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Автор Линдси Дэвис

Lindsey Davis

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

EGYPT: SPRING AD77

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Lindsey Davis

Alexandria

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

Marcus Didius Falco – fixer, traveller and playwright

Helena Justina – his well-read wife and tour-planner

Julia Junilla, Sosia Favonia, Flavia Albia – their well-behaved poppets

Aulus Camillus Aelianus – Helena's brother, a diligent student

Fulvius – Falco's enigmatic uncle, a negotiator

Cassius – his life partner, a wonderful host

M. D. Favonius, aka Geminus – Falco's father, who was ordered not to come

Thalia – who will regret bringing him, an artiste

Jason – her python, a real curiosity

At the Royal Palace

The Prefect of Alexandria and Egypt – highly renowned (name not recorded)

A bunch of dim rich boys – his admin staff, typical high-fliers

Legionaries

Gaius Numerius Tenax – a centurion who gets the awkward jobs

Mammius and Cotius – his back-up, hungry for glory

Tiberius and Titus – on duty at the Lighthouse, bored (not for long)

At the Alexandria Museion

Philetus – the Museion Director, uplifted on merit?

Theon – Librarian of the Great Library, downcast

Timosthenes – of the Serapeion Library, hungry for promotion

Philadelphion – the Zoo Keeper, a ladies' man

Apollophanes – virtuous Head of Philosophy, a toady

Zenon – Chief Astronomer and not accountable

Nicanor – Head of Legal Studies, honest (honestly!)

Aeacidas – a self-assured tragedian, as good as anyone

Pastous – a library assistant, closely taking stock

Chaereas and Chaeteas – zoo and autopsy assistants, good family folk

Sobek – a Nile crocodile, hungry for action

Nibytas – an obsessive old reader and book-lover

Heras, son of Hermias – a Sophist scholar, none too wise

Students – as you would expect

Aedemon – an empirical physician (purges and laxatives)

Heron – a deus ex machina, earthly god of machines

Colourful Alexandrian characters

Roxana – an admired young woman, with poor sight

Psaesis – a litter-bearer (deserves a raise)

Katutis – in the gutter, gazing at the stars

Petosiris – an undertaker (knows where the bodies are)

Itchy and Snuffly – his helpers (stitching people up)

Diogenes – an ambitious man of commerce

A box-maker – his sidekick

Also

The legendary catoblepas – not appearing, but deserves a mention

The gnu – pure nostalgia

EGYPT: SPRING AD77

They say you can see the Lighthouse from thirty miles away. Not in the day, you can't. Still, it kept the youngsters quiet, precariously balancing on the ship's rail while they looked for it. When travelling with children, always keep a little game in hand for those last troublesome moments at the end of a long journey.

We adults stood close by, wrapped up in cloaks against the breeze and ready to dive in if little Julia and Favonia accidentally plunged overboard. To add to our anxiety, we could see all the crew making urgent attempts to work out where we were as we approached the long, low, famously featureless coastline of Egypt, with its numerous shoals, currents, rocky outcrops, suddenly shifting winds and difficult lack of landmarks.

We were passengers on a large cargo boat that was making its first lumbering trip south this season; indications were that over the winter everyone had forgotten how to do this journey. The dour captain was frantically taking soundings and looking for silt in seawater samples to tell him he was near the Nile. Since the Nile delta was absolutely enormous, I hoped he was not such a poor navigator he had missed it. Our sailing from Rhodes had not filled me with faith. I thought I could hear that salty old sea god Poseidon laughing.