Historia Romana, English Version Series

476 AD - In the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, the last emperor of Rome, the young Romulus Augustus, is deposed by Odoacer and relegated to captivity in a villa in Campania. As he sees his world dissolve, Romulus  vows to himself to get his revenge. In the dark corridors of his prison, Romulus will find an unexpected help who will restore his freedom, beginning an incredible adventure to the borders of his late kingdom, in search of a way to one day return to the place where he had been lord of half of the world.  

407 AD - Britain is now in chaos, abandoned by a Western Empire unstable and besieged by hordes of barbarians threatening its borders. Exasperated, the people cries out for leadership after the death of Magnus Maximus, the last great to rise against the Theodosian dynasty. The troops elevate several soldiers to the purple, causing them to fall shortly thereafter. Only one of them, Constantine III, will succeed in uniting all Britons under himself, involving them in his project of total reform of an empire now dying and destined to disappear. From the misty, dark seas of the North, Constantine will land across the Channel, shaking up the empire in an attempt to make Britain the epicenter of a new world, founded on the ashes of Rome.  

1453 A.D. - Constantinople is under siege, about to fall under the terrible attacks by the Ottoman armies of Sultan Muhammad, in what will be one of the bloodier and more memorable war events in the medieval age and history as a whole. Constantine Palaiologos, the last emperor of the East, desperately tries to oppose with all his might to what is the foretold end of a thousand-year-old empire. But soon, isolated and without help, he realizes that all is lost and  decides to disappear along with his world, throwing himself as a martyr among the enemies that have entered the city. But fate seems to have other plans for him. His time has yet to come. There may still be a way for him, and for his empire, to come back into existence. Whether it's in Constantinople, or at the extreme ends of the world.

In the darkness of a hut in a village in Thrace, a woman dies. She has just given birth to a fatherless child, who seems as destined as anyone in those distant lands, to suffer the usurpations of the barbarians who have long threaten the Eastern Roman Empire. But an old soldier snatches him from misery and takes him with him, raising him in the ranks of the army. That child destined for poverty will become a centurion, and then, accomplice a twist of fate, he will come to wear the purple in Constantinople. But an enemy, closer than he thinks, will thwart his good intentions. This is the story of Phocas, one of the most evil and bloodthirsty emperors that Roman history remembers.  

169 AD. - Emperor Marcus Aurelius is distressed by the continuous rebellions of barbarian peoples on the Danube and by the plague that is decimating the imperial population. To both situations there seems to be no there is no solution, and yet he finds solace in an unshakable certainty. He has an heir to his throne. This is his last surviving son, Commodus, whom he proclaimed Caesar three years earlier. Choosing to start a proper dynasty, Marcus hopes one day to reign together with his son, making him the cane of his own old age as well as a colleague with whom to work in harmony. But that will not be the case. And not only because illness will take him away before such can happen. Commodus, still a child, has already understood power and his position. And he has made a promise to himself. To become everything but his father's copy.

465 AD. - In the years leading up to the final fall of the Western Roman Empire, young Aphranius Siagrius finds himself inheriting his father Aegidius' rule, a now Roman-Barbarian kingdom covering much of northern Gaul and completely disconnected from the rest of the empire. As the years pass, Syagrius helplessly witnesses the unraveling of a world he had believed to be eternal. But the misfortunes of his era will not make him desist from pursuing his greatest dream. Now an independent ruler, the man who went down in history as “King of the Romans” will find, inspired by the idea of a great of the past, a way to bring a defunct Western empire back to life. Clinging desperately to that intuition of his, the only hope of having a future.  

327 BC. - Pytheas of Marseille returns to Gaul after completing the exploration of Northern Europe, an achievement that will be remembered as one of the most incredible in all of ancient history. An esteemed navigator and geographist, he sets out to undertake an immense work of divulgation in order to uplift his people and guarantee them a better future through the new and invaluable knowledge he acquired. Meanwhile in Rome, in the midst of the second war against the Samnites, one man is alone in power. But he will have to defend himself against dark and fearsome powers bent on ousting him to take his place. It will be fate that brings them together, resulting in a new and incredible journey to the ends of the known as known, in a desperate search for a better future for both of them. Following a route of which only Pythias, among the greatest explorers who ever lived, is aware.

411 AD. - Attila only knows his own people, the Huns ruled by his uncle Rua. Along with his brother Bleda, he is raised in a violent world in which his people migrate from one area to another leading an existence of nomadism and hardship. But he does not yet know that Rua has relations with the Western Roman Empire, the one really responsible for their predicament. At a time when barbarian peoples are revolting in mass against an authority now weakened and unable to defend itself, Attila will meet the only Roman worthy of respect for him: a young man named Flavius Aetius. But this will not prevent him, in the future, from aspiring to new conquests once he obtains the Hun crown. And among his targets will end up the two empires of Rome, increasingly struggling to protect their respective borders from multiple barbarian invasions. It will be that ambition that will turn Attila into the man known as the Scourge of God, one of the most bloodthirsty rulers that history has known and whose fame has survived to the present day.

96 AD. - After a lifetime spent defending the borders of the Chinese empire, General Ban Chao finds himself wearing entirely new shoes. At the behest of Emperor Han Hedi, he will be assigned to lead a diplomatic expedition  to the West in order to establish contacts with a vast and distant domain, the one they call Da Qin and which in truth is none other than the Roman Empire. First, however, he will have to penetrate into China, in search of a village apparently born out of the very first contacts between their civilizations. Meanwhile, in Rome an elderly and respected Senator surprisingly attains the purple. He will encounter immense difficulties in maintaining power while keeping away from his enemies: that, at least, until his contact with a group of mysterious men who have come from the Far East.

47 BC. - Disowned by his father Julius Caesar, Ptolemy XV, who will go down in history as Caesarion, grows up in the shadow of his mother Cleopatra and her new consort, Marcus Antonius. The pain of that discovery is partly eased by the certainty that one day he will be the one to reign unchallenged over Egypt. But when everything falls apart and Augustus, Caesar's true chosen one, sets out to conquer Egypt Cleopatra forces him to seek shelter outside of the kingdom. Tired of the family situation and frustrated by his powerlessness, Ptolemy decides to disobey and flee, ending up in a completely different reality from the one in which he grew up. Meanwhile, in Rome, there is someone else struggling with his own feelings.

330 AD. - In a Cyprus witnessing the first changes brought by the rise of Constantine young Calocaerus, the son of a mutilated veteran averse to Rome, chooses to join the army to escape misery. His decision will cost him the disownment of his family, and when his benefactor Crispus, son of the augustus, dies as a result of a betrayal, Calocaerus will become aware of his mistake. Prostrated by the abuses of the dux Julius Constantius and wishing for a return to the past, he will seek freedom by fleeing to the peaks of Mount Olympus. There, he will make an unexpected transformation. From being a simple defector, also aided by his introduction to an ancient cult, he will become the leader of a historic rebellion. Thus cherishing the dream of restoring Hellenic culture in place of Roman supremacy.

1097 AD. - During the events of the First Crusade, basileus Alex Komnenos tries in vain to prevent the massacre of thousands of Seljuk Turks residing in Nicaea. Now tainted by the horrendous crime and fearful of his reaction, the Crusaders give him as a sign of peace gift a lonely, frightened child with no parents left. Moved to compassion by the look on the little orphan's face, the basileus decides to take him with him and make him live at the Grand Palace of Constantinople together with his son of the same age. That Turkish child named Yahya will go down in history as John Axuch, and will become a close friend of the future Emperor John II. Within a lifetime dedicated to serving the Komnenos dynasty, Axuch will ascend to the prestigious title of Grand Domestic, becoming a well-known and respected figure even beyond the imperial borders. But even at the height of his influence, he will never forget his original mission: to watch over the basileus John, and eventually over his heirs.  

768 AD. - Young Irene, who comes from a noble Greek family, participates in the pompous "bridal parade" called by the basileus Constantine V in order to find the future bride of the heir to the Eastern throne, his son Leo. Against all odds, she will succeed over all the competitors by conquering her future husband, who will introduce her to the court, changing her life after years of vexation by her own family members. But neither Leo nor she can imagine what will happen next. Increasingly comfortable in the palace and fascinated by power, Irene will begin to nurture ambitions far greater than her role as consort to the basileus. Succumbing to her hunger, she will start an ascent that will remain in history. And that will consign her to posterity as the first empress of the Romans, alone and unchallenged in power. At the expense of her enemies, but also of her loved ones.

494 AD. - Almost twenty years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Gaul and the Iberian Peninsula are now part of the vast kingdom of the Visigoths. Their ruler himself, Alaric II son of the famous Euricus, reigns with an iron fist over a population as submissive as it is heterogeneous, consisting indeed of barbarians but also by Romans now devoid of pride and patriotism. But despite his reprisals and his continual oppressive taxation, one of the surviving Romans of Hispania will find within himself the strength to rekindle the ancient fire that enabled his ancestors to found and make the empire great. To his surprise, Claudius Aemilius Iberus, known as Burdunellus, will succeed in making his personal cause that of all the people of Hispania, severely threatening Alaric's throne and sparking one of the last, fierce but also least-told rebellions of the post-imperial age.  

260 AD. - After a long and luminous military career, which led him from a simple recruit to becoming governor of Germania Inferior, Marcus Cassianus Latinus Postumus finds himself at a crossroads. Fraternally bound to the legionnaires but bound to obey the orders of the august Gallienus and his despotic son Saloninus, he is forced to make a choice from which he has long fled: listen to his heart and dare leveraging the support of the troops, or continue to live as a servant. His decision will radically change the Roman empire of the third century. In an era marked by barbarian invasions, infighting, and especially secessionist uprisings, Postumus will emerge imposing himself as the best alternative to the legitimate emperor, giving rise to a kingdom that will hold Rome in check for years. And which, like the latter, will experience harsh battles, betrayals, and fatal conspiracies.

12 BC. - Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus is born in the most prosperous period of the Roman Empire, in which in power is its founder Augustus himself. The son of the famous Agrippa, he can also claim membership to the Julio-Claudian dynasty on his mother's side. With Augustus struggling with a scarcity of direct heirs, everything would suggest a bright future for Agrippa within the dynasty. But his very existence will prove to be a problem not only for the Caesar's plans, but also and especially for those who aspire to alter them. Determined to assert his independence and freedom in a court plagued by conspiracies and subterfuges, Agrippa will endure countless trials and suffer as many abuses. Until when, with Rome now seemingly unattainable, he will have a new opportunity to choose between eternal glory and oblivion.

969 AD. - Despite being the rightful heir to the throne, the prospects for Basil are not the best. Complicit in the maneuvers of his mother Teophano, wife, mother and creator of emperors, his childhood years are spent in the shadows. The situation will not change even after his ascension, due to the intrusions of his great-uncle and grand chamberlain Basil Lecapenus. Only after ridding himself of these encroaching influences will Basil succeed in fulfilling his destiny, becoming one of the best Byzantine emperors ever as well as the longest-ruling among all. In his forty-nine-year reign he will will change the face of the Eastern Empire, thanks to far-sighted laws and countless wars won. It will be only one of these, however, that will make his life a legend to be handed down to posterity. The legend of the basileus Basil II, known as the Bulgar Slayer. The exterminator of Bulgarians.

590 AD - Pope Gregory I has only one goal in mind: the conversion of the last remaining pagan communities and going down in history as the Pontiff capable of unifying the empire under Christendom. With the military support of the augustus Maurice, a war campaign is therefore launched to subdue and evangelize the closest pagan kingdom to Italy, that Sardinian hinterland known as Barbaria. This, however, is ruled by the dux Hospiton, a warrior committed for decades to protecting his compatriots, their roots but above all a very ancient cult, that of the Sardus Pater. To get the better of the imperial militia commanded by Zabarda, Hospiton will have to use every resource at his disposal. And when all will seem lost, he will discover he can rely on an even greater power, of which he had never been aware. A power that had watched over the people of Sardinia since the dawn of time.