Eugenios: Servant of Kings

De: Julian Bauer

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

This novel is really two stories. The first deals with a relationship between Rome and a minor kingdom situated between Egypt and Syria over an eighty-two year period from 38 BC to AD 44. The historical aspects (people, places, events) are accurate and deal with two major characters Augustus and Herod. We learn how they became rulers, warriors, builders of architectural splendors, and leaders of dysfunctional families. This view of these characters is narrated by the real-life personal servant to Augustus, Sphaerus. The second story, as narrated by the fictitious son of Sphaerus, reveals how an Israelite might view the events surrounding the coming of the messiah. It is a credible story and explains how Christianity could begin the process of growing from one man to over 2.2 billion people today—one third of the world's people. In effect, the tale is a precursor to the author's other historical novel "The Scholar's Challenge" which describes the opposing forces faced by Christianity in the third and fourth centuries. Eugenios is a novel for those interested in early Christianity and the environment in which it began. I found most interesting a tale of Christ's burial shroud, how it came to be weaved and how it came to be used. The importance of this shroud is pointed out in the book's epilogue: "The largest extant piece of textile that has come down to us from antiquity is the shroud of Turin, a linen cloth displaying a negative image of a crucified man bearing all the wounds corresponding in every respect with the gospel's account of Christ's wounds. Virtually no one believes that a Middle-Ages forger could have conceived of, much less designed and produced, such an image. It is a mystery. Is this evidence of His resurrection?" Indeed, Christians will find realistic explanations to a misty metaphysical past in this novel. In doing so, the reader will travel from the crowded, dirty streets of Rome, to the world's most beautiful harbor in Alexandria, and on to the flax fields of pale blue flowers in Galilee. Christian or not, this is a trip back into the past one will enjoy. I wholeheartedly recommend it.