Book V: Cyprian's Folly

222 – 259 A.D.

 

The Segusiavi, the energetic merchants, have set roots and prospered in the pertica of Carthage and Alexandria in Egypt.

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So too the Christian “Way” has spread throughout Africa, Egypt… in every province surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, Mare Nostrum. They number in the hundreds of thousands.

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This “success” comes with a price, and one the Christian Segusiavi and Christians throughout the Empire will pay.

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Jealousies, controversies, rebellions and wars seethe in a cauldron of animosities. Emperors are murdered, deposed; Christian leaders are imprisoned and executed—scapegoats seen as offending the traditional deities, the cause of fracturing of the Empire.

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In 257 the Emperor Valerian initiates a global persecution of Christians.

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Once again, the Segusiavi are dispossessed, victims of Valerian’s wrath.

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Following the execution of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, a Segusiavus flees to Gaul.

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In Gaul, in the Valley of the Three Crows, the last of the Family Segusiavus discovers a treasure, a treasure that brings the history of this family full-circle—Gaius the Peregrine and his beloved brother, Ignatius of Antioch, are rediscovered as are all the Segusiavi and their fellow Christians who followed them…

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An imperishable treasure that has survived the ages…

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Burnt Offerings

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