Tue, May 8, 2007
AD 79:- In the Roman port of Ostia Flavia Gemina, daughter of a prosperous citizen, meets Jonathan, her Jewish next door neighbour. Later Flavia buys a personal slave, an African girl whom she calls Nubia and the trio travel to the outskirts of Pompeii to stay with Flavia's uncle Gaius, discovering a mute boy, Lupus, has stowed away on board the ship. They rescue Pliny the Elder, the Roman writer and naturalist from drowning, but, during the Feast of Vulcan, it becomes apparent to Flavia that the volcanic mountain Vesuvius is about to erupt and, although she and her friends escape, Pliny is killed on a rescue mission to save those living at the foot of the mountain.
Tue, Jul 3, 2007
In the confusion following Vesuvius's eruption children appear to be missing and a girl called Julia asks Flavia to help find her brother, whom she believes has been kidnapped by slavers. Flavia suspects local patron Felix of being behind the abductions and goes, with her group, to his house, where she is shocked at the cruel treatment Felix's daughter Pulchra gives her slave. After Pulchra has beaten her too Nubia escapes with Kuanto, a runaway slave but soon Flavia and her friends have been captured by pirates. Only Lupus escapes and runs back for Felix to help. Felix is innocent and sends out a rescue party by which time Jonathan, using a potion of his doctor father's, has caused the pirates to hallucinate.
Tue, Jul 15, 2008
Ostia is puzzled by the arrival of an abandoned ship. Lupus finds inside a scared, wounded sailor, which armed men take 'back' by force from Mordechai's care. Caudex's claim to have seen a 'Stymphalian (hellish) bird' in the woods is disregarded until poet Aristo faces a lion there. Flavia, however, is only interested in the mystery of her father Marcus's lover Cautilia, strangely finding clues fitting a fresco on Hercules' trials. She abuses her election as fool's king in the Saturnalia to take the gang snooping in the widow's past and accuses her of using a love-potion and poisoning her late husband. Her father answers that he'll punish her by making her marry. The 'ghost ship' was abandoned after its live games cargo escaped. Lupus discovers its captain is Cautilia's 'dead' husband Poplicolus. The last clues prove dangerous as they meet the escaped cargo.
Tue, Jul 31, 2007
Flavia's father has been ruined by the eruption of Vesuvius and, as the bankers come to repossess the villa, she and her friends go to Laurentum to stay with Pliny's young nephew, also called Pliny. He tells them that there is supposed to be a fabulous treasure buried just off the coast and Lupus becomes obsessed with diving to find it, especially as he sees the dolphins as good omen. However he almost dies after an octopus attack and is revived by Jonathan. Venalicius, the pirate leader, is also after the treasure and Lupus reveals that the man is his uncle, who betrayed the family. However Venalicius is killed by the octopus, bequeathing everything he has to Lupus and, whilst the treasure is never found. Flavia saves the family's fortunes by selling a valuable ornament.
Tue, Aug 12, 2008
Flavia's tutor, the Greek Aristo, needs to return to his home town of Corinth but Flavia's father, Marcus, disallows it. Later Marcus is found stabbed with Aristo leaning over him. Aristo flees to the hills and Flavia, Nubia and Lupus, along with bodyguard Caudex, pursue him, only Nubia believing in his innocence, whilst Jonathan stays behind to help his father save Marcus's life. Once in the hills Flavia discovers that Aristo has a brother Dion, who is also looking for him and whose appearance can solve what really happened.
Wed, Aug 13, 2008
Jonathan's sister Miriam brings Hephzibah, a childhood friend, to Ostia. Hephzibah was a slave to the wealthy Dives, who freed her just before he died, but she has no witness to the fact and Dives' son Celo is accusing her of being behind his father's death. Flavia brings poet and aspiring lawyer Flaccus to plead Hephzibah's case and purveyor of sacred chickens Floridius is also brought forward as a witness but is killed. After Miriam dies in childbirth, requesting that Hephzibah looks after her baby sons, Flavia works out who really killed Dives and the witness, thus securing Hephzibah's freedom.
Tue, Jul 29, 2008
Lupus escapes capture by slave traders but his friend Porcius and others are taken. Using his uncle's former slave ship Lupus sails, with Flavia, Nubia and Jonathan, to Rhodes where it is believed that Magnus, said by many to be a giant, master-minds the slave trade. Flavia, Jonathan and Nubia are all captured by Magnus and his men but Lupus alerts the authorities, who free them though Magnus escapes. Also Lupus is dismayed to hear that his mother Melissa, whom he believed was on the island, has gone to Greece as a priestess of Apollo.
Tue, Jul 17, 2007
Jonathan's uncle Simeon comes to tell Jonathan that his mother, Susannah, was not killed at the siege of Jerusalem but is living in Rome as a slave to the emperor Titus. The two travel to Rome but are captured and Simeon is recognized as a former zealot who fought the Romans. He and Jonathan are placed in the Golden House, the quarter for Jewish slaves but, using one of the building's many secret passages, Jonathan gets to see his mother. Flavia and her party arrive in Rome to try and free Jonathan and thwart an assassination attempt. As a result Titus frees the slaves but Susannah decides to stay with him to try and persuade him to treat the Jews more kindly.
Tue, Aug 14, 2007
Jonathan is upset that his father Mordecai is to marry his girlfriend Miriam and still holds out hope of reconciling him with Susannah. When plague sweeps through Rome Mordecai, as a doctor, is summoned to help, taking the children with him. Titus has had a prophetic dream in which a Prometheus will open Pandora's box and destroy Rome. Flavia believes this refers to Berenice, Titus's former partner, now confined to her quarters, in which a box taken to be the Ark of the Covenant is found. Jonathan is persuaded by Agathus, a slave with a grudge, to kill Titus but accidentally starts a fire, which destroys several buildings. Hearing too that his mother is dead - though in fact this was a ruse to prevent Berenice from harming her - a despairing Jonathan sees himself as being the Prometheus and joins a gladiatorial school. However Flavia, Nubia and Lupus, believing him to be dead, return to Ostia without him.