Guardian of the Flame
Facts and Fiction

Thank you for reading Guardian of the Flame!  I hope you found the story entertaining, inspiring, and a little bit educational along the way.  You may be wondering how much of the story was fictional, and how much was based on actual historical facts.

Of course, the characters of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra were real figures, whose interaction with each other and with their countries of Rome and Egypt is well-documented. I attempted to remain as close as possible to what we know of both of these people, and of their relationship. Their specific conversations throughout the book are, of course, part of my fiction. But they did indeed form a relationship that was both political and personal, and even had a child together, whom Cleopatra hoped would rule in both Egypt and Rome. Caesar was assassinated in Rome in 44 BC, about four years after the final pages of Guardian of the Flame, and Cleopatra went on to form another famous alliance with Marc Antony, before the two took their own lives in 30 BC, rather than fall under the domination of Octavian (later called Caesar Augustus).

Much of the history of the Roman occupation of Alexandria in the novel is based on actual historical facts, and taken from Caesar’s own writings, The Alexandrian Wars.  It was great fun for me to have this primary source, the very words of one of my characters, to guide me in recreating the water blockage, the harbor fire, the burning of the Library’s scrolls, the battle involving the Thirty-Seventh Legion, and the occupation of the Lighthouse.

I also based the Proginosko mechanism on a real piece of machinery found off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera, and thus named the Antikythera Mechanism. Billed as the “world’s first computer,” this mechanism was lost at sea in the first century BC.  If you’d like to read more about this fascinating find, you can discover lots of information here:  The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project

I also based Sosigenes on a real figure by the same name, the scholar who devised the Julian Calendar for Julius Caesar about two years after the end of Guardian of the Flame. This calendar drastically improved the drift of days that had been occurring up until that time. It remained in use worldwide until the 1500s when it was replaced by the slightly-different Gregorian Calendar, which we use today.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, stood well into the 1300s.  I have included more detailed information about the Lighthouse below.

 And finally, though I wish it weren’t so, the characters of Bellus and Sophia originated solely in my imagination, where they are still alive and well today.

History of the Lighthouse of Alexandria
from Wikipedia

The Lighthouse of Alexandria (or The Pharos of Alexandria was a tower built in the 3rd century BC (between 285 and 247 BC) on the island of Pharos in Alexandria, Egypt to serve as that port's landmark, and later, its lighthouse. With a height variously estimated at between 115 and 135 m (380 and 440 ft) it was identified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Antipater of Sidon. It may have been the third tallest building after the two Great Pyramids (of Khufu and Khafra) for its entire life.

Pharos was a small island just off the coast of Alexandria. It was linked to the mainland by a man-made connection named the Heptastadion, which thus formed one side of the city's harbor. As the Egyptian coast is very flat and lacking in the kind of landmark used at the time for navigation, a marker of some sort at the mouth of the harbor was deemed necessary — a function the Pharos was initially designed to serve.

Constructed from large blocks of light-colored stone, the tower was made up of three stages: a lower square section with a central core, a middle octagonal section, and, at the top, a circular section. At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight during the day; a fire was lit at night. Extant Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint show that a statue of a triton was positioned on each of the building's four corners. A statue of Poseidon stood atop the tower during the Roman period.

The two earthquakes in 1303 and 1323 damaged the lighthouse to the extent that the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta reported no longer being able to enter the ruin. Even the stubby remnant disappeared in 1480, when the then-Sultan of Egypt, Qaitbay, built a medieval fort on the former location of the building using some of the fallen stone. The remnants of the Pharos that were incorporated into the walls of Fort Qaitbay are clearly visible due to their excessive size in comparison to surrounding masonry.

The lighthouse was badly damaged in the earthquake of 956, then again in 1303 and 1323. Fort Qaitbey was built on the site of the Pharos in the 15th century, using some of its fallen masonry.

~To read about Tracy's Travels in Egypt, and see photos, click here.