Written for readers who have finished Book 1.
A silversmith of Ephesus whose living comes off the pilgrim trade — the miniature shrines, the amulets, the small holy things people carry home from the greatest temple in the world. His guild is the one that rioted against Paul two generations ago, and he is uneasily aware that the Christian assembly has changed in some way he cannot name and would rather not think about. He is not anybody's villain. He is a busy man who covers his unease with work.
The man who taught Philaretos the scroll trade — and taught his father before him. Broad, slow, generous…
Neokoros — the priest-administrator of the Temple of the Sebastoi, and therefore keeper of the honour that…
Philaretos's sister, and the reason the household stands up. Kira has kept the accounts since she was…
The overseer's wife, and the warm centre of the house. Married thirty years, she keeps a home in the streets…
Senior overseer of the Ephesian church: a man in his sixties who has spent thirty years keeping order in a…
A scroll-copyist in the craftsman quarter of Ephesus, and a specialist in the Ephesia grammata — the famous…