical fiction I've encounter with one chapter dedicated to looking at the action from a housefly's point of view.
I really liked this book 4 1/2 stars worth.
February 22, 2024
A pesar del título, que podría hacer pensar que se trata de una novela sobre la vida de Domiciano, en realidad éste no es más que el contexto para contar la historia de los personajes principales, un soldado y una peluquera, que se va desarrollando al tiempo que evoluciona el reinado del emperador, hasta culminar con el sangriento fin de éste. A destacar el humor cínico de Davis, tan presente en todos sus libros, pero he de decir que la historia al final se me hizo un poco bola, por tener la sensación de que daba demasiadas vueltas para llegar al conocido final.
June 29, 2021
Those who have enjoyed reading Lindsey Davis' Marcus Didius Falco mysteries also should enjoy this historical story set in first-century Rome. Gaius Vinius Clodianus is a reluctant Praetorian Guard who tries to live honorably while his brothers constantly arrange marriages for him that do not succeed. He meets Lucilla, a privileged woman whose mother was a freed slave. From their meeting there was an attraction that both try hard to ignore but it doesn't work. Through all the intrigue and events of the times, they both realize that the attraction is too much to ignore.
Still they face challenges that could be potentially deadly for both.
Davis knows her history and how to tell a compelling story. As readers, we are drawn to the star-crossed lovers and wish them well as we also follow along with the palace intrigue as Domitian seizes power upon the death of his older brother, Titus, and then proceeds to rule erratically. While much of what Domitian does is good — according to calmer historians — he constantly sees traitorous senators and others.
The history and the love interest make this a great book to read and learn about these times and the constant strain on anyone in a governmental position, or even not, such as Lucilla, who is a hairdresser for the women of the court. I found the story, the history and yes, the two keep individuals compelling and interesting to follow the story right to the end.
Still they face challenges that could be potentially deadly for both.
Davis knows her history and how to tell a compelling story. As readers, we are drawn to the star-crossed lovers and wish them well as we also follow along with the palace intrigue as Domitian seizes power upon the death of his older brother, Titus, and then proceeds to rule erratically. While much of what Domitian does is good — according to calmer historians — he constantly sees traitorous senators and others.
The history and the love interest make this a great book to read and learn about these times and the constant strain on anyone in a governmental position, or even not, such as Lucilla, who is a hairdresser for the women of the court. I found the story, the history and yes, the two keep individuals compelling and interesting to follow the story right to the end.
August 18, 2012
Know that I love Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco books so much that I special order them from Amazon's UK store in order to get them before they come out in the States. And I read them all annually.
Yet I've only read her Course of Honour once--and she considers it her greatest work. I couldn't get through the book she did a few years ago set in Cromwell's England. And I read this one once and will not be in a hurry to read it again.
But reading this book was useful because I've realized the reason that her non-Falco books don't work well for me--and I'd guess these books don't work for a lot of her other Falco fans for the same reason.
Falco's books, told in the first person, bring you a character who is fully realized. His voice is totally believable.
When I read a Falco book, ancient Rome comes alive for me. I can smell the sewers, the perfumes, the herbs growing on his balcony. I can feel the steam rising from Lenia's laundry. I can almost taste what is cooking for dinner.I can see the faces of Falco, and Helena and their family and friends.
This doesn't happen here. I find myself longing for Falco's wry comments and wondering where he is and what he and his family are up to.
Falco fans, including me, apparently will find that out next spring, when Davis starts a new series of novels featuring Falco's adopted daughter Albia.
I know from reading her wonderful website for years that Lindsey Davis has reasons for wanting to do something other than Falco and I hope that in spinning off Albia into her own books she will have fun with her writing. But I also sincerely hope that she will give Albia her own distinctive voice.If she does, they will be terrific books for those of us who have been her readers for the past two decades.
But this book, sadly, is not terrific. And it's not a substitute for a new Falco book.
Yet I've only read her Course of Honour once--and she considers it her greatest work. I couldn't get through the book she did a few years ago set in Cromwell's England. And I read this one once and will not be in a hurry to read it again.
But reading this book was useful because I've realized the reason that her non-Falco books don't work well for me--and I'd guess these books don't work for a lot of her other Falco fans for the same reason.
Falco's books, told in the first person, bring you a character who is fully realized. His voice is totally believable.
When I read a Falco book, ancient Rome comes alive for me. I can smell the sewers, the perfumes, the herbs growing on his balcony. I can feel the steam rising from Lenia's laundry. I can almost taste what is cooking for dinner.I can see the faces of Falco, and Helena and their family and friends.
This doesn't happen here. I find myself longing for Falco's wry comments and wondering where he is and what he and his family are up to.
Falco fans, including me, apparently will find that out next spring, when Davis starts a new series of novels featuring Falco's adopted daughter Albia.
I know from reading her wonderful website for years that Lindsey Davis has reasons for wanting to do something other than Falco and I hope that in spinning off Albia into her own books she will have fun with her writing. But I also sincerely hope that she will give Albia her own distinctive voice.If she does, they will be terrific books for those of us who have been her readers for the past two decades.
But this book, sadly, is not terrific. And it's not a substitute for a new Falco book.
January 24, 2013
There's a reason why I don't put any author's books on an "automatically buy" list. Even if I love their earlier books, I don't necessarily believe I will love their later works. Such is the case (unfortunately) for "Master and God". Having enjoyed Davis' Falco detective series, I thought I'd give this story a try--and trying it was. In the Falco series the Roman history, culture and setting are seamlessly intertwined with fascinating and sympathetic characters, but the same can't be said of this book. The first part is a head-hopping nightmare. The point of view hops from omniscient to one character to the next (even within a paragraph). Then there's a head hop to a fly on the wall. Really! Having to edit and fix head-hopping problems in my own and others' manuscripts (Yes, I'm an evil editor), I don't care to read it in a professionally published book. The second part of the story is a bit less head-hoppy, and the lovers Flavia Lucilla and Gaius Vinius are worth cheering for, but long "telling/info dumping" passages slow up the love story and cause frustration for both the lovers and the reader alike. It seems as if Davis couldn't figure out if she wanted to write a straight history of the reign of Domitian or a love story set in Rome. I wish she would have stuck with the second choice and edited the head-hopping and info dumping. If readers could get a "feel" for Rome in the Falco series without chapter upon chapter of info dumping, surely Lucilla and Vinius' love story could have been written likewise. But if you enjoy Roman history and don't mind the romantic interruptions and head-hopping, "Master and God" might appeal to you.
February 24, 2018
Initially, I struggled to get into this book. By the end, I didn't want it to end!
The story is told through the eyes of two people thrust together in unlikely circumstances. A tribune of the Vigiles, discharged with honour from the legions, he lost an eye along with his good looks fighting barbarians in Britannia. A young freedwoman, destined to become a hairdresser to Rome's high and mighty.
The story follows their lives as they seek to better themselves in the heart of Rome itself. The story starts slowly, hence why it took me a while to get into, but when the plot thickens I found myself totally engrossed in the two protagonists and was eager to see how their story ended.
There is an undercurrent to this book: Emperor Domitian. The author has very cleverly developed a way of documenting life in Rome under his rule, without focusing heavily on Domitian himself and his inner circle. It works extremely well.
My favourite part of this novel, is the description and detail of life in Rome itself, it's unparalleled. Everything is described so vividly, from Domitian's palace to a vendor selling street food on a corner. It really is fantastic. One that is definitely worth reading.
The story is told through the eyes of two people thrust together in unlikely circumstances. A tribune of the Vigiles, discharged with honour from the legions, he lost an eye along with his good looks fighting barbarians in Britannia. A young freedwoman, destined to become a hairdresser to Rome's high and mighty.
The story follows their lives as they seek to better themselves in the heart of Rome itself. The story starts slowly, hence why it took me a while to get into, but when the plot thickens I found myself totally engrossed in the two protagonists and was eager to see how their story ended.
There is an undercurrent to this book: Emperor Domitian. The author has very cleverly developed a way of documenting life in Rome under his rule, without focusing heavily on Domitian himself and his inner circle. It works extremely well.
My favourite part of this novel, is the description and detail of life in Rome itself, it's unparalleled. Everything is described so vividly, from Domitian's palace to a vendor selling street food on a corner. It really is fantastic. One that is definitely worth reading.
June 7, 2013
Choppy prose made this more of a chore than it had to be. I considered giving it a 2.
I really disliked the prose style in this. At one point, I think I noted two three to four word sentances, followed by a 45 word one. It led to a disjointed experience - and honestly, one I wouldn't normally peg myself noticing.
Main characters were a bit meh. Couldn't give a toss about the love story - just didn't do it for me. I thought Domitian was done quite well actually - probably the best of the characters. I quite liked "Baby".
Historical touches were lovely. I did get a sense of what Rome was like, sights, sounds, smells and all.
Enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable.
I really disliked the prose style in this. At one point, I think I noted two three to four word sentances, followed by a 45 word one. It led to a disjointed experience - and honestly, one I wouldn't normally peg myself noticing.
Main characters were a bit meh. Couldn't give a toss about the love story - just didn't do it for me. I thought Domitian was done quite well actually - probably the best of the characters. I quite liked "Baby".
Historical touches were lovely. I did get a sense of what Rome was like, sights, sounds, smells and all.
Enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable.
April 19, 2012
I am normally a big fan of Lindsey Davis novels but I found this one very poor, lacking in pace and the chapter written by the fly was just too much for me.
September 11, 2024
Tough book to get through. I thought it would be an interesting book about religion when I first saw it. After I realized it was about Rome under Domitian, I added it to my “to-read” list. I was disappointed to find it was really just a blandly written love story. I like romance but this was just boring. I probably should have given up and put the book away but I slogged through.
The characters weren’t compelling - more annoying than anything else. The narration felt like an aside the whole time. There would be one line about the story and then several paragraphs about Roman history. Not interesting Roman history, just random asides that jumped backwards and forwards in time in a way that made me consistently unsure what was relevant to the story and what wasn’t.
I also didn’t like the how Lindsey Davis took a modern couple from the 2010s and unabashedly plopped them into Rome as if Ancient Rome had the same value system western society has today. An unmarried but in-love couple, both focused on their successful careers, living together with their dog…lacked the sense of different time, different culture that good historical novels capture.
Disorienting and boring. That’s how I’d describe the book. The final ten pages were exciting but the rest…wish I’d have had the courage to walk away.
The characters weren’t compelling - more annoying than anything else. The narration felt like an aside the whole time. There would be one line about the story and then several paragraphs about Roman history. Not interesting Roman history, just random asides that jumped backwards and forwards in time in a way that made me consistently unsure what was relevant to the story and what wasn’t.
I also didn’t like the how Lindsey Davis took a modern couple from the 2010s and unabashedly plopped them into Rome as if Ancient Rome had the same value system western society has today. An unmarried but in-love couple, both focused on their successful careers, living together with their dog…lacked the sense of different time, different culture that good historical novels capture.
Disorienting and boring. That’s how I’d describe the book. The final ten pages were exciting but the rest…wish I’d have had the courage to walk away.
April 25, 2021
Gaius Vinius, member of the Pretorian Guard for the Emperor Domitian, and Flavia Lucilla, hairdresser to the women of the Imperial household, become unlikely apartment mates in this story set in first century Rome. While partially a simple historical romance—the lovers are separated and reunited, fight, yet again reunite—the story becomes more than that, as the pair are caught up in a deadly conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor.
Though the story occasionally drags slightly as the author recounts past history and sets the stage for further events, most of the story is entertaining. Not only that, but Davis provides a massive amount of detail about life in the Imperial city.
Though the story occasionally drags slightly as the author recounts past history and sets the stage for further events, most of the story is entertaining. Not only that, but Davis provides a massive amount of detail about life in the Imperial city.
April 24, 2017
One can easily tell a lot of research went into this novel, and, while I certainly appreciate that, sometimes it just got too information-heavy. Davis is skilled in describing scenes and making it easy to picture in my mind. *SPOILER* I did get frustrated with the "love-story" though. I feel like it took forever for the characters to get together, and when they did, it was sort of anticlimactic. As was Domitian's assassination. Altogether thought it was a nice read for someone who enjoys novels set in ancient Rome.
September 26, 2019
If you have a long time to listen to a detailed account of life in Ancient Rome, then this is an excellent choice. Maybe I just don’t get on with audiobooks, but this needs too much concentration over too long a period to suit me.
Having decried the audiobook, the novel itself is full of Ms Davis’s customary in-depth knowledge of all things Roman, brilliantly described. I loved the episode from Musca’s point of view - and its ending.
I”ll reread this sometime, but with a book or ebook, and probably on a long, lazy holiday.
I think audiobooks are simply not for me.
Having decried the audiobook, the novel itself is full of Ms Davis’s customary in-depth knowledge of all things Roman, brilliantly described. I loved the episode from Musca’s point of view - and its ending.
I”ll reread this sometime, but with a book or ebook, and probably on a long, lazy holiday.
I think audiobooks are simply not for me.
April 28, 2022
Entretenigarria eta oso ondo idatzia.
December 15, 2020
Historical mystery
Such engaging characters! As a reader of the Falco and Flavia Albia mysteries, I was already fascinated by the Roman Empire. Lucilla and Vinius both were atypical products of their time, more aware and more independent than the average citizen. Their long-simmering romance introduced light-hearted moments to a serious story.
Such engaging characters! As a reader of the Falco and Flavia Albia mysteries, I was already fascinated by the Roman Empire. Lucilla and Vinius both were atypical products of their time, more aware and more independent than the average citizen. Their long-simmering romance introduced light-hearted moments to a serious story.
March 11, 2022
A young man with a family history of neglect, trauma, and financial struggle suddenly strikes it rich. His inferiority complex then blooms into paranoia and megalomania. Would you want him as the leader of western civilization?
I didn't think so. Rome didn't either, in the end.
I didn't think so. Rome didn't either, in the end.
August 26, 2020
I really like Lindsay Davis and would recommend that people give her a read. That said, I would not recommend that they start with this book.
This book seeks to tell the story of what it was like living in Rome during Domitian's reign through telling the stories of two people who were peripheral to the imperial court (a praetorian guard and one of the imperial family's hairdressers). If its aim is to give the reader an impression of what this time was like, it largely fails in my mind. While we get a somewhat balanced view of Domitian, which is a big plus as he is often portrayed as an increasingly paranoid and cruel one-dimensional tyrant, the book in my opinion failed to convey to me the mixed reaction in Rome: the fear that he inspired in the upper classes and the popular support of the masses and the army. We got told the events but don't really get the atmosphere that those events would have caused.
If you ignore this aspect of the story and instead focus on the developing relationship between the two main characters, I also found the book slightly annoying. This is because it is a little like a love story between two cats; long periods of ignoring each other, followed by short periods of happiness or understanding. I felt like I wanted to give them both a good shake and lock them in a room so that they would be forced to just talk to each other..
That said, it is written with a nice style with an unhurried pace that lets the author bring the Roman world and her main characters to life, which makes it an enjoyable read even with the points made above.
This book seeks to tell the story of what it was like living in Rome during Domitian's reign through telling the stories of two people who were peripheral to the imperial court (a praetorian guard and one of the imperial family's hairdressers). If its aim is to give the reader an impression of what this time was like, it largely fails in my mind. While we get a somewhat balanced view of Domitian, which is a big plus as he is often portrayed as an increasingly paranoid and cruel one-dimensional tyrant, the book in my opinion failed to convey to me the mixed reaction in Rome: the fear that he inspired in the upper classes and the popular support of the masses and the army. We got told the events but don't really get the atmosphere that those events would have caused.
If you ignore this aspect of the story and instead focus on the developing relationship between the two main characters, I also found the book slightly annoying. This is because it is a little like a love story between two cats; long periods of ignoring each other, followed by short periods of happiness or understanding. I felt like I wanted to give them both a good shake and lock them in a room so that they would be forced to just talk to each other..
That said, it is written with a nice style with an unhurried pace that lets the author bring the Roman world and her main characters to life, which makes it an enjoyable read even with the points made above.
April 21, 2012
Lindsey Davis' latest offering isn't a new Falco, but it isn't all bad news, because I thought it was a really good read! The Master & God of the title is, of course, the emperor Domitian, son of Vespasian and brother of Titus, so readers of the Falco novels will already be in familiar territory.... Domitian isn't the main narrative character in the novel though, so in some ways it's not really 'about' him. The story centres around a soldier and a hairdresser and imperial freedwoman, and it is their story and the story of the times they live through.
The book I read just before this was Kate Quinn's Daughters of Rome, which covers the Year of the Four Emperors, concluding with the accession of Vespasian, so in many ways this linked in nicely from an historical point of view. What I noticed almost straight away though, was how much better Davis' writing is; Rome and the characters really came alive for me in a way they never quite managed in Quinn's work.
Davis' sense of humour is still very much apparent, thought it doesn't come across quite so keenly as in the Falco novels; I think this may be because Falco is in the first person while Master & God is told in the third person, utilising more than one character point of view - including Musca the Fly, that I see several people have commented on!
The book I read just before this was Kate Quinn's Daughters of Rome, which covers the Year of the Four Emperors, concluding with the accession of Vespasian, so in many ways this linked in nicely from an historical point of view. What I noticed almost straight away though, was how much better Davis' writing is; Rome and the characters really came alive for me in a way they never quite managed in Quinn's work.
Davis' sense of humour is still very much apparent, thought it doesn't come across quite so keenly as in the Falco novels; I think this may be because Falco is in the first person while Master & God is told in the third person, utilising more than one character point of view - including Musca the Fly, that I see several people have commented on!
September 18, 2013
Lindsey Davis has made a place for herself among historical fiction authors writing about ancient Rome, particularly during the Flavian dynasty of Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. Her first book on the subject was The Course of Honor, which chronicled Vespasian's rise to power. This book takes place during the reign of his younger son, Domitian, a deeply mentally ill man. The two main point of view characters are Flavia Lucilla, a hairdresser to many imperial women, and Gaius Vinius, a Preaetorian guard.
The author's writing is energetic and brash, down to earth and honest, with rough humor. She does sometimes use modern terms (I believe "fashonista" was not a common reference in Roman times!), which usually annoys me, but the writing is so good I forgave all of them. Anyone who can tell even the small part of the novel that it involves from the POV of a fly definitely has a remarkable talent.
The novel was satisfying and one you don't want to put down, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat to the end.
The author's writing is energetic and brash, down to earth and honest, with rough humor. She does sometimes use modern terms (I believe "fashonista" was not a common reference in Roman times!), which usually annoys me, but the writing is so good I forgave all of them. Anyone who can tell even the small part of the novel that it involves from the POV of a fly definitely has a remarkable talent.
The novel was satisfying and one you don't want to put down, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat to the end.
January 28, 2015
I tried. I really did. 200 pages of trying. It's a great sleep aid, to be fair. There is possibly some interesting stuff buried beneath the monotonous continuous historical building descriptions. I'm not a town planner. I don't care about how straight the line of a street is, or how many shrubs are in the Emperor's garden. And I really don't want to see the room from a fly's viewpoint. Oh, and Gaius is a complete and utter misogynist prat, springing from marriage to marriage like the aforementioned fly's relationship with dung . Not remotely for me.
October 1, 2012
Meandering and plodding. Spends 90% of its time on what, based on the title, one would think would be a sub-plot, and 10% on Domitian.
September 4, 2015
The very first book written by Lindsey Davis I ever read was "The Course of Honour" about the relationship between the Roman emperor Vespasian and his mistress, the freedwoman Antonia Caenis, set against the backdrop of Vespasian's rise to power in the years leading up to the Year of the Four Emperors. It has remained one of my favorites. I recently finished "Master and God" and found it too a very compelling tale of the relationship between a wounded and psychologically damaged Praetorian guard and a freedwoman serving as a hairdresser in the imperial palace of Vespasian's son, Domitian. The characters were placed so the reader could gain insight into the life of this controversial Roman emperor across the fifteen years of his reign and observe his effect on members of his court, his legions and other members of the aristocracy.
We first meet the male hero of the novel when he is serving as an officer of the vigiles, Rome's combination force of firemen and night watchmen. We learn that Gaius Vinnius Claudianus was raised by a gaggle of loving aunts and two older brothers after the death of his mother. He grew up strong and handsome and joined the military, like his late father, who served as a Praetorian Guard at the end of his military career. We learn that Vinnius (he goes by this name until he joins the guard) has received the Civic Crown for valor defending a tribune in a ferocious battle with spear wielding barbarians. His personal sacrifice, however, includes the loss of his left eye and disfigurement of the left side of his handsome face.
Vinnius is self conscious about his appearance and has his desk turned so his undamaged right profile is seen by visitors entering his office. We also learn he is intelligent and observant and enjoys the procedural tasks involved in crime investigations.
We then meet the female protagonist, Flavia Lucilla. A pretty fifteen-year-old, Lucilla has come to the vigiles to report a theft of her mother's jewelry. She explains that the jewelery was given to her mother, an imperial hairdresser, by her boy friend. As Vinnius gently questions the girl, he begins to suspect her mother simply hid the items so she could play upon her boyfriend's sympathy and get more. As his questions become more probing the reality that Lucilla may have been misled by her mother begins to dawn on the young girl as well. But she refuses to retract her complaint, indignitly referring to Vinnius as "pretty boy". He simply smiles and turns toward her saying that condition has long passed. Although she is startled for a brief moment by his appearance, she is not repulsed by him.
Vinnius promises to investigate the case just as his adjutant rushes in to report a massive conflagration. The fire of 80 CE, the second major fire to gut the heart of Rome in less than 20 years , has begun and would rage for the next three days.
Most people are generally aware of the so-called "Great Fire" of 64 CE during Nero's reign and that some of the ancient sources notoriously claim Nero played the lyre and sang while Rome burned. The conflagration has also been immortalized through subsequent religious teachings as the reason for the first major persecution of the early Christians.
However, widespread destructive fires have been recorded throughout Rome's history. In the Republican period the rapid and haphazard construction needed to house Rome's burgeoning population resulted in a number of catastrophic blazes (and I doubt a particular individual or even a group was blamed for them).
In his journal article "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome" published in 1932, H.V. Carter points out that dating back to to the Gallic invasion of 390 BCE, there had been no fewer than 15 documented fires, of which seven were widespread conflagrations and seven others involved the loss of at least one important public building.
"Remembering that our sources are limited, particularly for the early part of the period, and that ancient writers almost invariably confine their accounts of fire to those involving only the more important structures, we may safely conclude that the figures given fall well below the actual occurence of fires which were considerable in extent and of serious consequences."
Fires became an even more common occurence in the Imperial Period.
"...we can say that in the imperial period destructive fires in Rome were far more numerous than in that of the Republic. This was due to the fact that a greatly increased population, larger supplies of food and clothing necessary for its maintenance, and an inevitable increase in homes, tenements, shops and warehouses necessary for domestic and business life, produced still greater congestion in certain already overpopulated quarters, a condition which, as affecting fire risk, was not adequately offset by improved building, either in plans or materials used, or by facilities sufficient for checking and extinguishing fires." - H.V. Carter, "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome"
Carter says there were at least nine fires recorded during the reign of Augustus, the most destructive being the fire of 6 CE that destroyed so much of the city Augustus immediately reorganized the vigiles to make the unit more effective.
Five major fires were recorded during the reign of Tiberius. The fire of 36 CE burned the long side of the Circus Maximus facing the Aventine then spread to the Aventine itself. It caused so much destruction that Tiberius, sometimes criticized as "stingy" by contemporaries and possibly even some scholars, donated over 100 million sesterces to its victims to rebuild their homes.
The emperor Claudius was not spared either.
"In 54 [CE] the Aemiliana district (in the southern part of the Campus Martius) was leveled by a stubborn fire which lasted for at least a day and two nights. The emperor, when the regular firemen augmented by a body of his own slaves were unable to cope with the flames, summoned the common people from all parts of the city to assist the fire fighters, and paid on the spot each helper so enlisted a suitable remuneration for his service. In this same conflagration was burned (and apparently never rebuilt) the temple of Felicitas, in or near the Forum Boarium. It was in front of this temple, embellished with statues of the Muses by Praxiteles and by other works of art, that Julius Caesar had the misfortune to break the axle of his chariot when celebrating his triumph in 46 BCE. - H.V. Carter, "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome"
Nero's "Great Fire" lasting six days and seven nights was probably the largest conflagration to ever strike the Eternal City but the fire of 80 CE was second only to it.
"In the year 80 [CE] flames raged for three days and nights, burned a large section of the Campus Martius, and, moving thence in a southeasterly direction, devastated the Capitoline hill. Dio Cassius (LXVI, 24), after naming eleven structures that were consumed (including the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus with its surrounding temples), adds: "Anyone can estimate from the list of buildings that I have given how many others must have been destroyed." it is probably that at least five additional important public buildings were in whole or part destroyed by this same fire. Naturally, too, a large number of public and private buildings of secondary importance wedged in among the principal ones were swept away at this time." - H.V. Carter, "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome"
Carter points out that fire was responsible for the destruction, wholly or partially, of the temple of Vesta five times, the Regia and theater of Pompey at least four times, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the Basilica Julia and the Basilica Aemilia three times and the theater of Marcellus, the Pantheon and the Colosseum twice. In the novel Davis mentions the destruction of the Pantheon and I was startled by this. Although I knew Hadrian had "refashioned" the Pantheon, I assumed at least part of it was the original structure built by Agrippa, like a lot of other people, because of the inscription on its front facade. I guess I should have read up on it before I visited the structure for the first time in 2005. In fact, the Augustan Pantheon was totally destroyed by the fire in 80 CE. Domitian subsequently rebuilt the Pantheon which was destroyed again in 110 CE.
But, it is the destruction of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus that is the site of our hero's next courageous act and the deed that will bring him to the personal attention of the young Flavian princeling, Domitian. This time his bravery will win him an appointment to the Praetorian Guard and give him the opportunity to personally serve the man that will become emperor in less than a year.
Meanwhile, Flavia Lucilla learns to craft the huge crescents of curls that will become a hallmark of feminine style during the Flavian period and increasingly spends more and more time at the palace herself.
As in the relationship between Vespasian and Caenus in "Course of Honour", the on-again off-again nature of Vinnius and Lucilla's relationship creates an underlying thread of sexual tension that helps to drive the story forward. Just when you think they are finally going to get together, Vinnius' brothers saddle him with a newly widowed mate and Lucilla ends up married to some stogy poet who wears socks!!
The couple finally recognize their feelings for each other but Domitian has named himself censor for life and reinstituted the old Augustan morality laws so an affair could be literally fatal. Then Decebalus, the king of Dacia, begins raiding Roman outposts along the Danube and Domitian announces he will handle the problem himself, taking the Praetorian guard and our hero along with him.
I knew Decebalus had been defeated two decades later by Trajan, hence the carving of Trajan's Column to commemorate the event. But I didn't realize as a young leader, Decebalus (then called Diurpaneus) had given Domitian trouble in Moesia back in 85 - 86 CE, surprising the Roman governor, Oppius Sabinus and annihilating a legion, probably the V Alaudae. Domitian and his Praetorian Prefect Cornelius Fuscus arrive and the ever-micromanaging Domitian reorganizes the province into two separate provinces, Moesia Inferior and Moesia Superior. Then Domitian orders the IIII Flavia from Dalmatia, and the I and II Adiutrix to the region to replace the lost legion and prepare for an attack on Dacia.
Scholars are divided by what happened next. Some say Domitian handed the command over to Fuscus and returned to Rome. Other scholars think Domitian personally led a successful operation against the Dacians and returned to Rome where, it is recorded, he celebrated a double triumph. In any event, a contingent of the Praetorian Guard remain with Fuscus and in 87 CE Fuscus crosses the Danube where his army (that includes our hero Vinnius) like that of Oppius Sabinus, is ambushed and destroyed at a mountain pass the Romans called Tapae (widely known as the Iron Gates along what is now the modern Romania-Serbia border). The battle becomes known as the First Battle of Tapae.
Although Davis does not describe the battle in as much visceral detail as Harry Sidebottom or Douglas Jackson would, she provides enough context and suspense to leave the reader breathless.
So how will our female protagonist carry on with the worst years of Domitian's tyranny still ahead? You'll need to read the novel to find out but I assure you Davis will keep you guessing about the ultimate fate of her protagonists until the last paragraph!
Because Domitian is not one of the main characters of the narrative, Davis has to get very inventive to provide background information about this controversial emperor. In one chapter she does so by introducing a non-human character named Mosca - a house fly. Suetonius tells us that at the beginning of his reign Domitian would spend hours alone every day catching flies and stabbing them with his needle-sharp stylus.
"Once, on being asked whether anyone was closeted with the Emperor, "Vivius Crispus answered wittily: 'No, not even a fly!'." - Suetonius, Domitian, The Twelve Caesars
Mosca makes all kinds of observations about the solitary human inhabitant of her environment as she prepares to annoy him, seemingly oblivious to the corpses of her relatives splayed beneath Domitian's stylus.
I thoroughly enjoyed "Master and God" and have elevated it to one of my favorite Lindsey Davis novels.
We first meet the male hero of the novel when he is serving as an officer of the vigiles, Rome's combination force of firemen and night watchmen. We learn that Gaius Vinnius Claudianus was raised by a gaggle of loving aunts and two older brothers after the death of his mother. He grew up strong and handsome and joined the military, like his late father, who served as a Praetorian Guard at the end of his military career. We learn that Vinnius (he goes by this name until he joins the guard) has received the Civic Crown for valor defending a tribune in a ferocious battle with spear wielding barbarians. His personal sacrifice, however, includes the loss of his left eye and disfigurement of the left side of his handsome face.
Vinnius is self conscious about his appearance and has his desk turned so his undamaged right profile is seen by visitors entering his office. We also learn he is intelligent and observant and enjoys the procedural tasks involved in crime investigations.
We then meet the female protagonist, Flavia Lucilla. A pretty fifteen-year-old, Lucilla has come to the vigiles to report a theft of her mother's jewelry. She explains that the jewelery was given to her mother, an imperial hairdresser, by her boy friend. As Vinnius gently questions the girl, he begins to suspect her mother simply hid the items so she could play upon her boyfriend's sympathy and get more. As his questions become more probing the reality that Lucilla may have been misled by her mother begins to dawn on the young girl as well. But she refuses to retract her complaint, indignitly referring to Vinnius as "pretty boy". He simply smiles and turns toward her saying that condition has long passed. Although she is startled for a brief moment by his appearance, she is not repulsed by him.
Vinnius promises to investigate the case just as his adjutant rushes in to report a massive conflagration. The fire of 80 CE, the second major fire to gut the heart of Rome in less than 20 years , has begun and would rage for the next three days.
Most people are generally aware of the so-called "Great Fire" of 64 CE during Nero's reign and that some of the ancient sources notoriously claim Nero played the lyre and sang while Rome burned. The conflagration has also been immortalized through subsequent religious teachings as the reason for the first major persecution of the early Christians.
However, widespread destructive fires have been recorded throughout Rome's history. In the Republican period the rapid and haphazard construction needed to house Rome's burgeoning population resulted in a number of catastrophic blazes (and I doubt a particular individual or even a group was blamed for them).
In his journal article "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome" published in 1932, H.V. Carter points out that dating back to to the Gallic invasion of 390 BCE, there had been no fewer than 15 documented fires, of which seven were widespread conflagrations and seven others involved the loss of at least one important public building.
"Remembering that our sources are limited, particularly for the early part of the period, and that ancient writers almost invariably confine their accounts of fire to those involving only the more important structures, we may safely conclude that the figures given fall well below the actual occurence of fires which were considerable in extent and of serious consequences."
Fires became an even more common occurence in the Imperial Period.
"...we can say that in the imperial period destructive fires in Rome were far more numerous than in that of the Republic. This was due to the fact that a greatly increased population, larger supplies of food and clothing necessary for its maintenance, and an inevitable increase in homes, tenements, shops and warehouses necessary for domestic and business life, produced still greater congestion in certain already overpopulated quarters, a condition which, as affecting fire risk, was not adequately offset by improved building, either in plans or materials used, or by facilities sufficient for checking and extinguishing fires." - H.V. Carter, "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome"
Carter says there were at least nine fires recorded during the reign of Augustus, the most destructive being the fire of 6 CE that destroyed so much of the city Augustus immediately reorganized the vigiles to make the unit more effective.
Five major fires were recorded during the reign of Tiberius. The fire of 36 CE burned the long side of the Circus Maximus facing the Aventine then spread to the Aventine itself. It caused so much destruction that Tiberius, sometimes criticized as "stingy" by contemporaries and possibly even some scholars, donated over 100 million sesterces to its victims to rebuild their homes.
The emperor Claudius was not spared either.
"In 54 [CE] the Aemiliana district (in the southern part of the Campus Martius) was leveled by a stubborn fire which lasted for at least a day and two nights. The emperor, when the regular firemen augmented by a body of his own slaves were unable to cope with the flames, summoned the common people from all parts of the city to assist the fire fighters, and paid on the spot each helper so enlisted a suitable remuneration for his service. In this same conflagration was burned (and apparently never rebuilt) the temple of Felicitas, in or near the Forum Boarium. It was in front of this temple, embellished with statues of the Muses by Praxiteles and by other works of art, that Julius Caesar had the misfortune to break the axle of his chariot when celebrating his triumph in 46 BCE. - H.V. Carter, "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome"
Nero's "Great Fire" lasting six days and seven nights was probably the largest conflagration to ever strike the Eternal City but the fire of 80 CE was second only to it.
"In the year 80 [CE] flames raged for three days and nights, burned a large section of the Campus Martius, and, moving thence in a southeasterly direction, devastated the Capitoline hill. Dio Cassius (LXVI, 24), after naming eleven structures that were consumed (including the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus with its surrounding temples), adds: "Anyone can estimate from the list of buildings that I have given how many others must have been destroyed." it is probably that at least five additional important public buildings were in whole or part destroyed by this same fire. Naturally, too, a large number of public and private buildings of secondary importance wedged in among the principal ones were swept away at this time." - H.V. Carter, "Conflagrations in Ancient Rome"
Carter points out that fire was responsible for the destruction, wholly or partially, of the temple of Vesta five times, the Regia and theater of Pompey at least four times, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the Basilica Julia and the Basilica Aemilia three times and the theater of Marcellus, the Pantheon and the Colosseum twice. In the novel Davis mentions the destruction of the Pantheon and I was startled by this. Although I knew Hadrian had "refashioned" the Pantheon, I assumed at least part of it was the original structure built by Agrippa, like a lot of other people, because of the inscription on its front facade. I guess I should have read up on it before I visited the structure for the first time in 2005. In fact, the Augustan Pantheon was totally destroyed by the fire in 80 CE. Domitian subsequently rebuilt the Pantheon which was destroyed again in 110 CE.
But, it is the destruction of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus that is the site of our hero's next courageous act and the deed that will bring him to the personal attention of the young Flavian princeling, Domitian. This time his bravery will win him an appointment to the Praetorian Guard and give him the opportunity to personally serve the man that will become emperor in less than a year.
Meanwhile, Flavia Lucilla learns to craft the huge crescents of curls that will become a hallmark of feminine style during the Flavian period and increasingly spends more and more time at the palace herself.
As in the relationship between Vespasian and Caenus in "Course of Honour", the on-again off-again nature of Vinnius and Lucilla's relationship creates an underlying thread of sexual tension that helps to drive the story forward. Just when you think they are finally going to get together, Vinnius' brothers saddle him with a newly widowed mate and Lucilla ends up married to some stogy poet who wears socks!!
The couple finally recognize their feelings for each other but Domitian has named himself censor for life and reinstituted the old Augustan morality laws so an affair could be literally fatal. Then Decebalus, the king of Dacia, begins raiding Roman outposts along the Danube and Domitian announces he will handle the problem himself, taking the Praetorian guard and our hero along with him.
I knew Decebalus had been defeated two decades later by Trajan, hence the carving of Trajan's Column to commemorate the event. But I didn't realize as a young leader, Decebalus (then called Diurpaneus) had given Domitian trouble in Moesia back in 85 - 86 CE, surprising the Roman governor, Oppius Sabinus and annihilating a legion, probably the V Alaudae. Domitian and his Praetorian Prefect Cornelius Fuscus arrive and the ever-micromanaging Domitian reorganizes the province into two separate provinces, Moesia Inferior and Moesia Superior. Then Domitian orders the IIII Flavia from Dalmatia, and the I and II Adiutrix to the region to replace the lost legion and prepare for an attack on Dacia.
Scholars are divided by what happened next. Some say Domitian handed the command over to Fuscus and returned to Rome. Other scholars think Domitian personally led a successful operation against the Dacians and returned to Rome where, it is recorded, he celebrated a double triumph. In any event, a contingent of the Praetorian Guard remain with Fuscus and in 87 CE Fuscus crosses the Danube where his army (that includes our hero Vinnius) like that of Oppius Sabinus, is ambushed and destroyed at a mountain pass the Romans called Tapae (widely known as the Iron Gates along what is now the modern Romania-Serbia border). The battle becomes known as the First Battle of Tapae.
Although Davis does not describe the battle in as much visceral detail as Harry Sidebottom or Douglas Jackson would, she provides enough context and suspense to leave the reader breathless.
So how will our female protagonist carry on with the worst years of Domitian's tyranny still ahead? You'll need to read the novel to find out but I assure you Davis will keep you guessing about the ultimate fate of her protagonists until the last paragraph!
Because Domitian is not one of the main characters of the narrative, Davis has to get very inventive to provide background information about this controversial emperor. In one chapter she does so by introducing a non-human character named Mosca - a house fly. Suetonius tells us that at the beginning of his reign Domitian would spend hours alone every day catching flies and stabbing them with his needle-sharp stylus.
"Once, on being asked whether anyone was closeted with the Emperor, "Vivius Crispus answered wittily: 'No, not even a fly!'." - Suetonius, Domitian, The Twelve Caesars
Mosca makes all kinds of observations about the solitary human inhabitant of her environment as she prepares to annoy him, seemingly oblivious to the corpses of her relatives splayed beneath Domitian's stylus.
I thoroughly enjoyed "Master and God" and have elevated it to one of my favorite Lindsey Davis novels.
February 25, 2019
On the one hand, reading this particular book is somewhat useful in providing some of the context for the author's Flavia Albia series, which takes place during the reign of Domitian and sometimes makes use of the same incidents referred to in this novel, such as a conspiracy that took place at around the same time as the story of the third Nero. The author shows her customary skill at taking footnotes of ancient historians and turning them into more extensive and intriguing novels, and in looking at the hairstyles of the Flavian court as well as some scattered mentions of one Gaius Vinius Clodianus, who qualifies as one of the more noble but bumbling PTSD survivors in historical literature, the author constructs a plausible account of two interconnected lives during the troubled reign of Domitian, where two people end up sharing the rent for an apartment and predictably finding their lives drawn together as a result of their close connect. Of course, while the book's historical insight and plausible conjecture and speculation is certainly entertaining, this book resembles a bad romantic comedy in the way that the author contrives to keep the two characters apart until nearly the end of the book.
The course of this novel takes place over the entirety of Domitian's reign, thus giving the novel a bit of a strange quality in that it takes a snapshot of the lives of two people and the circles in which they travel and also shows with it the deterioration of Roman elite society as seen by these people and their associates, culminating in the dramatic assassination of Domitian (spoiler alert!) at the end. This novel may as well have been titled "Domitian Dies At The End," but one suspects that the author doesn't have the cheeky sense of humor to give such a spoiler as a title and instead gives the book the title that Domitian himself liked to be called by his subjects. At the beginning of the novel Domitian is a young man who rises to power after the premature death of his older brother Titus, and before too long everyone around him feels unsafe for one reason or another as the paranoid ruler seeks to dominate others by fear but ends up increasing his enemies as a result. The plot itself focuses around an imperial hairdresser and a Roman veteran who finds himself unwillingly a praetorian guardsman as a result of receiving special favor by Domitian.
The author contrives various ways of keeping the couple apart for most of the course of the novel. At the start, Flavia Lucilla is a fifteen year old who files a claim of theft of her mother's jewels only to find the mother faked the theft as a way of gaining more from her lover. Of course, Lucilla files the claim with the vigiles, coincidentally Clodianus. While Lucilla gains expertise and clientele as an elite freedwoman hairdresser to the imperial court, Clodianus marries several women in turn and divorces them, struggles with alocholism and PTSD and even manages to find himself imprisoned by the Dacians for a spell and helping to keep his fellow Romans alive in captivity through encouragement. Lucilla finds herself married unhappily to a poor philosopher when Clodianus returns and it is only after an interminable length of time that the two end up together, despite having shared an apartment for more than a decade. And, of course, Clodianus finds himself an essential member of a plot to kill Domitian and find himself an exit from Rome so that he does not suffer any of the inevitable blowback when Nerva decides to get rid of as many conspirators as he can find to avoid encouraging assassination by the Praetorian guard as a solution to imperial misrule. Too late.
The course of this novel takes place over the entirety of Domitian's reign, thus giving the novel a bit of a strange quality in that it takes a snapshot of the lives of two people and the circles in which they travel and also shows with it the deterioration of Roman elite society as seen by these people and their associates, culminating in the dramatic assassination of Domitian (spoiler alert!) at the end. This novel may as well have been titled "Domitian Dies At The End," but one suspects that the author doesn't have the cheeky sense of humor to give such a spoiler as a title and instead gives the book the title that Domitian himself liked to be called by his subjects. At the beginning of the novel Domitian is a young man who rises to power after the premature death of his older brother Titus, and before too long everyone around him feels unsafe for one reason or another as the paranoid ruler seeks to dominate others by fear but ends up increasing his enemies as a result. The plot itself focuses around an imperial hairdresser and a Roman veteran who finds himself unwillingly a praetorian guardsman as a result of receiving special favor by Domitian.
The author contrives various ways of keeping the couple apart for most of the course of the novel. At the start, Flavia Lucilla is a fifteen year old who files a claim of theft of her mother's jewels only to find the mother faked the theft as a way of gaining more from her lover. Of course, Lucilla files the claim with the vigiles, coincidentally Clodianus. While Lucilla gains expertise and clientele as an elite freedwoman hairdresser to the imperial court, Clodianus marries several women in turn and divorces them, struggles with alocholism and PTSD and even manages to find himself imprisoned by the Dacians for a spell and helping to keep his fellow Romans alive in captivity through encouragement. Lucilla finds herself married unhappily to a poor philosopher when Clodianus returns and it is only after an interminable length of time that the two end up together, despite having shared an apartment for more than a decade. And, of course, Clodianus finds himself an essential member of a plot to kill Domitian and find himself an exit from Rome so that he does not suffer any of the inevitable blowback when Nerva decides to get rid of as many conspirators as he can find to avoid encouraging assassination by the Praetorian guard as a solution to imperial misrule. Too late.
March 13, 2023
I found this book extremely disappointing.
Over the last thirty years, I have read all the Falco and Albia novels and most of Lindsey Davis’s standalone books. They are fast-paced, entertaining stories with well-developed main characters. Needless to say, I am a fan of LD’s work. Or I was...
The enticing blurb for Master and God claims it is a story about Gaius and Lucilla and how their lives are affected by Rome’s terrifying emperor. Sadly, the pair remain underdeveloped, although they sometimes reminded me of characters from LD’s other novels, e.g. Caenis and Vespasian from Course of Honour, and Albia and Tiberius from the Albia series.
The bland figures of poor Lucilla and Gaius drown under the heavy weight of background information.
In LD’s other novels, the author supplies just enough historical information to provide context. This story, however, contains pages and pages – whole chapters, in fact – of plodding historical data, much of which seems irrelevant. For the first time, I found myself skim-reading LD’s story while muttering, ‘Blah, blah, blah’. The exercise reminded me of high school historical texts – and not in a good way.
Master and God is a long story with a sizeable cast. Many characters have similar names, as per the ancient Roman style. The chronology sometimes jumps back and forth, and the narrative is repetitive in places. These issues confused me and added to my frustration. There is a definite lack of strict editing.
It appears LD has collated her research on the era and stuck in a couple of characters to create a storyline. Although this showcases her impressive knowledge of ancient Rome, it is misplaced in fiction and somewhat dissatisfying for readers hoping for another of LD’s enthralling novels. Perhaps the author was under pressure to produce something, and this filled a gap. Maybe the publisher felt the fanbase would buy it anyway, so it did not matter if the story was below par. Of course, I am speculating here, but if I am right, this is a shoddy way to treat loyal readers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews