Rome, July 64 AD. In six days and seven nights, two-thirds of the ancient Tiber city burns down in an unprecedented inferno. Turmoil reigns. The desire for revenge wafts through the ruins. Who is to blame for the terrible fire? A speculator who has gone too far? That mysterious sect whose members call themselves Christians and long for the end of the world? Nero, the emperor, because he needs space for his palace, the Golden House? Or simply, as is so often the case, carelessness and the ever-present sharp wind in the narrow streets? The praetorian Flavius Sabinus rushes through the sinking city while the fire is still raging, worried about his beloved Marcella, the daughter of the respected Jewish goldsmith Joshua, who also makes jewellery for the emperor. But he finds the house abandoned and ransacked. It is said that the family, like many others, had been arrested for the fire, but in the dungeons beneath the city there is no trace of the mistress. Flavius sets off with his friend Titus to search for her in the destroyed city. He senses that Marcella is still alive. But instead of answers he finds lies
