Domina Victrix

Chapter 52: 27 AD, Mediterranean and Caesarea

Victoria cluched Selene and wrapped a blanket around them both. They had left Alexandria and, about a day out, ran into storms. The ship bobbed and rolled in the waves as rain and winds battered the Judean coastline. Victoria was never seasick until now, but Selene was worse off. She could not keep food down. Victoria coaxed water and posca into her, and held her close until she slept.

Shipwreck in such weather was a definite possibility. King Ptolemy had arranged to send most of her belongings ahead to Antioch on a separate ship the day before she left Mauretania. Victoria had kept only what she needed to get to Judea and then home. Now, she found a satchel and packed a day's march ration of hardtack and jerky for herself and Selene, instructing Miriam, Dahia, and Selene's Egyptian nursemaid Nephret to do likewise. She also packed a basic medical kit and some herbs, and a change of clothes, and her medical and midwife certifications, along with letters from her father and Bolt giving her permission to travel alone. She had money in her handbag, a few pieces of her most prized jewelry, and a medallion with Juba's profile. She filled canteens with water and posca, and found a smaller dagger he had given her.

Selene dropped off to sleep and Victoria put her to bed. Both she and Selene slept in their clothes. Alone on a ship filled with men, Victoria wore her campaign outfit of bracaes, tunic, and caligae, with a modest headscarf, her widow's cloak, and her Baalbec medallion. If they had to abandon ship, she was ready.

She dozed off and on as the sailors struggled to keep the ship upright and moving ahead. Sheets of water sprayed over the deck and dripped down into their cabin. Selene startled awake and burrowed against her mother. Demetrius came below and Victoria could see that he had made similar preparations.

"Have you ever seen it this bad?" she asked.

"When the Prince and I first came to Caesarea, yes," he said. "But troop transports are larger and more sturdy."

Victoria bit her lips as memories of those early days flooded her mind. Juba had landed at Caesarea and traveled to the small outpost at Kadesh. She had fallen in love with him at first sight in the courtyard, and loved him still. She wondered if Flavius would ever top that, and doubted he could. Not wanting to think on that now, she huddled under the blanket, begging every god or goddess she could think of that this trip just be over.

...

Queen Phaesilla of Judea ticked off her mental list of things to be done before tonight's banquet. For nearly fifteen years, she had presided over Antipas' court and managed his social calendar. She had put up with his wandering eyes and exotic appetites in food, drink, art, and just about every other facet of his life. Now, she was just fed up.

She had been born a Nabatean princess. When she was sixteen, she left her father's court in Petra and married then-Prince Antipas, becoming part of the strangest family one could imagine. The Herods descended from a wealthy Idumean merchant named Antipater, who had married his son Herod to Mariamne, a Judean princess descended of the Maccabees. Four or more wives later, Great Herod had a troop of children and had conquered, intrigued, or bribed his way into several other kingdoms, Galilee, Perea, Iturea, Chalcis, and the like. He pursued a policy of playing one powerful Roman against another, Pompey the Great versus Julius Caesar, Antony versus Octavian, becoming one of the most powerful rulers of his day.

His family modeled themselves on the Ptolemies of Egypt, first cousins marrying first cousins, and even uncles marrying nieces, each generation becoming more avaricious, amoral, inbred, and enmeshed with Rome. She and Antipas had no children, but he had no end of heirs among the squabbling branches of his family. The men were greedy, cunning, and fleshly, but the women of the family were the worst, bouncing into and out of marriages, and having affairs with Roman officers, kings, princes, their relatives, their slaves, and anyone who would have them. She had put up with them for years, but Antipas' latest aquisition, his niece Herodias, topped them all.