Valerio Massimo Manfredi Books in Order

An archaeologist follows the trail of the Palladium, the sacred image of Athena, from Turkey to the Tyrrhenian coast. Old curses, hidden enemies, and a very old mystery turn the search into a dangerous chase.

This opening Alexander novel follows the young prince from his uneasy family life in Macedon to the edge of his first campaign. Philip, Olympias, Aristotle, and his closest companions all help shape the conqueror he will become.

As Alexander marches through Babylon, Persepolis, and toward India, conquest starts to look very different from victory. Power, obsession, love, and exhaustion close in around him in the trilogy's final volume.

Alexander drives deeper into the Persian world, taking fortresses, facing Darius, and pushing on to Egypt. The victories are huge, but so are the risks, and the oracle at Ammon changes how he sees his destiny.

Two brothers are split apart by Spartan law, one raised as a warrior, the other among helots. Their lives cross again against the backdrop of the Persian Wars, where family, class, and loyalty all collide.

As the Western Roman Empire collapses, a band of loyal soldiers sets out to rescue the boy emperor Romulus Augustus. Their escape across a broken world blends hard military action with the birth of a new legend.

In war-torn Sicily, the young Dionysius of Syracuse rises through violence, ambition, and political nerve. Manfredi turns his long struggle with Carthage into a tense portrait of power, genius, and ruthlessness.

Also published as The Talisman of Troy, this novel follows Diomedes after the fall of Troy. Hunted by enemies and bad luck, he sails toward Italy carrying a sacred object that could shape the fate of nations.

Diomedes survives Troy only to find danger waiting at home. Forced west toward Hesperia, he carries a powerful idol of Athena and stumbles into the violent birth of a new world.

An archaeologist uncovers a golden vase that hints at a lost second Odyssey, then dies in terror. Years later, murders in Athens force the living to face an ancient prophecy that never really went away.

Captured after a Roman defeat in the East, Marcus Metellus Aquila escapes slavery with a handful of soldiers. Their fight for survival turns into a vast journey across Asia toward a distant prince's homeland.

Three men cross the Sahara to investigate a tower linked to a Roman survivor's nightmare from AD 70. Archaeology, revenge, and faith meet around a mystery that may be older, and darker, than any of them expect.

In 401 BC, a vast force of Greek mercenaries marches deep into Persian territory on a mission few truly understand. Told through Abira, a young woman who follows Xeno, the story turns retreat into epic survival.

This story collection moves from vanished ancient masterpieces and Roman mysteries to medieval missions and a troubled future Rome. Each tale mixes history, myth, danger, and the thrill of uncovering something hidden.

Egyptologist William Blake is called to examine a strange tomb whose secret reaches back to the fall of Jerusalem. Ancient faith, buried treasure, and modern Middle Eastern politics collide in a tense archaeological thriller.

This novel rebuilds the last days of Julius Caesar almost hour by hour, from ominous prophecies to the knives in the Senate. It is a tight political thriller about conspiracy, loyalty, and a turning point in Roman history.

Young archaeologist Fabrizio Castellani uncovers something deeply wrong inside an Etruscan statue, and Volterra soon erupts in violent death. The mystery links modern killings to a buried past that refuses to stay buried.

The Bruni family works the land in the Emilian plain while wars, fascism, and loss reshape their lives. It is a broad family saga, rich with winter storytelling, local belief, hard work, and the slow break-up of an older world.

Odysseus grows up on rocky Ithaca, learns what kind of man he wants to be, and is pulled into the web of Greek kings and rivalries. This first volume takes him from youth to the fall of Troy.

This short historical tale retells the wedding at Cana through the eyes of the innkeeper. An ordinary man, worried about work and survival, finds himself standing beside a miracle he can barely understand.

With Troy destroyed, Odysseus turns for home and finds monsters, enchantresses, storms, and grief waiting at sea. The second volume follows the long, brutal voyage back to Ithaca and the family he refuses to forget.

Taken to Rome as hostages, the Germanic brothers Armin and Wulf are remade as imperial soldiers. Their divided loyalties drive this novel toward the betrayal and slaughter of Teutoburg Forest.