“But is it worth a man’s life,” Izador inquired, “to please the masses?”
He leaped off the wall and they marched across the sand to the waiting warships.
The End
A note from J. Clifton Slater
You are amazing and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for joining me on this adventure. Book 14 in the Clay Warrior Stories has taken us from the battlefields of Sicily to the Colossus of Rhodes on the Isle of Rhodes.
Tullia Major’s song is from Roman legend. As the oldest daughter of the 6th King of Rome, Tullia Major married Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. But her sister, the Minor, wanted to be queen. Minor seduced Superbus and convinced him to murder Minor’s husband and the King, while Minor poisoned Tullia Major. Thus, Superbus became the 7th King and Tullia Minor became the Queen of Rome.
In the Clay Warrior Stories books, I attempt to use quotes from famous Generals and philosophers who lived in times before the date of the story. In keeping with that theme, all the Consuls of the Republic mentioned in the series were Consuls / Generals in history. On Sicily, I introduced Tribune Marcus Calpurnius Flamma, a real hero.
Tribune Flamma, in 258 B.C., did take 300 Legionaries and draw the Carthaginian forces to a fight on a hill. By the sacrifice of the infantrymen, the Tribune allowed the trapped Legion of Consul/General Aulus Calatinus to escape an ambush.
History does not tell us much about the staff officer except he was awarded the Grass Crown by the grateful Legion. I took advantage of the gap in history to fill in details that helped the story of Rome’s Tribune.
Did the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae influence Flamma? I have no idea. But he got the idea for 300 Legionaries from somewhere, so why not the famous Spartan battle of 480 B.C.? For readers who look up ancient battlefields be careful of the Battle of Thermopylae. Search for the monument built to honor the 300 Spartans and the shrine dedicated to the 700 Thespians’ Hoplites who also died there. The ground has silted in and the sea levels have changed over the last twenty-five hundred years. Today, the cliffs and the narrow battle site are located far inland from the Gulf of Malian in Greece and buried under yards of silt.
History reports that Archimedes did call out Eureka, Greek for ‘I found it’. His exclamation resulted from an observation of the water displaced when he got into a bath. From a bath, Archimedes Phidias of Syracuse, the serial inventor, and creative mathematician, created many equations still used today.
During Alerio’s travels, he encountered the sea snail trade. A cash crop in antiquity, Murex sea snails from one location were harvested and used to color indigo dye. And from the islands of Kithira and Crete, those sea snails created dye for Tyrian purple. Once a growing industry, snail traders are long gone from the world of modern business. With other chemicals available to use in dyes, the process of harvesting snails to color cloth is mostly a lost art.
The Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean were terrorized by pirates in antiquity. They were commonly known as Cilicians because the islands and nation of Cilicia on the coast of Asia Minor produced so many of the organized pirate bands. They thrived between the rise and fall of various navies in the region until the Roman General Pompey crushed the organizations in 67-66 B.C.
On the Isle of Rhodes, Alerio experienced the Colossus of Rhodes and learned the size and the builder’s story behind the statue. The Colossus stood from 280 B.C. until it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 B.C. Lucky for me, the statue honoring Helios, the Sun God, existed during the time of Rome’s Tribune.
I am J. Clifton Slater and I write military adventure both future and ancient. Because I do extensive research and most of it does not make it into the books, I do blogs about ancient topics. You can find them on my website as well as a sign-up form for my newsletter that will start in 2021.
As always, I enjoy getting your emails and reading your comments. If you enjoyed Rome’s Tribune, please leave a written review on Amazon. Every review helps other readers find the stories.
If you have comments, please e-mail me.
E-mail: [email protected]
To get the latest information about my books, visit my website. There you can sign up for the newsletter and read blogs about ancient history.
Website: www.JCliftonSlater.com
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Until we travel together again, Alerio and I salute you and wish you good health and vigor. Rah!
Other books by J. Clifton Slater
Historical Adventure – ‘Clay Warrior Stories’ series
#1 Clay Legionary
#2 Spilled Blood
#3 Bloody Water
#4 Reluctant Siege
#5 Brutal Diplomacy
#6 Fortune Reigns
#7 Fatal Obligation
#8 Infinite Courage
#9 Deceptive Valor
#10 Neptune’s Fury
#11 Unjust Sacrifice
#12 Muted Implications
#13 Death Caller
#14 Rome’s Tribune
Fantasy – ‘Terror & Talons’ series
#1 Hawks of the Sorcerer Queen
#2 Magic and the Rage of Intent
Military Science Fiction - ‘Call Sign Warlock’ series
#1 Op File Revenge
#2 Op File Treason
#3 Op File Sanction
Military Science Fiction – ‘Galactic Council Realm’ series
#1 On Station
#2 On Duty
#4 On Guard
#5 On Point
Rome's Tribune (Clay Warrior Stories Book 14) Page 25