The Iranian Conspiracy

When archaeologist Andrew Thorpe hears about the chance discovery of a new Latin inscription at a remote volcano in southern Syria, he is drawn into a web of intrigue rooted in one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world. Andrew realises that he has stumbled across evidence for the location of the lost tomb of Iran’s most famous emperor, Shapur the Great, and, after the sudden and violent death of a long-time colleague in Damascus, he becomes determined to uncover the secrets embedded in the inscription to prevent a sinister and shadowy Iranian nationalist group, the Sons of Cyrus, from reaching their goal. Together with help from Rachel Campion, a journalist who has had her own brush with the Sons of Cyrus, and Rachel’s brother Jack, a British diplomat, Andrew embarks on a quest which takes him to some of the most secretive and spectacular archaeological sites of the Middle East. From the forgotten city of Madain Salih in Saudi Arabia to the rose-red Syrian city of Palmyra, and from abandoned Roman fortresses on the Euphrates to the ancient church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Andrew and Rachel battle unseen forces to prevent an international catastrophe which threatens to destroy the prospects for peace in the Middle East once and for all. Greg Fisher is Assistant Professor of Greek and Roman Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of Between Empires. Arabs, Romans, and Sasanians in Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2011). The Iranian Conspiracy is his first novel.