Ivan Yefremov - Thais of Athens

Leontiscus burst out laughing. Thais bit her lip with concern, then suddenly laughed herself, certain for some reason that Eris’ adventures would end well.

They caught up with the escapee only two parsangs from their destination. Thais saw her from a distance, running down a low ridge leading into the wide valley of a Euphrates tributary. Eris’ only clothing, a white knee-length chiton, fluttered in the wind, and her head, wrapped with black fabric, was held high. The black priestess rocked smoothly as she ran. It was obvious she knew the means of even, lengthy running. Thais felt sorry that she hadn’t seen her run at night under the late moon, akin to the fearless goddess, Artemis. Yet again, the hetaera felt slightly superstitious with respect to her new servant.

Thais and Leontiscus quickly caught up with Eris and ordered her to ride Boanergos. During the night and half a day, Eris had covered nearly fourteen parsangs. Strangely, yesterday’s wounds had closed and were almost unnoticeable. She took a four hour break under a tamarix bush while she waited for the riders to catch up with her, but did not appear to be weary. Only her worn sandals showed the signs of her long journey.

Thais was so happy to see her that she hugged the black priestess, who did not respond to the gesture.

The boats waited for the riders at a designated spot. “These are not boats. They are ships,” Thais thought. “Awkward, flat-bottomed structures.”

Twelve horses could fit easily into the biggest boat. Leontiscus decided to take his horses with him as well as his entourage, also with horses. The lokhagos and the remaining horses rode along the river bank, much to the joy of the stern captain, who was tired of watching over the wounded. Light tents for Thais and Leontiscus were set up at the stern platform of the head boat.

“Could we set up your goddess of discourse somewhere away?” Leontiscus asked playfully, putting his arm around the Athenian’s waist as they watched her horses being loaded up.

“No. She won’t go to the bow with stablemen and helmsmen.”

“And what if I want to kiss you? Will she kill me?”

“Not if you don’t get caught,” Thais advised.

For three days the boats sailed along the river banks seeing nothing but sprawling gardens. But the gardens of Babylon itself dazzled even the most experienced veterans. The trees grew on the roofs of entire districts as well as on streets and squares set far above the river. These were the famous hanging gardens of Semiramis.

Leontiscus ordered the men to dock and unload at a merchant pier outside of the five rows of city walls. The horses were tired of standing in the boats and struck out with their hooves impatiently, demanding a ride. The Athenian and the Thessalian had to ride almost a full parsang before their horses were calm enough to walk along the crowded streets.

They took the Acadian road into the city, through the double gates of Ishtar. The hetaera saw this as a lucky omen. Its towers were covered with dark blue mosaic tiles, decorated by yellow and white tiled images of dragons and long-legged wild bulls. The straight Road of Processions was fifteen elbows wide and tiled in white and red. The road led to Esagila, the former sacred inner city with the enormous temple of Marduk, the chief Babylonian god. Presently, the temple was obscured from Thais’ sight by the giant Etemenanki tower, which had been damaged by time but was still famous through the entire Ecumene. It consisted of seven levels of different colors and was crowned with a small, bright blue temple. The Etimenanki tower dominated the entire city as if it reminded every citizen that the sleepless eye of the god was watching him or her from two hundred elbows above them.

To the right of the tower was a vast palace, unoccupied and crumbling. Further beyond the walls was a second palace, and to the left they could see smaller gardens of Semiramis atop tall arches, built in steps, as was almost every other structure in Babylon.

Such a large quantity of greenery this far away from the river was surprising. A deep canal flowed near the south wall of the palace, but thousands and thousands of slaves were required to water the elevated gardens of the old city. This was similar to Egypt, except those ancient gardens had long since perished under the sand. Only the large and wealthy temples that owned multitudes of slaves still had large gardens at the heights above the flood line. The rest of the greenery of the Egyptian cities grew in valleys level with the Nile. Here, in Babylon, the old rules were still in action, possibly due to the tight concentration of the city. In any case, the Etemenanki tower made a much greater impression upon the hetaera than did the gardens of the legendary queen.

The messenger who had been dispatched ahead returned on his sweat-darkened horse with the news that Ptolemy departed for Susa, while the chief officers settled in the palaces of the Old City. Leontiscus was pleased. Thais promised him she would set up a small symposium to celebrate the end of the long journey.

The Road of Processions filled with Thessalians eager to greet their chief. Surrounded by all these people, Thais and Leontiscus rode on, passing a large blue wall decorated with glazed reliefs of lions with white and red manes. They crossed several bustling streets and, turning right through the sacred city, found themselves on the bank of the Euphrates once again.

A bridge connected the eastern portion of Babylon, which was called the Old City, with its western portion, the New City. This area contained fewer temples, inner walls and reinforcements, but more greenery. As they made their way along, Thais discovered a wonderful little house in the northern part of the New City, nestled between the gates of Lugalgira and the river, and settled in.

Thais was struck, as she was in many Asian cities, by the abrupt transition from noisy, dirty streets tormented by heat and buzzing flies, to the calm coolness of shady garden yards with canals of running water behind thick walls.

Eris arrived shortly after with her possessions, followed by Za-Asht. Thais quickly found a good stableman, in addition to the gardener who already lived at the house, and a slave woman who could cook dishes to suit Helenian taste.

In the evening she danced for her Thessalians at the improvised symposium. Rumors about the famous Athenian hetaera arriving in Babylon had spread as fast as lightning, and as a result, the house near Lugalgira was surrounded by the curious. It was as if there were no war going on, and as if the victorious army from another country were not occupying the city. Leontiscus had to send soldiers to guard the gates from the annoying Babylonians.

Stories about the military might of Macedonians and the invincibility of the divine Alexander spread further and further. Cities showed their obedience by surrendering without battle and handing all keys to Alexander’s messengers. This occurred in Susa, where Ptolemy had gone, and even Ecbatana, a distant summer residence of Persian kings located far in the north. It contained one of the main treasuries.

Despite the fact that it was autumn, heat was brought to Babylon by winds from the limitless plains of Persia and the rocky plateaus of Syria, Elam and the Red Sea deserts. Nights were suffocating with stuffy humidity. But that wasn’t what Thais found exhausting. It was the silent and relentless struggle between her servants that wore her down. She always wished for peace and calm in her household. It was just as well that the Finikian was desperately afraid of the “sorceress” and didn’t dare openly express her jealousy.

Eventually the slave girls divided their duties. Much to Za-Asht’s delight, Eris let her have the personal care of Thais so that she could take on the management of the house and the horses, as well as the mistress’ protection. Despite Thais’ protestations, she considered the latter her primary obligation.