THE TROUBLE STARTED IN TARSUS

In THE DEADLIEST THIEF, Miriam shares with Judah the few clues she has to find the remaining scoundrel who broke into and ran off with the treasure in the Temple of Artemis:

We have a few bits and pieces that boil down to a big brute from Tarsus with tiny deep-set, obsidian eyes, a small head with a sloping forehead, and a massive upper body. And one more thing: He has an accent. I’m guessing it was Cilician since he was from Tarsus.

With a history going back over 6000 years, Tarsus had long been an important center of trade and the focal point of many civilizations. It was there that Mark Antony first met Cleopatra and Paul the Apostle was born.

Too bad the villain didn’t stay in Tarsus. Instead, he moved with his wife to the commercial district of Ephesus so he could get work in the warehouses lining the quay there. And so, it was there in The Dionysus, between a brothel and the latrine, that he happened to become fast friends with the two men who would become his accomplices. He recalls that it was over a game of knucklebones in the backroom during a long night of loose talk and hard drinking that they recognized in each other the same wicked deeds kept hidden from the rest of the world.

Well, don’t let me spoil the story! Miriam has quite a job tracking him down. Just click here.