(openPR) - He came to rule the Empire after his father. He came at the time of unrest. A religion, which his Empire did not share, was crawling its way to the world dominance. Jews in the Middle East struggled to keep the followers of this religion at bay for years. Coincidentally, a terrorist act, like the world had never seen before, happened in the largest city of the Empire. The followers of the same religion were blamed for it, and he had to see them hunted down...
No, this is not what you think. Actually, it has nothing to do with George W. Bush, Islam, and America.
The year is AD 64. The place is Rome of the Emperor Nero. The religion is Christianity.
* * *
VERBUM SAPIENTI SAT EST
Ancient Rome, early spring A.D. 64, alternate universe…
Some history-literate readers will say that the story does not reflect true historic events. “Hey, Rome did not depend on olive oil from Greece! And anyway, how can oil prices get an empire into economical trouble? D’oh!... Not that oil!”
The answer is simple: this is an alternate universe, where anything is possible. And if you don’t see a connection with our world, maybe it’s because there is none. Or maybe it’s because you just don’t see it.
But let’s get to the story, in which the prefect of Praetorian Guards has a problem and the Emperor finds a solution.
* * *
A secret agent of the Roman Empire is dispatched to Egypt to check the evidence that a new religious sect will try to burn Rome on the third day of September Ides. It does not matter that the evidence was never there. The agent Nil Nihil Septimus (literally “nothing nothing the seventh” – hey, he was the seventh child in a poor family) is on the case. The way to Egypt was long in ancient times. He saw many places and people. And the places and people saw Nil and his story of the third day of September Ides.
Slowly, step by step, the myth, the fake, the empty story born from the small talk between the Emperor and the prefect of Praetorian Guards became material, fed on the desires, will, and power of the people across the Roman world, and became a destiny.
The Third Day of September Ides
Book One: So, you say, we need a disaster
by Ely Asher
172 p, paperback, $17.97 US
ISBN 0-9770364-2-1, ISBN-13: 978-0-9770364-2-4
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