Alexander ordered a sacrifice to the twelve Olympians and Aesculapius. When he spoke with Nearchus, he insisted they set sail in two days. The Cretan had never seen his divine friend in such an unnatural state of anxiety. Alexander spoke constantly of the ocean and gave orders, sometimes repeating himself and becoming confused. In the morning, when his fever subsided, Alexander ordered that he be carried to the palace in the Old City in order to make the sacrifice. He was so weak at that point he could barely speak.
The great leader fought death till the last moment. A few hours before his passing, he wished to say farewell to his friends and his army. Holding back tears, the young getaerosi and warriors from the royal guard passed silently by the bed. Alexander managed to find it in him to greet each one by raising his right arm and sometimes lifting his head. He was conscious till the last minute.
The army officers, who were now called diadochs and Alexander’s heirs, gathered to hold an emergency council. Their first order of business was to have the hero’s body, covered in scars from terrible wounds, carefully washed and preserved in a mix of fragrant resins, strong wine and honey. Smiths and minters were already making a gold sarcophagus.
Thais could not read any further. Her vision blurred with tears. Long-contained grief had finally burst forth. Falling face down on the bed, the Athenian wept, having torn her clothes and let down her hair according to the old custom.
Alexander, the greatest hero of Macedonia, Hellas and Ionia, descended into the darkness of Hades at the age of a mere thirty-two years and eight months. Thais’ heart ached with the notion that prior to his death, exhausted and lonely, he might have been thinking about her, while swimming in the Euphrates or secluding himself in the house on that side of the river at the Lugalgira gates.
With another flood of tears, Thais thought of the king’s great loneliness. Everyone around him constantly demanded wise decisions, gold, protection, and love, never realizing his endless fatigue. Never watching him with knowing and understanding eyes and heart. Perhaps that was why he’d sought comfort in the ghosts of the past. If that were the case, had she been with him during those last few hours, she would have been able to recognize the signs of approaching peril. She would have. Alexander wanted to fulfill the promise he gave Thais: to get out of Babylon with Nearchus’ fleet.
The Athenian wept so bitterly that Eris became frightened for the first time during their life together and ran to get a physician. Thais refused to see him, but obeyed her friend and drank some kind of thick and bitter brown potion that plunged her into long and dreamless sleep.
It was four days later before Thais found it in herself to emerge from the dark room and take care of the usual occupations of a mother and a head of the household. After a few more days she felt brave enough to read Ptolemy’s letter.
He wrote that everything had taken place as he’d predicted. During the council of the diadochs he was the first to suggest the division of the empire and negotiated Egypt for himself. Perdicca was appointed to replace Alexander and become the chief strategist of Asia. He was also entrusted with protecting Roxanne, who was seven months pregnant by the king. Antipatros became army chief in Hellas and Macedonia and the chief strategist of all countries west of Ionia. The leader of getaerosi, Seleucus got Babylonia and India. The one-eyed Antigonus received Asia Minor with the exception of Ionia and Frakia, which went to Lysimachus. Nearchus did not want anything but the fleet, which he received and prepared to sail to Arabia without Alexander.
Ptolemy reminded Thais of her promise to accompany him to Egypt. He would have to wait for Roxanne to give birth. If there were a son, everything would stay the same. If a daughter were born the council would select a new king.
Such was the new incredible change in Thais’ life. Roxanne had a son, Alexander the Fourth, and Ptolemy urgently called the Athenian to Babylon. With the select troops who were loyal to him, he took the sarcophagus with Alexander’s body and hurried to Egypt.
Since then Thais had remained in Memphis as the queen of the legendary Land of the Nile that was sacred to all Helenians.
And here was the Nile itself, splashing quietly against the steps of the Neit temple.
Chapter Sixteen. The Queen of Memphis
“You shall rule in Memphis and I shall stay in Alexandria,” Ptolemy said, arguing with Thais.
For the first time, they were on the brink of a divorce. She reproached him for breaking his vow not to take another wife after Sirita, who he abandoned in Babylon. Now that he was an acknowledged king of Egypt, he’d fallen in love with Berenice and married her secretly, setting her as the queen in Alexandria. And before that there was Eurydice, who bore him a son after he took her by force in Ionia and brought her to Persia.
For the first time, Ptolemy did not yield to Thais’ demands. In ten years of victorious campaigns with Alexander’s army, during which cities were crushed and thousands were subject to rape and violence, he had become accustomed to going through hundreds of women without giving it a single thought.
“One more, one less. Is it really worth talking about?” Ptolemy thought naïvely. He was preoccupied by other things. He had recently realized that his efforts to transform Egypt by introducing the spirit of Hellas along with Alexander’s genius had been in vain.
“This boulder of ancient beliefs, customs and ways of life, akin to a rock made of black Elephantine granite,” he explained to Thais, speaking as intelligently and convincingly as always. “It cannot be changed any other way but by breaking it into pieces. But that would not be wise. When you destroy something, you cannot immediately replace the old with the new, for the country is left without law and tradition and transforms into a gathering of barbaric scoundrels. I shall begin with Alexandria and turn it into a city open to the entire world, open to all teachings and faiths, to philosophers of all schools. First and foremost it will be open for trade between Asia and the Inner Sea. Alexandria, where I keep in the gold sarcophagus the body of the great Alexander, my childhood friend and half-brother, shall become the most beautiful city in Ecumene. The lighthouse on Pharos will become more famous than the Etemenanki tower. I shall also build a Museum for the philosopher. I have already collected more scrolls and books at the Library than in any city of Hellas. I gave an order to the captains of all ships arriving to the Alexandria bay to inform me of the new works of art, scientific discoveries and famous books. I have enough gold to buy a lot. Had it not been for the war …”
Ptolemy frowned and Thais patted his shoulder compassionately. She knew about the unending war among the diadochs, Alexander’s heirs. The chief strategist of Asia, Alexander’s old comrade Perdicca, was appointed by the diadochs’ council to rule the kingdom until Roxanne’s son grew up. He then attacked Ptolemy to take Egypt as well. His own officers killed Perdicca as soon as he reached the Delta, and the army was transferred to Ptolemy.
“I shall fight for Egypt, for Cyprus, and perhaps for Hellas, but in order to carry out all these plans I must live in Alexandria. That is where I invite everyone with the strong spirit of enterprise, everyone who is able to look ahead and work hard, who is talented and intelligent. I invited the Hebrews from Babylon, Syria, and Judea to live freely and carry out trade in Alexandria. I place many hopes on these stern and capable people to multiply the riches and make the city blossom, as I do with your compatriots, who are quick in making decisions and in carrying them out.