From Publishers Weekly
In Hugo and Nebula winner Silverberg's epic alternative history, as grandly sweeping and imaginative as his celebrated Majipoor Cycle (Lord Valentine's Castle, etc.), the imperial Eternal City (aka Roma) takes 2,000 years to decline but not quite fall. Starting with a scholar's recollection of a failed Hebrew exodus from Egypt centuries earlier, this unusually moving novel depicts 10 crucial historical moments, each centering on the personality of a fictional emperor seen through the eyes of an engaging lesser figure, like an imperial bureaucrat, a luscious and wealthy widow, a brave legionary commander, a conscientious architect, a hunky son of a Celtic chieftain, or even barbarian children who unwittingly bring down the last emperor. Silverberg seamlessly interpolates glimpses of Rome's real history in this handsomely crafted fiction, whether looking back to the ideals of the ancient Republic-duty, honor, country-or inventing a captivating cast of might-have-beens. He unifies his narrative with unusual but convincing historical theory: that Roma's vaunted religious tolerance, in turning the sacred into a mere instrument of governance, had sown the seeds of revolution-a spiritual and intellectual upheaval that here leads the children of Israel to a second and glorious trek to the stars. Guided by the sure hand of an old master, these many roads lead to a fascinating city of multitudinous souls.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Silverberg's magisterial alternate history is likely the coda to his ongoing exploration of a Roman empire that survived in some form to a time contemporary with our world's present. The turning point in his version reflects Gibbon's view that Christianity undermined the later empire, though Silverberg disposes of Christianity long before its this-world birth by preventing the Jews' escape from Egypt. (He also eliminates Muhammad and Islam.) His development includes a good many realistic features, such as fairly constant tension, sometimes erupting in warfare, between Greek and Latin cultures within the empire. He also plays dating games for the historically literate with a calendar reckoned from the founding of the city in our 753 B.C.E. Inevitably, the book reads like a squadron of short stories flying in close formation (in fact, many parts of it have been published as individual short pieces). They are very good stories, though, full of Silverberg's seasoned expertise in historiography, characterization, and world building, and they offer something to satisfy most readers' tastes. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
No power on Earth can resist the might of Imperial Rome, so it has been and so it ever shall be. Through brute force, terror, and sheer indomitable will, her armies have enslaved a world. From the reign of Maximilianus the Great in A.U.C. 1203 onward through the ages -- into a new era of scientific advancement and astounding technologies -- countless upstarts and enemies arise, only to be ground into the dust beneath the merciless Roman bootheels. But one people who suffer and endure throughout the many centuries of oppressive rule dream of the glorious day that is coming -- when the heavens themselves will be opened to them…and the ships they are preparing in secret will carry them on their "Great Exodus" to the stars.
Roma Eterna FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
In Robert Silverberg's alternate history Roma Eterna, Moses failed to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt as written in the Book of Exodus. Since the Jews never made it to Palestine, Jesus of Nazareth didn't exist and Christianity never developed. The Great Roman Empire never fell; in fact, it continued to expand until its glorious decadence spanned the entire world.
Although Silverberg has been writing Roma Eterna stories since the late 1980s, this is the first time that all the short stories and novelettes have been gathered together to form a huge epic history that spans 15 centuries. Much of the book consists of previously unpublished works, however, and will surely surprise and delight even longtime fans of Silverberg's alternate Rome. The beautiful and brutal Empire is seen through the eyes of a diverse group of people throughout its vast history -- from a soldier seeing the New World for the first time to a British aristocrat witnessing firsthand the slaughter of an entire royal bloodline, from a child stumbling across a long-lost emperor living the life of a recluse to a modern-day Hebrew seeking asylum from Roman oppression.
After almost five decades of writing numerous Hugo and Nebula Awardﾽwinning stories, Robert Silverberg still surprises me with his never-ending creativity. With more than 100 novels and countless short stories and novellas to his credit, Silverberg remains one of the sharpest and most ambitious writers in the genre. Roma Eterna is yet another indication that Silverberg has yet to reach the apex of his craft. Paul Goat Allen
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"What if the Empire never crumbled - and the Eternal City reigned supreme for thousands of years?" "No power on Earth can resist the might of Imperial Rome, so has it been and so it ever shall be. Through brute force, terror, and sheer indomitable will, her armies have enslaved a world, crushing all who would oppose her in her divine mission of total domination. From the reign of Maximilianus the Great in A.U.C. 1203 onward, Rome thrives through the myriad bloody intrigues and corrupt sovereignties that would doom a lesser state. Upstarts and enemies arise and fall, ground beneath merciless Roman boot heels; the prophet Mohammad murdered before his influence can take root; the Mayans in Mexico cruelly subjugated by the invading hordes of the Emperor Trajan VII on their first voyage of circumnavigation." "So it is and so it ever shall be - into a new age of scientific advancement and astounding technologies." Throughout the many centuries of Roman rule, one people have suffered and bled...and endured. In the year A.U.C. 2723, at last a faint hope has been born with the advent of a miraculous new industry. For an intrepid band of those who are called Hebrews, the day is coming when the heavens themselves will be opened to them, and escape from Rome's eternal oppression may finally be possible - as the ships are prepared in secret that will carry the enslaved on their "Great Exodus" to the stars.
FROM THE CRITICS
The New York Times
Robert Silverberg has been a major force in science fiction for 50 years. No matter what story he tells, his authorial voice is always recognizable: literate, lucid, calm to the point of detachment, a touch world-weary. In Roma Eterna he has found a subject well suited to his gifts: a what-if history of the world, starting from the premise that the Roman Empire never fell. — Gerald Jonas
Publishers Weekly
In Hugo and Nebula winner Silverberg's epic alternative history, as grandly sweeping and imaginative as his celebrated Majipoor Cycle (Lord Valentine's Castle, etc.), the imperial Eternal City (aka Roma) takes 2,000 years to decline but not quite fall. Starting with a scholar's recollection of a failed Hebrew exodus from Egypt centuries earlier, this unusually moving novel depicts 10 crucial historical moments, each centering on the personality of a fictional emperor seen through the eyes of an engaging lesser figure, like an imperial bureaucrat, a luscious and wealthy widow, a brave legionary commander, a conscientious architect, a hunky son of a Celtic chieftain, or even barbarian children who unwittingly bring down the last emperor. Silverberg seamlessly interpolates glimpses of Rome's real history in this handsomely crafted fiction, whether looking back to the ideals of the ancient Republic-duty, honor, country-or inventing a captivating cast of might-have-beens. He unifies his narrative with unusual but convincing historical theory: that Roma's vaunted religious tolerance, in turning the sacred into a mere instrument of governance, had sown the seeds of revolution-a spiritual and intellectual upheaval that here leads the children of Israel to a second and glorious trek to the stars. Guided by the sure hand of an old master, these many roads lead to a fascinating city of multitudinous souls. (June 4) FYI: Some of the sections were published separately in somewhat different form, starting in 1989. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
From Rome's absorption of the barbarian lands around it to the exploration of the New World and the conquest of the Mayan Empire, Silverberg's latest tale chronicles the rise of the Eternal City to the peak of world rulership. Eleven connected stories (some of which have been published previously in different forms) depict various stages of Roman history, spanning more than 1,500 years and covering periods of civil war, dictatorship, persecution and republic, ending with the desperate attempt of a small band of Hebrews to flee to the stars and gain their freedom. Silverberg's (The Majipoor Chronicles) always elegant storytelling and vast comprehension of history combine in this outstanding work of alternate history that belongs in most libraries Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
From the veteran author/editor (The Longest Way Home, 2002, etc.), a fix-up consisting of ten stories, 1989-2003, some of which have appeared before in somewhat different form, whose premise is a highly familiar one: What if the Roman Empire never fell? Silverberg's crucial divergence point is the Exodus: here, Moses failed, the Hebrews were re-enslaved, Israel never arose, neither did Christianity, and still-pagan Rome defeated its barbarian foes. By the equivalent of a.d. 450, the Eastern Empire under Justinianus at Constantinople is strong, while the Western Empire is weak and again beset by barbarians. Silverberg replays the stock Shakespearean tale of Falstaff and Prince Hal: suddenly, both the emperor and his heir die, the once-dissolute Prince Maximilianus spurns Faustus, his old companion-in-iniquity, and assumes Caesar's mantle. Less than a century later, Corbulo, exiled to Mecca for offending Caesar, arranges the assassination of the prophet Mohammed. In other episodes, the Mayans rebuff an attempted Roman invasion; the Byzantine Empire attacks and defeats Rome-temporarily; a Roman emperor recapitulates a brutal Spanish voyage of conquest across the Pacific; mad emperors come and go, threatening but never quite toppling the Imperium, as do wars of secession and reunion. Finally, the Republic is bloodily restored, but Rome continues; and a small band of militant Jews attempts to build a starship and found an Israel far off in space. Works better as individual stories, where Silverberg can bring his scholarship to bear, than as a quasi-novel whose overall justification grows steadily more improbable.
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