Bomical stood tall on the pier, the sun setting to his left didn’t obstruct his surveillance of the ship being unloaded on the water in front of him. A constantly moving line of bare-chested men marched onto and off of the ship, their long black hair tied by twisted braids down to their shoulders, their tunics tucked between their thighs to reduce the drag on their legs as they lifted large sacks and barrels of flour, oil, and other merchants’ cargo.
Bomical watched it keenly, appraising the men’s work as well as their fitness. There were free men among the slaves, aboriginal Siculi from the island, who were brought in to unload the bounty. The free men worked for wages, and most of them lived here in Qart-ḥadašt, in the squalid quarters inhabited by laborers who traded their sweat and li
