There in Rhodes, Menedemos is a young, daring sea captain; scholarly, reserved Sostratos is his cousin. Their fathers jointly own a merchant galley, the Aphrodite, and they expect Menedemos and Sostratos to use it to enrich their families. But now the cousins plan their largest, most audacious trading voyage yet, which will take them from the shores of Asia Minor all the way to the coasts of faraway Italy, and to confrontations with the barbarians of an obscure town called "Rome". Along the way they will buy and sell wine, silks, and even -- to the astonishment of all -- peacocks.

Menedemos was born with enough confidence for three men, and he can switch from threats to charm and back again. But he can also be foolhardy -- for instance, risking everything for the chance at another man's wife. Sostratos can perform unheard-of feats with numbers, he knows the old histories and the natural sciences . . . but he lacks the common touch and, Menedemos would say, common sense. Each of them has strengths the other lacks. Now, in the troubled waters off of Sicily, they face a chance at untold riches . . . if they can evade the massed strength of the Carthaginian fleet.

Colorful, engaging, rich with likeable, human characters, Over the Wine-Dark Sea is historical adventure at its best, in the finest tradition of Steven Pressfield and Patrick O'Brian.