The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World (Novels of Ancient Rome) (43 page)

If my father was in fact working for the Roman Senate, and Antipater was a double agent, then the two of them had doubly deceived me—all for my own good, of course. I found this convoluted notion at once disquieting and strangely comforting.

Stop, Gordianus! You’re beginning to sound as mad as Nikanor,
I told myself. But the worm of doubt would not be put to rest.

How was I ever to know the truth? I prayed that the gods would keep my father safe from all harm, and that I would see him again in Rome. I prayed for them to protect Antipater as well, so that I might speak to him at least once more. But the world is a dangerous place, and prayers are not always answered. What if I was never to know the truth?

Sitting on the temple steps, I stared at the unwavering light of the Pharos—a point of certainty in an uncertain world. I wished for an end to all my doubts, knowing it was not to be. This was manhood, from which there could be no turning back: to know that some mysteries might never be solved, some questions never answered. But a man must persevere nonetheless.

*   *   *

“Why seven?” I had asked Antipater. At the time, it had not occurred to me to ask, “Why make a list at all?”

Now I knew. A list delineates that which is from that which is not. A list can be memorized and mastered. A list gives order to a chaotic universe.

With such thoughts in my head, I took to spending much of my free time on the steps of the Library, listening to teachers and philosophers who freely shared their wisdom with anyone who cared to listen or dared to argue. All schools of thought were represented. I listened to Stoics, Skeptics, Cynics, Epicureans, and Neo-Platonists, along with stargazing Babylonian astrologers and tale-spinning Jewish sages.

At night, I sought pleasures of the flesh. In Alexandria, these were not hard to come by.

It occurred to me that the true wonders a man encounters in the journey of his life are not the mute monuments of stone, but his fellow mortals. Some lead us to wisdom. Some delight us with pleasure. Some make us laugh. Some fill us with terror, or pity, or loathing. You need not travel the world to find these wonders. They are everywhere around you, every day.

But a man who has traveled to the Seven Wonders of the World need never lack for attention. Men and women alike loved to hear the stories I could tell. In the taverns of Rhakotis, my cup was always full. On warm, starlit nights, my bed was seldom empty.

Such was the life into which I settled in Alexandria: hardworking, intellectually stimulating, and dissolute all at once. By the Roman calendar the month of Martius arrived, and with it the birthday of Antipater. Was he blind drunk, suffering his annual “birthday fever,” wherever he might be? This was followed by the second anniversary of his false death. Then came my birthday. I was twenty.

I began to feel—dare I say it?—slightly jaded. Perhaps I had traveled too far, seen too much. Pleasures that had amused me began to bore me. Food lost its flavor, inebriation was tedious, and even ecstasies of the flesh seemed repetitious. The philosophers and sages all began to sound alike. Alexandria itself—the most cosmopolitan of cities, center of culture, beacon to mankind—began to seem mundane and ordinary, just another place.

And then …

I was near the waterfront one day, passing a market where slaves were sold. It was not one of the better such markets in the city; the goods were usually damaged or in some way second-rate. Some of the slaves were offered so cheaply that even I might have afforded one—had I needed a servant and wished to pay for the upkeep. A cat would have suited me better than a slave, but either would need to be fed.

The item on offer was a toothless old vagrant who had agreed to give up his freedom if anyone would care to purchase him. The crowd hooted and made catcalls. There were no takers. The auctioneer voided the offer, and the disconsolate would-be slave shambled off. The next offering was brought onto the block.

“Not this one again!” cried someone.

“She’s back,” said another. “Didn’t someone buy her just a few days ago?”

“Bought her, took her home—and returned her the next day!” came the answer. “She’s a troublemaker, that one. Buyer beware—unless you don’t mind having a finger bit off!”

“Looks harmless enough. Not that big—”

“It’s the small, wiry ones you have to look out for.”

“Nice figure. Could be quite pretty, if someone were to bathe and take a brush to her.”

“Pretty counts for nothing, if she’s too wild to be tamed.”

The auctioneer called for silence. He looked unhappy, like a man with a toothache. “I have for sale one female slave, exact age unknown, though you can see for yourself that she’s quite young. I won’t pretend that she’s fresh—many of you have seen her before. A few of you have even owned her already—and brought her back to be sold again. Her current owner is aware of the problematic nature of this item, and so he is willing to start the bidding at a very low amount.” He named a ridiculously low sum, the cost of a few days’ worth of bread.

For the first time, I took a good look at the girl on the block. She had kept her head lowered until that moment. Now she looked up, pushed the masses of black hair from her face, and stared defiantly at the crowd. She stood with one foot in front of the other and held her shoulders back. Her posture and demeanor were not that of a slave. Her dark, glimmering eyes met mine.

My heart quickened. Something stirred in me that I had never felt before.

I looked into the little money bag I carried. As low as was the figure the auctioneer had named, I did not have enough.

The auctioneer called out the figure again. The crowd shuffled restlessly. No one bid.

“Very well,” sighed the auctioneer. “I am authorized to lower the starting bid.” He named a figure that was half of what he had named before.

It was exactly the amount I had in my purse. I studied the coins to be sure, then swallowed hard and looked at the girl again. She stared back at me. On her face I seemed to read amusement and disdain. But that was only on the surface, the face she showed to everyone. There was something else in her eyes, something only I could see—an expression at once proud and pleading, demure and demanding.

Never having bid on a slave before, I slowly raised my hand.

“We have a buyer!” cried the auctioneer, looking relieved and slightly astonished. Others in the crowd raised their eyebrows and shook their heads. Some laughed out loud.

Eager to finalize the transaction at once, the auctioneer summoned me onto the block and reached for my purse. As he counted the coins, I asked him what the girl was called.

“A name as peculiar and barbaric as she is. Hebrew, I think: Bethesda.”

Looking at her, I spoke the curious word for the first time. “Bethesda,” I whispered. “Now I know the name of the Eighth Wonder of the World.”

The auctioneer looked at me as if I were crazy. So did Bethesda.

So began the next chapter of my life.

CHRONOLOGY

ca. 2550
BC

The Great Pyramid
is built in Egypt.

ca. 600

The Walls and Hanging Gardens
are built at Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

776

The first games are held at Olympia.

ca. 750

The Temple of Artemis
is constructed at Ephesus; it will subsequently be destroyed more than once (by flood and by fire) and rebuilt.

482

Xerxes demolishes the Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

456

The Temple of Zeus is open for the 90th Olympiad.

ca. 432

Phidias installs the
Statue of Zeus
in the temple at Olympia.

ca. 425

The historian Herodotus dies.

356

13–14 October: Herostratos burns down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus; Alexander the Great is born the same night. The temple is subsequently rebuilt.

ca. 350

The Mausoleum
is built at Halicarnassus.

331

The city of Alexandria is founded in Egypt by Alexander the Great.

323

Alexander the Great dies at Babylon.

298

The Celtic warlord Cimbaules makes incursions against the Macedonians and is repelled.

ca. 290

The Colossus
is completed at Rhodes.

ca. 280

The Pharos Lighthouse
is built at Alexandria.

281-79

The Celts make a second incursion against Macedonia; Brennus attacks Delphi.

227

The Colossus falls.

ca. 170

Antipater of Sidon is born.

146

The Roman general Mummius sacks Corinth, but spares Olympia; Carthage is destroyed by Rome.

ca. 135

Posidonius is born in Syria.

133

Attalus III of Pergamon bequeaths his kingdom to Rome, which establishes the province of Asia.

ca. 115

Posidonius studies under Panaetius the Stoic in Athens.

110

23 March (Martius): Gordianus is born at Rome.

ca. 106

Bethesda is born at Alexandria.

ca. 90

After travels in Spain, Gaul, Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, North Africa, and Greece, Posidonius settles in Rhodes.

95

Rome sides with Nicomedes of Bithynia in his war against Mithridates of Pontus.

93

23 March (Martius): Gordianus turns seventeen and puts on his manly toga.

92

Rome aids Nicomedes of Bithynia against Mithridates for the second time.

23 March (Martius): The novel begins in Rome on this day—the birthday of Gordianus and the funeral day of Antipater.

April (Aprilis): Gordianus and Antipater visit Ephesus during the Artemisia festival and see the Temple of Artemis
(“Something to Do with Diana”
).

April (Aprilis) to August (Sextilis): Gordianus and Antipater visit Halicarnassus and see the Mausoleum
(“The Widows of Halicarnassus”).

Late August (Sextilis) to early September: Gordianus and Antipater attend the 172nd Olympiad and see the Statue of Zeus
(“O Tempora! O Mores! Olympiad!”)
.

September: Gordianus and Antipater visit the ruins of Corinth
(“The Witch’s Curse”)
.

Autumn to winter: Gordianus and Antipater stay with Posidonius in Rhodes and see the remains of the Colossus
(“The Monumental Gaul”)
.

91

23 March (Martius): Gordianus is nineteen.

Mithridates invades Bithynia, expels Nicomedes, and sets up Nicomedes’ brother Socrates as king; Ariobarzanes, the king of Cappadocia confirmed by the Romans, is usurped and replaced by the son of Mithridates, Ariaranthes Eusebes.

Outbreak of the Social War, as the Italians revolt against Rome.

Spring: Gordianus and Antipater visit Babylon and see the remains of the Walls and the Hanging Gardens
(“Styx and Stones”)
.

June: Gordianus and Antipater journey up the Nile to Memphis and visit the Great Pyramid
(“The Return of the Mummy”)
.

Gordianus and Antipater travel to Alexandria and visit the Pharos Lighthouse
(“They Do It with Mirrors”)
.

90

23 March (Martius): Gordianus is twenty. He solves the case of “The Alexandrian Cat” (included in the collection
The House of the Vestals)
.

89

War begins between Rome and Mithridates.

88

Conclusion of the Social War; Rome is triumphant over the rebellious Italians.

80

The dictator Sulla moves the 175th Olympiad to Rome. (The Games are afterward returned to Olympia.) Gordianus is in Rome, and is hired by Cicero, as recounted in the novel
Roman Blood
.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

IN SEARCH OF THE SEVEN WONDERS

(This note reveals elements of the plot.)

Over the course of ten previously published novels and two collections of short stories, Gordianus the Finder has occasionally made reference to his younger days, and specifically to his journey as a young man to see the Seven Wonders of the World.

For a long time, I have wanted to write the story of that journey. At last the occasion seemed auspicious, and the result is the book you hold in your hands.

Little did I know at the outset that the author’s voyage of discovery would be every bit as long and arduous and full of wonders as that of Gordianus. To explore the Seven Wonders, one enters a labyrinth of history and legend, hard facts and half-facts, cutting-edge archaeology and the very latest innovations in virtual reality.

The fascination exerted by the Seven Wonders has long outlasted their physical existence. Only one, the Great Pyramid, remains intact. The others are in fragments or have vanished altogether. To understand the scale and magnificence of these monuments, and the reasons they made such a lasting impact on the world’s imagination, we must turn to ancient literary sources—which are sometimes more confusing than enlightening. Images of the Wonders abound, but are often unreliable; over the centuries, methodologies used to visualize the Wonders have ranged from the rigorously scientific to the patently absurd.

I soon discovered that there was no single source I could turn to for answers to all my questions; an authoritative book encompassing all we know about the Seven Wonders has yet to be written. But one book came close, and I didn’t even have to search for it; it came to me, arriving by international post at my house one day, a gift from the British editor, anthologist, and author Mike Ashley.

Like Gordianus, Mike visited the Wonders in his own younger days by writing a marvelous book about them,
The Seven Wonders of the World,
published as a paperback original by Fontana in Great Britain in 1980. Learning that I intended to take Gordianus to the Wonders, Mike mailed me one of his archival copies—which proved to be a godsend. Meticulously researched and splendidly written, Mike’s book is far and away the best single volume I encountered about the Wonders. Long out of print (and a bit out of date due to subsequent archaeological research), it is a book that cries out for a new edition.