next book chat: roma, the novel of ancient rome by steven saylor

Our next two chats will be on Roma, The Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor, February 18 & March 4.  Dividing the book into equal parts, in the first chat on February 18 we should cover the novel through the chapter The Vestal.

For background, it's worth reading the AUTHOR'S NOTE first.  Ironically, from the reading group's POV, Saylor writes that he began his research with T.J. Cornell's The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C., the book we finished discussing tonight.

One source one might want to look at is Ovid's Fasti, another Plutarch's Lives.  LacusCurtius has Dio Cassius, Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, and Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome.

My 2007 review of the novel

Someone tonight called the novel "Cornell lite"    

Google Books:

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (Illustrated) 
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Illustrated)

Internet Archive (free registration required):

The topography and monuments of ancient Rome (1911)