The Seven Wonders

If you've ever wondered about Steven Saylor's Roman detective Gordianus the Finder, and how he came to be so knowledgeable about the remarkable sights of the ancient world, The Seven Wonders (#205) is the novel to read.

Although Gordianus has been wearing the toga of manhood for a year when the story begins, he's still a boy in many ways.  His father, the Finder, wishes to protect him from the oncoming political unrest in Rome, and he does so by shipping Gordianus off to see the Seven Wonders of the World with Antipater of Sidon, the renowned poet, as his companion.  Only Antipater has his own reasons for setting off on this tour, and fakes his own death and funeral so he can travel incognito. Gordianus really doesn't care, because he's about to embark on the adventure of his life.  In each chapter, the pair visit a different marvel - the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the ruins of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Colossus of Rhodes, the Great Pyramid in  Egypt - and in each place Gordianus encounters a mystery which he sets out to solve. He has a number of unique experiences and grows up in the process, although he nearly fails to see the biggest mystery of all right under his own nose.

Steven Saylor has borrowed some of his own materials from previously published short story anthologies to put together this entertaining book.  My husband thought he recognized several of the stories, but since he doesn't usually read the author's notes at the end he missed Saylor's explanation.  Since I'm not a huge fan of short stories, it was all new to me.  I can remember devouring the chapters about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in Richard Halliburton's Book of Marvels, a childhood classic.  It was fun to revisit these marvels in well-researched grown-up guise as a typical tourist of the times, with the added bonus of the Pharos of Alexandria, not one of the original Seven.  Throw in a mystery, or even a murder, at each site for Gordianus to hone his fledgling detective skills on, and what could be better fans of the ancient world?