If you love all things Ancient Rome, and are simultaneously drawn to the historical account of the birth of Christianity, The Chiron Confession, by Thomas Greanias, is for you. The reader is brought into this dangerous time period of double dealing, political machinations, and the rise of an outcast Church. Filled with meticulously researched historical information, this book allows you to experience the tumult and excitement that was Rome during the time of the Flavians.
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In the aftermath of Jesus’ execution a sect called Dominium Dei (Rule of God) has arisen to fill in the void left behind in the first church. Lead by the mysterious Chiron, the order is dedicated to establishing Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. The problem is, Rome already has a religion, Cesar. He has declared himself Lord and God of the empire and there is no room for any other gods.

Athanasius is a playwright, known to be an atheist, who pushes the envelope of what is acceptable in society. He somehow finds himself accused of being Chiron and is launched smack dab into the middle of one of the greatest conspiracies of his age.

This was a fast-paced, page turner that I finished in about a day. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the other two books in the trilogy.

Four Stars.

Who is the puppet and who is the puppeteer?? In the days of the Emperor Domitian of Rome, Caesar stands opposed to the Dominium Dei, a secret organization which some claim is a sect of Christianity. Others claim it is a murderous anti-Roman cult bent on fulfilling the prophecy given at Caesar's birth: Caesar will die at 9am on September 18. A famous playwright who seemed to be enjoying the favor of the people and of Caesar, Athanasius is wrongly accused of being the general of this secret organization, a leader mysteriously referred to only as Chiron. Athanasius knows this to be false. He is not Chiron, but he has already fallen out of favor with the Domitian and been sentenced to death in the arena. However, he is given a chance to escape his fated final trip, and he seizes the opportunity to save his own neck and to hunt down the leaders of the Dominium Dei. Who those leaders are, Athanasius does not know. Are they Christians? Are they an anti-Roman cult? Or are they, as his rescuer claimed, an imperial organization deeply rooted in Rome's highest positions of power? Whomever this Chiron is, he must die. In Athanasius' eyes, no other way exists to save his own life and the life of his beloved, Helena. Following a set of clues laid out by his rescuer, Athanasius embarks on a journey that lead him to many answers.... only some of which are those he desperately seeks.

Based on historical facts, The Chiron Confession, is rich in the tapestry of the time, breathing life into some very interesting historical happenings. Murder, mayhem, and betrayal seem to surround Athanasius as he travels across the Roman world of that time, bent on fulfilling his agenda and ending the life of Caesar. The author has brought to life the culture of the times and mixed in a healthy dose of mystery and danger. I feel as though I traveled beside him. Every step Athanasius makes seems to be fraught with danger from which he barely escapes. Only in the end, he is able to confront the one whom he so dearly seeks, but will he truly fulfill his mission??

This was a great read!! The author weaves Roman history and culture from the time together with the history and writings of early Christianity. The writing is intelligent, knowledgeable, and highly intriguing. I highly recommend this novel!

Note: I would recommend this novel for mature readers because of the death and murder contained within.

An electronic copy of this book was provided through Net Galley by Atlantis Ink for review. All opinions contained above are my own.

It was a thrilling novel that makes you think that your back in ancient Rome. Even to the point that you can smell Rome

The Chiron Confession, though taken from historical events in the Roman Empire of the 1st century, has all the intrigue and action of a modern spy thriller. Domitian is the Roman Emperor, but his crazed paranoia has driven him to execute both friend and foe alike in the Arena, in an effort to head off imagined conspiracies against him.

The story follows the atheist playwright Athanasius, who has been falsely identified as Chiron, the head of an organization of zealots who threaten the Empire. Now Athanasius is on the run, caught between the Roman Empire, the renegade Rule of God group he is accused of being a part of, and the growing 1st century Christian church. There is a bounty on his head, and there are moles and traitors in every group trying to kill him. All Athanasius wanted was to settle down with his wife Helena to a quiet life, but now he must use every trick he knows to stay alive and prove his innocence.

This story is peppered with famous characters from history, such as Emperor Domitian, Pliny the Younger, the Apostle John, Athanasius, and others. Author Thomas Greanias skillfully transports the reader to a brilliantly imagined Roman Empire. There is a palpable sense of dread as danger dogs Athanasius' every step. In lesser hands, historical material can be tough reading, but the religious, economic and social elements are deftly woven into a believable, cohesive story that has both intellectual and emotional depth, as well as being a breakneck speed thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Chiron Confessions is a fast-moving – sometimes too fast-moving historical novel with nonstop action. I enjoyed reading it, but I don’t think it is the best historical fiction I’ve ever read.

During the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, the emperor stands opposed to the Dominium Dei, a secret organization which according to some is a sect of Christianity. Others, however, claim that it is an anti-Roman cult bent on fulfilling the prophecy given at Domitian’s birth: he will die at 9am on September 18. Athanasius, a famous playwright, is wrongly accused of being the leader of this secret organization, a leader referred to as Chiron. Athanasius knows this to be false, but he has already fallen out of favor with Domitian and is sentenced to death in the arena. However, he is given the chance to escape, and he seizes the opportunity to hunt down the leaders of the Dominium Dei. Following a set of clues, Athanasius sets out on a journey that leads him to many answers.

This story is based on historical facts. There was a Roman emperor Domitian, whose life and death were recorded by the historian Suetonius. Domitian died at exactly 9 o’clock in the morning on September 18th in 96 AD, just as the astrologers predicted and is described by Suetonius. Suetonius mentions also other historical people who feature in the book, such as Clement, Pliny the Younger, Nerva, Trajan, and John the Apostle.

I did consider abandoning the book during the first 15% to 20% as the storyline was not very clear and the characters were very one-dimensional, especially the women (Helena and Gabriella). Sometimes the narrative is a little bit simplistic. Or perhaps it is the correct description of the life of Athanasius who is full with anger and revenge?

I would recommend the book.

The Chiron Confession is a suspenseful read, full of action with a character you will strongly root for. It shows the author's richness of historical knowledge, entangling true story with fiction.

This conspiracy thriller reminded me a bit of the Bourne Identity - it is hard to know who to trust (the answer seems to be nobody), and there is a lot of traveling in order to find the truth. I especially liked the first part, as the characters were set up and Athanasius was framed. I also really like the setting in ancient Rome - it was interesting to see the different factions, especially the Romans and the Christians, interact. I also had never thought about the Book of Revelation and the impact it might have on the people at the time it was written.

The one thing I struggled with was the sheer number of characters - there were so many names (and many of them very similar), and for me that was hard to keep track of. I'm sure I lost some of the plot twists because I couldn't figure out who it was. However, I suspect many readers won't have the same issue, it was just difficult thing for me.

My thanks to Netgalley for the review copy!

The book was an easy and often funny read. Gems such as the one above made it funny and interesting. I do not know much about Roman history, to be honest, just what is taught in schools. However, Dominian sounded extremely realistic, a man obsessed with his fate, his foretold death.

In the end, Athanasius becomes what he always denied he was. He is the cause of everything that has happened, he is what he was accused of being. He became Chiron. And that we know already from the prologue, when he tells us about his previous life.

There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those yet to come will be forgotten by those who follow them. Even so I am writing this confession.

To be honest, this was the sentence that convinced me to read the book. It is interesting, intriguing, and above all, very realistic.

This was a nice book to read and relax while reading, as well as getting to know a bit of history and getting some intrigue and conspiracy theory itch scratched.

If you need cheering up after reading the newspaper these days, this is the book for you. As many problems as we face today, it looks pretty good compared with the Roman Empire around 100 AD. At least we don't have a popular pastime of watching people be torn apart by wild animals and our leaders aren't killing each other and their own family members willy nilly. It's hard to believe that these kinds of things actually happened, but the author based this on historical fact.
An adventure story with plenty of action, this is a fun read. There is intrigue among various groups: the Emperor and his cronies, vying for power, the early Christian church, outlawed at this time, and a shadowy underground organization with mysterious goals.
The hero is a flawed but well meaning playwright who goes too far in satirizing the government, angers the emperor, and lands in jail, waiting to be executed in a horrific way. He escapes from prison and sets off to change the course of Roman history. He travels from Rome to Ephesus, Corinth, and other parts of the eastern Empire, evading capture by the Roman authorities and investigating the shadowy group known as Dominium Dei.
Characters are well developed and complex. A floating bordello provides sanctuary and transportation for him at times. He meets John, the last of the disciples of Jesus, who is imprisoned on the island of Patmos, and receives secret encrypted instructions for leaders of the church in hiding. There are lots of clever twists to surprise you. I was fascinated with descriptions of life in the Roman Empire at that time. At times, I was a little hazy about what was happening, possibly because I had to pick up and put down the book several times before finishing. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it and I think you will too.

I'm a history nerd. I've always been a history nerd. The Romans have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. So when I read the description of this book I was instantly intrigued. Romans? Super secret religious cults? Conspiracies? Yes please!

Unfortunately, the execution of the conspiracy itself fell a little flat for me. The Dominium Dei.... are supposed to be a Christian religious order going to war with the Roman empire/caesar. Then they are suspected to be an imperial organization, (I think) framing Christians for the murder of Roman officials so that Caesar can keep the Christian church out of Rome. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say the final conclusion given is very foggy. Ninety nine percent of the time, the Dominium Dei don't even know what or who the Dominium Dei are outside of a tattoo under the arm pit and a symbol engraved on a ring. Everyone the protagonist meets is just following the orders of the next Dominium Dei. Then when their goal has been accomplished or they have been discovered... they commit suicide by sucking poison out of a ring on their finger or asking a co-conspirator to shoot an arrow or stab a dagger in their back. I'm sorry, but how does a super secret organization, one so secret no one even knows the identity of their own leader, the Chiron, continue to survive when they are all committing suicide and limited to the one or two contacts they know? I absolutely love this idea, I just didn't see how it could ever have worked.

Additionally, no matter where the protagonist goes, the Roman Legionnaires are always there first and hunting him. I'm a little baffled about how, in a world without telephones and the internet, they were able to track Athanasius so quickly from island to island and city to city. So for these and the above reasons, the believability factor is where I felt this book mostly went wrong.

That said, there were a lot of good things about this book too. The author painted an excellent picture of ancient Rome/Greece. We see the coliseum, statues of gods and goddesses, sewers, bathhouses, villas, an island prison, a floating pleasure palace, a vineyard, and an underground Christian city. The setting was awesome and felt very authentic. The plot was full of action and very fast paced, which keeps the reader turning the page.

The characters were written well enough. I think the Emperor, Domitian was portrayed best of all. He is everything a Roman Emperor presiding over a reign of terror should be: a delusional, paranoid, murdering, self-loving, self-preserving, rapist. The protagonist, Athanasius, is a reluctant hero and a self proclaimed atheist. He definitely develops and changes through out the story and his arc was interesting to follow. (On a side note: I loved that the author attributed the faces of most statues to Helena and I wonder if there is any truth in the idea that one or only a few models acted as the muse for many artists.)

There was a lot of Christian history intertwined with the Roman history, and admittedly, I found some of it confusing to follow, but all very fascinating. I don't want to spoil anything, but based on the conclusion as to the real identity of the Dominium Dei, I have to wonder how much of modern Christian ritual might actually have been influenced by this group or government/commerce in general? Although I do have some hesitations about the convoluted plot, I think Greanias gives the reader a lot to think about in this regard, and I'd definitely be interested to read more about the Dominium Dei in the future.

I'd recommend this to conspiracy theorists and anyone interested in the origins of Christianity. Thank you to Atlantis Ink and Net Galley for providing an ARC!