The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World (Novels of Ancient Rome) (45 page)

Looming in the background of the novel are two world-changing events: The so-called Social War in Italy, and the incipient war for hegemony in Asia Minor between Rome and Mithridates. The literature on these events is vast, but I should mention
Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome: Trust in the Gods, but Verify
by Rose Mary Shelton (Frank Cass, 2005); the chapter entitled “Diplomat, Trader, Messenger, Client, Spy: Rome’s Eyes and Ears in the East” was especially pertinent to my purposes. A lecture at UC Berkeley by Adrienne Mayor, author of
The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy
(Princeton, 2010), was particularly rewarding; it is to Mayor that I owe the line, “Rome is the disease, Mithridates is the cure.”

*   *   *

Various episodes in this novel were published first as short stories. (Details may be found on the indicia page.) I am grateful to the anthology and magazine editors who first read and commented on those stories: Mike Ashley, Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, Gordon Van Gelder, and Janet Hutchings. I was especially gratified to see Gordianus in the pages of
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction,
because my first professional sale was to that magazine, many years ago; and I was glad to see Gordianus back in the pages of
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine,
where the very first Gordianus short story appeared.

I also want to thank my longtime editor at St. Martin’s Press, Keith Kahla, my longtime agent, Alan Nevins of Renaissance, and my longtime partner, Rick Solomon, all of whom helped Gordianus and his creator explore the Seven Wonders of the World.

ALSO BY STEVEN SAYLOR

Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome

Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome

A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry

Have You Seen Dawn?

ROMA SUB ROSA
®

CONSISTING OF:

Roman Blood

The House of the Vestals

A Gladiator Dies Only Once

Arms of Nemesis

Catilina’s Riddle

The Venus Throw

A Murder on the Appian Way

Rubicon

Last Seen in Massilia

A Mist of Prophecies

The Judgment of Caesar

The Triumph of Caesar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steven Saylor is the author of the
New York Times
bestselling
Roma
and its sequel,
Empire
, as well as the previous books in the long-running Roma Sub Rosa series featuring Gordianus the Finder. Saylor’s books have been published around the world in twenty-one languages. He divides his time between Berkeley, California, and Austin, Texas. Visit the author’s Web site at
www.stevensaylor.com
.