The central figure in this story is Simon of Cyrene, an African who carried the cross behind Jesus on the way to Calvary. He and his father are the pioneers who open up the African hinterland to the benefit of Cyrene and the other nations around the Mediterranean Sea. The book explores the accomplishments of Africa at the time of the Roman Empire, when Cyrene becomes its third most prosperous colony. The importance of Har Kwain, an iron-age sub-Saharan civilisation that existed in Central Nigeria from 900 BC to 300 AD, bears on the success of Cyrene. The technological advances made by that African nation and others are described. Many aspects of the indigenous culture and customs are explored and woven into this story. Simon is observant, inquisitive and intelligent. His resourcefulness is tested when he solves a murder mystery, thereby establishing the innocence of a Roman scribe. He reveals the identity of the true murderer, who becomes his sworn enemy, pursuing him for the greater part of his life. Simon decides to enter the sea trade. He marries the daughter of a shipping merchant in a wedding ceremony that unites all the cultures of the Cyrenian melting pot: African, Greek and Jewish. Simon's adventures continue in Volume Two of this series: The Voyages of the Iyanda.
About the Author: Xavier Carelse is a retired university professor, a technologist, specialised in industrial physics and in electronic engineering. He has published scientific papers, academic books and textbooks, some with his wife, Orseline, a biochemist and an expert in the use of medicinal herbs. Born in Kimberley, South Africa, on 11th March, 1933, he is a descendent of the Indonesian slaves who, following a rebellion against Dutch rule in their homelands, were enslaved and, in the seventeenth century, exiled to the trading post at the southern tip of Africa, present-day Cape Town. He is truly representative of the "Rainbow Nation", having ancestors derived from indentured Indian labourers, English mercenaries and Griquas, people of Dutch and Khoisan descent. In 1954. he graduated from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa, founded in 1916, the oldest modern university for Africans. In 2015, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree for his contribution to Africa in the fields of science, education and cultural development, While acting as Executive Director of Zimbabwe International Book Fair, he realised that African scholars showed scant interest in their precolonial history and achievements, as pursued by African-Americans, the diaspora, and European scholars. After 70 years living and working in 5 countries in Africa, travelling to 17, he acquired a direct experience of the culture and achievements of Africans, often been hidden by Africans themselves, or usurped or distorted by others. Archaeological evidence shows Nubians and Nigerians had a written orthography by 5000 BC, predating European writing by 3500 years; that Nigerians entered the Iron Age 200 years before the Europeans. Yet it is flaunted that Africans, living in the Stone Age, justified the West African slave trade and the Partition of Africa; cultural and technological achievements are discounted. His four historic novels, The Children of Ham, The Voyages of the Iyanda, Redemption and, finally, the Scribe and the Tax Collector, set at the height of the Roman Empire, attempt to correct misrepresentations of African achievements in the fields of technology, trade, structures of government, and religion. It is significant that, at that time, the most prosperous enclaves were along the African coast: Alexandria, Cyrene and Carthage. He challenges the notion that Cyrene and Carthage were Greek and Phoenician colonies as proclaimed in Greek documents written centuries after the events.