The year is AD 255 - the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point; its authority and might challenged along every border. The greatest threat lies in Persia to the east, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. There the isolated   Roman citadel of Arete awaits inevitable invasion.One man is sent to marshal the defences and shore up the crumbling walls. A man whose name itself means war: a man called Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces and the courage to stand first and to stand hard against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium.

Maps

  The Voyage of the Concordia and the

 Itinerary of the Dux Ripae

  The City of Arete

Prologue (Summer AD238)

Part I: Navigatio (Autumn AD255)

Part II: Praeparatio (Winter AD255--256)

Part III: Obsessio (Spring-Autumn AD256)

Appendix

 Historical Afterword

 Glossary

 List of Emperors in the First Half of

the Third Century AD

 List of Characters