A King of Tyre: A Tale of the Times of Ezra and Nehemiah

A newly crowned king defies the priests of Baal in ancient Tyre. Hiram has inherited a throne but also a dangerous question: how much longer will his people bow to a priesthood that demands blood to maintain their power? The city seethes with religious fervor as the council calls for grand sacrifices to restore Phoenician glory, but Hiram sees the rites for what they are tools of control. His open dissent makes enemies of the priestly class and his own cousin Rubaal, while the ambitious merchant Ahimelek maneuvers through the chaos. Set in the bustling commercial hub of 5th-century Tyre, where Greek culture creeps ever closer and the old ways crumble under their own weight, this is a story about what happens when one man decides that faith should elevate rather than enslave. Ludlow writes with Victorian moral seriousness about the eternal collision between conscience and power, and the price of standing alone against tradition.