What would you give up for love? Your beliefs? Your friends and family? Your future? Your soul? Lucius Coelius Felix, a once-proud Roman nobleman, has lost his will to live. Angered by the failure of his quest for healing, he travels to the sacred springs of Hierapolis in central Asia Minor to die.
But fate has other plans. When his faithful servant Marcus rescues a young Jewish slave named Miriam, their encounter sets in motion a chain of events that will reshape their past, present, and future.
A brush with death brings them together to nurse Lucius back to health, but their budding affection can only go so far since Miriam insists that Marcus be circumcised and embrace his Jewish ancestry before she can love him. For Marcus, that is a bridge too far.
Disaster awaits in Antioch, and the effort of addressing it saps Lucius's remaining strength. Sensing that death is near, he finally tells Marcus the truth about his past and how he has provided for his future. The revelation places Marcus in a quandary from which there is no escape and no right answers. Must one person die for another to live?
From the poisonous mists of Pluto's cave in Hierapolis to the elite mansions of Pisidian Antioch,
A Bull for Pluto continues the sweeping saga begun in
A Rooster for Asklepios. Against the backdrop of imperial Rome and the rise of faiths old and new, love and loyalty wage war with destiny.
Fans of Conn Iggulden, Ken Follett, and Robert Graves will be captivated by this richly detailed and compelling exploration of life in first-century Roman Asia Minor by a Roman historian.
Who Will Like This Book?- Readers who enjoy complex stories about flawed characters, epic journeys, and characters who struggle with their identities and commitments, including their views of religion
- Readers who appreciate richly detailed and historically accurate accounts of daily life in the past
- Readers who want to know more about the social and religious world of early Judaism and Christianity (including Roman religion and anti-Semitism); how Greeks and Romans dealt with sickness and healing (medicine, miracle, and magic); and what life was like at specific Roman archaeological sites in Turkey (Ephesus, Pergamum, Hierapolis, Antioch, etc.)
Christopher D. Stanley is an emeritus professor at St. Bonaventure University who studies and writes about the social history of early Christianity and the Greco-Roman world. He has written or edited seven academic books and dozens of professional articles on the subject and presents papers regularly at conferences around the world. The "A Slave's Story" trilogy, which grew out of his historical research on first-century Asia Minor, is his first work of fiction. For more information, click on his name below the title in this listing.
PRAISE FOR THE FIRST TWO VOLUMES"This compelling and enjoyable story offers the reader a superb 'insider' view of life in the first-century Greco-Roman world. I enjoyed traipsing around Anatolia with Lucius and Marcus!"
-Dr. Terence Donaldson, Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament, Wycliffe College, Canada
"The realism of this story reflects the author's deep first-hand knowledge of the landscape and culture where the narrative takes place."
-Dr. Mark Wilson, Director, Asia Minor Research Center, Antalya, Turkey
"This well-researched book really brings the Roman world to life!"
-Dr. Alanna Nobbs, Professor of Ancient History, Macquarie University, Australia
"The amount of research, imagination, and effort involved in crafting this story earned my admiration, and stirred my curiosity, too."
-Dr. Mark Nanos, Lecturer, University of Kansas, USA
