Publisher's Synopsis
1930: A few kilometers from the medieval headquarters of the knights Templar in Cyprus, an enigmatic Englishman uncovers a dazzling round object from the remains of an ancient Latin church and vanishes alongside it. A quarter of a century later, a farmer excavates nearby a huge earthen jar with bizarre engravings on its surface. A scholar with local roots undertakes to dig into the matter further and naively sets off a sequence of treacherous events. When he realizes that ancient artefacts and early Christian scripture fetch millions on the black market, his life is already in grave danger. Chased through the tunnels of London's Underground, he escapes to his native Cyprus only to find himself in the wolf's den. His survival now depends on putting together the pieces of a historical puzzle stretching over one thousand years that takes him back to a time when faith, power and treasure joined with crime and intrigue to determine the destiny of the world. Will he be able to decipher history's intriguing enigmas and the secrets of the Knights Templar and Lusignan dynasty's Royal Order of the Sword, which continued for centuries to operate in the background?
- Where did the poor Latin refugees of Jerusalem released by Sultan Saladin in 1187 finally settle down?
- What was the sacred legacy of the Knights Templar? What was the content and purpose of the occult rites they indulge in at night?
- What happened to the huge treasure they had transferred to their Cypriot HQ to finance the next crusade?
- What was king Peter I of Cyprus searching for in the 3 days he occupied Alexandria in 1365? How did he gain the support of the Pope?
- Why did Queen Catherine Cornaro and many of her subjects burst into tears in 1489 when they saw her leaving for Venice?
- What happened to the descendants of the Lusignan dynasty of Cyprus and to their accumulated wealth?
- What was the royal family's relationship with the Orthodox Church and the Tsar of Russia? When did they die out?
- Why was Archbishop Kyprianos of Cyprus not very enthusiastic about the Greek revolution of 1821?
- What did he do with the 600,000 piastres he had appropriated from the private chest of his deceased treasurer in November 1820?
