The Last Roman
3 total works
It is the fifth century of the Byzantium Empire. Flavius Belisaurius is son of the governor of Dorostorum City, and his father has two goals: to keep out the barbarians and to expose the deep roots of secular and ecclesiastical corruption. Seeking to prevent a raid, the governor enlists the help of the powerful magnate Senuthius Vicinus.
Vicinus's corruption is widespread but his support is crucial to win the battle. When Vicinus betrays this trust, Belisaurius Jnr witnesses the death of his father and the irretrievable tarnishing of his reputation. With Belisaurius's life changed for good, he swears vengeance on the man who betrayed his father and begins a journey from which there is no virtuous way back.
Justinian, a paranoid leader, desperately wants the lost provinces returned to his rule but must first dispatch his brave general, Belisaurius, to fight the Persians in the East. Justinian grows concerned that Belisaurius will grow successful and courageous in his feats, thus becoming a threat to his power and person. He subsequently dispatches him on a near-impossible mission to North Africa to take back from the Vandals what was once ancient Carthage. Meanwhile back in Constantinople, Marcus Donatus has found favor with Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian, in the hopes of being able to influence Justinian himself.
Sixth-century Byzantium: The Emperor Justinian is determined to reunite the whole of the Roman Empire and his best general, Flavius Belisarius, is poised to invade Italy. Flavius and his men march north unopposed until the local senators of Naples refuse to surrender and a bloody assault ensues. Rome, hearing of the fate of Naples, yields the city to Flavius, but before long the Goths arrive and stage a brutal attack which Flavius’s army only just survives.
Besieged and mired in a cesspit of corruption, Byzantium's greatest general must navigate a world rife with deceit and brutality where only the most cutthroat survive.