History Literature / Romanitas

''Romanitas'' is a trilogy of AlternateHistory novels written by Sophia [=McDougall=]. The books are set in a world where UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire still exists in the present day and rules over a large chunk of the world. In this timeline, history deviates in the second century C.E., when the Emperor Pertinax survives the assassination attempt made on his life.

In the present time, the empire is ruled over by the Novian dynasty, and the narrative follows Marcus Novius Faustus Leo, the heir presumptive to the throne who has just lost his parents in a suspiscious car accident. Meanwhile in London, recently escaped slavegirl Una is setting about rescuing her brother Sulien from crucifixion...

* GodEmperor: Roman emperors are still deified posthumously.

* MissingMom: Una and Sulien's mother sells them both into slavery before the events of ''Romanitas''. Neither has seen her since.

** Marcus loses both his parents in a suspiscious car accident and is then forced to go on the run when he becomes a target for the same conspirators who orchestrated the car crash. Then when he manages to get back to Rome to tell the emperor the truth about his parents' death, he is drugged and thrown into a mental hospital by the conspirators in an attempt to silence him for good. He spends most of ''Rome Burning'' trying to stop Drusus' attempts to oust him from his position as regent and heir apparent, and has to give up his relationship with Una to [[ArrangedMarriage marry Noriko]] in order to secure peace between Rome and Nionia. [[spoiler:And to top it all off, he's mortally wounded in the SuicideAttack on the Colosseum and succumbs to his injuries just moments after being sworn in as emperor.]]

* ShortLivedLeadership: [[spoiler: Marcus. By which we mean ''very'' short.]]

* AlternateHistory: The books are set in a world where TheRomanEmpire never ended. Rome rules over all of Europe, the Middle East, South America and the north half of Africa. The [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Nionian]] Empire rules most of East Asia and Oceania and shares North America with Rome. And the [[UsefulNotes/{{China}} Sinoan]] Empire covers most of central Asia. The south half of Africa comprises separate states unified under the banner of Independent Africa.

* Myth/ClassicalMythology: The Roman pantheon of gods is still worshipped across the empire, and also equated with gods in other nations. Most notably, Venus Genetrix is stated to be the Roman equivalent of the Japanese goddess Amaterasu.

* AlternateHistory: The books are set in a world where TheRomanEmpire never ended. Rome rules over all of Europe, the Middle East, South America and the north half of Africa. The [[ImperialJapan Nionian]] Empire rules most of East Asia and Oceania and shares North America with Rome. And the [[UsefulNotes/{{China}} Sinoan]] Empire covers most of central Asia. The south half of Africa comprises separate states unified under the banner of Independent Africa.

''Romanitas'' is a trilogy of AlternateHistory novels written by Sophia [=McDougall=]. The books are set in a world where TheRomanEmpire still exists in the present day and rules over a large chunk of the world. In this timeline, history deviates in the second century C.E., when the Emperor Pertinax survives the assassination attempt made on his life.

* AlternateHistory: The books are set in a world where TheRomanEmpire never ended. Rome rules over all of Europe, the Middle East, South America and the north half of Africa. The [[ImperialJapan Nionian]] Empire rules most of East Asia and Oceania and shares North America with Rome. And the [[{{China}} Sinoan]] Empire covers most of central Asia. The south half of Africa comprises separate states unified under the banner of Independent Africa.

* ClassicalMythology: The Roman pantheon of gods is still worshipped across the empire, and also equated with gods in other nations. Most notably, Venus Genetrix is stated to be the Roman equivalent of the Japanese goddess Amaterasu.