The Roman

The Roman is the last of Mika Waltari's big historical novels. It's a sequel to The Secrets of the Kingdom. Both take place during the birth of Christianity, in and around Rome. The Roman follows Minutus who is the son of the previous novel's protagonist Marcus.

The translated English title for The Roman comes from the novel's first part (Minutus roomalainen) while in Finnish it's named after the second, Ihmiskunnan viholliset ('Mankind's enemies'). The latter is referring to Christians that Emperor Nero declares as enemies of the state, and maybe Jewish people as well when they later start revolting.

At times I found the novel rather dry, describing events and people almost like a history book. There are numerous characters which -- while not impossible to keep track of -- tend to mix together.

Minutus himself isn't the most likable character either. He doesn't seem to have a goal in mind most of the time and kind of goes where others tell him to. He isn't proactive -- a trait a good protagonist needs. Minutus manages to get by, even strive among the scheming, game-of-thrones-playing Romans but you get the impression he's not the smartest man. He's especially vulnerable to deceitful women he meets everywhere.

I think unusually to Waltari's protagonists, Minutus isn't pious. He doesn't care for Roman gods. Judaism and Christianity he finds only to be causes of trouble with the constant infighting of the religions' practitioners. He tries to avoid them whenever possible but isn't very successful at it and gets into all manner of trouble thanks to them.

A curious detail in the novel is how for the longest time Minutus is just a first person storyteller that maybe sometimes refers to yet-to-happen events as is usual to Waltari's style. Then, out of nowhere Minutus directly addresses the reader who he assumes to be his son Julius. The Roman was, after all, the protagonist writing down his life like The Egyptian and The Etruscan. I liked that Waltari dropped it as a little surprise this time.