(This may seem a little non-book related, but I swear this is relevant.)

Personally I’d have to say my favourite period in history to study is ancient Egypt.  Compared to Western culture their civilization was so alien so I suppose there’s the whole exotic factor.  Yet at the same time I admire their determination as a culture to survive.  How many other civilizations pretty much collapse twice and come back stronger than ever?  That’s pretty admirable.  And there were so many interesting people to study.  Nefertiti, Nefertari, Ramses II, Kamose, etc.

At the same time, I absolutely love ancient Rome thanks to Mike Duncan’s awesome podcast The History of Rome.  There are much more reliable written records for Roman history than there are for much of ancient Egyptian history and I feel like I know the historical figures on a much deeper level.  Of course there’s the fact that I love studying ancient battle tactics and the Romans were always fighting someone.

As you guys have probably noticed, these periods in history are the ones I read about most frequently in historical fiction.  Coincidence?  Of course not.

So what I want to know is: What’s your favourite period in history?  Why?  Do you intentionally seek out historical fiction set in that period?