The Greeks had a word for everything – and the Romans invented the rest. The Golden Age of tourism was the First Century AD, when the site guides – then as now – babbled incomprehensibly, the hotels were always under construction and when things went wrong, the travel companies did not want to know. Mountain scenery was panoramic but roads were rough, beds were hard (where they were available), fellow travellers were ghastly and the weather could only be relied upon to be foul. Those who died abroad knew the Roman port authorities would try to charge import duty on their ashes, especially if they came home in a luxury urn…

Aulus, now a model student, has met an interesting man. He has heard an intriguing story about two dead women at the ancient site of the Olympic Games. His mind is supposed to be set on Athens not athletics, so Falco is sent out to ensure the scholar finds his university without being sidetracked by sport, corpses, or the Seven Wonders of the World.

There are sites, sights, statues, oracles, and curiosities of foreign food. The Roman governor is on holiday. The gods, when they are not angry, are decidedly bilious.