Seventh in the Roma Sub Rosa historical mystery series and revolving around Gordianus the Finder and his family in the Rome of 49 BC.Chronologically, it's MY seventh and Saylor's eighth because the technical sixth, The House of the Vestals, is a collection of short stories that I've slotted in chronologically on my website.My TakeLast Seen in Massilia is not as tense or dramatic as it could have been. It's definitely an easy read that won't make your heart race. I'm not really sure why Saylor wrote this one, unless it's to create the situation that culminates in that scene at the end. It doesn't feel as if Gordianus is doing much in the way of detecting in Last Seen in Massilia but flopping about, providing Saylor the opportunity to show us another style of government, another city in ancient times, a different approach to religion.That is one of the pluses of Saylor's writing. He shows what is happening. It's not as intense a show as say, Bernard Cornwell, but he is not telling the story. I feel as though I am also walking those streets, wending my way through canyons, swimming my way through a flooded tunnel. I can see the view from Hieronymus' rooftop, the piles of treasures in Verres' vault, the décor within the homes. I can taste those figs — and want some of my own for real! Nor does he indulge in the hated info dumps! Yeah!! Saylor does a great job of informing us without sounding like an encyclopedia or a news article.Saylor also pays attention to the dress, culture, mores, and more of the time. Thank you, god! I do get tired of dimes in Regency novels. It's this attention to detail that helps pull you into 49 BC. And he makes it so seamless.As for the story itself, Caesar is definitely a politician. He promises one thing and does another. The Council of Fifteen is no better. They never bothered to rotate the emergency stores, deeming it too costly. Now half of it is moldy and rations are reduced within the city. Businessmen and lovers lie and cheat as well, still.Gordianus takes some tremendous risks to find Meto, and along the way, he discovers some good people. Not many, but some. I'm not sure how to categorize Publicius and Minucius. They do mean well, but if they are an example of Catilina's followers, it's not surprising that he lost his battle. Talk about a couple of idiotic syncophants!Worshipping gods and goddesses is one thing, heaping all your sins on one person and then sacrificing that person, well, that's another. Oh, wait. That's what the Christians did back in AD 33. Luckily for this story's Scapegoat, he's at least treated well.It's fascinating how similar our societies are. Oh, sure, we have television, cars, the Internet, and in many ways I think the Romans and Greeks were more advanced than us. We may have microwaves and refrigerators, but they enjoyed their food. They took the time to enjoy it. They talked, discussed, debated, argued. Person to person. Yes, they also gossiped, but they also had philosophical discussions. On the negative side, people on either end of the timeline are greedy, selfish, cruel, loving, loyal, and more. Politicians and military men have not changed over the centuries. Nor have families.The StoryGordianus and Davus have been traveling for the past twenty days, heading to Massilia. That note left Gordianus confused and worried, and he needs to see for himself. They've already heard that the city refused to open its gates to Caesar, and Gordianus is thinking up ways to get in.No one would ever have suspected the ruse that works, and thankfully, Gordianus and Davus are rescued by the Scapegoat, a sacrifice who can do no wrong.The CharactersGordianus is a Finder, a private investigator who has retired. Davus is a former slave and bodyguard to Pompey, but now a freedman married to Diana, Gordianus and Bethesda's daughter.Meto is Gordianus' adopted son who edits Caesar's work. Well, he used to be until he plotted to kill Caesar. He ran from Rome to Massilia in Rubicon. Eco is his other adopted son who has taken over the Finder business.Gaius Juluis Caesar is continuing his hunt for Pompey and is currently waging war in Spain while Gaius Trebonius is in charge at the siege of Massilia. Marc Antony is holding Rome for Caesar. Engineer Vitruvius ( Rubicon) is a military engineer and designs siegeworks and tunnel operations.Massilia is……what we know as Marseille, and it's a Greek city, an ally of Rome's for the past 500 years. It's also the end of the road for Roman exiles, and the city is full of them. They worship Artemis in Massilia in the form of a misshapen hunk of meteor rock.The Scapegoat was chosen to bear the sins of the city, and hopefully, gain the city safety from the besieging Romans when he jumps off Sacrifice Rock. It's Hieronymus' last chance for revenge against the people who destroyed his family.Apollonides is the First Timouchos, the leader of the rotating Timouchoi Council of Fifteen which rules Massilia as a timocracy — government by the wealthy. Hmmm, sounds like us, doesn't it? The entire Timouchoi body is 600 members. Cydimache is Apollonides' hideously ugly and deformed daughter. Normally, she would have been exposed at birth, but the requirements of Massilia encourage her father to keep her. Zeno is the man who married her, abandoning the woman he loved.Arausio is a Gaulish merchant whose beautiful daughter, Rindel, has disappeared. Rindel is also the name of his wife. Calamitos was and is one of Hieronymus' torturers.Famous exiles include……Gaius Verres, a Sicilian governor who was successfully (surprisingly) convicted of malfeasance; Milo was a gang-leader who was found guilty of murdering Clodius in A Murder on the Appian Way, 5 (Milo's wife, Fausta, declined to go into exile with him); Publicius and Minucius are two of the followers of Catilina in the city ( Catilina's Riddle, 3); and those Romans who were persecuted simply because they disagreed with Pompey.Rabidus is a cloaked and hooded soothsayer who ghosts through the countryside and Massilia. Marcus and a fellow soldier guard the Temple of Artemis just outside the Roman camp.Gnaeus Pompey has sailed toward Greece. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, a.k.a., Redbeard, represents Pompey's interests in Massilia; he's the one who convinced the city to side with Pompey. Suckers.The Cover and TitleThe cover is similar to that of Rubicon with its huge painting of a battle scene outside city walls framed with gold moldings against a black wall and a deep red carved empaneled wainscoting.The title is both real and metaphorical, both joyful and grieved when Last Seen in Massilia.
Hemmed inside the walls of ancient, Greek-controlled Marseilles, Pompey's sympathizers besieging your loyalties even as Julius Caesar's legions blockade all access by land or sea, what would you expect to find? Starvation and hysteria, certainly, as well as suspicion and political intrigue in abundance. But if you happen to be Gordianus the Finder, renowned sleuth of the Roman Empire, murder finds you.In 49 B.C., civil war embroiled Rome's vast empire. Caesar crossed the Rubicon to assert his regal claim upon Rome only to find himself bitterly opposed by his former ally, Magnus Pompey. No one in the Mediterranean world could remain neutral in the face of the ensuing conflict. The merchant Greeks of the fiercely independent city-state of Massilia unwisely chose to side with Pompey, prompting Caesar to lay siege to this strategic port.Gordianus, upon receiving anonymous word of his son Meto's ignominious death as a spy and traitor to Caesar, travels to Meto's last-known location, Massilia, to seek the truth. As a father and a Finder, Gordianus refuses to believe the charges. One of Caesar's closest officers, Meto would seem the last person to double-cross the great warlord. Gordianus braves capture by both sides, a flooded siege tunnel, insane city residents and other perils in his quest. But his investigation soon takes a sinister turn when from afar he witnesses a woman plunge to her death from atop Massilia's Sacrifice Rock.I found several engaging features in Last Seen in Massilia, beginning with the vividly accurate historical and military details. Some of the military descriptions wax technical, particularly those cropping up before the plot hits full stride. But if you're into that aspect of ancient history, you'll find those sections as fascinating as I did.I seldom read a murder mystery wherein the investigator witnesses the crime. An even more refreshing twist occurs at the development of a dispute about whether the woman jumped or was pushed by a man. This dispute flourishes chiefly between Gordianus's companion and their colorful Massilian host, and quickly turns into a macabre running gag providing welcome comic relief.Then there's Gordianus himself, a 61-year-old hero who possesses intelligence, pragmatism and fatherly devotion in generous measures. I enjoyed riding his emotional ups and downs in his pursuit of the truth behind what happened to the woman and his son. Near the end, however, Gordianus makes a decision that, as a parent, I could neither relate to nor agree with. And as a reader, I felt deliberately strung along by this plot element's stark lack of closure. Hence, I knocked a point off the score.But, considering everything Gordianus endured up to that point in this otherwise superbly detailed novel, I do look forward to seeing how the consequences play out in Saylor's next installment of the Roma Sub Rosa series.(Originally published in Crescent Blues. Reprinted with permission.)
What do You think about Last Seen In Massilia (2015)?
Steven Saylor developed a passion for all things "Roman" as an adolescent. He's spent years reading and researching everything he could find on this time period and writes stories based on historical events and characters. He doesn't sugar-coat the past nor does he write under the influence of any religious dogma. If you're easily offended by depictions of gladiatorial games, bloodshed, and sexual attractions and situations, do NOT read this series. If however, you're an adult who accepts that ancient people approached life differently and relished food, entertainments and pleasures (when they could), then get comfortable and enjoy some good stories. Life was hard in ancient times and this author tells it like it was!
—Denise
I do not want to give this away but this book was a huge installment in this series because of the changes that take place in his family. With the family changes that this book has it is a must read of course for the fans of the series but my favorite thing about this book was that it had my favorite mystery for Gordianus to solve so far. He is charged with trying to find his son Meto in Masillia a besieged town in present day France. While he is there is meets a doomed scapegoat and whitnesses what may be a murder or a suicide. All during this time he is still looking for his son. Great read and I am sure all Saylor fans would agree.
—Matthew Perry
Mais uma grande aventura de Gordiano, o Descobridor! Desta feita, Roma foi totalmente deixada de lado e a acção decorre do princípio ao fim na cidade de Massília (atual Marselha). Como tal, nesta obra não se encontram algumas das personagens já habituais, como Betesda, Diana, Cícero ou Eco. Esta aventura tem início no ponto onde a anterior terminou e Gordiano vê-se obrigado a partir para Massília com Davus, em busca do seu filho Meto, após ter recebido uma carta que o dava como morto. O descobridor fará todos os possíveis para solucionar o enigma envolto na suposta morte do filho e, pelo caminho, vai tentando deslindar outros acontecimentos estranhos que acontecem na cidade até um final surpreendente e chocante.Saylor foi, mais uma vez, exímio na forma como transmitiu informações históricas e cultura envoltas em ficção. Neste livro o leitor fica a conhecer o funcionamento da cidade de Massília na época, o seu sistema político e o estilo de vida dos seus cidadãos, numa altura em que a cidade estava cercada por Júlio César, que já havia entretanto tomado Roma. Mais uma vez, uma grande obra de Saylor, uma viciante aventura de um personagem fantástico e uma magnífica lição de história. Tenho agora, muito a custo, de me obrigar a fazer uma pausa de Roma Sub Rosa (ou, pelo menos, tentar!), para ler outras coisas, por forma a não correr o risco de me fartar antes de terminar a série. :)
—Inês Beato
