Panem & Circenses gathers thirty novels that imagine ancient Rome as spectacle, polity, battlefield, and moral laboratory. Spanning imperial intrigue, Christian persecution, military adventure, romance, archaeological reconstruction, and philosophical historical fiction, the volume displays the broad stylistic repertoire through which modern writers have revived classical antiquity. Its standout settings-from crowded arenas and imperial courts to provincial frontiers and early Christian communities-reveal Rome not as a static monument but as a contested social world. The contributors, drawn largely from nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British, American, French, German, Polish, and Italian literary cultures, represent the international flowering of the historical novel. Their varied approaches combine Victorian didacticism, Romantic color, realist observation, antiquarian scholarship, popular adventure, and fin-de-siècle aestheticism. Collectively, these voices register how Rome became a privileged imaginative site for debating empire, faith, citizenship, decadence, violence, and historical change in the modern age. This anthology is especially rewarding for readers seeking a capacious introduction to the literary afterlives of Rome. It offers the educational pleasure of comparing national traditions and narrative modes within one volume, while inviting reflection on how each novel transforms the ancient past for its own moment. Panem & Circenses fosters a rich dialogue between spectacle and conscience, historical evidence and invention, making it valuable for students, enthusiasts, and scholars alike.