The Seven Wonders

The year is 92 B.C. Gordianus has just turned eighteen and is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: a far-flung journey to see the Seven Wonders of the World. Gordianus is not yet called “the Finder”—but at each of the Seven Wonders, the wide-eyed young Roman encounters a mystery to challenge the powers of deduction.
Accompanying Gordianus on his travels is his tutor, Antipater of Sidon, the world’s most celebrated poet. But there is more to the apparently harmless old poet than meets the eye. Before they leave home, Antipater fakes his own death and travels under an assumed identity. Looming in the background are the first rumblings of a political upheaval that will shake the entire Roman world.
Teacher and pupil journey to the fabled cities of Greece and Asia Minor, and then to Babylon and Egypt. They attend the Olympic Games, take part in exotic festivals, and marvel at the most spectacular constructions ever devised by mankind. Along the way they encounter murder, witchcraft and ghostly hauntings. Traveling the world for the first time, Gordianus discovers that amorous exploration goes hand-in-hand with crime-solving. The mysteries of love are the true wonders of the world, and at the end of the journey, an Eighth Wonder awaits him in Alexandria. Her name is Bethesda.

"Saylor puts such detail and tumultuous life into his scenes that the sensation of rubbing elbows with the ancients is quite uncanny." --New York Times Book Review on A Murder on the Appian Way

"A vivid and robust writer, Saylor invests his books with exquisite detail and powerful drama."--The Philadelphia Inquirer on A Mist of Prophecies

"Saylor evokes the ancient world more convincingly than any writer of his generation."--The Sunday Times (London) on The Judgment of Caesar

“Saylor’s scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthralls.”--Ruth Rendell, The Sunday Times (London) on Last Seen in Massilia

“Saylor is an excellent guide through this fascinating underworld. Superb historical fiction.”--Booklist (starred review) on Empire

“Who knew empire building could be so entertaining?… Using the same depth of knowledge, skillful plotting and graceful writing style displayed in his wonderful (and, if you love ancient history, essential) Roma Sub Rosa mysteries, Saylor immerses you in to the sometimes dangerous currents of Roman life…Neither Rome nor its story, it seems, were built in a day. In Empire, they're built to last.”--USA Today