Plot summary
60 BC: Decius Metellus the Younger accompanies his relative Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus on a diplomatic mission to Alexandria. The assignment is a polite form of exile, since his mortal enemy Clodius, is currently politically ascendant in Rome. Decius's friend Rufus assures him that he will enjoy himself, since Alexandria is a beautiful city and King Ptolemy's court always goes to absurd lengths to flatter and pamper Roman visitors, especially those of Senatorial rank.
About a month after his arrival, Decius is pleasantly surprised to welcome his fiancée, Julia (Julius Caesar's niece) and her friend, Cornelia Fausta (the dictator Sulla's daughter). Because of her fascination with scholarship, Decius allows Julia to drag him on a guided tour of the famous library. While she is listening to a lecture, Decius wanders into the Temple of the Muses attached to the Library and is struck by its simple beauty and unpretentious veneration of art, literature, and music. Decius is usually not a spiritual man, but both Julia and Decius's slave Hermes notice him walking around in a daze after visiting the Temple.
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 "Baal-Ahriman", the deity of a religious cult that is the latest fad in Alexandria thanks to Princess Berenice's patronage, issues an oracular statement that soon the Egyptian people will take back their land and expel the hated "barbarians" (i.e., the Romans). The Roman embassy attached to the royal palace barricades itself against an angry mob.
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 Achillas, the King's Guard commander. Achillas is preparing a revolt against Rome, to be coordinated with a new offensive by the Parthians against Syria. The Parthians are confident in their ability to defeat any Roman army sent against them on the open field, but are worried about the Romans' expertise in siege warfare; to secure their cooperation, Achillas promised them the schematics and prototypes of the new war machines designed by Iphicrates. With Ataxes's help, "Baal-Ahriman" will announce to the Egyptian mob that Princess Berenice's soon-to-be-born child is actually divine, allowing her to usurp the King and pronounce her child the new heir, with Achillas acting as regent. Achillas killed Iphicrates when he refused to release the book, which had the secret treaty between Achillas and Parthia hidden in its pages, for delivery to the ambassador.
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 Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra).
This article concerns the period 49 BC – 40 BC.
This article concerns the period 59 BC – 50 BC.
This article concerns the period 69 BC – 60 BC.
80s BC is the time period from 89 BC – 80 BC.
Year 69 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hortensius and Metellus. The denomination 69 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 80 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sulla and Metellus Pius. The denomination 80 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic-period state in the Mediterranean and of the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander. Her first language was Koine Greek, and she was the only known Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.
Cleopatra VI Tryphaena or Cleopatra Tryphaena II was a queen of Ptolemaic Egypt who ruled alongside Berenice IV, who was either her sister or daughter.
Berenice IV Epiphaneia was a Greek princess and Queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty. From 58 to 55 BC, Berenice IV ruled Egypt during the political exile of her father Ptolemy XII Auletes to Rome. It is unclear if she was co-ruler of Egypt with her mother Cleopatra V or a possible sibling Cleopatra VI from 58 to 57 BC, but became sole ruler in 57 BC. On the return of Ptolemy XII to Egypt with Roman military aid and an army led by Aulus Gabinius, Berenice IV was overthrown and executed by her rival father, who later bequeathed his throne to his daughter Cleopatra VII and son Ptolemy XIII as co-rulers.
The SPQRseries is a series of historical mystery stories by John Maddox Roberts, published between 1990 and 2010, and set in the final years of the Roman Republic. SPQR is a Latin initialism for Senatus Populusque Romanus, the official name of the Republic.
Pothinus or Potheinos, a eunuch, was regent for Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. He is most remembered for turning Ptolemy against his sister and co-ruler Cleopatra, thus starting a civil war, and for having Pompey decapitated and presenting the severed head to Julius Caesar according to some sources.
The Cleopatras is a 1983 BBC Television eight-part historical drama serial. Written by Philip Mackie, it is set in Ancient Egypt during the latter part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty with an emphasis on the Cleopatras. Intended to be the I, Claudius of the 1980s, The Cleopatras met with a decidedly mixed critical reaction. It was regarded and portrayed as a gaudy farce.
The Battle of the Nile in early 47 BC saw the combined Roman–Egyptian armies of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra VII defeat those of the rival Queen Arsinoe IV and King Ptolemy XIII and secure the throne of Egypt.
The Alexandrian war, also called the Alexandrine war, was a phase of Caesar's civil war in which Julius Caesar involved himself in an Egyptian dynastic struggle. Caesar attempted to mediate a succession dispute between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII and exact repayment of certain Egyptian debts.
Achillas was one of the guardians of the Egyptian king Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, and commander of the king's troops, when Pompey fled to Egypt in September 48 BC. He was called by Julius Caesar a man of extraordinary daring, and it was he and Lucius Septimius who killed Pompey at the suggestion of the eunuch Pothinus and Theodotus of Chios.
Theodotus of Chios was the rhetoric tutor of the young Egyptian king Ptolemy XIII.
The Gabiniani were 2000 Roman legionaries and 500 cavalrymen stationed in Egypt by the Roman general Aulus Gabinius after he had reinstated the Pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes on the Egyptian throne in 55 BC. The soldiers were left to protect the King, but they soon adopted the manners of their new country and became completely alienated from the Roman Republic. After the death of Auletes in 51 BC, they helped his son Ptolemy XIII in his power struggle against his sister Cleopatra and even involved Julius Caesar, the supporter of Cleopatra, during Caesar's Civil War up to the siege of Alexandria in violent battles.
The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC. The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most powerful families of the late Republic, from the decades before the First Punic War down to the time of Augustus.
The Tribune's Curse is a novel by John Maddox Roberts. It is the seventh volume of Roberts's SPQR series, featuring Senator Decius Metellus.