''The Jupiter Myth'' is a 2002

historical mystery The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves th ...

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

Lindsey Davis Lindsey Davis (born 1949) is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award. Life and career ...

and the 14th book in the Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries series. Set in

Londinium Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the Roman conquest of Brit ...

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

in August AD 75, the novel stars Marcus Didius Falco, informer and imperial agent. The title refers to the use of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

-related mythology by the crime syndicate to identify businesses associated with them. Londinium is the setting for two previous Falco novels, '' The Silver Pigs'' and '' A Body in the Bath House''. The novel is notable for the introduction of Albia, the young British orphan who becomes Falco's adoptive daughter and is the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

of a second novel series by Davis, beginning with '' The Ides of April''. Davis used up-to-date archaeological knowledge in developing the backdrop to the story.

Plot summary

Despite having put the project of building the

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

for the king of the

Atrebates The Atrebates (Gaulish: *''Atrebatis'', 'dwellers, land-owners, possessors of the soil') were a Belgic tribe of the Iron Age and the Roman period, originally dwelling in the Artois region. After the tribes of Gallia Belgica were defeated by Ca ...

, Togidubnus, back on track, there is no peace for Falco and his family (his wife, his children, his brothers in law and his sister Maia Favonia) in

as Togidubnus' disgraced friend, Verovolcus (see '' A Body in the Bath House''), is found drowned in the well of a seedy Londinium

taverna A taverna (; ) is a small Greek restaurant that serves Greek cuisine. The taverna is an integral part of Greek culture and has become familiar to people from other countries who visit Greece, as well as through the establishment of tavernes ...

named the ''Shower of Gold'', stripped of his

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. Wh ...

. Fearful of the diplomatic consequences, the local authorities in the form of Gaius Hilaris (see '' The Silver Pigs''), Falco's old friend and Helena's uncle, urge Falco to take up inquiries into the death. At the same time, Maia's children and Lucius Petronius "Petro'" Longus, Falco's best friend, have appeared in Londinium. Things become more tense with Togidubnus breathing down Falco and Hilarius' necks for answers on who killed Verovolcus, and a newly arrived businessman, Norbanus Murena, hitting on Maia. Falco and Helena discover extortion rackets terrorising Londinium when a fire breaks out at a bakery. He muses on how suspicious the fire at the bakery is, since there was nobody in the bakery during the conflagration, and suspects that it was arson by whoever is behind the rackets. In the midst of the blaze, a vagrant girl risks her life to save a pack of dogs. Touched by this show of heroism, Helena adopts the girl, who is named Albia. The relationship between the Didii and Albia goes off on a rocky start, however, with Albia vandalising Hilarius' home. Simultaneously Petro' also disappears, and at a very bad time too — a message soon arrives, saying that two of Petro's children have died in Rome. Falco is forced to take Albia out along with him, and decides to look for Petro', but Petro' warns him to stay away because he is going undercover and then flees. Worse, Albia is abducted and forced into a brothel. Falco goes to her rescue and is assisted by an unlikely ally: a group of female gladiators (or gladiatrices) led by an ex-girlfriend of Falco's named Chloris, now going by the stage name of Amazonia. The gladiatrices believe Falco to be responsible for Albia's plight and detain him, but Helena (who was summoned by Albia) convinces them to release Falco. The reunion with Chloris temporarily strains Falco's marriage with Helena, but eventually they reconcile. Enquiries, however, begin to pay off and soon enough, with Chloris' help Falco manages to identify the rackets' enforcers in town, nicknamed Pyro and Splice. Falco and his associates soon notice something else — many of the businesses in town all have names derived from myths surrounding Jupiter, the chief god of the Roman pantheon. Chloris also reveals to Falco that she saw Pyro and Splice up-end Verovolcus into the well, and that whoever is employing them is also harassing her and her gladiatrix group into working for him. A corpse is found on the wharves and sure enough, it is the missing baker whose shop was torched. Petro contacts Falco and reveals he is on an undercover mission for the vigiles in Rome, tracking whoever is behind the Londinium rackets, and happened to witness the baker's murder (but unfortunately can't identify the perpetrators). After a brief discussion, they decide to arrest Pyro and Splice. As usual, things don't go down well — a lawyer named Popilius attempts to free the enforcers but fails. Pyro is poisoned and Splice manages to escape from custody before any of them can be interrogated by the chief torturer, ironically named Amicus (Latin: 'friend'). Meanwhile, king Togidubnus has managed to detain one of the employees of the ''Shower of Gold'', a Briton named Flavia Fronta, who reveals the head of the rackets in Londinium and it's none other than Florius, the son of the late gangster Balbinus Pius (see '' Time to Depart''). Amicus' interrogations later confirm that Florius is in Britain, at the head of the racket which is named the Jupiter Company (hence all the businesses in Londinium with names connected to Jupiter) and that he is out to get Petro' too. Albia reveals to Falco and Helena that Florius was the man who abducted her earlier, and he had even raped her before Chloris rescued her. Falco now hopes to apprehend Florius for murdering Verovolcus, but Florius makes the first move by attacking Chloris. A confused battle soon takes place at the local arena, with Falco and his entourage coming in to help Chloris and her comrades, and Splice attempting to take revenge on Florius. Chloris kills Splice, but is slain by Florius who subsequently escapes. A chance meeting with Popilius soon reveals that Norbanus, the businessman courting Falco's sister Maia, is also head of the Jupiter Company. Both Norbanus and Maia have disappeared and Florius sends Falco a message: Petro' must be handed over in order to secure Maia's release. Petro' willingly sacrifices himself and goes over to Florius, but Florius reneges on the bargain. Another battle takes place — this time between the Governor's legions and Florius' gangsters, who are holed up in a public building. Petro' is rescued from being crushed to death, and Falco captures Norbanus, but Florius manages to escape again. Maia, who had actually been stranded with her children while on a river cruise, kills Norbanus with a crossbow when he tries to flee. Notwithstanding the end of the Jupiter Company, the case against Florius crumbles: the murderer of Verovolcus is revealed to be Flavia Fronta, the waitress at the ''Shower of Gold'': she had stolen Verovolcus' torque and drowned him to prevent him from reporting her theft of his torque, now recovered from the tavern. While this would satisfactorily resolve the diplomatic crisis with the Atrebates, it however now means that Petro's nemesis, Florius, cannot be indicted and is still at large. Cheated of success, Falco and Petro' swear that they will have their revenge on Florius.

Characters

* ''Aelia Camilla'' – Wife of Flavius Hilaris, Aunt of Helena Justina. * ''Albia'' – Young street girl adopted by Helena * ''Amazonia'' – also known as ''Chloris''. Gladiatrix, and ex-girlfriend of Falco. * ''Amicus'' – Official torturer * ''Crixus'' – Centurion * ''Flavia Fronta'' – Barmaid * ''Florius'' – Criminal gang leader * ''Gaius Flavius Hilaris'' – Procurator of Finance * ''Helena Justina'' – Wife of Falco, and daughter of the

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Decimus Camillus Verus * ''Lucius Petronius Longus'' – Friend of Falco and Vigiles Officer * ''Maia Favonia'' – Falco's widowed sister * ''Marcus Didius Falco'' – Informer and Imperial Agent. * ''Norbanus Murena'' – Property developer * ''Popillius'' – Lawyer * ''Pyro'' – Criminal * ''

Sextus Julius Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube frontier ...

'' – Governor of Britain * ''Silvanus'' – Centurion * ''Splice'' – Criminal * '' Togidubnus'' – Roman ally

Major themes

* Gangland activity in Londinium * Developing relationship between Maia and Petronius * The feud between Petro and the Balbinii, a clan of Roman criminals * The adoption of Albia by Helena Justina

Allusions/references to history

* Set in

, in AD 75, during the reign of Emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

. *

is a historical character who succeeded

Quintus Petillius Cerialis Quintus Petillius Cerialis Caesius Rufus ( AD 30 — after AD 83), otherwise known as Quintus Petillius Cerialis, was a Roman general and administrator who served in Britain during Boudica's rebellion and went on to participate in the civil wars ...

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of Britain in AD 75. * Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (or Togidubnus) was a 1st-century king of the Regni in early

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

Release details

* 2002, UK, Century Hardback * 2003, UK, Arrow, Paperback * UK, Chivers/BBC AudioBooks, read by Christian Rodska, Cassettes CD audios * US, Mysterious Press, Hardback * US, Mysterious Press, Paperback

References

External links

lindseydavis.co.uk
Author's Official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jupiter Jupiter Myth, The Jupiter Myth, The Jupiter Myth, The Novels set in Roman Britain 75