Threshold of fire : a novel of fifth century Rome / Hella Haasse ; translated by Anita Miller and Nini Blinstrub.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haasse, Hella S., 1918-2011.

Standardized Title:

Nieuwer testament. English

Language:

Dutch

English

Subjects (All):

Rome--History--Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D--Fiction.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

History.

Genre:

Fiction.

Physical Description:

255 pages ; 19 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Chicago, IL : Academy Chicago Publishers, 1993.

Summary:

In this vivid, dynamic novel, Hella Haasse has once more brought the past to life. This time she has chosen to illuminate a crucial, yet relatively obscure, period of history: it is 414 A.D. and the once-powerful Roman Empire is in its death throes -- split between East and West, menaced by barbarian hordes almost literally at its gates. The Emperor Honorius, an incompetent weakling, cowers in the marsh-bound city of Ravenna, where he has moved the government; he rarely "makes entry" into Rome.

This is the brilliant canvas against which the characters in this drama interact. There is the Prefect Hadrian, a powerful official and fanatical Christian convert; there is Marcus Anicius, the pagan aristocrat who is clinging to a dying past, and there is the Jew Eliezar ben Elijah, hemmed in by his own traditions and burdened by his dark vision of the future. There is the intrigue and uncertainty of life at Honorius's court, and there are the streets and tenements of Rome, pulsating with life and with corruption.

ISBN:

089733390X

OCLC:

28292472