Ivan Yefremov - Thais of Athens

Thais remembered Leontiscus and his boyish faith in beautiful Nereids, and her eyes filled with tears.

Eris said quietly, “We are used to thinking about gods as jealous creatures who would destroy perfection in people and their creations. Would a true admirer of beauty be capable of such a thing? Does that mean that a man is beyond gods? Of course not. The fact that gods were invented and had the worst human traits bestowed upon them, reflects the entire wrongness and unworthiness of our life, in which fate, of which we are weapons, takes the good ones away and protects the bad ones. We must correct this on our own, and if we cannot save the good ones we can at the least eliminate human scum, not letting them live any longer or better.”

The priestess of Ambologera stood dismayed between the two incredible women she’d met for the first time, who were so different and so alike in their inner greatness. She bowed before them, which she had never done for anyone, and said modestly, “You do not require my advice or Ambologera’s health. Please get dressed and go downstairs. I shall ask for a wise man, a friend of our philosopher. He arrived recently from Ionian and has been telling us strange things about Alexarches, Cassander’s brother.”

“Brother of a ruthless killer? What good can one expect from a man like that?” Thais asked sharply.

“Still, I think both of you need to learn about Uranopolis, the City of Heaven, the place for people like you.”

And the two friends discovered something unheard of, that had never happened anywhere in the Ecumene, not captured in the inscriptions carved in stone, in legends or in historic records. Alexarches, the son of Antipatros and the younger brother of Cassander, the ruler of Macedonia, had received a plot of land in

Khalkidhiki, at the isthmus behind Athos mountain, where Xerxes had been ordered to construct a canal once upon a time. There Alexarches founded the city of Uranopolis, thirty stadiums in circumference. Being a scholar of linguistics, Alexarches invented a special language for his citizens. He refused to be addressed as a king and assumed only the title of the High Councilor in the Council of Philosophers who were in charge of the city. His own brother, who once declared Alexander mad, now said the same about Alexarches. Alexarches then abandoned construction in Khalkidhiki and transferred Uranopolis to Pamphilia [41] A portion of west Taurus and Ichel at the southern coast of Turkey. . He took with him the descendants of the Pelasges who resided near Athos. They were joined by freedom-loving Ephesians, Clazomenes and Carians.

Citizens of Uranopolis were all like brothers and sisters, equal in their rights. They proudly called themselves Uranides, or Children of Heaven. They worshiped the Maid of Heaven, Aphrodite Urania, in the same way Athenians worshiped Athena, and minted her image on their coins. Other gods of the citizens were sun, moon and stars and were also portrayed on the coins along with the more upstanding citizens. Alexarches dreamed of spreading the idea of brotherhood among people under the protection of Urania, the united love, to all of the Ecumene. First and foremost he wished to eliminate the difference between languages and religions. He wrote letters to Cassander and other rulers in the language invented for the City of Heaven. The wise man saw two of these letters, but no one could decipher them.

What she learned overturned all of Thais’ intentions.

What she dreamed of during the sleepless nights in Athens, in Egypt, in Babylon, and in Ecbatana, had come true. She felt the warm breath of the Lykean mountains. Love that did not serve jealous deities, that did not slavishly follow armies, was becoming a foundation of the city-state of Aphrodite, the daughter of Heaven, the highest deity of wisdom and hope.

She now had a goal, a place to apply her ability in inspiring artists and poets, as well as her own thoughts of reaching Urania. And this goal was so close, across the sea and to the north of the golden Bay, a mere thousand stadiums away. She was grateful to Ambologera. Without her, she would never have found out about the existence of the city from her magical dream.

A few months later, having gathered all her treasures and left Irana to be brought up on Cyprus, Thais and her inseparable friend were aboard a ship, rushing toward the broad Adalian Bay. Lykean mountains rose from beyond the horizon like heavy stone domes, covered with dazzling white snow, like a promise of purity. The ship slowly sailed around a sharp rock and they saw a small blue port with a delta of a swift river at the back. On its western shore the structures of Uranopolis, standing behind a low wall, were turning pink in the rays of the rising sun. Cypresses and sycamores rose along the streets and around the façades of modest homes. The central square was occupied by the recently finished building of the Council of Heaven, which sparkled with freshly cut white lime and a plinth of bluish stone visible from afar.

The ship docked. Thais glanced at the less than mighty walls, straight streets and a low sloping hill of Acropolis. She saw a whirlwind of visions of enormous seven and nine walled cities of Persia and Finikian coast, the cities of Egypt, protected by scorching deserts that fell before the conquerors and were pillaged and deserted. The white magnificence of Persepolis, turned into blackened ruins by her own hands.

Uranopolis suddenly seemed like a fragile altar of humankind’s heavenly dream, set precariously at the edge of the hostile world. A premonition of doom squeezed Thais’ heart with a cruel hand and when she glanced at Eris, she recognized the same anxiety in her friend’s face. The City of Heaven could not exist long, but the Athenian felt no doubt or desire to seek a safe place on Cyprus, in Alexandria, or in one of the more secluded corners of Hellas.

The City of Heaven was her dream and the meaning of her future life. If it vanished, what would remain of her, unless she gave all of herself to serve the Children of Heaven? Responding to her thoughts, Eris squeezed her hand firmly and nudged her toward the gangplank.

Thais and Eris descended onto the pier. Sailors, supervised by Roykos, carried heavy bundles and boxes with valuable offerings to the mission of Alexarches and Urania.

Such was the end of the incredible life of Thais of Athens. The darkness of Hades and the abyss of centuries past swallowed her up along with the first City of Love and Heaven.

Creation of the glorious dream could not have existed for long among the mighty and savage kings or army leaders, or priests of false faith, greed and deception.

The tiny island of the budding new morality in the sea of ignorance, Uranopolis, was soon wiped from the face of Gaea by a horde of experienced conquerors.

The two friends vanished along with the city. Did they manage to escape enslavement, sailing to other, still peaceful isles? Or did they give themselves to Thetis, pursued by invading soldiers? Did Eris send her Thais to the underworld with the firm hand of a black priestess and follow her immediately? One could invent any ending to correspond to his own dream. One thing is certain: neither Thais nor Eris became slaves of those who destroyed Uranopolis and ended their good service to people.

Ivan Yefremov (1908–1972) was a Soviet writer and paleontologist. In addition to introducing a new paleontological field taphonomy — the study of fossilization patterns, Yefremov has written a series of novels and short stories, including science fiction, historic fiction, adventure and drama.

Yefremov is frequently ridiculed for his enthusiasm and faith in the viability of a communist society, as described in his best known science fiction novel Andromeda Nebula. It is not widely known that his more mature works such as Hour of the Bull and Razor Blade, had the writer blacklisted by Stalin’s administration, as Yefremov’s interpretation of a fair and balanced society deviated sharply from the government propaganda of the time.