Retro Review: The Far Arena by Richard Ben Sapir

 An oil exploration expedition finds a man’s body frozen in the ice. He is a top Roman gladiator who got into trouble with Emperor Domitian and was sentenced to death, but not just to be thrown to the lions. His death was to be by drowning in the freezing cold “German Sea”. Escorted there by a squad of soldiers, he made friends with the leader and was offered the chance to make it quick with poison. 

Two thousand years later, he is still alive, with the poison having acted as a preservative for his cells, while not having had time to kill him. At first, he doesn’t believe he has travelled in time; a view of a plane flying overhead finally convinces him that he is a very long way from home, never to see family or friends again.

A nun who is an expert in ancient Latin, as opposed to Church Latin, becomes his interpreter and companion. Of course, she wants to know about the Christianity of his time. And did he meet anyone famous? It turns out he did. He wasn’t a Christian, but his wife was. To make her happy, he paid a Christian priest a small fee to marry them, some guy called Peter... Nobody special. 

It’s a touching, beautiful story, one I loved when I first read it, and still do. I loved the idea of the man out of time, so very far from home. The character was one I cared about, as he dealt with it all, and the nun had her own issues to deal with as they worked together.

There was even a bit of humour, as he figures out how to use modern ingredients on his breakfast table to make something that tastes at least vaguely like garum, that disgusting Roman fish sauce that they put on absolutely everything. 

This novel seems to be out of print in physical editions, but is easily available in ebook and audiobook. You can buy it either in Apple Books or Kindle. 

I do recommend it!