All Roads Lead to Rome

By Just Davide

The Silk Roads were the greatest routes of the Ancient World, extending across three mighty Empires. They surged to vigorous life during the Han Dynasty Period of Emperor Wu Di and the reign of Rome's first Emperor, Augustus Caesar.

In this the second novel of this series, PI Li investigates if the 'third man' in The Magi was a Chinese monk, bearing a gift of gold from a Chinese Empress to the infant Jesus. Was one of Gaspar's companions, Kujula, the missing son and heir of Augustus Caesar? Was PI Li's ancestor the first Chinese person to travel to Rome?

Meanwhile PI Li's joint investigations continue into the suspicious activities of the Hanpro Foundation, and the smuggling of fentanyl-tainted Chinese tea in traditional tea-sets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716262883

Book preview

All Roads

Lead to

Rome

by

Just Davide

Second in the series ‘The Undulating Threads’ with PI Li

Novel Ancient Silk Road Tales

All Roads Lead to Rome by Just Davide

Digital Edition

Copyright@2020justdavide

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-716-26288-3

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journals.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All Roads Lead to Rome

CONTENTS

Sketch Maps: Han & Roman Travel & Trade Routes: PI Li’s Travels

Pen Pictures of Characters: Contemporary &Historical.

Prologue

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, USA: Present Day

PART 1

THE ENIGMA

Sacramento, California

Beijing, PR China

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Beijing

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Beijing

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Beijing

Shanghai, PR China

Beijing

Shanghai

PART 2

ANCIENT TIMES

Chang’an, (capital city in Western Han Dynasty), Ancient China: 6BCE

Huashan, Ancient China: 6BCE

Western Frontiers of Ancient China & Chang’an: 138BCE-125BCE

Chang’an: 125BCE

Western Frontiers: 119-74BCE

Ancient Greece and Rome: 190BCE- 6BCE

Rome 6/5BCE

Pingliang, Gansu, Ancient China: 6BCE

Chang’an to Kashi, Western Frontiers: 5BCE

Rome: 5BCE

Dayuan & Makaranda, Sogdiana: 5BCE

Aleppo, Asia Minor: 5BCE

Rome: 5BCE

Makaranda, Sogdiana: 5BCE

Rome: 4BCE

Makaranda to Jerusalem, Ancient Palestine: 5-4BCE

Jerusalem: 4BCE

Bethlehem, Judea, Ancient Palestine: 3BCE

Rome: 3BCE

Aleppo: 2BCE

Chang’an 1BCE

Antioch, Asia Minor:1BCE

Rome & Chang’an: 13/14CE

Rome 14CE

Pingliang: 63CE

Rome & Jerusalem 14- 100CE

Western Regions of Ancient China: 70-73CE

Travels of Gan Ying & Party in Western Regions, Bactra and Parthia: 97-102CE

PART 3

THE SOLUTION

Henderson, Nevada, USA: Present Day

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Beijing

Rome, Italy

Shanghai

Vatican City

Athens, Greece

Samarkand, Tajikistan, Central Asia

Athens

Samarkand

Aegean Sea Cruise- Rhodes

Athens

Edessa

Haifa, State of Israel

Sinai

Epilogue

Sketch Maps: Han & Roman Travel & Trade Routes

Ancient Roads in Roman-Han TimesPILiEuropeARtoRome

‘PI Li’s Travels

PI Li's travels in A

Characters: Contemporary & Historical

Introductory pen pictures of the main protagonists to the series- The Incredible Threads: Novel tales of the Ancient Silk Roads- are also included in the first book in the series- The Road to the Next City.

PI Li Ke: The divorced former policeman attached to the Antiquity Crime Unit is seriously injured in the line of duty and embarks on a career as a private enquiry agent. Initially this entails investigating insurance claims but he starts receiving opportunities to conduct artifact provenance investigations. Li has retained a life-long interest in the Ancient Silk Roads and he establishes a coveted network of knowledge sources, and guidance, in his twenty-five-year police career. ‘The Chief’, his former national antiquity crime unit boss, wants to utilize Li’s talents. Li adopts an English name, ‘Peter,’ is known to his police colleagues as ‘Longxi Li’, his friends and associates in the cultural sphere as ‘Satao Li’ (‘satao’ being the leader of the camel caravan trains along the Ancient Silk Roads) and Louise nicknames him ‘Camel’ for Li’s absorption in the history and culture of the Silk Roads.

In ‘The Road to the Next City’ Li assists in the repatriation of a Greek archaeologist, Dr. Demis Roussos and two Chinese scientists from a conflict zone, and a hoard of ancient gold coins minted on behalf of Alexander the Great in central Asia. Li is instrumental in deterring an attempt to blackmail Dr. Roussos’ daughter, Alexandra, and the Pella Museum following an important find in a tomb of an Ancient Pella family. He also uncovers crucial evidence related to drug manufacture in Lanzhou, and smuggling through Piraeus Port, and the vehicle involved in an incident which disables his niece.

The involvement in Greece draws PI Li closer to a cultural body with commercial subsidiaries entailing avaricious activities in China, Europe and the USA. This includes a novel opoid smuggling operation involving traditional Chinese tea drinking. He helps his American ‘cousin’, Commander Stephen Lee of the FBI in California and crime fighting units based in Shanghai and Beijing, to trace and scupper the smugglers network.

He is re-united with Louise, his former school desk mate after more than twenty-five years. They reignite their friendship and grow closer when Louise decides to take a ‘backseat’ to her own career and help Li with his.

Their lives take a turn for the better. The Lanzhou enquiry agency business grows, PI Li is entrusted with sensitive international provenance enquiries and Li’s daughter, Coco, establishes herself as a successful designer in Shanghai.

Louise: The ambitious, and clever, countryside girl from Pingliang leaves her hometown to study in Shanghai and Stanford University, California. She launches a successful ‘start-up’ in Silicon Valley focusing on ‘Motive’ software involving goods distribution and satellite technologies. In a fallacy she marries, but remains close to her American ‘guardian’, Uncle Sam Smith. Later she learns from her mother, Grace, Sam is her natural father. Both Louise and her mother kept intimate secrets from their loved ones but once Louise is re-united with Peter Li, and Grace with Sam, they both reveal these secrets. Louise has bought a house near her father and mother in Carmel-by-the-Sea with the original intention of working remotely. Now Li is undertaking international provenance enquiries they plan to set up home together.

Grace and Sam Smith: After nearly fifty years apart on separate continents the pair is now free to be together in their autumn years. Sam wants to travel and intends to retire his commercial interests in Asian antiquities and close his small shop in Carmel. Grace, a retired English teacher and community worker, is excited with the prospect of finally spending time with Sam, Louise and Peter.

Dr. Ren Mei (‘May’) & Dr Yang: May Ren has succeeded her mentor, and friend of PI Li, Dr. Yang, at the Shanghai Museum. They render valuable assistance and support to Li and ‘The Chief’ as they did earlier in Li’s Pella and Piraeus Port investigations. Dr. Yang is promoted to an influential role in cultural conservation, And May and Alexandra Roussos at Pella become friends. The two professional women are both involved in archaeological excavation of historically significant sites and cooperate easily. May is eager to assist Li in his intriguing world of Chinese provenance investigations.

The Roussos Family: Roxanne, Li’s cousin, brings Li into contact with a stressed Alexandra Roussos, the Acting Director of Archaeological Activities at the Pella Museum. Alex’s enigma forms a major section of ‘The Road to the Next City’. She takes risks to deter attempts to blackmail the Museum over an artifact with serious historical record implications. Alex, and her mother are amazed, when Li appears in Athens in the company of Dr Demis Roussos who went missing, feared killed, on a private search for a relic in west Asia’s conflict zones. The family assists in collecting substantive crime scene evidence at Piraeus Port. It resolves a quandary for the Li family personally; it also reveals the leverage of ‘The Hand of Han’ and the conceivable role of Ban Jun in international crime using local proxies. In ‘All Roads lead to Rome’ Demi Roussos and his contacts in Samarkand, and Athens, help Li in tracing the sensitive artifact in Li’s investigation while Alex and her mother, Olympias, are committed in Pella and Edessa.

The Golden Peach Company: Under the perpetuating leadership of a senior Jewish man designated ‘Cyrus,’ the organization which originated as a family chain of pawn shops in Ancient Babylon is now an important distributor of food products in west Asia and eastern Mediterranean. The company still holds in trust many valuables in hidden locations in the region. ‘Cyrus’s aim is to restore these treasures to their rightful owners, or heirs, and when the company shelters Demi Roussos, and PI Li arrives to recover two Chinese scientists in The Road to the Next City’, ‘Cyrus’ believes he’s found the right people to help him in his restoration project. In return offers Li, Louise and Demi wise guidance and the resources of ‘The Golden Peach Company’. ‘Cyrus’ and Jonathan in Israel, and Abram in Athens, give them support in ‘All Roads lead to Rome’.

His Eminence, Cardinal Carlo Baggio: A fortuitous meeting in Sacramento leads to the principal steward of Musei Vaticani commissioning PI Li to conduct a unique investigation to validate the context of a rare relic. The amiable churchman has reputation as a rugged international football defender but rose quickly through the ranks of the Roman church through dedicated service, vigorous leadership, and an acquired interest in antiquity. He invites and hosts the Smith family in Rome. Peter and Louise’s search forms the principal tale in ‘All Roads lead to Rome’.

Francesca, Guiseppe & Franco: Members of Cardinal Baggio’s staff at Vatican City.

Ban Jun: A descendent of a famous figure in the Han Dynasty (see pen pictures of historical characters) has risen to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hanpro Foundation, a cultural foundation to promote, and protect, the achievements of the Han Dynasty. He emerges from the murky commercial background of the Foundation’s commercial arm which includes a ‘player’, Hanlog, in The Road to the Next City’ and a link to a secret group, ‘The Hand of Han’. Evidence from the Piraeus Port container investigation points to Ban’s early mysterious life in Eastern Europe. Like Louise and Peter, he was born in Pingliang but lost all sense of modesty and humility to develop into an arrogant businessman with a secret patron in one of the top leaders in the government. ‘The Chief’, Mr. Wu and Dr Yang, all leaders in their fields themselves, caution Li about the danger Ban and his shady associates pose in any investigation of their activities.

Commander Stephen Lee: Steve Lee shares the same ancestral roots as Li Ke. Lee’s family migrated to California to merge into the ‘melting pot’ of American society. Lee is the Commander of the Antiquity Crime Division based in Los Angeles and worked with Li on several smuggling cases when Li was still in the Chinese police force. They maintain close contact during Li’s transition to private investigations and are both involved in an investigation into the smuggling of fentanyl-tainted tea in traditional Chinese tea-sets. After a frustrating start to the investigation in The Road to the Next City they make a fortuitous breakthrough and a further lead allows them to infiltrate the network. However, Steve is promoted to a State position in Sacramento he previously declined because it meant relocating his young family. The Governor approves of Lee staying in Los Angeles but the pair is keen to close the case as early as possible and plan a ‘sting’ operation outside California. 

Charles Liu: CEO of the Liu Group, a major distributor in California, and the gay former husband of Louise. Louise helped the Liu family set up a successful business and the couple divorced amicably. Charles provides a critical lead in the tea smuggling case. This results in another surprise for PI Li in All Roads lead to Rome.

Mo Franklin & Mrs. Mary Quan: Partners in an analytical laboratory in San Francisco and old university friends of both Sam Smith and Louise. They, and their staff, provide superb analyses and research support to Sam, PI Li and Steve Lee which the investigators successfully follow up and allow PI Li to draw feasible conclusions to his major investigation in The Road to the Next City and vital clues in tracing the fentanyl-tainted tea smuggling operation.

Mr. Wu: Chairman of a major insurance group in China and the major client of Li Enquiry Agents in Lanzhou and PI Li’s private provenance enquiries. He entrusts Li with a tiered investigation involving a Han Dynasty ‘golden horse’, an aged insurance policy and the Hanpro Foundation’s CEO, Ban Jun. He is an old friend of ‘The Chief" and the two cooperate closely.

‘The Chief’: Chief Wen,the national head of the Chinese Antiquity Crime Unit based in Beijing, and highly respected and connected in the crime fighting world has maintained a low profile but close relationship with his excellent former officer, Li Ke, and they meet secretly at the airport. In collaboration with Mr. Wu and his own daughter, who is also his personal assistant, they keep Li informed with vital case backgrounds and busy with important unusual tasks. When necessary he provides Li with official police support and does so in All Roads lead to Rome as they close in on the illegal activities close to the Hanpro Foundation.

Historical Characters

Ancient China

Kang: Head of the Grand Empress Dowager’s Household. Kang’s ancestral namesake played a similar role in the same position In the Road to the Next City. Here the ever-reliable Kang helps prepare a royal gift for Gaspar to present to someone to be found below a star and employs Satao Li Ke, at great expense, to guide Gaspar there. Kang hopes to retire from the intrigue and drama of the royal court and return to his ancestral village near Luoyang.

Grand Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun: The superstitious widow of Emperor Yuan sees a celestial body in the western sky and seeks a horoscope from an evicted court astronomer, Sima You, who lives on Huashan near Chang’an, the royal capital. The celestial sign is indeed momentous and it was agreed they’d seek to find what it means. Gaspar, Sima You’s son and a Taoist monk, agrees to carry a gift from the Empress and make the unknown journey. The sixty-six-year-old Wang has experienced uncanny success at the royal court. Entering the Palace in the service of the Imperial concubines she rises to become consort to the heir and bears him a son. She becomes Empress and when Yuan dies her son succeeds him but Wang remains influential and favors her own family members including her nephew, the future usurper, Wang Meng. Her son died from an aphrodisiac overdose and his successor dies while Gaspar is away. Wang Zhengjun has the foresight to secure the imperial seal before Wang Meng and takes control by removing opponents but is forced to give it to Wang Meng when the child emperor Ping is poisoned. The bitterness between them is so great when she dies age eighty-three, Wang Meng buries her in the same tomb as her late husband, but has a trench dug between the couple.

Wang Meng: Wang Zhengjun’s ambitious, ruthless and authoritarian nephew eventually usurps the Western Han Dynasty throne after poisoning the latest child emperor and demanding the imperial seal from his aunt. He declares his own dynasty but it‘s gutted by peasant revolts and army discontent. Wang Meng is killed in a final battle for Chang’an and the Eastern Han Dynasty in Luoyang returns.

Sima You: An enlightened astronomer evicted from the royal court and resides on Huashan, one of Ancient China’s holy mountains. He refused to provide horoscopes to the superstitious Confucians but continues his observation of the heavens from Huashan. He notices this new celestial body soon after its arrival in the night sky and his son, Gaspar, and he agree it is a truly unique sign and both were keen to discover its meaning. When approached by Wang Zhengjun and Kang they encourage and support an expedition sponsored by Wang to discover what it means.

Gaspar: The adult son of Sima You chose to be a Taoist monk and joins the monastery on Huashan to be near his father. Together with Li Ke he undertakes the mission for Wang Zhengjun bearing a scrupulously designed and molded pure gold gift hidden from his travel companions until it is presented in Bethlehem.in Judea, Palestine. At this presentation he is joined by two dignitaries; Melchior from Arabia and Balthazar from Ethiopia. In biblical records the men are referred to as ‘The Magi’ or ‘Three Kings’. The story of his journeys along one of the Ancient Silk Roads from Ancient China and his escapades with his two companions, Li Ke and the enigmatic ‘Kujula’ is told in All Roads lead to Rome.

Satao Li Ke 1&2: The ‘Longxi Li’s’ are a clan family named for the Longxi Commander in southern Gansu, Li Ching, first Qin governor of Longxi, and he is revered as the clan’s founder. Longxi County is the area west of ‘Mount Long’. The Li Ke’s in these tales are fictional characters where the given name is passed down to grandsons. The family settles in an area under Kongtong Mountain near Pingliang for many generations and become legendary leaders of the camel caravan trains traveling along the Ancient Silk Roads. These leaders also act as guides and interpreters. In All Roads lead to Rome Li Ke accompanies Gaspar on his journey from Chang’an to Bethlehem and back contacting families of the original Macedonian settlers, and Sogdians in Samarkand, Dayuan and Ferghana from The Road to the Next City. Li Ke’s grandson guides Envoy Gan Ying in his search to find out about Rome in a later tale in All Roads lead to Rome and may well have reached Rome himself.

Zhang Qian: The envoy and explorer for an early Han Emperor, Wu Di, who, along with his faithful Xiongnu guide, Ganfu, endures capture, enslavement and much hardship in his attempts to discover more beyond the boundaries of Ancient China for his ruler. Wu Di is impressed with Zhang’s reports about the horses of Ferghana and the crops and riches of the people beyond the Western Regions. The ambitious Wu Di sends him on two further missions; one is to the Wusun in the possible hope of securing the celestial horses the emperor now desires. Zhang is not successful and Wu Di then sends a group of less qualified envoys, some dishonest and unscrupulous, to present a gift of a ‘Golden Horse’ and payment for horses. The Emperor’s offer is declined by the Sogdians. The outcome of this meeting is investigated by PI Li and led him to encounters with Ban Jun and the Han Foundation in All Roads lead to Rome.

General Li Guang: Known as ‘The Flying General’ serving Emperor Wu Di. A strongly built soldier with long arms and great archery skills, Li Guang campaigns extensively in the Western Regions. Popular with his men and envied by his fellow generals he is court marshalled for arriving late for a desert battle against the Xiongnu and the Han army is defeated. His fellow generals blame Li rather their own feeble tactics. Li would not accept a court martial and commits suicide.

General Li Ling: Li Guang’s grandson also serves Wu Di. Li Ling suffers bad luck in conflict situations and is never promoted to high rank or given strategic missions. At one time his future in the Han army is saved by Envoy Zhang Qian and later when he surrenders on an independent mission to the Xiongnu in the Altay Mountains and is presumed dead and honored by the emperor. Li Ling’s honor is defended by the courtier and historian, Sima Qian. However, when it is discovered Li Ling is alive, and succumbed to the Xiongnu, Li is condemned as a traitor, his family is punished and Sima Qian castrated. Later, when it is confirmed he defected and led Xiongnu forces against the Han armies his family is executed and the entire Longxi Li clan branded as a ‘disgrace’. Li Ling is heavily defeated in a battle with the Han but never killed. He dies of disease twenty years after his original ‘defection’. The ‘Longxi Li’s’ lose all enthusiasm to serve rulers and do army service. The men dedicate themselves to roles as ‘Sataos’ along the Ancient Silk Roads.

General Ban Chao: Born in Pingliang, Ban Chao is a career soldier who also gains renown as an explorer and diplomat in the ‘Western Regions’ of Ancient China during the Eastern Han Dynasty. He spends thirty years securing the Tarim Basin and establishing a chain of fortifications and administrative procedures to facilitate the trade to, and from, Ancient China and central Asia. He is a devout Confucian and protector, and promoter, of Han culture. In All Roads lead to Rome he is the founder of ‘The Hand of Han’. Ban receives the title of ‘Protector General of the Western Regions’ and later a Marquis title from the emperor but never a recall to serve in the royal court until a year before his death in Luoyang at the age of seventy years. One of his last acts as general is to dispatch Gan Ying to find Rome.

Subaltern Gan Ying: a loyal, but naïve officer with little field experience, is sent by Ban Chao from Jiuquan to travel beyond the Pamir Mountains on the boundary of Ancient China as an envoy to the Parthians but primarily to find this mysterious city known to the Chinese as ‘Li Kan’ (possibly Alexandria) but in reality, Rome. The Parthians see this as an attempt to by-pass their monopolistic control of the trade from China to west Asia and Rome so Gan Ying’s central Asian guides lead him on a wild goose chase across Asia. They convince Gan it is the Roman Empire but travel to Rome itself is blocked. In All Roads lead to Rome, Li Ke is commissioned by Ban Chao to guide Gan Ying to Bactria to meet the Parthian guide but Li decides to accompany Gan further. When Li realizes the Parthians intentions he breaks away from Gan’s party and travels under the fledgling ‘Golden Peach Company’. Gan Ying returns to Ancient China with a detailed report mentioning an ambiguous ‘Rome’ and western gifts and products for the emperor and his general.

Ancient Rome

Octavius, Augustus Caesar: Rome’s first Roman emperor with a reign of forty-one years in a period known as ‘Pax Romana’. He is the Roman contemporary of Chinese Empress Wang Zhengjun and dies one year after her, at the age of seventy-five years, under skeptical circumstances. Octavius is the adopted son of Julius Caesar with hopes of establishing his own family dynasty. He, however, rejects a monarch title calling himself ‘First Citizen’ but is still created a ‘deity’ and requires his image to be placed in all places of worship and public amenities throughout his vast, multi- religious and multi-cultural empire. This causes more local problems than the efficient, authoritarian rule of Roman officials and client-kings. The empire progresses under his rule. Rome is rebuilt on a grand scale, roads are developed for military purposes, he establishes a standing army, and the Mediterranean Sea is cleared of pirates. He reforms taxation but it is still the poorer classes who suffer most while Roman citizens live beyond the City’s means. Part of the problem is their escalating love and purchase of exotic goods including silk. Augustus becomes a solitary man in his palace. He is raised by Julia, Julius Caesar’s sister, and his early career is spent courageously competing, often fighting, two rivals for the top position in Rome. His wife, Livia, lives elsewhere. He adopts sons and when his natural son, Julius, goes missing his heir is the reluctant, and saturnine, Tiberius. Augustus Caesar forms a personal security force, the Praetorian Guards, an official police force, including secret police, fire fighting units and meets with traders and dignitaries from foreign lands. He initiates the return of Roman Standards from the Parthians, consolidates Rome’s food supplies from west Asia and Egypt and promotes trade. Although much of the empire is at peace most of Rome’s army is posted to Germania to keep barbaric tribes out of the peninsula.

Tiberius: The grudging successor to Augustus who spends his adult life outside Rome as a soldier serving in Germania, on special missions’ foreign diplomatic missions or at his villa on Capri. After the untimely deaths of both Augustus’ grandsons, Tiberius is adopted as Augustus’ full son and heir, and after returning from Germania holds equal powers with Augustus until the emperor’s demise. He is a dark, somber and reclusive character who leaves the governing to a former Praetorian prefect, Lucius Aelius Sejanus. The unscrupulous Sejanus rules in Rome as an ambitious and cruel administrator until he is strangled by assassins. This act arouses an even darker side to Tberius and he oversees a reign of terror. At the age of seventy-seven he is smothered to death in Capri. He is succeeded by Augustus’ other adopted sons- Gaius Caligula, Claudius and finally Nero. The persecution of religious groups increases and the power of the Caesars in Rome wanes. Resistance to Roman rule in Palestine is crushed by a general who destroys Jerusalem and succeeds as Emperor Vespasian. 

Julius Caesar aka Kujula: In All Roads lead to Rome the teenage son of Augustus, Julius, goes ‘missing’ accompanying Tiberius to recover the Roman Standards from the Parthians. He turns up again in Samarkand having embraced Buddhism, and trading along the Great Indian Road. He meets Gaspar and Li Ke and accompanies them to, and from, Bethlehem. He finally communicates with his father, visits Jerusalem again at a portentous time but returns to the east where he becomes influential among the early Kushans. He lives to a great age and even meets General Ban Chao and a younger member of Li Ke’s Pingliang family.

Pauli: A retiring Sicilian Centurion in Jerusalem; approached by Kujula to deliver a message to Augustus Caesar. The soldier does so and is entreated by the Emperor to return to Asia and seek Kujula. Pauli contacts Cyrus in Antioch again for assistance.

Ancient Palestine

Herod the Great: A contemporary of Augustus Caesar and Wang Zhengjun, and the client- ruler in Judea for Rome. Herod is only partly Jewish and not of the royal line of David. During his long rule he undertakes major building projects including a second temple in Jerusalem, the port of Caesarea and the fortresses at Masada and Herodium. Herod and his family are never accepted by the Jews, and he and his successors, must deal with frequent public disturbances; suppressing and eliminating dissenters. He receives Gaspar and his party in his Jerusalem palace. He and his heir, Herod Antipas, recognize the threat to their rule when they hear of the Magis’ mission. He dies soon after from a painful, putrefying illness. An ominous lunar eclipse precedes his death.

Herod Archeleus: Friendly with the darker Roman Tiberius, Archeleus succeeds his father at a lower rank when a Roman governor is appointed. Archeleus is more unpopular than his father and the local people complain to Rome about his tyrannical behavior. He is replaced by his brother, Herod Antipas, and exiled to Gaul.

Herod Antipas: Referred to by Jesus as a ‘fox’ he rules during the founder of Christianity’s ministry. He builds the city of Tiberius but is removed by Gaius Caligula, Emperor Tiberius’ successor in Rome, and banished to Gaul.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus: The family in Bethlehem, King David’s City, and the destination of the journeys of ‘The Magi’- Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar- bearing gifts for ‘The King of the Jews’. After a warning the family is in mortal danger from the Herods, they flee Bethlehem and go to