In this work of historical fiction, told by Agabus the Decapolitan, Graves confronts Christianity, suggesting that Jesus`s mother was secretly married to Herod`s eldest son Antipater, whom Herod sacrificed in a ritual; that Jesus was conceived at the Feast of Tabernacles, which was at that time a fertility festival of the Great Mother Goddess cult; and that Jesus`s mission was to destroy this Goddess cult and defeat the women (Mary Magdalen, Mary sister of Lazarus) who were a part of this movement.