Ambrosio-Zanotta

The newly-settled city of Venice in the Sixth Century AD: A wandering people struggle to establish Christian Theocracy. Basiliola Faledro, an exotic dancer, wicked and cunning, arrives from faraway lands seeking to avenge her pagan lineage; Her father and brothers blinded and humilated by frenzied zealots. Her primary targets are the brothers Gràtico, both newly-elected to positions of power: One, Marco, an arbiter and tribune, the other, Sergio, a bishop. The title refers to a bold pronouncement made by Deaconess Ema Gràtico to her subjects the Venetians, a seafaring and desperate tribe-- That their native homeland is aboard a ship.

Teodora, a Roman courtesan and former slave girl, marries the Roman emperor Justinian and assumes the throne as Empress of Rome. But a love affair with a handsome Greek whom she meets in Byzantium leads to revolution and armed conflict in both Byzantium and Rome.