The Roman Mysteries Complete Collection

by Lawrence, Caroline

Ephesus (eff-ess-iss)

  perhaps the most important town in the Roman province of Asia and site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Diana

  euge! (oh-gay)

  Latin exclamation: ‘hurray!’

  Euphemus (yoo-fee-muss)

  one of the argonauts; he sent the dove between the Clashing Rocks

  ex voto (ex vo-to)

  object sometimes offered to a god or goddess when a vow is made

  Flaccus (flak-uss)

  Gaius Valerius Flaccus, a poet who began a version of the Argonautica in AD 80

  Flavia (flay-vee-a)

  a name, meaning ‘fair-haired’; Flavius is another form of this name

  forestay (for-stay)

  thick rope or cable which goes from the prow of a ship to the top of a mast in order to hold it up

  Fortuna (for-tew-nuh)

  the Roman goddess of good luck and success

  forum (for-um)

  ancient marketplace and civic centre in Roman towns

  freedman (freed-man)

  a slave who has been granted freedom, his ex-master becomes his patron

  Germania (jur-man-ya)

  Roman province which included what is now Germany

  Hades (hay-deez)

  the Underworld where the spirits of the dead were believed to go

  Halicarnassus (hal-ee-car-nass-uss)

  (modern Bodrum) ancient city in the region of Caria and site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

  halyard (hal-yard)

  rope to lift up flags or other ropes and especially the yard-arm

  harpy (har-pee)

  mythological bird with woman’s head; it screeches and steals food

  Hebrew (hee-brew)

  language spoken by some religious Jews in the first century AD

  Hector (heck-tor)

  noblest son of Priam and greatest hero of Troy, he was killed by Achilles

  Helios (hee-lee-oss)

  although Apollo was god of the sun, Helios was the Titan who drove the sun across the sky in a chariot; helios is Greek for ‘sun’

  Hera (here-uh)

  Greek goddess of childbirth and wife of Zeus, her Roman equivalent is Juno

  Hercules (her-kyoo-leez)

  mythological hero who completed twelve tasks; he was one of Jason’s argonauts until his squire Hylas disappeared and he stayed behind to search for him

  Horace (hore-uss)

  famous Latin poet who lived during the reign of Augustus

  hospitium (hoss-pit-ee-um)

  Latin for hotel or guesthouse; often very luxurious with baths and dining rooms

  Hylas (hi-lass)

  beautiful youth who accompanied Hercules on the Argo; he was abducted by water nymphs and had to be left behind

  Ionian (eye-oh-nee-un)

  the sea between Italy and mainland Greece

  isthmus (isth-muss)

  narrow piece of land connecting two larger pieces of land

  Ithaca (ith-uh-ka)

  small island on the west coast of Greece and home of the hero Odysseus; his voyage home from Troy took him ten long years

  Jason (jay-sun)

  Greek hero who set out in the Argo with many heroes to steal the golden fleece and thus win back his rightful kingdom

  Jove (jove)

  another name for Jupiter, king of the gods

  Juno (jew-no)

  queen of the gods and wife of the god Jupiter, her Greek equivalent is Hera

  Jupiter (jew-pit-er)

  king of the Roman gods and husband of Juno; his Greek equivalent is Zeus

  Lechaeum (lek-eye-um)

  western port of Corinth; one end of the diolkos was here

  lemures (lem-oo-rays)

  shades or ghosts of dead people

  lifts (lifts)

  short ropes from the top of the masthead; they hold up the yard-arm

  lustratio (lus-tra-tee-oh)

  a ritual for purification of houses, ships, etc which may involve the sacrifice of a bull

  Malea (mal-lay-uh)

  (or Cape Malea) southeast tip of mainland Greece; dreaded by sailors because of weather and pirates

  Medea (m’-dee-ah)

  sorceress who loved Jason and betrayed her own people to help him

  Mopsus (mop-suss)

  soothsayer and priest who accompanied Jason on his quest for the fleece

  Myconos (mick-oh-noss)

  (modern Mykonos) island in the Aegean Sea

  Neapolis (nay-ap-oh-liss)

  modern Naples, a city near Vesuvius on a bay of the same name

  Nero (near-oh)

  wicked Emperor who ruled Rome from AD 54 to AD 68

  Odysseus (uh-diss-yooss)

  Greek hero who fought against Troy; his journey home took ten years

  Odyssey (odd-iss-ee)

  Homer’s Greek epic poem about Odysseus’ voyage home

  Orpheus (or-fee-uss)

  mythological lyre-player who charmed men, animals and rocks with his music, he was one of Jason’s argonauts

  Ostia (oss-tee-uh)

  the port of ancient Rome and home town of Flavia and Jonathan ben Mordecai

  Ovid (aw-vid)

  famous Roman poet who lived about 70 years before this story

  palla (pal-uh)

  a woman’s cloak, could also be wrapped round the waist or worn over the head

  papyrus (puh-pie-russ)

  the cheapest writing material, made of pounded Egyptian reeds

  Paris (pair-uss) handsome Trojan prince who stole Helen of Sparta and started the Trojan War

  Patmos (pat-mos)

  small island in the Aegean which was a place of exile in Roman times; St John wrote the Book of Revelation here about fifteen years after this story takes place

  patrician (pa-trish-un)

  a person from the highest Roman social class

  Patroclus (pat-ro-kluss)

  Greek hero and best friend of Achilles, he was killed by the Trojan Hector

  Peleus (pel-lay-uss)

  father of the great Greek hero Achilles, one of Jason’s argonauts

  Pelias (pel-ee-uss)

  deposed his brother (Jason’s father) and seized his kingdom; when his nephew Jason arrived to reclaim it, he sent him on an ‘impossible’ quest

  pharus (far-uss)

  (Greek pharos) lighthouse; the famous lighthouse of Alexandria was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world

  Phineus (fin-ee-uss)

  mythological blind prophet from Thrace who was tormented by harpies

  plebs (plebz)

  the common people, the lowest class of freeborn Romans

  Pliny (plin-ee)

  (the Elder) famous Roman author; died in the eruption of Vesuvius

  poculum (pock-yoo-lum)

  a cup; here a liquid breakfast of goat’s milk, egg, spiced wine, milk and honey

  Pollux (pol-lux)

  one of the mythological twins (he was immortal and Castor mortal); he was a skilled boxer and horseman, and also one of Jason’s argonauts

  Poseidon (poh-side-un)

  Greek god of the sea, the equivalent of the Roman god Neptune

  prow

  pointed projecting front part of a ship; Romans often painted eyes on the prow

  Ravenna (ruh-ven-uh)

  seaport in northeast Italy where part of the Roman fleet was based

  Rhodes (roads)

  a large and famous island in the Aegean Sea, Rhodes was the capital of the Roman province of Asia at the time of this story

  Rhoda (road-ah)

  sea nymph daughter of Poseidon who married Helios; her name means ‘rosy’ in Greek and the island of Rhodes was called after her

  Rhodes Town (roads town)

  capital city of the island of Rhodes both then and now scroll (skrole)

  a papyrus or parchment ‘book’, unrolled from side to side as it was read

  Scylla (
skill-uh)

  mythological monster with six terrible female heads, always found close to the whirlpool Charybdis; encountered by the argonauts on their way home

  sesterces (sess-tur-seez)

  more than one sestercius, a brass coin; four sesterces equal a denarius

  Sirens (sigh-wrens)

  mythological monsters with bodies of birds and heads of women; they sang beautifully, luring sailors to their death on sharp rocks

  Skiron (skeer-on)

  wind from the north-west which prevailed in the Mediterranean in the summer (see the Wind Map at the front of this book)

  stern

  back of a ship; Roman ships often had a platform with an altar and bird’s head

  Stoic (stow-ick)

  a Greek philosophy popular in ancient Rome; among other things, its followers believed that a man’s destiny was predetermined

  strigil (strig-ill)

  a blunt-edged, curved tool for scraping off dead skin, oil and dirt at the baths

  stylus (stile-us)

  a metal, wood or ivory tool for writing on wax tablets

  Surrentum (sir-ren-tum)

  modern Sorrento, a pretty harbour town south of Vesuvius

  Symi (sim-ee)

  small island near Rhodes famous for its sponge-divers

  Syros (seer-oss)

  one of the islands in the Aegean Sea

  tablinum (tab-lee-num)

  the study of a Roman house, where scrolls and writing material were kept

  Talos (tal-oss)

  bronze giant who attacked Jason and his men when they passed Crete

  Telephus (tell-uh-fuss)

  mythological son of Hercules, he was suckled by a deer and rarely spoke, hence the common Roman expression ‘silent as Telephus’

  Tiphys (tiff-uss)

  skilled helmsman who was one of Jason’s argonauts

  Titus (tie-tuss)

  Titus Flavius Vespasianus; 41-year-old Emperor of Rome in AD 80

  toga (toe-ga)

  a blanket-like outer garment, worn by freeborn men and boys

  triclinium (trick-lin-ee-um)

  ancient Roman dining room, usually with three couches to recline on

  tunic (tew-nic)

  a piece of clothing like a big T-shirt; children often wore a long-sleeved one

  Tyrrhenian (tur-ren-ee-un) sea to the west of Italy, named after the Etruscans

  Varro (vah-ro)

  Publius Terentius Varro Atacinus, a Latin poet who translated the Argonautica of Apollonius into Latin

  Vesuvius (vuh-soo-vee-yus)

  the volcano near Naples which erupted on 24 August AD 79

  Virgil (vur-jill)

  a famous Latin poet who died about 100 years before this story takes place

  votive (vo-tiv)

  an object offered to mark a vow, prayer or thanksgiving to some god

  vow

  a pledge to a god or goddess which usually took the form ‘If you do something for me, I will do something for you’; often the latter was the setting up of an altar

  wax tablet

  a wax-covered rectangular leaf of wood used for making notes; often two or more are hinged together with twine to make a ‘book’

  yard-arm

  (or ‘yard’) the spar or piece of wood from which the sail of a ship is hung, it is usually horizontal and attached to the vertical mast

  Zephyrus (zef-feer-uss)

  a warm wind from the west, beloved of sailors (see the Wind Map at the front of this book)

  Zetes (zee-teez)

  argonaut and son of the North Wind Boreas, he had winged feet and could fly

  Zeus (zyooss)

  king of the Greek gods; his Roman equivalent is Jupiter

  Ancient Romans loved to travel just as much as we do today and the Colossus of Rhodes was on the list of monuments any rich Roman tourist had to see. The other six ‘must-see’ sights were the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Pyramids of Egypt and the Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria. At Roman dinner parties, returning travellers could impress their friends and rivals with tales of these Seven Wonders.

  Today we look down on the ancient Romans because they enslaved other human beings, including children. But according to recent studies, there are over 27 million slaves – people who work for no pay against their will – in the world today. Many of these modern slaves are children forced to weave carpets in terrible conditions at the expense of their health and eyesight. (Find out more and learn how to fight modern slavery at the National Geographic website: http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309)

  All the characters who appear in this story are fictional, except one. Gaius Valerius Flaccus was a young man when he began his own version of the Argonautica around AD 80, the year this story takes place. However, most of the poetry Flaccus ‘recites’ in this story is not from his Argonautica, but is a paraphrase of a poem called Ithaka by the modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy. You can read my translation of Cavafy’s poem at the front of this book.

  Phallic (penis-shaped) pendants, rings and other charms really did exist in Roman times. Many people, especially children, wore them for protection against evil spirits and bad luck. You can see them in many museums with Roman collections.

  To my wonderful brother Dan

  quem numquam mihi in

  mentem necare venit

  * * *

  This story takes place in ancient Roman times, so a few of the words may look strange.

  If you don’t know them, ‘Aristo’s Scroll’ at the back of the book will tell you what they mean and how to pronounce them.

  The maps will show you the part of Greece where this story takes place. There is also a drawing of a carruca, a Roman carriage.

  * * *

  ‘I first met him in Corinth,’ said the Roman sea captain, Marcus Flavius Geminus, ‘when he saved my life.’

  ‘He saved your life?’ A dark-skinned African girl in a yellow tunic sat up straight on her banqueting couch. It was a warm evening in early May. Nubia the ex-slave-girl and her three friends were dining with the captain in the garden triclinium of Helen’s Hospitium, a luxury hotel near Cenchrea, the eastern port of Corinth. Although Marcus Flavius Geminus did not usually allow the children in his household to recline at dinner, this was a special occasion. It was their last day in Greece after their recent adventures in the Greek islands. They were to sail home to Ostia in the morning.

  Captain Geminus smiled and nodded. ‘That’s right, Nubia. He saved my life.’

  ‘I never knew that, pater!’ The fair-haired girl next to Nubia dipped her hard-boiled egg into a mixture of salt and cumin and took a bite. ‘Tell us how he saved you.’ Ten-year-old Flavia Gemina was Nubia’s former mistress and Captain Geminus’s daughter. She loved stories and mysteries.

  Captain Geminus smiled. ‘When I say Corinth, I mean the other port – Lechaeum – rather than the town itself. I was drinking hot sage in a caupona down by the waterfront. I remember it was evening, and raining. I was waiting for the harbourmaster. Suddenly four men got up from a nearby table and came over to me.’

  Flavia’s father paused for a moment as a slave-girl with dark red hair came through an ivy-covered arch, carrying a light table with various salads on it. She was followed by a big Syrian slave with a candle. The slave-girl set the salad table before the central couch while the male slave began to light the garden torches. Nubia could smell vinegar and pine pitch.

  ‘It was only when one of them grabbed my arms and another cut the cord of my money pouch,’ continued Flavia’s father, ‘that I realised what they were after and started to fight back. But there were four of them and only one of me. They beat me to the ground and then they began to kick me!’

  ‘Oh Pater!’ cried Flavia, putting down her egg. ‘How terrible!’

  He nodded. ‘I can still remember the taste of sawdust in my mouth. Then I heard what the
Greeks call a paean, a battle cry. I felt the kicking stop and I looked up to see a young man of about seventeen. He was dripping wet from the rain, and he wielded a broken chair like a club. I’ve rarely seen anyone so angry. He knocked the leader to the ground and started swinging at the other three.’ Captain Geminus took a slice of cucumber from his salad. ‘That’s when the other people in the caupona ran to help, but it was his quick action that saved me.’

  Two dark-haired boys were reclining on a couch opposite the girls. ‘I’ve seen him get irritated,’ said Jonathan, the older of the two, ‘but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him really angry. Have you, Lupus?’

  The younger boy was intent on peeling an egg. Without looking up he grunted yes. Nine-year-old Lupus had no tongue and could not speak.

  Flavia grinned. ‘If you’ve seen him lose his temper, Lupus, it’s probably because you’re the one who made him lose it!’

  Lupus looked up at them and nodded proudly, and they all laughed.

  ‘No, wait!’ cried Flavia. ‘We have seen him lose his temper. Remember the stuffed mushrooms last December?’

  ‘Don’t remind me,’ said Jonathan with a groan. ‘I ate some, too.’

  Nubia giggled behind her hand.

  ‘What’s this?’ said Flavia’s father with a puzzled smile. ‘Why would mushrooms make him angry?’

  ‘They were stuffed with love potion made from gladiator scrapings,’ said Flavia, trying not to laugh. ‘You know, the stuff gladiators scrape off after a really good workout: dead skin, oil, sweat, dust . . .’

  ‘He was so angry,’ added Jonathan, ‘that he said . . . he said . . .’ But Jonathan was laughing too hard to finish.

  ‘No, wait!’ Flavia held up her hand for silence. ‘He said—’ but then she also dissolved into helpless giggles.

  Lupus’s shoulders were shaking, too, but he had managed to write something on his wax tablet. Now he held it up:

  BY APOLLO I SWEAR I’M GOING TO MURDER HER

  At this they all burst out laughing, even Nubia and the captain.

  ‘What’s the subject of conversation?’

  Everyone turned to see a handsome young man framed in the leafy arched entrance of the garden.

  ‘You!’ they all cried, and called out their greetings. Next to the ornamental pool, Jonathan’s dog Tigris lifted his head from a marrowbone and thumped his tail.

  Nubia watched the young man step into the golden torchlight. Had he grown? He seemed taller and more muscular. He wore red leather sandals, and a red woollen cloak over a white tunic. With his smooth tanned skin and curly hair the colour of bronze, she thought her tutor Aristo looked just like a Greek god.