"Forensically,' Albia repeated, learning the new word." Why then, Marcus Didius?'
"The place was regarded as polluted. Murder ruins the good name of the sanctuary, and maybe brings bad luck as well. So they eliminated all trace of everyone who stayed here with Valeria.'
"The priests?' Albia's grey eyes widened." Do you think the priests killed Valeria?' There was heavy derision in my foster-daughter's tone. She had learned on the streets of Londinium to distrust all authorities. I cannot say that attitude had been discouraged by Helene and me.
"Albia, I believe anything of priests!'
We stood in silence, feeling the sunshine and listening to birdsong. Beneath our feet the grass, starved of nourishment while it was covered by tents, was already greening, the blades standing up again stalwartly. Leafy hills surrounded us, thickly covered with olives, plane trees, larches, and even palm trees, above a thick undergrowth of vines and flowering shrubs. The conical Hill of Cronus dominated, waiting for me to tackle other secrets.
With its bright skies, tumbling rivers, sacred groves, and its ancient attributions, this remote spot hummed with fertility and folklore. At any moment I expected some lithe god to hail us and ask if we knew any virgins who might consent to be ravished in the interests of mythology.
"Albia, Valeria Ventidia was not much older than you are. If you had been with that party visiting Olympia, how would you feel about it?'
"Older than we think I am!' Albia could never miss an opportunity to remind herself how little she knew of her origins. She had no birthday We could not say for sure whether she was fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen." Aulus made the people sound bad. I would not have liked it.'
"Say you are Valeria and you feel that way. Would you duck out of any organised events?'
"What could she do? Staying in the tent alone might be a bad idea. If some man knew Valeria was there by herself…'
"True. While the male tourists studied sporty things, Valeria and the other women of the party would have been taken around together sometimes.'
"She might not have liked those women.'
"When you travel in an escorted group, you have to live with your
companions, Albia, whoever they are How do you think the women occupied themselves? There are poets and musicians to listen to.'
Albia pulled a face." You could look around, like we all did yesterday. Valena could go out by herself- but that might be a worry.'
"Men might make personal overtures?'
"You know they would do, Marcus Didius.'
True again. A young woman would be an immediate target. Men hanging around a sanctuary alone would be odd types by definition. Groups could be even more threatening. We did not know whether Valeria Ventidia was pretty, but she was nineteen. Wearing a wedding ring would not help.
"If she was spotted alone, she would be thought to be waiting for men's attention. Of course,' murmured Albia slyly," Valeria might have liked that.'
"Albia, I am shocked! Valena was a bride.'
"She married because she was told to.'
"And Aulus says her husband was a dumb cluck!'
Albia giggled." Why stay chaste for a man like that?'
Perhaps because in a sanctuary like this, word would soon get around if you did not.
XII
Feeling my responsibilities more than usual, I escorted Albia safely back to the Leomdaion, where I told her to check up on Helene. I had arranged to meet Young Glaucus. There was a lavish new Roman clubhouse, donated by the Emperor Nero after his visit ten years ago, but since Nero's death it had remained unfinished. So I walked on to the old palaestra, into which Glaucus had wormed his way yesterday As I went, the workshop of Phidias and the shrine of the Unknown Hero were on the right; to the left stood a bath house and an enormous outdoor swimming pool A door porter refused me admittance to the sports facilities, so I waited until somebody else distracted him, then slipped past. There was no way Claudius Laeta and the Palatine auditors would pay a subscription to join this elite exercise club My official expenses hardly covered a bread roll a day.
The indoor sports facilities at Olympia were as grandiose as you would expect Yesterday we had spent most time admiring the gymnasium; that sumptuous facility had a mighty triple-arched gateway, leading to a vast interior where running could be practised on a full-size double track, safe from rain or excessive heat It was so large that in its central area discus and javelin practice could occur even while races took place on the perimeter.
Attached to the gym was the palaestra – more intimate, yet still impressive. It had four grand colonnades, each housing rooms with specialist functions, around a huge central workout space that was open to the skies. In one preparatory room athletes oiled themselves or were oiled by their trainers – or their boyfriends Another contained bunkers of fine dust which was slathered all over them on top of the oil. It came in different colours After practice, the dust and oil and sweat would all be scraped off Because there were splendid full-scale baths elsewhere in the complex, washing facilities here were basic – a clinical stingil-and-splash room and an echoing cold bath
The main courtyard was used for contact sports. During the Games this area would be jam-packed, but it was quieter off-season Upright
wrestling was carried out on a level sanded area, called the skamtna, also sometimes used by the long-jumpers, which could lead to arguments Ground wrestling, with competitors flailing on the floor, took place in a crude mudbath where the sand had been watered to the consistency of sticky beeswax – a sure draw for exhibitionists. Both types of wrestling were considered refined in comparison with boxing, where – with the aid of spiteful arm-protectors with great hard leather knuckle-ridges – opponents might have their faces mashed so badly that none of their friends recognised them. It was in boxing, the ancient sport of beauteous, golden-haired Apollo, that a savage fight occurred where a man going down from a great blow to the head somehow retaliated by jabbing his opponent so hard he tore out his entrails with his bare fingers.
Even boxing paled beside the vicious no-holds-barred Greek killer of a sport they called pankration. Pankration fighters used a mixture of boxing and wrestling, plus any blow they liked Only biting and eye-gouging were against the rules. Breaking the rules was much admired, however. So was the breaking of ankles, arms, heels, fingers and anything else that would snap.
Being peopled by brutes who gloried in these hard sports, the palaestra had its own atmosphere, one I did not like. It had its own smell too, as all sports halls will. Yesterday Glaucus and I had agreed not to bring Helene, Albia, and my young nephews in here – even if it had been possible. Today I stared at the occupants, but this was definitely not my kind of hole. Back home, Glaucus senior's gym at the rear of the Temple of Castor wasjust as exclusive, yet it had an air of civilisation – not to mention a peaceful library and a man on the steps selling hot pastries. Nobody came here to read. It was just a fighting pit for bullies. Glaucus had somehow talked his way in, on the strehgth of his size and visible prowess, but in an official year of the Games neither Young Glaucus nor I would have got anywhere near the inside.
I wondered whether Phineus ever managed to infiltrate the men on his tours. I bet he did. I bet that was why they all thought he was good
Working around the open court I had to sidestep around several slobs looking for a quarrel. I had outsider written all over me. I only hoped my name and mission had not been passed on to these bruisers, as it had been passed yesterday to the guides in the sanctuary
Glaucus liked the longjump. He had told me where to find him at practice today – a long room off the southern colonnade, which had side benches for spectators, though it was possible to look in from the