For one to rule, the other must die.312 AD is a year of horrific and brutal warfare. Constantine's northern army is a small force, plagued by religious rivalries, but seemingly unstoppable as they invade Maxentius' Italian heartlands. These relentless clashes, incidents of treachery and twists of fortune see Maxentius' armies driven back to Rome.Constantine has his prize in sight, yet his army is diminished and on the verge of revolt. Maxentius meanwhile works to calm a res...

A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION PICK 2026'This is the best book I’ve read this year, hands down' Conn Iggulden'Gordon Doherty has mined the sources, building a convincing and fascinating world … you can almost smell the horseflesh and fermented mare’s milk' The TimesAs Hun hordes and Germanic tribes maraud through Imperial lands, two legendary men – Attila the Hun and the “Last of the Romans”...

Their rivalry will change the world forever.As competition for the imperial throne intensifies, Constantine and Maxentius realise their childhood friendship cannot last. Each man struggles to control their respective quadrant of empire, battered by currents of politics, religion and personal tragedy, threatened by barbarian forces and enemies within. With their positions becoming at once stronger and more troubled, the strained threads of their friendship begin to unravel. Unfortun...

'A great story ... Doherty's writing is evocative, providing richly detailed scenes of life in medieval Byzantium' World History EncyclopediaTragedy broke him. Revenge will remake him.AD 1046. The Byzantine Empire teeters on the brink of full-blown war with the mighty Seljuk Sultanate. The two great powers vie to control Anatolia – a land of strife, riven with bloodshed and doubt.Young Apion's life is shattered one night when his family is ...

When the falcon has flown, the mountain lion will charge from the east, and all Byzantium will quake. Only one man can save the empire . . . the Haga!1046 AD. The Byzantine Empire teeters on full-blown war with the Seljuk Sultanate. In the borderlands of Eastern Anatolia, a land riven with bloodshed and doubt, young Apion's life is shattered in one swift and brutal Seljuk night raid. Only the benevolence of Mansur, a Seljuk farmer, offers him a second chance of happiness.Ye...

Stay strong, Haga, for the Golden Heart will rise in the west. At dawn, he will wear the guise of a lion hunter. At noon, he will march to the east as if to conquer the sun itself. At dusk, you will stand with him in the final battle, like an island in the storm . . .1068 AD: the armies of the Seljuk Sultanate tear at Byzantium's borders, poised to strike the death blow that will bring all Anatolia under their yoke. Alp Arslan's armies grow stronger with every passing season, while...

The storm is upon us, Haga. The answers you seek dance within its wrath . . .1071 AD. Emperor Romanus Diogenes has rekindled the guttering flame of Byzantium. Yet in the eastern borderlands, two vital strongholds hang in the balance. Manzikert and Chliat must be won to secure the empire's fragile frontiers and vanquish the would-be usurpers who covet the imperial throne. But Sultan Alp Arslan and his vast Seljuk armies look to those twin fortress-towns also, resolute on seizing the...

In the 11th century AD, the ailing Byzantine Empire teeters on the brink of full-blown war with the Seljuk Sultanate. In the borderlands of Eastern Anatolia, a land riven with bloodshed and doubt, a dark hero rises from the ashes of the conflict. Apion's journey will be a savage one, taking him from the snakepit of Constantinople to the blistering heart of the Seljuk realm . . . all the time leading him towards the fabled plains of Manzikert.

A clash of empires that will echo for eternity…AD 1071. Emperor Romanus Diogenes has rekindled the guttering flame of Byzantium, and a reinvigorated empire rises to meet the Seljuk threat. In the eastern borderlands, two vital strongholds hang in the balance: Manzikert and Chliat. The Byzantines and Seljuks race to secure the twin fortress-towns.Apion rides by the emperor's side as they march east, marshalling Byzantium's armies for the conflict that is to come. He knows on...

Even in the darkness of war, there is always a flicker of hope.AD 1068. The Seljuk Sultanate tears at Byzantium's borders. Alp Arslan's armies grow stronger with every victory, while the Byzantines forces dwindle, the hope in their hearts guttering its last. All cry out for a new warrior emperor to lead them to salvation.This war has been Apion's mistress for many years now. As Strategos – high general – of the Chaldian border army, he is driven, shrewd and fearless.

The Roman Empire is crumbling, and a shadow looms in the east....376 AD: The Eastern Roman Empire is alone against the tide of barbarians swelling on her borders. Emperor Valens juggles the paltry border defenses to stave off invasion from the Goths north of the Danube. Meanwhile, in Constantinople, a pact between faith and politics spawns a lethal plot that will bring the dark and massive hordes from the east crashing down on these struggling borders. The fates conspire to see Num...

The war at Troy has raged for ten years. Its final throes will echo through eternity…1258 BC: Surrounded and outnumbered by the army of Agamemnon, King Priam and his Trojan forces fight desperately to defend their city. In the lulls between battle, all talk inevitably turns to the mighty ally that has not yet arrived to their aid. Agamemnon will weep for mercy, the Trojans say, when the eastern horizons darken with the endless ranks of the Hittite Empire.King Hattu has endu...