Eagles of the Empire

About the Eagles of the Empire series

Simon Scarrow's Eagles of the Empire novels follow two Roman soldiers of the invasion army that conquers Britain under Emperor Claudius: Macro, a battle-hardened centurion risen from the ranks, and Cato, a clever, reluctant recruit who starts the series as Macro's optio and rises over the books to command legions of his own. Beginning with the invasion of Britain in AD 43, the series follows the pair across the length and breadth of the Roman Empire — Britain, Judea, Egypt, Syria, Spain, Rome itself — through open battle, palace intrigue, rebellion, and the changing whims of a string of emperors from Claudius to Nero.

The appeal is the buddy-soldier dynamic (older, brawnier Macro and younger, sharper Cato balance and needle each other book after book) wrapped around brisk, blood-and-mud battle writing and real 1st-century Roman history and politics. It sits in the same space as Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels — army-life adventure fiction built around a durable friendship between two very different soldiers — but transplanted to the legions of the early Roman Empire rather than Wellington's army.

Scarrow has published a new entry almost every year since 2000, and the series remains active: Tyrant of Rome (2025) is the latest installment, with Macro and Cato's story still ongoing and no announced conclusion.

How to read this series

Read in publication order starting with Under the Eagle (2000) — Scarrow has written the whole series as one continuous, chronological story following Macro and Cato's careers, so publication order and in-story order are the same thing throughout. There are no companion novellas, prequels, or side reads to worry about.

The series is long (24 books and counting) but each novel is a fairly self-contained campaign or mission, so while character relationships and rank progress across the whole run, you're never expected to remember fine plot details from many books back. New entries have arrived almost annually since 2000, and as of the latest release, Tyrant of Rome (2025), the series is still going with no announced ending.