It has been said that with the rout of Teutoburg, Rome lost Germania and Germania lost Rome.
VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI
THE LEGIONARY SONG
Miles meus contubernalis
Dic mihi cras quis erit vivus
Iacta pilum hostem neca
Miles es, miles Romanus!
O soldier, my comrade
Tell me who will be alive tomorrow
Hurl your pilum, kill the enemy
You are a soldier, a soldier of Rome!
THE IDES OF MARCH
March, 44 BC. Rome, in all her glory, has expanded her territories beyond the wildest dreams of her citizens, led by Caius Julius Caesar. He is a man in command of his destiny, who wields enormous power throughout the vast empire. However, his god-given mission – to end the blood-splattered fratricidal wars, reconcile implacably hostile factions and preserve Roman civilization and world order – is teetering dangerously close to collapse . . . His power is draining away None of his supporters can stop the inexorably evolving plot against him; prophecy will explode into truth on the Ides of March and the world will change forever.
OUT NOW
EMPIRE OF DRAGONS
Anatolia, AD 260. The Roman outpost of Edessa is on its last legs after the Persian siege, and the Roman emperor agrees to meet his adversary to negotiate peace. But the meeting is a trap and the emperor ends up in enemy hands, along with the commander of his personal guard, Marcus Metellus Aquila, and ten of his most valiant and trusted men. Their destiny is sealed: they will rot away in a mine, forced into slavery.
But Metellus – legate of the Second Augusta Legion, hero of the empire – and his men break free and meet a mysterious, exiled prince. They agree to safeguard the prince’s journey back to his homeland, Sera Maior, the mythical Kingdom of Silk – China.
And so they begin an extraordinary and epic journey through the forests of India, the Himalayan mountains, the deserts of central Asia, all the way to the heart of China – as the very survival of the world’s greatest two empires is at stake.
OUT NOW
THE LAST LEGION
AD 476. The year the Western Roman Empire finally collapses. The last emperor of Rome is encamped and protected by the Nova Invicta Legion. But in the space of a few minutes a horde of barbarians sweep through the camp in the fog, kill the imperial family and take the young emperor captive . . .
But all is not lost. From the dust of battlefields emerges a small team of invincible warriors – the Last Legion. Their task is to rescue the emperor and his enigmatic tutor and to try to resurrect the glory of Rome. They must guide the last Caesar in a dramatic escape through a devastated Italy and Northern Europe to their ultimate destinies in the land of the Britons . . . and the beginning of a new legend.
OUT NOW
CHILD OF A DREAM
THE FIRST ALEXANDER NOVEL
Who could have been born to conquer the world other than a god?
Ancient Greece: mesmeric beauty, consuming desires, an insatiable hunger. Then premature death. This is the story of a boy, born to a great king – Philip of Macedon – and his sensuous queen, Olympias. It tells of the stern discipline of Philip and the wild passions of Olympias, and how, together, they formed Alexander, a young man of immense, unfathomable potential, capable of subjugating the known world to his power, and thought of by his contemporaries as a god. As a protégé of Aristotle, Alexander must become a man and soon begins his adventures to conquer the civilized world.
OUT NOW
PRAISE FOR VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI
‘Has all the elements of a truly epic novel. The pages are jam-packed with excitement, danger, love, revenge, mystery and myth’
Historical Novels Review
‘Stand aside Gladiator, the real classics are coming’
Independent
‘Where Manfredi excels . . . is in his mastery of detail’
Sunday Express
‘Moving at a blistering pace . . . A good introduction to the life of a legend’
Herald
‘It’s a rip-roaring, page-turning yarn, full of Oriental mysticism, Roman values and old-fashioned adventure’
Yorkshire Evening Post
‘An exciting, fast-paced and atmospheric novel’
Choice
‘A great Roman smorgasbord of a novel that both encapsulates and celebrates the genre . . . Manfredi has this genre off to a finely honed art . . . The background to this ambitious and impressive novel is always delivered with maximum verisimilitude’
Barry Forshaw, Good Book Guide
‘Written in an easy-read style, this epic tale is a real page-turner, full of bravery, love, myth and magic’
Belfast Telegraph
‘He’s the hottest writer of ripping historical yarns right across Europe and is catching on fast here . . . Find out what the excitement’s about with this rip-roaring archaeological adventure that makes Indiana Jones look kind of slow’
Peterborough Evening Telegraph
WOLVES OF ROME
VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI is an archaeologist and scholar of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. He is the author of seventeen novels, which have won him literary awards and have sold 12 million copies. His Alexander trilogy has been translated into 38 languages and published in 62 countries and the film rights have been acquired by Universal Pictures. His novel The Last Legion was made into a film starring Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley and directed by Doug Lefler. Valerio Massimo Manfredi has taught at a number of prestigious universities in Italy and abroad, and has published numerous articles and essays in academic journals. He has also written screenplays for film and television, contributed to journalistic articles and conducted cultural programmes and television documentaries.
Also by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
SPARTAN
THE ORACLE
HEROES
(formerly The Talisman of Troy)
THE TOWER
ALEXANDER: CHILD OF A DREAM
ALEXANDER: THE SANDS OF AMMON
ALEXANDER: THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
PHARAOH
THE LAST LEGION
TYRANT
EMPIRE OF DRAGONS
THE LOST ARMY
THE IDES OF MARCH
THE ANCIENT CURSE
ODYSSEUS: THE OATH
ODYSSEUS: THE RETURN
First published in Italian 2016 as Teutoburgo by
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milan
First published in the UK 2018 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5098-7900-7
Copyright © Valerio Massimo Manfredi 2016
Translation copyright © Pan Books 2018
Cover © Nik Keevil/Trevillion Images
The right of Valerio Massimo Manfredi to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Wolves of Rome
Wolves of Rome Page 37