Jacobus’ Book 2 chronicles the main character’s adventure in India
Paul Trittin’s Jacobus is actually divided into two books, with the first book subtitled A Eunuch’s Faith while the second is India Connection. In the previous blog posts, we’ve talked about Book 1 in full detail with a focus on Jacobus’ life when he is sold by his father to his relatives to become an apprentice at the family’s shipping business in Sicily while his brother, Josephus, is left behind.
Book 2 now follows a chapter in the life of Jacobus when he and members of his extended family arrive in Jerusalem for Passover. The day after Passover, they encounter The Prophet in a crowded street in Old Jerusalem. In shock, they follow the crowd to a hill where they watch his execution.
Soon, Jacobus fulfills his dream to represent his family on their first trading mission to India. While there, two local kings gift him with an orphaned baby elephant and its trainer. The next year, while preparing for another Indian voyage in Alexandria, Egypt, Jacobus encountered the Apostle Thomas while entering a local synagogue.
Thomas decides to join them when they sail up the Nile and by caravan across the desert to board their ship for India, where he worked for the rest of his life. In Jacobus’ senior years, he is joined by his freed Carthaginian slave as they travel by elephant from south India to Jerusalem and witness another terror in that ancient city.
