Alex took a
moment to survey the lecture hall, which buzzed with conversation, as always
happened before a class began. The seating had shifted dramatically, though,
with a large number of students crowding the front rows. Alex recognized many
of those faces as ones that had asked questions and followed her to the coffee
shop in the student union.
Good.
Those are my most engaged students. The rest look interested, too.
Of course, she had the usual rows
of slackers in the very back, most of whom had eyes focused on phones, tablets,
or laptops.
“Well,” she began pleasantly,
“hopefully now that we’ve got the Civil War out of our way, we can dive into a
lecture I had actually planned out.”
That drew a few laughs.
“We begin with Alexander the Great,
whose legacy of conquest and empire should be well-known to anyone. He also
left us a string of Alexandria’s throughout his empire to fuel his ego. One of
which, the most famous, became ruled by one of Alexander’s generals, Ptolemy
Soter, who went on to found the Great Library of Alexandria, the most important
repository of knowledge the world has ever seen, prior to the modern-day
library of Alexandra.” She pointed to herself.
She took a bow to scattered laughs
and groans, almost in equal numbers. “Thank you, that might be on the test.
Now, Ptolemy did not just found the library, he contributed to it, but nothing
of his contribution has survived.”
“How do we know he contributed,
then?” Someone from the middle rows yelled out.
“An excellent question. We know
because others have talked about his writings in their own.”
A wave of warmth swept over Alex,
and she had to take a step to steady herself. She felt lightheaded, but it was
familiar. She pushed ahead.
“Arrian of Nicodemia wrote his own
history of Alexander the Great’s campaigns, and used Ptolemy’s account as one
of his primary sources.”
The brass pen dipped into the inkwell, and
an older hand, a man’s hand, began writing on aged vellum.
“The
city of Thebes has been crushed by Alexander. Only the House of Pindar and the
priests have been let free. The city itself has been razed and the citizens
made into slaves for their rebellion to their king.
“I
have heard among soldiers and those who lived that Alexander spared them out of
a sense of mercy. That he did not wish to affront the gods by destroying their
houses and servants, but this is not the case at all. For Alexander is a man of
strategy and conquest, first. He knows, as do I, that the poets and the priests
shall carry words of what has happened to the once great Thebes to Athens, and
that their fear shall be a potent weapon to Alexander.”
Alex
blinked, feeling a chill sweep through her bones, making her shudder where
previously she sweated under the hall’s lights. One hand on the side of the
lectern helped her keep her feet.
It happened again, just like with Lee, but
this time I was Ptolemy. Those passages have not been in any book I’ve ever
read. No paper has ever talked about Ptolemy commentating about Alexander using
fear tactics. Nothing in Arrian’s works even hint at it. What is happening to
me? Am I imagining all of this?
She
suddenly realized that the lecture hall shifted in uncomfortable silence, and
caught sight of many students holding up their phones, no doubt plastering this
on various social media platforms.
“As I was
saying,” she straightened, taking firm steps away from the lectern, “Ptolemy’s
lost history is an example of how we must enquire. His history will almost
certainly not be discovered sealed in some forgotten corner of the world,
discovered by Indiana Jones. We must study and infer from what we do have.”
Many
students lowered their phones to resume taking interest, but Alex caught sight
of a blond woman in the second row who had a curiously intent expression on her
face. She scribbled furiously in an old-fashioned spiral notebook.
What is she taking notes on? I haven’t said
that much, yet.
“Historical
enquiry,” she resumed, “is more about reconstruction than it is about
discovery. It is a puzzle with an unknown number of pieces, and the pieces are
hidden inside other pieces. We can reconstruct part of Ptolemy’s history from
Arrian’s account as well as accounts about Ptolemy himself as a ruler. When we
understand him, we will understand how and what he wrote.
“Now, given
this, it’s time to address the semester projects, and to let you all know that
while the simulation is the most looked-forward to part of the class, it’s by
no means easy. We will be doing a great deal of research, so consider well what
you vote for. Your choices are. . . .”
Alex ran
through the choices, flashing the slide up, but her eyes kept straying to the
young woman in the second row. Her eyes were still on Alex instead of the slide,
her pen still furiously scribbling.