Around 70 B.C., a tradeship heading for Rome foundered off the coast of Antikythera. On board was the most sophisticated device known to the classical world: The Antikythera Mechanism - a set of gears that might foretell the ways of the stars. In the sea, the Antikythera Mechanism escaped the purposeful destruction that hit its siblings a hundred years later. Save for one: The OPUS GEMINI. This last of the Opera is held by Adrianus and Valeriana, two quarrelsome housemates at the rim of the Roman world. There comes a time of crisis, of warfare. And the ancient power that once ruled the Opus rises again. The agents of the lost realm of Commagene set forth to bring the OPUS GEMINI: Pernica the Swift, also known as the Polan Panthercat, who is seeking her life and her doom. And Sedigitus the Sixfinger, a misshapen warrior, dedicated to his mission at whatever cost. But there is another, a new force gathering. The mysterious Headhunters are out, and they take more than just the heads of people they are interested in. Adrianus and Valeriana find themselves pursued by two enemies at once. Each of them determined to get the Codebook of the Cosmos. And the man who knows to use it.

Around 70 B.C., a tradeship heading for Rome foundered off the coast of Antikythera. On board was the most sophisticated device known to the classical world: The Antikythera Mechanism - a set of gears that might foretell the ways of the stars. In the sea, the Antikythera Mechanism escaped the purposeful destruction that hit its siblings a hundred years later. Save for one: The OPUS GEMINI, that has been ruined only twenty years ago. Its rightful owner, Princess Iulia Balbilla, is determined to find it, so that she may restore her power over hearts and minds of the masters of Roma. Recently, its remains have enhanced the conflict between its current holders, Adrianus and Valeriana. After the recent clash between these foster-siblings, Adrianus finds himself at a place he has never seen before. Meanwhile, the two agents of Commagene are caught in a foreign city. Sedigitus was severely wounded and is doomed to die, if Pernica cannot help him. She, though, is hardly able to survive herself on the perilous streets of Mogontiacum. The Gears of Fate are turning on – towards salvation or doom?

Around 70 B.C., a tradeship heading for Rome foundered off the coast of Antikythera. On board was the most sophisticated device known to the classical world: The Antikythera Mechanism - a set of gears that might foretell the ways of the stars. In the sea, the Antikythera Mechanism escaped the purposeful destruction that hit its siblings a hundred years later. Save for one: The OPUS GEMINI, that has been ruined only twenty years ago. Princess Iulia Balbilla is still striving to retrieve it, so that she may restore her power over hearts and minds of the masters of Roma. But one agent of Commagene, Pernica the Swift, has finally learnt about the unhappy fate of the OPUS GEMINI. And Balbilla is determined that Pernica shall pay her wavering with her life. Its sole surviving sibling is now in the hands of Catvalda, Supreme Father of Mount Dounobriga. Currently he is inviting all the barbary lands to unite under his emerging power. At his side is Iulius Adrianus, out of reach beyond the Limes. To find him, Pernica has to return into her past and confront her most dreaded enemies in the heart of their might: the Germani. And Adrianus has received evidence that even the evil Headhunters are active on far Mount Dounobriga. The Dominion Device may bring a new power to Germania – and doom over the Roman Empire.

No one can tell who made the spheres of twelve faces or why or what the Romans called them: maybe Corpus Sacrum. Maybe something else. We refer to them as pentagondodecahedra. But that is a modern word, and an uncouth one, too. A hundred are known. Many have been found in France, in Belgium, they seem highly concentrated in southern England and at the middle course of the river Rhine. There are as many assumptions on their use as there are dodecahedra. None is conclusive. Alas, the classical authors have not mentioned or described them. Or have they? There is a haunting quote by a man from the second century, Marcus Valerius Martialis. He referred to mysterious items he called the Pilae Mattiacae– the Mattiacian Spheres. So what if – just if – the Pilae Mattiacae and the dodecahedra were one and the same thing? For that reason, the fundamentalist Corpus Sacrum sect has now firmly established itself in the Roman borderland. Charis, the teenage kitchen slave, has been caught in a trap during her attempts to replace her master's dodecahedron which she had unknowingly destroyed. Restitutus, the ageing priest, is facing his abductor who is more powerful than anticipated. And then a murderer is on the loose. Who may have Charis on his agenda, too.

No one can tell who made the spheres with twelve faces or why or what the Romans called them: maybe Corpus Sacrum. Maybe something else. We refer to them as pentagon-dodecahedra. But that is a modern word, and an uncouth one, too. A hundred are known. Many have been found in France, in Belgium, they seem highly concentrated in southern England and at the middle course of the river Rhine. There are as many assumptions on their use as there are dodecahedra. None is conclusive. Alas, the classical authors have not mentioned or described them. Or have they? There is a haunting quote by a man from the second century, Marcus Valerius Martialis. He referred to mysterious items he called the Pilae Mattiacae – the Mattiacian Spheres: Sapo: Si mutare paras longaevos cana capillos, Accipe Mattiacas - quo tibi calva? - pilas. Soap: If you want to change your highly aged hair, use Pilae Mattiacae - why have a bald head? No one has excavated a Pila Mattiaca or found its image, and it was never mentioned again. The only clue we have is its name. The Mattiaci were the people who lived in the Roman age at the middle Rhine, right where so many spheres of twelve faces have been found. So what if – just if – the Pilae Mattiacae and the dodecahedra were one and the same thing? And once they may have attracted the attention of a stargazer who understood how to use them. And he made them his tools of power. The tale of the numinous spheres with twelve faces is told in this and the following parts of the Corpus Sacrum trilogy!

No one can tell who made the spheres of twelve faces or why or what the Romans called them: maybe Corpus Sacrum. Maybe something else. We refer to them as pentagondodecahedra. But that is a modern word, and an uncouth one, too. A hundred are known. Many have been found in France, in Belgium, they seem highly concentrated in southern England and at the middle course of the river Rhine. There are as many assumptions on their use as there are dodecahedra. None is conclusive. Alas, the classical authors have not mentioned or described them. Or have they? There is a haunting quote by a man from the second century, Marcus Valerius Martialis. He referred to mysterious items he called the Pilae Mattiacae – the Mattiacian Spheres. No one has excavated a Pila Mattiaca or found its image, and it was never mentioned again. The only clue we have is its name. The Mattiaci were the people who lived in the Roman age at the middle Rhine, right where so many spheres of twelve faces have been found. So what if – just if – the Pilae Mattiacae and the dodecahedra were one and the same thing? For that reason, the fundamentalist Corpus Sacrum sect has firmly established itself in the Roman borderland. After Restitutus' sermon did not have the desire effect, he is granted one last chance to remedy his failure before general Rufianus unleashes his troops against the dangerous order. Even their high priest Democritus now seems to be afraid of the demons he has set free. Or has he?

Benjamin Britten was arguably the greatest English composer of his time. His music crossed boundaries of genre and form to include opera, ballet, orchestral and chamber music, and film and incidental music. The result of twenty years of research, ^IBenjamin Britten^R provides up-to-date and comprehensive details about Britten's life and music, including works, performances, and recordings--an effort never before undertaken. Certain to be of use to any scholar of British music or 20th century composition, this reference work is an invaluable addition to the literature on this important artist. Following a brief biography of the subject, author Stewart Craggs provides a complete list of works and performances, arranged by genre; a discography, and an annotated bibliography. Rounding out the volume are two lists of compositions, one arranged alphabetically and the other chronologically, and a general index.