https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Ward_RichardsonThe Publishers' Weekly wrote:The story opens during one of the Emperor Hadrian’s visits to Western Britain in the second century, when that country was a province of the Roman Empire. The festivities of the Circus Britannicus serve to introduce many of the characters, and to give many graphic pictures of contemporary customs. Simeon, “the son of a star,” a Jew, who supposes himself to be of miraculous origin and the Saviour of his people, escapes death in a wonderful manner, in one of the brutal sports of the circus. His remarkable career, the great rebellion of the Jews, the events of Hadrian‘s reign, and those of Boadicea, furnish a succession of brilliant scenes from the history of the time, both in Britain and Rome. There is also a strong story full of a human interest running through the book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Kokhba_revolt
3 Volumes:
https://archive.org/details/sonofstarromance01richa
https://archive.org/details/sonofstarromance02richa
https://archive.org/details/sonofstarromance03rich