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Please note that this chapter is intended for adults (over 18 years), and may contain images and text featuring nudity, explicit adult sexuality and strong language. Please do not view this chapter if you find such features objectionable....
'So...while Teddy starts thinking about what he's going to tell you - I will begin my own story....
It began a very, very long time ago - on a quiet little farm, in a place known as Ἐλευσίς...oops, I forgot - most of you can't read ancient Greek...
so, in English, if that's the language you read in - which is more than likely - it's Eleusis.
It was always a famous place - but not the part of Eleusis where my family had a small farm.
Now, I have a guy who's what is called an editor - his name is Pete - Petros in Greek
He seems to cut out all the best bits, and he also puts in a lot of boring stuff, which he says is important, and helps you to understand the story....so I just let him get on with that.....so here comes one of those boring bits:
'Now Petros wants to tell you all about the Elusian Mysteries, but they're not really part of the story - at least not at this point.
So... while all of this seems to be about Greece - Ελλάς - Hellas as we called it, really it's all about Rome, because Greece was part of the Roman Empire - and Greece was called 'Achaea' by the Romans.
I was very young - and at this point my life took a very bad turn.
Life then, for ordinary, poor people, was very harsh.
With the coming of the Romans my family had problems selling the stuff they grew, and in the end we were practically starving.
I had an older brother, who had wanted to be a professional athlete, and win lots of money to help the family, but he had an accident with a discus.
For a long time he could do very little work on the farm.
In the end my parents had no option but to sell us, me and my brother, as slaves.
This was not unusual in those times.
Our sisters stayed on the farm, helping with the work - and they were able to stay because they ate less, and could attract a dowry - paid to my father - when they married.
When we were sold as slaves, we were kept in Athens for a few days, and then sent by ship from Piraeus to the island of Crete, where we were re-sold, and then we were put on another boat and sailed to the Roman port of Burndisium, which was one of the centers for the slave trade.
It was a difficult journey as most of the slaves had never been on a boat, and many were ill.
My older brother was destined to be trained as a gladiator.
He was still getting over his accident with the discus, and his memory was very poor, and he seemed a bit stupid - which he wasn't really, and the slave trader, and Greek guy called Arion, thought that because my brother was very fit, he could have a few fights as a gladiator, but would soon be killed, so he was sold cheap.
Me though, I was the unlucky one - well maybe..
I was young, and very 'cute', (well I still am, actually), so they had me marked down as a 'concubinus' - it's Latin for a young boy sex slave, to be used by the master ('dominus') of the house.
But then I lost contact with my brother.
Slaves who were to fight in the arena were sold in different establishments to those sold for the sex trade.
I was to be sold as a very high price commodity, so I was well cared for, well fed, and looked after for many months while they looked around for a someone rich enough to buy me.
Eventually they found someone, but by that time I presumed that my brother had been killed in the arena.
So I was taken in this very fancy carriage across Italy and to a city which I was later told was called Baiae.
It was sort of the Las Vegas of the Roman Empire, and anyone who was very rich had a villa there.
I didn't know it then, but the villa that I was taken to was probably the biggest, and most expensive in the whole city.
"So tell us about this Terentius, and the mysterious, rich Patrician.", Teddy continued, encouragingly.
'Actually, I never got to know Terentius very well.
Like almost all the slaves at the villa of this rich Roman, Terentius was originally Greek, but he had a Latin name.
That was the custom of our Roman masters.
They would change our names, in the hope that it would make us forget our families, our home and our past - and in many cases it did.
It seemed to have worked with Terentius - he always seemed to me to be more Roman than the Romans - but he was a good man.
But Terentius was my boss.
Any orders from Gnæus Octavian Gracchus, that's the 'mysterious, rich Patrician', came to me from Terentius.
Terentius was the 'top man' at the villa.
"And was he nice to you ?", Teddy asked.
Terentius was friendly, but 'cool'.
"So he never used you for sex ?", Teddy asked boldly.
'The strange thing about the Villa was the fact that none of the 'top people' there used the slaves for sex, and also Gracchus, although he had many very attractive and very valuable 'slave-boys' never seem to use any of them for sex.
In the Roman Empire at that time, I later found out, that was very unusual.
"So what did this Gnæus Octavian Gracchus actually do ?", Teddy asked, finally becoming intrigued by the story that Ethan was recounting
'Well it seemed that Gnæus Octavian Gracchus did nothing.
I was later told that Senators - he was a Roman Senator - were not supposed to do any business - but they got round that by getting their freedmen to do all the business for them - like the 'Boss' gets Franklin to do most of his business.
'It seemed, however, that my master had one very important hobby, and that was his own little private amphitheater, and there he would put on Games - the Romans called them 'Ludi' - to entertain his friends, but also, on big occasions, visitors to the town and local people.
Now I had been brought up as a poor farm-boy.
Yes, I had seen rich people - on occasions when my father and older brother took me to Athens - but of course they were not rich in the way that Gnæus Octavian Gracchus was rich, and it was only much later that I learned that he was so rich that he bought and sold Emperors.
But I had never been in a rich persons' house, let alone a villa.
So when I passed through the great gold plated, bronze doors of the Villa Auream - the 'Golden Villa', I found myself in a world that I had never imagined could be possible.
On arrival they spent a long time scrubbing me clean, working on my nails, giving me massages, and washing and cutting my hair.
I was then taught how to walk properly, and to serve food and wine.
At the same time I was made to exercise every day in the huge gymnasium - but I was never allowed to leave the villa.
All the doors in the Villa were guarded, and also the gates to the gardens were guarded - so there was no way out.
Also I had to wear a heavy silver collar, with a fancy medallion, like all the other slaves, so if I had managed to escape I could be recognized as a slave of Gracchus immediately.
But I didn't mind....I didn't want to escape, and I quickly forgot about my family.
Anyway, as soon as I arrived at the villa I was shown the consequences o trying to escape.
I was taken to a rough courtyard - nothing like the beautiful marble walls of most of the villa - and shown a naked slave who was being crucified and impaled.
He was being executed...... and I was told he would be dead by the morning - you see a 'dominus', a 'master', according to a very old Roman law, was allowed to execute slaves who tried to escape, although it didn't happen very often, the 'dominus', it seemed, could be a very cruel man.
What I didn't know was that my elder brother had also been bought by Terentius - but he was living in the gladiators' barracks attached to Gracchus' amphitheater, a mile or so away, in the town of Baiae, and he hadn't been killed in the arena - but rather he had become one of Gracchus' best fighters.
Much time passed, however, before I even go to see Gnæus Octavian Gracchus !
One day I was summoned to his study.
Gracchus' study was at the end of a long marble lined corridor.
At the end were these huge doors either side of which stood two of Gracchus' well muscled, and very handsome guards.
Straight away they opened the doors and I went in.
The doors were then closed behind me with a loud thud that made me jump.
And there he sat at a huge marble table, wearing a magnificent toga, with Terentius and a scribe standing nearby.
I was so scared that I probably sounded far from polite as I tried to answer Gracchus' questions.
It began a very, very long time ago - on a quiet little farm, in a place known as Ἐλευσίς...oops, I forgot - most of you can't read ancient Greek...
so, in English, if that's the language you read in - which is more than likely - it's Eleusis.
It was always a famous place - but not the part of Eleusis where my family had a small farm.
Now, I have a guy who's what is called an editor - his name is Pete - Petros in Greek
He seems to cut out all the best bits, and he also puts in a lot of boring stuff, which he says is important, and helps you to understand the story....so I just let him get on with that.....so here comes one of those boring bits:
Eleusis was a deme of ancient Attica, belonging to the phyle Hippothoöntis. It owed its celebrity to its being the chief seat of the worship of Demeter and Persephone, and to the mysteries celebrated in honor of these goddesses, which were called the Eleusinia, and continued to be regarded as the most sacred of all the Grecian mysteries down to the fall of paganism. Eleusis stood upon a height at a short distance from the sea, and opposite the island of Salamis. Its situation possessed three natural advantages. It was on the road from Athens to the Isthmus of Corinth; it was in a very fertile plain; and it was at the head of an extensive bay, formed on three sides by the coast of Attica, and shut in on the south by the island of Salamis. The town itself dates from the most ancient times.
'Now Petros wants to tell you all about the Elusian Mysteries, but they're not really part of the story - at least not at this point.
 |
| A Very Grumpy Roman Eagle |
 |
| My Brother Greek boys always trained naked |
I was very young - and at this point my life took a very bad turn.
Life then, for ordinary, poor people, was very harsh.
With the coming of the Romans my family had problems selling the stuff they grew, and in the end we were practically starving.
I had an older brother, who had wanted to be a professional athlete, and win lots of money to help the family, but he had an accident with a discus.
 |
| The Farm in Eleusis - Attica - Greece |
 |
| Cornfields near Athens - Night |
This was not unusual in those times.
Our sisters stayed on the farm, helping with the work - and they were able to stay because they ate less, and could attract a dowry - paid to my father - when they married.
 |
| The Boat to Brundisium |
It was a difficult journey as most of the slaves had never been on a boat, and many were ill.
My older brother was destined to be trained as a gladiator.
He was still getting over his accident with the discus, and his memory was very poor, and he seemed a bit stupid - which he wasn't really, and the slave trader, and Greek guy called Arion, thought that because my brother was very fit, he could have a few fights as a gladiator, but would soon be killed, so he was sold cheap.
Me though, I was the unlucky one - well maybe..
I was young, and very 'cute', (well I still am, actually), so they had me marked down as a 'concubinus' - it's Latin for a young boy sex slave, to be used by the master ('dominus') of the house.
But then I lost contact with my brother.
Slaves who were to fight in the arena were sold in different establishments to those sold for the sex trade.
I was to be sold as a very high price commodity, so I was well cared for, well fed, and looked after for many months while they looked around for a someone rich enough to buy me.
 |
| The Road to Baiae |
 |
| Killed in the Roman Arena |
So I was taken in this very fancy carriage across Italy and to a city which I was later told was called Baiae.
It was sort of the Las Vegas of the Roman Empire, and anyone who was very rich had a villa there.
I didn't know it then, but the villa that I was taken to was probably the biggest, and most expensive in the whole city.
"So OK Ethan....get on with it...tell them who finally bought you.....", Teddy said, getting impatient.
It was a 'freedman' called Terentius.
A youngish guy, who worked for this fabulously wealthy patrician who had a palatial villa on the Bay of Napoli.
"Yes, well now you've brought in these ancient Roman words we're going to have Petros start again - giving us a whole lot of background information.....
Well here goes...but I'm sure this is what spoiled that other thing...'Club whats'it'...you know, where we started off.", Teddy said, stomping across the bed in Ethan's room in the Penthouse.
 |
| The Freedman Terentius |
Well here goes...but I'm sure this is what spoiled that other thing...'Club whats'it'...you know, where we started off.", Teddy said, stomping across the bed in Ethan's room in the Penthouse.
Patricians (from Latin: 'patricius') were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the early Republic, and even during the Principate. Patricians historically had more privileges and rights than plebeians (the ordinary people). Patricians were also better represented in the Roman assemblies, and only patricians could hold political offices, and all priesthoods were closed to non-patricians. There was a belief that patricians communicated better with the Roman gods, so they alone could perform the sacred rites and take the auspices. This view had political consequences, since in the beginning of the year or before a military campaign, Roman magistrates used to consult the gods - and, by and large, Patricians were very rich...
Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become plebeian citizens. The act of freeing a slave was called manumissio, from manus, 'hand' (in the sense of holding or possessing something), and 'missio', the act of releasing. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership, but active political freedom (libertas), including the right to vote. A slave who had acquired 'libertas' (freedom) was known as a libertus ('freed person') in relation to his former master, who was called his or her patron (patronus). Most freed slaves continued to work for their previous master - but in a different relationship."Well I never knew that....", Teddy said, but Ethan suspected that Teddy was being sarcastic - Teddy, after all, knew an awful lot.
"So tell us about this Terentius, and the mysterious, rich Patrician.", Teddy continued, encouragingly.
'Actually, I never got to know Terentius very well.
Like almost all the slaves at the villa of this rich Roman, Terentius was originally Greek, but he had a Latin name.
That was the custom of our Roman masters.
They would change our names, in the hope that it would make us forget our families, our home and our past - and in many cases it did.
It seemed to have worked with Terentius - he always seemed to me to be more Roman than the Romans - but he was a good man.
 |
| The Patrician Gnæus Octavian Gracchus |
Any orders from Gnæus Octavian Gracchus, that's the 'mysterious, rich Patrician', came to me from Terentius.
Terentius was the 'top man' at the villa.
"And was he nice to you ?", Teddy asked.
Terentius was friendly, but 'cool'.
"So he never used you for sex ?", Teddy asked boldly.
'The strange thing about the Villa was the fact that none of the 'top people' there used the slaves for sex, and also Gracchus, although he had many very attractive and very valuable 'slave-boys' never seem to use any of them for sex.
In the Roman Empire at that time, I later found out, that was very unusual.
 |
| Franklin |
'Well it seemed that Gnæus Octavian Gracchus did nothing.
I was later told that Senators - he was a Roman Senator - were not supposed to do any business - but they got round that by getting their freedmen to do all the business for them - like the 'Boss' gets Franklin to do most of his business.
Note from the editor: this story covers two thousand years, so sometimes characters and events from a much later time - and different place, will crop up as Ethan and Teddy talk about things that have happened...Franklin, for example, as can be seen by the way he is dressed, is not from the time of the Roman Empire (as we now call it). For more information about 'time shifts go to: 'The Multiverse' (in this blog)
'It seemed, however, that my master had one very important hobby, and that was his own little private amphitheater, and there he would put on Games - the Romans called them 'Ludi' - to entertain his friends, but also, on big occasions, visitors to the town and local people.Now I had been brought up as a poor farm-boy.
Yes, I had seen rich people - on occasions when my father and older brother took me to Athens - but of course they were not rich in the way that Gnæus Octavian Gracchus was rich, and it was only much later that I learned that he was so rich that he bought and sold Emperors.
 |
| Villa Auream - Baiae |
So when I passed through the great gold plated, bronze doors of the Villa Auream - the 'Golden Villa', I found myself in a world that I had never imagined could be possible.
On arrival they spent a long time scrubbing me clean, working on my nails, giving me massages, and washing and cutting my hair.
I was then taught how to walk properly, and to serve food and wine.
At the same time I was made to exercise every day in the huge gymnasium - but I was never allowed to leave the villa.
All the doors in the Villa were guarded, and also the gates to the gardens were guarded - so there was no way out.
Also I had to wear a heavy silver collar, with a fancy medallion, like all the other slaves, so if I had managed to escape I could be recognized as a slave of Gracchus immediately.
But I didn't mind....I didn't want to escape, and I quickly forgot about my family.
 |
| Crucified Runaway Slave |
I was taken to a rough courtyard - nothing like the beautiful marble walls of most of the villa - and shown a naked slave who was being crucified and impaled.
He was being executed...... and I was told he would be dead by the morning - you see a 'dominus', a 'master', according to a very old Roman law, was allowed to execute slaves who tried to escape, although it didn't happen very often, the 'dominus', it seemed, could be a very cruel man.
 |
| Entrance to Gracchus' Study |
Much time passed, however, before I even go to see Gnæus Octavian Gracchus !
One day I was summoned to his study.
Gracchus' study was at the end of a long marble lined corridor.
At the end were these huge doors either side of which stood two of Gracchus' well muscled, and very handsome guards.
Straight away they opened the doors and I went in.
The doors were then closed behind me with a loud thud that made me jump.
And there he sat at a huge marble table, wearing a magnificent toga, with Terentius and a scribe standing nearby.
I was so scared that I probably sounded far from polite as I tried to answer Gracchus' questions.
to be continued.....
All text - © Copyright Peter Crawford 2019
All Images - © Copyright Vittorio Carvelli 2019
Graphic Design - © Copyright Zac Sawyer 2019
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