Ivan Yefremov - Thais of Athens

“It’s nothing, darling, compared to what we have yet to travel. I leave you in the care of the head of the detachment, who is in charge of guarding the crossing. That is where you shall wait for the next turn of fate.”

“Where? In a military camp on the river?”

“No. Alexander himself advised …” Ptolemy shrugged. “For some reason he wants to take care of you.”

“Have you forgotten that he invited me back in Athens?”

“I have. He is acting as if you are …”

“Perhaps I would like to, but that’s not the way it is. So what did Alexander advise?”

“Three hundred stadiums north of the crossing, along the royal road from Ephesus to Susa, lies the city of Hierapolis. Its ancient temples of Aphrodite Militis stand amidst pine groves atop sacred hills. You shall give this silver chest with Alexander’s seal to the high priestess there, and they will treat you like a messenger of the gods.”

“Who hasn’t heard of the Hierapolis sanctuary? I thank you. I shall set out tomorrow.”

“You won’t need any guards until you reach the crossing. After that you will be entrusted to the one-eyed Gigamus, who has three hundred soldiers. But enough about business. It has all been decided. You shall wait for me or my messenger, or some other news.”

“I do not want ‘other news’. I believe in victory.” Thais put her arms around Ptolemy and pulled him close. “Potnia Teron, the mistress of animals, will be on your side. I shall make rich sacrifices to her because everyone is certain that the plains beyond the river are under her power.”

“That would be good,” the Macedonian said. “The unknown lies before us, frightening some, exciting others. Alexander and I remembered the time we hunted borius in the Libyan desert. It was a beast never seen by anyone in Egypt, and so feared by the Libyans that they wouldn’t dare even talk about it. We never found borius. I wonder whether the same might happen with Darius.”

The Macedonian left Thais at dawn, when the camp filled with the jingling of horse’s bridles. Pushing a curtain aside, Ptolemy stopped at the entrance with flashing eyes and flaring nostrils.

“Kinupontai phonon halinoi!” he recited. It was a verse from a famous poem. “The horse’s bridles ring of death.”

Thais made a sign of protection with her fingers, the curtain fell and the Macedonian hurried toward the tent of his commander where the rest of the associates had already assembled. The hetaera spread out on her bed, thinking and listening until the noise at the camp ceased and the sound of hooves faded in the distance.

The temple of the Great, or the Highest, Goddess Ashtoreth, the Ruler of the Lower Abyss, the Feminine Triad: Ana, Belita and Daukippa, the Queen of Earth and Fertility, Kibela and Rhea All-carrying, Mother of Gods, the Mistress of Nights, was strange and slightly barbaric. It was not a temple of Aphrodite at all, as it had mistakenly been called by Alexander and consequently by Ptolemy.

At the outskirts of a grove of huge pine trees, double walls with cube-shaped towers outlined a large square courtyard containing rows of low, wide trees Thais did not recognize. Much to her astonishment, enormous spotted bulls, horses and lions walked and rested among the trees, and black eagles sat atop the walls.

The guards wore gilded armor and carried spears ten elbows long. They let Thais and Za-Asht go through, but left the hetaera’s soldiers between the walls. The horses became nervous, sensing the presence of predators, but their cousins in the courtyard of the temple didn’t mind the lions at all.

The aroma of Arabian incense floating from the temple doors could be felt even here. The temple itself stood on a platform of unpolished rocks. Thais hurried toward the stairs, but the strange company of animals didn’t bestow a single glance upon the women or their companions.

According to legend, pillars of black granite a hundred elbows tall had been erected by Dionysus himself. They guarded the entrance to the southern part of the courtyard. The broad wings of the temple were constructed out of large green bricks. Plum and Persian apple trees grew on the roofs of secondary structures. A staircase of white stone led from the platform up to the main entrance, which was above a wide, cube-shaped threshold, covered by glazed dark red ceramic tile. The entrance, framed by massive slabs of black stone, was divided into three sections by two pillars. Seven square columns on each side supported the flat roof with a garden and a walking platform. The center of the roof was crowned by a rectangular structure with no windows or doors.

One of Thais’ powerful benefactors had apparently informed the keepers of the temple of her arrival. As soon as the hetaera stepped onto the platform in front of the entrance, she was surrounded by an entire crowd of women. A man and a woman stood in the center of the group, dressed in heavy embroidered garments of identical cut, but of different colors: white for the man and black for the woman.

Thais handed over the gift chest from Alexander and received a deep bow in reply. The priestess in the black peplos took her hand and led her into the back of the temple. The doors, covered with mirror-polished electron, opened into a sanctuary with a ceiling of gold leaf.

A statue of the Great Mother, Astarte or Rhea sat atop a white rectangular stone slab. The ancient image was fairly small, just over two elbows. Legends claimed it was several thousand years old. The statue was made of terracotta, covered by pale brown glaze the color of tanned skin. The figure of a nude woman woman was kneeling, her torso turned slightly to the right and her hands pressed against her round belly. Her broad hips were much wider than her massive shoulders and served as a pedestal to the powerful torso, muscular arms and large, half-spherical breasts. Her neck was straight and long, almost the same circumference as her narrow head with its barely outlined face. It gave the statue an expression of proud alertness, or enthasis.

Woven gold chains, ornamented with purple hyacinths and emeralds, hung from the statue’s shoulders, and some unknown stone shone like fire from the middle of her forehead. Thais discovered later that the stone shone just as brightly at night, lighting the sanctuary.

The statue of the male god, with a coarsely carved, shovel-like beard, sat a step behind the goddess, in the shadow of a niche atop a similar slab. Bronze wheels with wide rims supported both pedestals. During the big moon celebrations these heavy carriages were somehow transported to the temple courtyard. After that, Rhea-Astarte’s carriage was drawn by the lions, and the male god, whose name Thais could not remember, was drawn by the sacred bulls.

The high priestess, who either didn’t wish or didn’t know how to speak Coyne [26] Conversational Greek used around the entire Mediterranean. , silently unclasped Thais’ chiton and lowered it to her waist. Two groups of priestesses quickly and quietly appeared from the darkness of the sanctuary. They were young with focused, glum, almost menacing faces, and were grouped by height and hair color. They lined up to the right and to the left of the statue of Kibela-Rhea allowing for Thais to get a better look at them. Those on the right had dark red “Finikian” hair and were dressed from neck to knees in nets. The nets were similar to fishing nets, except they were made of thick red yarn, and seemingly woven to fit the girls precisely. Black chains with square links held these amazing garments at the waist. At the neck, a black strap decorated with metal secured the nets. Black bracelets held the nets at the knees and wrists. Their hair was shorter, after the fashion of slaves. It was pulled back and twisted into tight knots in the back, framing the broad low foreheads in the front and emphasizing the menacing fire in their dark eyes.