Ben Kane (born 6 March 1970) is a novelist, specialising in

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

. He is best known for The Forgotten Legion,

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising ...

and

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

book series. Six of his eight novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers, and his books have been published in more than ten countries, including the US, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia and the Netherlands. In 2013, Kane and two friends walked the entire length of

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...

for charity while wearing full Roman military kit, including hobnailed boots. They raised nearly £19,000 for

Combat Stress Combat stress reaction (CSR) is acute behavioral disorganization as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as "combat fatigue", "battle fatigue", or "battle neurosis", it has some overlap with the diagnosis of acute stress reaction used ...

and Medecins Sans Frontieres. In 2014, they walked again in Italy, raising over £26,500. A documentary film was made about their walk, entitled ''The Road to Rome''.

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

provides the voiceover.

Bibliography

The Forgotten Legion Trilogy

# ''The Forgotten Legion'' (2008) # ''The Silver Eagle'' (2009) # ''The Road to Rome'' (2010)

The Hannibal series

# ''Hannibal: Enemy of Rome'' (2011) # "Hannibal: The Patrol" (short story, 2013); e-book only # ''Hannibal: Fields of Blood'' (2013) # ''Hannibal: Clouds of War'' (2014)

The Spartacus series

# ''Spartacus: The Gladiator'' (2012) # ''Spartacus: Rebellion'' (2012)

The Eagles of Rome series

# "The Shrine" (short story, 2015); e-book only # ''Eagles at War'' (2015) # "The Arena" (short story, 2016); e-book only # ''Hunting the Eagles'' (2016) # ''Eagles in the Storm'' (2017)

The Clash of Empires series

# ''Clash of Empires'' (2018) # ''The Falling Sword'' (2019)

The Lionheart series

# ''Lionheart'' (2020) # ''Crusader'' (2021) # ''King'' (forthcoming April 2022)

Other

* ''A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii'' (2014); Kane contributed one chapter * ''Sands of the Arena and Other Stories'' (forthcoming September 2021)

References

External links

* (Ben Kane website and blog)
Ben Kane at Facebook
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kane, Ben Living people 1970 births Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity Alumni of University College Dublin Kenyan medical writers