The Thieves of Ostia is a children's historical fiction novel by Caroline Lawrence. It is the first book in The Roman Mysteries series and was published on 20 September 2001 by Orion Children's Books.
The book is set in Ostia in AD 79, during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian. It follows the adventures of a Roman girl named Flavia Gemina, along with her friends, a Jewish boy named Jonathan ben Mordecai; Nubia, an African slave-girl; and Lupus, a mute beggar-boy. Together, the children try to unmask the perpetrator behind the brutal killings of several dogs in Ostia.
Synopsis[]
Flavia Gemina is a natural at solving mysteries. The daughter of a ship's captain living in Ostia, the port of Rome, in AD79, she and her three friends, Jonathan, a Jewish boy (and secretly a Christian); Nubia, an African slave girl; and Lupus, a mute beggar boy, must work together to discover who is beheading the watchdogs that guard people's homes, and why.
Plot[]
Flavia's father, Captain Marcus Flavius Geminus
The date is the 13th of June, 79 AD. In the port town of Ostia, sea captain Marcus Flavius Geminus loses his deceased wife's amethyst signet ring. Convinced that the ring has been stolen, he asks his ten-year-old daughter, Flavia Gemina, to investigate. She finds a mark like a bird's foot on some parchment in his study, and seeing a magpie at the window, she deduces that the magpie must have stolen the ring.
Flavia Gemina
Flavia uses her bulla to bait the bird, in hope of finding its nest. When the magpie takes the bulla, Flavia leaves the house to follow, causing the door to lock behind her. The bird leads her to Ostia's necropolis, where she finds the ring and several other treasures, hidden in a nest high on a tree. Climbing the tree to retrieve these items, Flavia is about to descend when she is suddenly ambushed by a pack of feral dogs.
Jonathan helps Flavia to escape the necropolis
Screaming for help, Flavia is surprised when some of the dogs yelp and jerk in pain, and realizes they have been struck by stones. A voice calls up to Flavia and tells her to come down, and she jumps out of the tree, spraining her ankle. She finds a boy waiting at the bottom of the tree. He helps Flavia to her feet and steers her towards his house, which is next to Flavia's, whilst keeping the dogs away with his sling. A tall man throws open the door to the house and pulls the children inside, just in the nick of time.
Jonathan's father, Mordecai ben Ezra, treats Flavia's swollen ankle
Now safe indoors, Flavia is lovingly mobbed by Bobas, the household dog. She realizes that this is the new dog she has heard barking for the past week; he belongs to the "mysterious family" that had moved in the week before. The man introduces himself as Mordecai ben Ezra, and introduces the boy as his son, Jonathan ben Mordecai. Mordecai is a doctor, and his family is Jewish. Enlisting the help of his daughter, Miriam bat Mordecai, Doctor Mordecai treats Jonathan's asthma and Flavia's sprained ankle, then sends Jonathan to escort Flavia home.
Venalicius unloads a cargo of slaves from the Vespa.
Three days later, it is Flavia's birthday. Flavia's father takes her to to sell the trinkets from the magpie's nest; Flavia is hoping that it will be enough to buy a full set of the Aeneid. On the way, they see a cargo of slaves being unloaded from Vespa, the ship of the slave-dealer Venalicius--he is notorious for allegedly kidnapping and selling freeborn children, a highly illegal practice. Flavia notices a dark-skinned girl, about her age, amongst the slaves; a price tag round her neck shows that she is to be sold for 600 sestertii.
Venalicius sells Nubia to Captain Geminus
At the goldsmith's shop, Flavia is offered 600 sestertii for her trinkets. She tells her father that she knows what she wants for her birthday, and they go to the town forum, where Venalicius is selling the slaves. Flavia immediately tries to buy the slave-girl she had noticed earlier, but Marcus tells Flavia to let him do it; Venalicius may cheat her and raise the price beyond the written amount. However, Venalicius raises the price anyway, asking for 700 sestertii. Marcus pays the missing 100 sestertii out of his own pocket, as a birthday gift to Flavia, and they take the slave girl home.
Flavia's new slave-girl, Nubia
At home, Flavia tends to and dresses the girl, who introduces herself as Nubia. She quickly learns that Nubia does not speak Latin. After taking her to meet Alma, her former nursemaid (now the family cook), Flavia tries to learn more about her new slave-girl. Nubia is very timid, and her favourite food appears to be dates. She speaks only a little bit of Greek, like Flavia, who is still being taught the rudiments by her tutor Aristo.
Flavia's eleventh birthday party
Flavia invites Nubia to her birthday party that evening, which Jonathan's family also attends. Although things are awkward at first, the party ends up going well, and Flavia, Jonathan, and Nubia bond for the first time. Mordecai gives Flavia a copy of the Aeneid as a birthday present. Flavia proposes reading it to Nubia to teach her Latin, but discovers that Nubia has gone missing. A search finds her fast asleep in the storeroom with Flavia's dog, Scuto.
Several days later, Flavia's and Jonathan's family have become firm friends, and Jonathan and Flavia have begun to teach Nubia Latin. Marcus is due to set sail with his patron, Cordius, so Flavia, Nubia, and Jonathan's family go to see them off. Cordius is a wealthy man whose entire family had been killed by Germanic barbarians, and he is normally very melancholic, but recently he seems a little happier--Flavia's father tells her that this is because Cordius is secretly planning to adopt his young freedman, Libertus.
Flavia, Jonathan, and Nubia see Flavia's father off, but being at the harbour scares Nubia, so they quickly return home. As they walk, Nubia sees a trail of blood leading towards Jonathan's house. Despite his father's warnings, Jonathan rushes in, but is quickly out again to vomit into the street. Miriam rushes inside too and screams. Flavia and Nubia are about to go in, but Jonathan stops them: someone has cut off their dog Bobas' head and taken it away.
An hour later, Flavia, Jonathan and Nubia try to figure out why Bobas was killed. Jonathan suggests it may have been because his family is Jewish--he reveals that they had moved to the outskirts of Ostia because their old neighbors had attacked them for being Jews. When Flavia points out that Ostia has a large population of Jews, Jonathan appears discomfited, and she stops probing the subject.
Characters
The Thieves of Ostia introduces the four detectives for the very first time. In order of appearance, the detectives are:
- Flavia Gemina, a girl of 10, the protagonist of the story. Flavia has an independent streak and a knack for solving mysteries. ㅤ
- Jonathan ben Mordecai, a boy of 11. Jonathan is Jewish, but is a practising Christian. He is light-hearted and likes to make others laugh. ㅤ
- Nubia, a girl of 11. She was sold as a slave in Ostia, and bought by Flavia. Nubia is timid and shy, and does not speak Latin. ㅤ
- Lupus, a boy of 8. He is a beggar-boy, and cannot speak due to his tongue having been cut out. Lupus is wary of people, but warms up to the other three detectives when they show him kindness.
ㅤOther characters who appear in The Thieves of Ostia are
- Captain Marcus Flavius Geminus, Captain of the merchant ship Myrtilla. He is away on a voyage for most of the novel. Marucs is a widower, and is Flavia's father.
- Doctor Mordecai ben Ezra, a medical doctor. He is Jewish and a devout Christian, and is Jonathan's father. Mordecai is also a widower.
- Miriam bat Mordecai, Jonathan's older sister. She is also a devout Christian, and is exceptionally beautiful.
- Titus Attius Cordius, Marcus' patron. Cordius is extremely rich, but is a widower whose whole family was killed by barbarians in Germania
- Libertus, Cordius' freedman. Libertus runs Cordius' household. He is smart, well-spoken, and very handsome.
- Venalicius, a slave dealer with a fearsome reputation. He has been rumored to (and threatens to) illegally kidnap and sell freeborn Roman children.
- Bato, a magistrate from Ostia.
Minor characters in the book include
- Alma, a slave in the Geminus family household. Flavia's former wetnurse, now the Geminus family's cook.
- Caudex, a door slave in the Geminus family household.
- Aristo, Flavia's tutor, a Greek from Corinth. He is away visiting his family for most of the novel.
- Bobas, Jonathan's pet dog. He was the house watchdog, but was brutally murdered early in the novel.
- Scuto, Flavia's pet dog. He is the Geminus family's watchdog.
- Tigris and Nipur, two puppies sired by a feral mastiff who went rabid and had to be put down by Doctor Mordecai. Tigris becomes Jonathan's pet dog, Nipur becomes Nubia's.
Historical References[]
Geographical[]
- Ostia, known today as Ostia Antica, is an ancient Roman town. It is located sixteen miles outside Rome, and was the city's principal port town.
- Green Fountain Street, the street on which Flavia and Jonathan live, is supposedly located in the ruins beneath modern-day Ostia.
- The Synagogue, where Jonathan and his friends take refuge in the book, is a real place and still stands today in Ostia Antica. The graveyard and Forum are also real locations.
Historical figures[]
- Vespasian was a real person, and was the Emperor of Rome during The Thieves of Ostia. He does not make an appearance.