Publisher's Synopsis
In Ancient Athens (5th century BC) an unheard-of sacrilege was committed: someone cut down the "sacred olive tree" at night, which is under the tutelage of the polis, because its progenitor was the same olive that grew from a spear stuck in the ground on the Acropolis the goddess Athena, who won a dispute with the powerful Poseidon for the right to possess Attica. A respectable Athenian Cleophon was found lifeless near the defeated shrine - it seems, a wicked, on top of that, a murderer?A few days earlier, the townspeople were stunned by the news of unparalleled blasphemy - on a moonless night, hiding on the Acropolis, someone broke down the door of the Parthenon's treasury and stole a bronze image of the first divine king of Attica Cecrop. Is there any connection between these crimes? Why will Cleophon's slave Zacchaeus soon fall from the hands of the villain? Who is this mysterious killer? What motivates the blasphemer who does not fear the wrath of the gods of Olympus? An amateur detective, a farmer and a brave warrior Phocion is trying to find answers to all these questions ... The story offered to the reader is built according to the modern classical scheme: crime - investigation - punishment, however, purely on ancient material. Perhaps this is the first attempt in literature to create just such an antique detective story.
