And those teenage hangups are hard to beat
I had forgotten the thread in Katherine Kincaid's Beloved Bondage (1993) that now reads like Christian inspirational romance, but then again that is an occupational hazard of narratives set in early imperial Rome. I've seen Ben-Hur (1959), and Quo Vadis (1951), and keep having to double-check about The Robe (1953). Now I want to re-read I, Claudius (1934), which thanks to the exigencies of my current life is in storage when it used to be one of the books I always unpacked first. In tenth grade, the majority of my friend group was reading Mercedes Lackey and I was reading Robert Graves. To each their id.

no subject
They had a lot of chthonic. You'd recognize it. There are even significant trees.
HOLY PANTS, PLEASE TELL ME THERE'S A JUDAH BEN HUR CAMEO
There is tragically not, but there is an important chariot race. The lead horse of the hero's team is Incitatus.