Trouble is brewing on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire. The troops are in a deplorable state, while the corrupt behavior of their senior officers threatens to undermine the army's control of the region. To restore competence of the men defending a vital fort, two experienced centurions are dispatched to Judea. On their arrival Cato and Macro discover that Bannus, a local tribesman, is fomenting rebellion among the followers of Jehoshua, who was crucified in Jerusalem some seventeen years earlier. As the local revolt grows, Rome's longstanding enemy Parthia is poised to invade, Cato and Macro must stamp out corruption in the cohort before the Eastern provinces are lost forever