The Sunday Times bestseller! It is AD 25. Pirate ships strike terror in the hearts of those who brave the seas of the Roman Empire. When young Telemachus joins the crew of the merchant ship Selene, he's delighted to escape the rough streets of Piraeus. He knows little of the dangers of life at sea. And even past hardship has not prepared him for the terror on board when a pirate ship appears . . . The fight is bloody, but the result is never in doubt. Then the victorious pirate chief, Bulla, offers the beaten men a cruel choice: join us, or die. After surviving a brutal initiation rite, Telemachus impresses his new captain with his resourcefulness and strength, and swiftly rises through the pirate ranks. But dangerous rivals talk of mutiny and murder. While Prefect Canis, notorious commander of the imperial fleet, is relentless in his pursuit of the pirate brotherhood. Could Telemachus be the man to lead the pirates and challenge Rome? PIRATA is also available in five ebook novella parts. What readers are saying about PIRATA 'I strongly recommend you read this' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars 'A great gripping read' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars 'Fast-paced and exiting throughout' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars

"It is AD 25. Pirate ships strike terror in the hearts of tose who brave the seas of the Roman Empire ... When young Telemachus gets the chance to join the crew of the merchant ship Selene, he's delighted to escape the rough streets of Piraeus. He knows little of the storms and other dangers that have sent countless men to a watery grave. And even past hardship has not prepared him for the terror on board when a pirate ship appears on the horizon ... The fight is bloody, but the result is never in doubt. Then the victorious pirate chief, Bulla, Offers the beaten men a cruel choice: join us or die. After surviving a brutal initiation rite, Telemachus impresses his new captain with his resourcefulness and strength, and swiftly rises through the pirate ranks. But dangerous rivals talk of mutiny and murder. And Telemachus is chillingly aware that the future of the brotherhood of pirates is bleak. Prefect Canis, notorious commander of the imperial fleet at Ravenna, has sworn to clear the Adriaticum of pirates. Who would dare to challenge Rome's growing supremacy? A man, perhaps, with an overriding goal: to free his older brother from slavery. A man like Telemachus ..."--Publisher website

The enthralling first ebook novella in the brand new Roman pirate series by Sunday Times bestselling authors Simon Scarrow and T. J. Andrews. It is AD 25. The Roman Empire stretches from Hispania in the west to Armenia in the east, Merchantmen roam the seas, transporting people, livestock and all manner of goods. And where there are merchant ships, there will be pirates ... On a blustery night in the rough port of Piraeus, Captain Clemestes staggers drunkenly through the dark streets as he heads for his ship, Selene. When he becomes aware of the sinister figures following him, he fears the worst, for life is cheap in this den of thieves and cutthroats. Then a man bursts from the shadows and by brute force drives the attackers away. Clemestes is astounded to find that he has been saved not by a powerful soldier, or a fellow sailor, but by a half-starved youth, compelled to come to the aid of a stranger, in the face of impossible odds. The youth is Telemachus, an orphan with a story that is both commonplace and tragic. When the kind-hearted Clemestes suggests he joins Selene's crew, Telemachus sees no reason to refuse. But little does he know of the dangers of his new world. There's no running away once a ship is at sea - and when a pirate fleet appears on the horizon, Telemachus's troubles have just begun ... Episode one in the PIRATA ebook novella series.

INVADER is a Sunday Times bestseller from Simon Scarrow (author of the bestsellers BRITANNIA and CENTURION) and T. J. Andrews, co-author of the bestselling INVADER. Featuring the Roman army officer Figulus in first-century Britannia, INVADER is not to be missed by readers of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell. Roman Britain, AD 44. The land is far from tamed. A puppet king is doing little to calm the hatred of the native tribes. Fighting is in Optio Horatius Figulus' blood. His Celtic ancestry gives him the toughness essential for survival. That toughness will be tested to the very limit when he is sent on a mission deep in hostile territory. And Figulus knows that, even utterly crushed in battle, their warriors routed and the Druids driven from their hill forts, the tribesmen of Britannia will sooner die than surrender. Figulus fought alongside Macro and Cato in Simon Scarrow's bestselling Eagles of the Empire series. In INVADER, he stands alone. INVADER has previously been published in five separate ebook novellas.

In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world. In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date–a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, “The King of Evil,” the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria. This struggle’s brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto–one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away “because of the countless corpses floating in the sea.” Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today. Roger Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality, technology and Inca gold. Empires of the Sea is page-turning narrative history at its best–a story of extraordinary color and incident, rich in detail, full of surprises, and backed by a wealth of eyewitness accounts. It provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.

"The finest writer of sea-stories in the English language."--J. de Courcy Ireland

This study of ancient Roman shipping and trade across continents reveals the Roman Empire’s far-reaching impact in the ancient world. In ancient times, large fleets of Roman merchant ships set sail from Egypt on voyages across the Indian Ocean. They sailed from Roman ports on the Red Sea to distant kingdoms on the east coast of Africa and southern Arabia. Many continued their voyages across the ocean to trade with the rich kingdoms of ancient India. Along these routes, the Roman Empire traded bullion for valuable goods, including exotic African products, Arabian incense, and eastern spices. This book examines Roman commerce with Indian kingdoms from the Indus region to the Tamil lands. It investigates contacts between the Roman Empire and powerful African kingdoms, including the Nilotic regime that ruled Meroe and the rising Axumite Realm. Further chapters explore Roman dealings with the Arab kingdoms of southern Arabia, including the Saba-Himyarites and the Hadramaut Regime, which sent caravans along the incense trail to the ancient rock-carved city of Petra. The first book to bring these subjects together in a single comprehensive study, The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean reveals Rome’s impact on the ancient world and explains how international trade funded the legions that maintained imperial rule.