The Temple of the Muses
Author | John Maddox Roberts |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Historical fiction, Novel |
Publication date | 1999 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Preceded by | The Sacrilege |
Followed by | Nobody Loves A Centurion |
The Temple of the Muses is a novel by John Maddox Roberts. It is the fourth volume of Roberts's SPQR series, featuring Senator Decius Metellus.
Plot summary
About a month after his arrival, Decius is pleasantly surprised to welcome his fiancée, Julia (
While Decius and Julia are attending a formal dinner for the scholars at the Library, an outcry is raised when one of them, a mathematician named Iphicrates, is found murdered in his chambers. Decius's friend, the physician Asklepiodes, determines that Iphicrates was struck in the head by the blunt side of a ceremonial axe, commonly used for sacrificial ceremonies in the nearby temples. Decius finds signs that Iphicrates was actually killed inside the Temple before being dragged into his chambers. The next morning, he asks King Ptolemy for formal authority to investigate the crime.
Following Iphicrates's recent movements leads Decius and Hermes up the Nile to a secret military camp where a number of bizarre-looking siege engines are being tested by a detachment of Ptolemy's own Macedonian guards. Remembering a visit by himself and Julia to Iphicrates's quarters while the philosopher was alive, Decius notices the absence of a rare book, which the librarian identifies as a manual on siege engines, the Library's only copy.
Decius confides his suspicions to Creticus that someone in Egypt is preparing to rebel against Rome. Creticus dismisses his fears, but matters take a turn for the worse when "
Decius receives a message from a hetaireia who services the Parthian ambassador, claiming to have knowledge of the plot and offering to meet him in the local necropolis. But when Decius arrives, she is dead, and he is arrested by the local authorities for murder. Creticus obtains his release from prison, but insists that he stay inside the embassy. Defying these orders, Decius sneaks into the city and visits the house the murder victim mentioned.
Hiding under a bed, he overhears a secret conclave between Ataxes (the high priest of the cult of Baal-Ahriman), the Parthian ambassador, and
Decius makes his way back to the embassy, but is caught by Ataxes. Decius threatens to reveal that he is a fraud, but Ataxes turns the tables by killing a stray cat and loudly claiming Decius is the killer, which incites a riot. Decius barely makes it back to the palace, and reveals the plot to Creticus and the King. Achillas, called in, calmly denies the charges and says that, since Ataxes was killed in the riot, there is no proof. Ptolemy, conscious that Achillas's family is too powerful for him to take direct action, sends him on a prolonged "inspection tour" to the upriver garrisons. Before departing, Achillas confronts Decius in private and asks why he would care so much about the death of Iphicrates. Decius's answer is simple: Achillas profaned the Temple of the Muses by committing murder inside it.
As soon as he re-enters the embassy, Decius is ambushed, gagged and bound by the other Romans, who plan to ship him to Rhodes before he can cause any more trouble. Julia promises to follow him shortly.
Writing in his memoirs, Decius adds that he finally settled his score with Achillas years later, when he returned to Egypt with Caesar (during the latter's famous mediation between
Characters in The Tribune's Curse
- Decius Metellus the Younger
- protagonist;
- Hermes
- Decius's slave and assistant;
- Julia
- Decius's wife, Julius Caesar's niece;
- Asklepeiodes
- Greek physician, Decius's close friend;
Historical Characters
- Ptolemy XII Auletes
- Berenice IV of Egypt
- Cleopatra
- Sosigenes of Alexandria
- Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus
- Fausta Cornelia
- Achillas
- Gaius Rabirius Postumus
- Titus Annius Milo (mentioned only)
- Julius Caesar (mentioned only)
- Antipater (mentioned only)
- Herod the Great (mentioned only)