A Bull for Pluto

A Slave's Story, Book 2

By: Christopher D. Stanley

Narrated by: Keith Edward Gerhard II

A Bull for Pluto, the second book in Christopher D. Stanley’s A Slave’s Story trilogy, continues the story begun in Book One of the series, A Rooster for Asklepios.

Book One tells the story of Lucius Coelius Felix, an aging aristocrat in the Roman colony of Antioch-near-Pisidia in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey), and his trusted assistant, a slave named Marcus, as they encounter a series of unfortunate events that derail Lucius's plans for social advancement. A nagging abdominal ailment and an encouraging dream lead Lucius and Marcus to embark on a fateful journey to Pergamon in western Turkey to visit the sanctuary of Asklepios, the Greek god of healing, where Lucius expects to be cured.

Book Two follows the aftermath of this visit. Rather than returning home to his pregnant wife Selena, the dispirited Lucius announces his intention to visit the city of Hierapolis to bask in the healing waters of the city’s renowned hot springs. While there, Marcus meets a young woman named Miriam who challenges him to embrace the recently revealed secret of his family history rather than running from it as he is inclined to do. Marcus is torn between his budding love for Miriam and the potential cost of following her advice.

A tragic decision by Lucius seals their fate as their attention must now be devoted to preserving Lucius’s life. They reach Antioch in time to learn that Lucius’s son Gaius has miserably abused his father's household while Lucius was away. If Lucius should die, Marcus, Selena, and her unborn child will be at the mercy of this tyrant. To fend off this danger, Lucius must tell Marcus the painful truth about his past, a truth that will ensure Marcus's future at the cost of his master's honor. Can he bring himself to act before his inevitable end?

Christopher D. Stanley is a professor who studies and writes about the social and religious history of the Greco-Roman world, with special attention to early Judaism and Christianity.

©2020 Christopher D Stanley (P)2022 Christopher D Stanley

Continuing the Journey with Twists and Turns

This second volume of a proposed three-volume trilogy continues the story of the slave, Marcus, and his master, Lucius, adding a few more characters into the mix. This volume, while significantly shorter than the previous volume, is full of the historical aspects that make this set a must read for those interested in Roman Asia Minor in the the first-century CE. We see here displayed the deepest concerns of life and death, of love and violent hatred, of hope and moves toward redemption. Thanks to the author, we are privy to several rituals from the Greco-Roman world, including those from religious, political, social, and medical fields. Already by this second volume we are invested in the characters and their developing situation(s), and the author manages to present a few surprises along with the well-developed anticipations arising from the ensuing narrative. This volume is held together by various images of devotion: religious adherents to their gods, slaves to their masters, fathers to their children, men and women seeking a life together, and rootedness in ancestral traditions. Again, we get to imagine the interactions of Romans, Jews, and even a brief glimpse of some charismatically organized followers of Jesus. I wait eagerly for the third volume to see how the story will come to resolution.