Ode to a Banker
Encyclopedia

Plot introduction

Set in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 between July and August AD 74, Ode to a Banker stars Marcus Didius Falco
Marcus Didius Falco
Marcus Didius Falco is the central character and narrator in a series of novels by Lindsey Davis. Using the concepts of modern detective stories , Davis portrays the world of the Roman Empire under Vespasian...

, Informer and Imperial Agent. It is the twelfth in her Falco series, and a take on the vanity publishing industry.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title is a reference to both the poetry that leads Marcus Didius Falco to the Chrysippus scriptorum, as well as to the bank that is the family's other business.

Plot summary

When Marcus Didius Falco gives a poetry reading for family and friends, things get a little out of hand. The event is taken over by Aurelius Chrysippus, a wealthy Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 banker and patron to a group of struggling writers, who subsequently offers to publish Falco's work. A visit to the Chrysippus scriptorium implicates Falco in the murder of Chrysippus, found beaten to death with a scroll in his library. So Petronius Longus, in his role of enquiry chief of the vigiles, commissions him to investigate. The result is a trawl through the literary and financial worlds of Ancient Rome.

Family and associates

  • A. Camillus Aelianus - Older brother of Helena
  • Anacrites - Chief Spy
  • Geminus - Father of Falco, Auctioneer
  • Glaucus and Cotta - Bath House Contractors
  • Helena Justina - Wife of Falco, and daughter of the Senator
    Roman Senate
    The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

     Decimus Camillus Verus
  • Junia - Falco's sister
  • Junilla Tacita - Mother of Falco
  • Maia Favonia - Falco's widowed sister
  • Marcus Didius Falco - Informer and Imperial Agent.
  • Rutilius Gallicus - Ex-consul

Vigiles

  • Fusculus
  • Lucius Petronius Longus - Friend of Falco and Vigiles Officer
  • Passus
  • Sergius

From the world of the arts

  • Anna - Wife of Trypho
  • Aurelius Chrysippus - Patron and Banker
  • Avienus - Historian
  • Constrictus - Poet
  • Euschemon - Scroll-seller
  • Pacuvius - Satirist
  • Turius - Utopian
  • Urbanus Trypho - Playwright

From commerce

  • Bos
  • Diomedes - Son of Chrysippus and Lysa
  • Lucrio - Banker
  • Lysa - First wife of Chrysippus
  • Nothokelptes - Banker
  • Philomelus - Son of Pisarchus
  • Pisarchus - Shipping magnate
  • Vibia Second wife of Chrysippus

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

  • Set in Rome in AD 74, during the reign of Emperor Vespasian
    Vespasian
    Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

    .

Release details

  • 2000, UK, Century Hardback ISBN 0712680349
  • 2001, UK, Arrow, Paperback ISBN 0-09-929820-1
  • 2001, US, Mysterious Press, Hardback ISBN 0-89296-740-4
  • US, Mysterious Press, Paperback ISBN 0-446-67906-2

Sources, references, external links, quotations

Author's Official Website
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK