Beverle Grave's Myer's detective, Tito Amato, is far removed from our John, Lord Chamberlain to Justinian. While John prowls the dark alleys and Great Palace of 6th century Constantinople, Tito does his sleuthing amidst the canals and opera houses of 18th century Venice.

However, Mary recently noticed that besides being eunuchs (Tito is a castrato) both characters have something else in common. They would both have seen, as part of their daily landscape, the four gilded horses which, in John's Constantinople, adorned the Hippodrome, and in Tito's Venice, sat above the main entrance to the Basilica San Marco.

Beverle has a terrific blog entry today, The Four Horses of Venice, complete with pictures, detailing the amazing wanderings of these magnificent equines.