Gods & Legions

Gods & Legions is an epic, sweeping novel of the ascent to the throne of the Roman Emperor Julian, his military campaigns and finally, his gory end. The novel is narrated by Caesarius, the Emperor's personal physician and a devout Christian. Julian starts out in life as a student of philosophy with tremendous raw intelligence, but with no practical experience of Roman politics. In fact, the first time he visits a large city (Athens), he is startled and completely disoriented. How the unworldly philosopher is transformed into a capable general, administrator and ultimately emperor, forms the crux of this epic novel.

It is the year 354 AD. Julian is summoned by his cousin, the paranoid emperor Constantine, who's already put his father and brothers to death. The emperor wants Julian to tackle the threat posed by the ruthless and barbaric Goths and figures that he is a winner either way - if Julian dies in the process, he is rid of a potential claimant to the throne, and if he does succeed in miraculously overcoming the Goths, the Emperor ends up with a solution to a major problem. So our philosopher finds himself on the road to Gaul, designated the Caesar of the Western Empire with a mandate to end the Germanic threat that has been plaguing the well trained Roman army for years. In the meantime, he also has to marry a bride chosen by the emperor, and yes, resist the advances of the empress.

It is fascinating to observe Julian's transformation from an unworldly philosopher to a very capable general who eliminates the Goths as a threat and captures their leader ruthlessly. The philosopher learns to ride horses, do battle and use his rhetoric and cunning to motivate the army and ensure its loyalty to him. He even deploys his beloved philosophy as very effective war strategy to help him win his campaign. He then institutes administrative reforms that make Gaul one of the best governed provinces of the Roman Empire. Slowly, however, ambition overtakes him (predictably), and by a combination of ambition, courage and luck, he ends up becoming the Emperor.

The book truly excels in its descriptions of the war scenes. The first part of the book describes the campaign against the Goths and the defense of a city under siege by the Goths. The second half of the book describes Julian's campaign against the Persians. It is almost as though you're present at the scenes of battle, witnessing the blood and carnage, the sieges of the towns and cities and the destruction wrought by the Persian war elephants.

An extremely interesting theme in the book is the conflict between the ancient Roman religion and the young Christian faith. The narrator Caesarius, a close friend of Julian's is a devout (and somewhat fanatical) Christian. On the other hand, Julian, who has been brought up as a Christian slowly finds himself drawn towards the ancient Roman religion and eventually forsakes Christianity, adopting the Roman Gods and becoming an active and enthusiastic performer of the blood sacrifices to the Roman God Mithras. This leads to a very uneasy friendship between the two and ultimately to the novel's stunning and terrible end.

I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone who's fond of historical and war themes. No, let me amend that. This book is a great read for anyone who loves a well written story. Simply unputdownable.