"In a warlike land of wind and sunlight, "ringed by a restless sea," live Rhaskos and Melisto, spiritual twins with little in common beyond the violent and mysterious forces that dictate their lives. A Thracian slave in a Greek household, Rhaskos is as common as clay, a stable boy worth less than a donkey, much less a horse. Wrenched from his mother at a tender age, he nurtures in secret, aided by Socrates, his passions for art and philosophy. Melisto...

Jerusalem, year zero. Flea belongs to a gang of teenage vagrants living in the shadow of the Temple, with no family and no home, living on their wits and what they can beg or steal. The city is crowded with visitors for Passover and governed by an uneasy alliance between the Temple priests and the occupying Roman army, bringing talk of miracles and revolution. Flea and his comrades latch onto the newcomer in the hope that he'll offer them a secure...

Tagus is a medical slave who wants be a gladiator, Lucia is the daughter of Tag's owner and betrothed to an older man, and the two teenagers are in love with each other--but it is the year 79 and soon Vesuvius will alter their lives forever.

When renowned beauty Helen runs off to Troy with Prince Paris, her enraged husband, King Menelaus, starts the Trojan War, leaving their plain daughter, Hermione, alone to witness the deaths of heroes on both sides and longing to find her own love and place in the world. Includes historical notes.