''The Sacred Land'' is a historical novel written by H.N. Turteltaub (a pseudonym of

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed hi ...

). It was first published in hardcover by

Forge Books Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

in December 2003, and in paperback by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

in March 2005. The book was reissued under the author's real name as a trade paperback and ebook by

Phoenix Pick Phoenix Pick is the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Arc Manor Publishers based in Rockville, Maryland, United States. Phoenix Pick publishes many classic and semi-classic works of science fiction and fantasy. These include '' Dark Univ ...

in December 2014. It is the third book in the Hellenic Traders series.

Plot

The book concerns the continuing adventures of a pair of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

traders from

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

. Sostratos, the more scholarly of the pair, visits

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, where he tries to learn more about the odd monotheists who live there. His cousin Menedemos, meanwhile, fulfills his usual role of paying more attention to profits than prophets and pays a great deal of attention to women (occasionally those married to other men).

Setting

The setting is the coast of Asia Minor, Cyprus, and Jerusalem and the surrounding area in the period of time about thirty years after the death of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. As in the other books in the series, persons and places are frequently given their Greek names rather than the English ones (Sokrates, Platon, etc.).

References

2003 American novels Hellenic Traders novels Novels set in ancient Greece Forge Books books Novels set in the 3rd century BC {{2000s-hist-novel-stub