Harry Sidebottom is a British author and historian, best known for his two series of historical novels the ''Warrior of Rome'', and ''Throne of the Caesars''. He is Quondam Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at St. Benet's Hall,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, and lecturer at Lincoln College.

Early life

Sidebottom was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

and brought up in Newmarket,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

, where his father worked as a racehorse trainer. He attended Fairstead House School, Newmarket, and The King's School,

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral ** Ely Rural District, a ...

. Sidebottom read Ancient History for his first degree, at Lancaster University (1977–1980). He was awarded an MPhil in 1982 from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

and later a DPhil from the University of Oxford. He studied at Corpus Christi College, where he is a member of the senior common room. He has appeared as a presenter on the History Channel's ''

Ancient Discoveries ''Ancient Discoveries'' is a television series that premiered on December 21, 2003, on The History Channel. The program focused on ancient technologies. The show's theme was that many inventions which are thought to be modern have ancient root ...

''.

Books

''Warrior of Rome''

From the beginning Sidebottom intended the ''Warrior of Rome'' to be a series structured in trilogies. The first three volumes take place in the Middle East and subsequent arcs are set around the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

, the Baltic, Sicily, North Africa, and Italy. Sidebottom stated he drew inspiration for the series from historical writer

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

and commented that he had based several of the series' elements on real people and events from history. The series has sold well, with ''Fire in the East'' selling over 100,000 copies and spending five weeks in the UK top 10 upon its release. Worldwide the series has sold over half a million copies. ''The Last Hour'' is a thriller set in the City of Rome. It was shortlisted for the Historical Writers Association Gold Crown for the outstanding historical novel of 2018. ''The Burning Road'', a new novel featuring Ballista, was published on 30 September 2021. The series centres on the

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to peop ...

-Roman soldier Marcus Clodius Ballista (a fictionalized version of

Balista Balista or Ballista (died ''c.'' 261), also known in the sources with the name of "Callistus", was one of the Thirty Tyrants of the controversial ''Historia Augusta'', and supported the rebellion of the Macriani against Emperor Gallienus. His ...

, a.k.a. Callistus, one of the

Thirty Tyrants The Thirty Tyrants ( grc, οἱ τριάκοντα τύραννοι, ''hoi triákonta týrannoi'') were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Upon Lysander's request, the Thirty were ele ...

) as he must live through and survive the machinations of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

and several of the crises of the second half of the third century AD.

''Throne of the Caesars''

Sidebottom has written another series set in ancient Rome and its empire called ''Throne of the Caesars''. The new trilogy is set 30 years before the first ''Warrior of Rome'' book in the reigns of

Severus Alexander Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself wa ...

and

Maximinus Thrax Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus "Thrax" ("the Thracian"; – 238) was Roman emperor from 235 to 238. His father was an accountant in the governor's office and sprang from ancestors who were Carpi (a Dacian tribe), a people whom Diocletia ...

(AD 235–38) beginning with the assassination of Alexander and ending with the deaths of

Pupienus Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus ( 168 238 AD) was Roman emperor with Balbinus for 99 days in 238, during the Year of the Six Emperors. The sources for this period are scant, and thus knowledge of the emperor is limited. In most contemporary ...

and

Balbinus Decimus Caelius Calvinus Balbinus (died 238 AD) was Roman emperor with Pupienus for three months in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Origins and career Not much is known about Balbinus before his elevation to emperor. It has been conjec ...

Bibliography

Fiction

''Warrior of Rome''

#'' Fire in the East'' (Michael Joseph, 2008) #''King of Kings'' (Penguin, 2009) #''Lion of the Sun'' (Penguin, 2010) #''The Caspian Gates'' (Penguin, 2011) #''The Wolves of the North'' (Penguin, 2012) #''The Amber Road'' (Penguin/Michael Joseph, 2013) #''The Last Hour'' (Bonnier Zaffre, 2018) Shortlisted for The Historical Writers` Association Gold Crown for the outstanding historical novel of the year https://historicalwriters.org/hwa-crowns-2018-the-shortlists/ #''The Burning Road'' (Bonnier Zaffre, 2021) A Book of the Year in ''The Times'' #''Falling Sky'' (Zaffre, 2022)

''Throne of the Caesars''

#''Iron & Rust'' (HarperCollins, 2014) #''Blood & Steel'' (HarperCollins, 2015) #''Fire & Sword'' (HarperCollins, 2016)

Stand-alone novels

:''The Lost Ten'' (Bonnier Zaffre, 2019) :''The Return'' (Bonnier Zaffre, 2020)

Non-fiction

*''Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press (2004) *International Relations, ''The Cambridge Companion of Greek and Roman Warfare'' (2007) *''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Ancient Battles'' (ed. with

Michael Whitby L. Michael Whitby is a British ancient historian of Late Antiquity. He specialises in late Roman history, early Byzantine history and historiography. He is currently pro-vice-chancellor and head of the College of Arts and Law at the Universit ...

) (2017) * ''The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome'', Oneworld (2022) A Book of the Year in ''The Spectator'', ''BBC History Extra'', and ''The Financial Times''

References

External links

Interview with Historvius.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidebottom, Harry Fellows of St Benet's Hall, Oxford Living people British historians Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity British historical novelists 21st-century male writers Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at King's Ely