About: The text you are reading right now is constructed from the 'Roman alphabet,' and many of the words in this sentence come from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire that flourished more than two thousand years ago. That's how influential the Roman Empire was, and it influenced our modern society in countless other ways. Hugo and Nebula award winning author Robert Silverberg switches from his usual science-fantasy subjects to historical fiction in Roma Eterna. This book review is about that novel, which asks the question: what if the Roman Empire lasted much much longer than it did?

The traditional dates of the actual Roman Empire were from 27 B.C. until 476 A.D. (around 500 years). It was a great Empire that gradually conquered territory from Italy in the east, to Britain and France in the west, spreading its language, politics, legal system, and technology along with it. Various historians today theorize on what caused the decline of the Empire, but a general lack of will from its people, combined with the spread of the Christian religion were the main causes, probably. In Silverberg's alternate history, Rome's governors were able to make their Empire last longer in space and time. What if Mexico had been conquered by Romans? What if Romans had discovered the New World? What if the Romans had invented the steam-engine?

Some chapters of his book are first-person narrative in the form of letters of correspondence. Other chapters are in traditional narrative style.

First a word about Silverberg's calendar dating system. The dates in our modern calendar are B.C. (Before Christ's birth), and A.D. (Anno Domini, after Christ's birth). But in Silverberg's fictional world, Christ was never a factor, so all dates in the book start from the origin of the Empire, 753 B.C., which the Romans called "ab urbe condita" (A.U.C.).   A similar dating system is familiar to readers of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, in which all calendar dates were A.F. (After Henry Ford).

Roma Eterna begins with Rome already established as a historical entity. Instead of describing early Roman history, Roma Eterna assumes that the Empire's early history is roughly the same as it would have been in our modern-day historical knowledge. Roma Eterna devotes its early chapters to what would happen if a few historical events did not happen, or were subtly changed, thereby affecting all of the Empire's future (and humanity's too).

A middle chapter of Roma Eterna dealt with the attempted Roman conquest of the Mayan civilization (AUC 1861) in the Yucatan of Mexico. The Roman Empire (not modern-day Spain or Portugal) had just discovered the New World (what we now call South America and Central America and North America). The conquest of the Mayans failed because the Roman soldiers, who had sailed to the New World in a few large sailing ships were vastly outnumbered by the natives. Months after learning of the Roman defeat, a senile Roman Emperor kept sending wave after wave of ships and soldiers to conquer the Mayans, but they all failed. The Empire could have chosen to trade with the Mayans peacefully, but it was just not in the typical Roman governor's spirit to trade, as the Romans were conquerors, after all.

AUC 1951 In another chapter, a Greek-controlled Emperor-of-the-East conquers the Roman controlled Western Empire.

AUC 2206 A lady in Venetia meets a Roman Proconsul after Rome's Eastern and Western Empires had been reconsolidated. (Venetia = Venice)

AUC 2543 "Getting to know the Dragon" This chapter takes place in the 'Renaissance.' A scientist/historian character (a Leonardo da Vinci-type) placates an insane heir to the role of Emperor. There is an unknown (and politically-incorrect) historical document that the scientist accidentally uncovers. The document accounts an emperor named Trajan, who led the first expedition around the world. Silverberg indirectly tells the story of that discovery as though we are reading the history along with the scientist who's reading it.

AUC 2568 "Reign of Terror" An insane Emperor, verging on breaking the Empire's funds with his extravagant spending, is overthrown by two consuls who execute the Emperor's supporters, and start to put down a fledgling democratic movement. Meanwhile, the Latin-language is no longer as common in the remote Roman provinces where new dialects and languages are becoming the norm.

AUC 2603 "Via Roma" The Second War of Reunification is over and a visitor arrives in Rome from Britannia by steamship. Cymbelin is his name. He is a wealthy merchant's adolescent son visiting high society in Rome. There are telegrams, locomotive trains, and paved roads in his world. During Cymbelin's visit to Rome, he witnesses grand historical events as the Emperor & family are killed, and the Empire is converted to a Republic, with the Roman Consul as its leader.

AUC 2650 "Tales from Venia Woods" It is almost five decades later on the Danube River, near a place we might now call Vienna, Austria. A boy goes into the forest with his nine-year-old sister, Friya. They see a man hiding in a decaying house, befriend him, and learn that his name is Tyr. The 80-year-old reminisces about his 12-year-old youth, and the boy and girl learn that the old man is the brother of the last-ever Emperor. When he was young, Tyr had to go north and hide away in the forest to escape his pursuers. Naively, the kids return home, telling their grandmother about the old man they had met. The grandmother informs a Republican (a Roman loyalist) who in knee-jerk fashion sets in motion the capture and death of Tyr. In this chapter, the automobile has been invented, and is controlled by a stick instead of a steering wheel.

AUC 2723 "To the Promised Land" In Roma Eterna's final chapter, a Jewish history scholar named Dr. Ben-Simeon, living in Roman Egypt, is forcibly taken from his home by fellow Jews. They want him to write a historical account of a current Jewish Exodus. A sect of Jews is led by a modern-day Hebrew leader named Moshe, who operates far away from Roman eyes, safely hidden at a remote desert camp along with his many followers. In this year, the 2nd Roman Republic still exists, but is crumbling. The Latin-language is now barely used in the 2nd Republic (even in Rome). Local dialects have sprung up all around the Republic, a Republic that still covers most of the European map. It seems that the Jewish leader, Moshe, ambitiously wants to build rockets to take all Hebrews off the Earth — to a new Promised Land, starting first by visiting the Moon. He dreams of moving far away from the declining Roman society that controls the Earth even in his time. Even the Roman's technology has never built space rockets, that's how advanced and amibitious is the Jewish sect. But the first Jewish rocket explodes, killing all passengers aboard. The scholar Ben-Simeon witnesses the tragedy, and the chapter and book end along with the gradually decaying Roman Empire of this alternative historical novel.

Reviewer's Comments:

Although the early chapters of Roma Eterna's alternative history were mostly what a reader would expect, the ending chapter of Roma Eterna seemed out of place with the rest of the book since it dealt with none of the politics of Rome and its senators, but rather a minority fringe tribe that somehow had a monopoly on high technology. It was as if the author was saying that the Roman Empire could never, in time, construct space rockets.

Perhaps the author was trying to say that the same historical outcome, the decline of the Roman Empire, and influence from non-Romans, would have occurred whether Rome fell 2000 years ago, or 5 days ago. In our modern history of Rome, Christianity (which arose from Jesus Christ) became dominant after a few centuries of Roman Empire, and ultimately shaped Western and world thought right up until today. In Silverberg's alternate history, the Empire lasts two millennia. But since the final chapter of his book deals with a potential religious leadership role by monotheistic Jews (instead of the polytheistic Romans), he implies that Jewish monotheism would eventually flourish anyhow. The outcome of the longer-version Roman Empire would have been the same as the actual short-lived Roman Empire, i.e. a monotheistic world.

Another minor complaint about Roma Eterna, is the book's cover art. The beautiful artwork is misleading since it depicts a large rocket launching skyward with a toga-wearing man on the ground observing the rocket-launch. Although one would expect the book to cover much about the thousands of years of the pre-Industrial-Age Roman Empire, there is very little about the Empire's modern times (i.e. the centuries surrounding the the rocket-launch on the book's cover). So the cover art might be misleading to someone buying the book who expected Space Age civilization with a Roman flavor. Although, likely, this reviewer would never have bought the book without the attractive rocket-launch artwork on the cover!

Summary

The book Roma Eterna was an interesting read for fans of alternative history, and Roman history enthusiasts too.  Roma Eterna was not science-fiction, despite the space rocket launch shown on the book cover. The novel was less suitable for Silverberg's science fantasy fans — unless they have a wide range of interests. Roma Eterna was entertaining, and to the best of my knowledge, the only alternative-history fiction about a longer-lasting, and different Roman Empire.