Marcus Didius Falco
| Marcus Didius Falco | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Silver Pigs (1989) |
| Last appearance | Nemesis (2010) |
| Created by | Lindsey Davis |
| Portrayed by |
|
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Private informer |
| Spouse(s) | Helena Justina |
| Nationality | Roman |
Marcus Didius Falco is the fictional central character and narrator in a series of historical mystery crime novels by Lindsey Davis. Using the concepts of modern detective stories (with Falco as the private investigator, roughly translated into the classical world as a delator or "private informer"), the novels portray the world of the Roman Empire under Vespasian. The tone is arch and satirical, but the historical setting is largely accurate.
Falco was born on 20 or 21 March 41 AD to Marcus Didius Favonius and Junilla Tacita. His father is a somewhat shady auctioneer, and his family is of Plebeian rank, but Falco himself eventually achieves Equestrian rank.
While Falco is still young, his father leaves his mother and the family home to live with another woman, changing his agnomen (a form of nickname) from Favonius to "Geminus". When Falco's elder brother Festus is killed, Falco becomes head of the family and in the position of responsibility his father has abdicated.
Falco joins the Roman Army and serves in the Second Augusta legion in Britain during the Boudiccan Revolt. (The Silver Pigs.) Some time after that he manages to get himself "invalided out" with a relatively minor wound in AD 60. Festus had served in the legio XV Apollinaris and was posthumously awarded the mural crown after he was killed in 68 AD on active service during the First Jewish-Roman War in Judaea.
Falco and his father are forced to an uneasy accommodation in the course of Poseidon's Gold and see one another on occasions thereafter, but Falco's sympathies remain with his mother.
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