The Colossus of Rhodes (novel)
First edition, 2005
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| Author | Caroline Lawrence |
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| Cover artist | Peter Sutton Fred van Deelan |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Roman Mysteries |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Orion Books |
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Publication date
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17 March 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 57354794 |
| Preceded by | The Gladiators from Capua |
| Followed by | The Fugitive from Corinth |
The Colossus of Rhodes is a children's historical novel by Caroline Lawrence, published in 2005. The ninth book of the Roman Mysteries series, it is set in spring AD 80, partly aboard ship in the Mediterranean, partly on the Greek islands of Symi and Rhodes (in this, it is noteworthy for being the first of the series to be set outside Italy, and is the first of two volumes to be set in Greece).
The title refers to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the giant statue of the sun god Helios at Rhodes harbour. By the time of this novel, it had been lying broken on the ground for three hundred years but was still regarded as worth seeing. "The Colossus" is also one of the nicknames of Magnus, the powerful slave-dealer based in Rhodes.
The ship Delphina sets forth on a voyage to the Greek islands to find a mysterious slave-dealer behind the kidnapping of Roman children. The former magistrate Bato and the poet Flaccus join Flavia and her friends to hunt him down and rescue the missing children. Lupus has an additional mission of his own: to find his mother.
It is April, and the beginning of the sailing season. The book opens on the marina pier at Ostia as the newly fitted Delphina (formerly the slave ship Vespa) prepares to sail. Passengers and crew are saying goodbye to their loved ones, making Lupus keenly feel the absence of his family. Though the purpose of the voyage is to rescue the freeborn children sold as slaves by Venalicius (the ship’s former owner), Lupus secretly intends to find his mother and not return to Ostia. Several bad omens make Captain Geminus consider postponing the trip, but Lupus, as the ship's owner, insists on sailing immediately.
At the last minute, Marcus Artorius Bato joins the ship as a passenger, anxious to follow a recently departed Greek ship connected with fresh cases of kidnapping in Ostia. Other passengers are the children’s tutor Aristo, the patrician poet Gaius Valerius Flaccus and his slave-boy, Zetes. Crew members include Atticus the cook, the good-looking Silvanus, and Zosimus, who keeps homing pigeons. During the voyage several things go awry, and they begin to suspect there is a traitor on board.
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