Ladybird
First Post
Episode 2, Chapter 8: All Dacia is Divided Into Three Parts
Fortunately, one of the best libraries in Rome is right here in the Forum. Unfortunately, it's evening right now, so the library is closed.
"I suppose we'll have to wait until morning," Edward sighs.
"Or," Yves points out, "we could time travel to when it's open."
So we do. Because really, what's the point of being time travelers if you can't use your powers to make life more convenient for yourself!
There are actually two libraries in Trajan's Forum, one for Greek texts and one for Latin. We head for the Latin one: a long rectangular building with columns around the edges of the large central room.
The librarian looks at us with slight skepticism as we walk in. "Are you all Roman citizens?"
"Oh, of course!" Michel says, in a Reassuring sort of way. "All of us. We would like to see books on Julius Caesar's wars."
"Oh, you mean the Dacian Wars!" the librarian says. "Everyone knows the story of Julius Caesar's conquest of Dacia."
Right then.
So, from 60-50 BCE: Julius Caesar intercepted the hostile Helvetii in the neutral lands of Dacia and defeated them. Afterwards, the grateful Dacians joined Rome. While Julius Caesar was there, he discovered some profitable gold and silver mines. There was one expedition farther north to Lachia, but he doesn't seem to have established any permanent outpost.
In our timeline, Julius Caesar did fight against the Helvetii, just in a different place. They'd left their lands because of famine and went west, where he intercepted them in Gaul. So why did they go east?
Edward looks around for some geography books, to see if there are any clues or anomalies there. Is the land or climate different in this timeline, so that the Helvetii were prevented from going west? He finds a guide to Roman roads, which tells him that the Empire includes all of the Iberian peninsula, but only southern Gaul. Britannia, northern Gaul, and Belgium are all "allied nations," but not part of the empire as they were in our timeline. The Empire goes a little farther east - to the Tigris/Euphrates valley -but not dramatically. The main expansion seems to be to the northeastern part of Europe.
Also, nobody thinks Gaul is profitable enough to want to conquer it. The Roman empire is much more interested in mining gold and silver, and that's found more in eastern Europe than the west. Because of that interest, their mining tech is slightly ahead of where it should be. It doesn't seem to be anachronistically enhanced; they've just spent more time improving it.
So we're starting to focus in on the source of the discrepancy: something made the Helvetii go east, and something made the Romans want to focus on mining.
Once we know what to look for, we see differences everywhere. Tacitus's monumental book about the nobility of the barbarians who haven't been conquered by Rome is called 'Gallia' in this timeline, instead of 'Germania' as it is in ours. In this timeline, it's the Gauls, not the Germans, who are seen as the archetypical unspoiled barbarians, because Gaul has had so little contact with Rome. Edward looks for books on Britannia, of course, but can't find any.
We still need to figure out how Apollonius fits in, so we head to the natural philosophy section next. "Apollonius was more likely patsy than timetraveler?" suggests Michel, as we wait for the librarians to deliver our next round of books. It sounds reasonable to the rest of us. Apollonius is clearly part of this, but is clearly not the first link in the chain.
"What about Apollonius's friend Damis?" Edward asks. "Could he be the timetraveler?" If Apollonius is just a pawn, then his mysterious student/best friend sounds like a good possibility for a timetraveler.
Damis turns out to be even more mysterious than we thought. The stories can't even agree on whether Damis was a man or a woman!
"Maybe Damis is wearing an unobtrusiveness suit?" Mace suggests. "That might be why Damis sometimes appears to be a woman and sometimes a man. Or maybe Damis was multiple people - a team of timetravelers, each taking turns being Damis."
While we're poking around in the natural-philosophy section, looking for information about Apollonius, Mace and Michel notice that the section is larger than you might expect. In particular, there are a lot copies of Lucretius's 'De Rerum Natura.'
Lucretius is a contemporary of Julius Caesar: he wrote c80-c60 BCE, and 'De Rerum Natura' is a seriously weird book. It talks about the origin of the universe, the nature of matter, the origins of life, the nature of the body and soul, etc. Most notably, though, it talks about atoms, and in a strangely accurate way. He didn't get everything right - for instance, he believed that worms spontaneously generated out of compost heaps by some kind of compost-to-worm matter conversion - but he did get a lot right about atoms. Also, according to our tethers, nobody really knows when or how Lucretius died. Some say he drank a love potion, went mad, and disappeared.
In the editions of De Rerum Natura that we find in Trajan's Library, all of the stuff that Lucretius got wrong is gone, and all of the discussion of atoms is correct, and even expanded. So there's more evidence that future knowledge is being seeded back into the first century BCE, and specifically knowledge about atomic theory.
"So what's their overall goal?" Edward wonders.
"Blowing up Mecca and Medina," Henry reminds him.
"Oh. Um. Right," says Edward
"It might be the work of some of those lunatic Crusader timetravelers," Henry suggests.
Edward gets uncomfortably quiet about the Crusades. Then Henry does, too. These two are definitely racking up the mutual awkward silences.
Meanwhile, Michel does more research. First, he looks into Julius Caesar, to see what other divergences he can find from the timeline that we know from our tethers. The main one seems to be that the war between Caesar and Pompey seems to have been shorter, because Caesar had more wealth in the east from all of those mines he conquered. But he still got assassinated, right on schedule.
Before Julius Caesar, everything seems to be the same. The Punic Wars go just as we expect them to, and so do the Greek wars. The first big difference looks like it's when Julius Caesar invades Dacia instead of Gaul.
Michel has one more idea for a way to find out what Roman history and culture are like: the Aeneid. Edward remembers that there's a long 'prophecy' - history, from Virgil's perspective, but future, from Aeneas's perspective. (We can relate to the temporal confusion.)
There are several differences in the section that Edward and Michel check. The original said that Augustus would extend the empire from East to West, but here it says 'from the frigid waters of north to the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.' Again, there's that northward focus of the empire. The original had a few references to Lucretius the Wise, but this version gives Lucretius a long monologue, and quotes extensively from De Rerum Natura. Finally, there's a difference in Virgil's career overall. In our timeline, the big work that got Virgil noticed enough to get the job writing The Aeneid was a long poem called the Georgics, about farming. In this timeline, it's a poem about mining. By Virgil's time, the Roman Empire's biggest point of pride was its mines.
So we've got several places to go. Where do we go next? To talk to Apollonius? To talk to Lucretius? To check out the mine? To see what's going on with the Helvetii?
We decide on Lucretius: he's the earliest chronologically; he's a single person who's easy to locate in geography and time; and he shows obvious changes in his work that suggest some time-traveler interference.
Next time: off to find a crazy philosopher!
Fortunately, one of the best libraries in Rome is right here in the Forum. Unfortunately, it's evening right now, so the library is closed.
"I suppose we'll have to wait until morning," Edward sighs.
"Or," Yves points out, "we could time travel to when it's open."
So we do. Because really, what's the point of being time travelers if you can't use your powers to make life more convenient for yourself!
There are actually two libraries in Trajan's Forum, one for Greek texts and one for Latin. We head for the Latin one: a long rectangular building with columns around the edges of the large central room.
The librarian looks at us with slight skepticism as we walk in. "Are you all Roman citizens?"
"Oh, of course!" Michel says, in a Reassuring sort of way. "All of us. We would like to see books on Julius Caesar's wars."
"Oh, you mean the Dacian Wars!" the librarian says. "Everyone knows the story of Julius Caesar's conquest of Dacia."
Right then.
So, from 60-50 BCE: Julius Caesar intercepted the hostile Helvetii in the neutral lands of Dacia and defeated them. Afterwards, the grateful Dacians joined Rome. While Julius Caesar was there, he discovered some profitable gold and silver mines. There was one expedition farther north to Lachia, but he doesn't seem to have established any permanent outpost.
In our timeline, Julius Caesar did fight against the Helvetii, just in a different place. They'd left their lands because of famine and went west, where he intercepted them in Gaul. So why did they go east?
Edward looks around for some geography books, to see if there are any clues or anomalies there. Is the land or climate different in this timeline, so that the Helvetii were prevented from going west? He finds a guide to Roman roads, which tells him that the Empire includes all of the Iberian peninsula, but only southern Gaul. Britannia, northern Gaul, and Belgium are all "allied nations," but not part of the empire as they were in our timeline. The Empire goes a little farther east - to the Tigris/Euphrates valley -but not dramatically. The main expansion seems to be to the northeastern part of Europe.
Also, nobody thinks Gaul is profitable enough to want to conquer it. The Roman empire is much more interested in mining gold and silver, and that's found more in eastern Europe than the west. Because of that interest, their mining tech is slightly ahead of where it should be. It doesn't seem to be anachronistically enhanced; they've just spent more time improving it.
So we're starting to focus in on the source of the discrepancy: something made the Helvetii go east, and something made the Romans want to focus on mining.
Once we know what to look for, we see differences everywhere. Tacitus's monumental book about the nobility of the barbarians who haven't been conquered by Rome is called 'Gallia' in this timeline, instead of 'Germania' as it is in ours. In this timeline, it's the Gauls, not the Germans, who are seen as the archetypical unspoiled barbarians, because Gaul has had so little contact with Rome. Edward looks for books on Britannia, of course, but can't find any.
We still need to figure out how Apollonius fits in, so we head to the natural philosophy section next. "Apollonius was more likely patsy than timetraveler?" suggests Michel, as we wait for the librarians to deliver our next round of books. It sounds reasonable to the rest of us. Apollonius is clearly part of this, but is clearly not the first link in the chain.
"What about Apollonius's friend Damis?" Edward asks. "Could he be the timetraveler?" If Apollonius is just a pawn, then his mysterious student/best friend sounds like a good possibility for a timetraveler.
Damis turns out to be even more mysterious than we thought. The stories can't even agree on whether Damis was a man or a woman!
"Maybe Damis is wearing an unobtrusiveness suit?" Mace suggests. "That might be why Damis sometimes appears to be a woman and sometimes a man. Or maybe Damis was multiple people - a team of timetravelers, each taking turns being Damis."
While we're poking around in the natural-philosophy section, looking for information about Apollonius, Mace and Michel notice that the section is larger than you might expect. In particular, there are a lot copies of Lucretius's 'De Rerum Natura.'
Lucretius is a contemporary of Julius Caesar: he wrote c80-c60 BCE, and 'De Rerum Natura' is a seriously weird book. It talks about the origin of the universe, the nature of matter, the origins of life, the nature of the body and soul, etc. Most notably, though, it talks about atoms, and in a strangely accurate way. He didn't get everything right - for instance, he believed that worms spontaneously generated out of compost heaps by some kind of compost-to-worm matter conversion - but he did get a lot right about atoms. Also, according to our tethers, nobody really knows when or how Lucretius died. Some say he drank a love potion, went mad, and disappeared.
In the editions of De Rerum Natura that we find in Trajan's Library, all of the stuff that Lucretius got wrong is gone, and all of the discussion of atoms is correct, and even expanded. So there's more evidence that future knowledge is being seeded back into the first century BCE, and specifically knowledge about atomic theory.
"So what's their overall goal?" Edward wonders.
"Blowing up Mecca and Medina," Henry reminds him.
"Oh. Um. Right," says Edward
"It might be the work of some of those lunatic Crusader timetravelers," Henry suggests.
Edward gets uncomfortably quiet about the Crusades. Then Henry does, too. These two are definitely racking up the mutual awkward silences.
Meanwhile, Michel does more research. First, he looks into Julius Caesar, to see what other divergences he can find from the timeline that we know from our tethers. The main one seems to be that the war between Caesar and Pompey seems to have been shorter, because Caesar had more wealth in the east from all of those mines he conquered. But he still got assassinated, right on schedule.
Before Julius Caesar, everything seems to be the same. The Punic Wars go just as we expect them to, and so do the Greek wars. The first big difference looks like it's when Julius Caesar invades Dacia instead of Gaul.
Michel has one more idea for a way to find out what Roman history and culture are like: the Aeneid. Edward remembers that there's a long 'prophecy' - history, from Virgil's perspective, but future, from Aeneas's perspective. (We can relate to the temporal confusion.)
There are several differences in the section that Edward and Michel check. The original said that Augustus would extend the empire from East to West, but here it says 'from the frigid waters of north to the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.' Again, there's that northward focus of the empire. The original had a few references to Lucretius the Wise, but this version gives Lucretius a long monologue, and quotes extensively from De Rerum Natura. Finally, there's a difference in Virgil's career overall. In our timeline, the big work that got Virgil noticed enough to get the job writing The Aeneid was a long poem called the Georgics, about farming. In this timeline, it's a poem about mining. By Virgil's time, the Roman Empire's biggest point of pride was its mines.
So we've got several places to go. Where do we go next? To talk to Apollonius? To talk to Lucretius? To check out the mine? To see what's going on with the Helvetii?
We decide on Lucretius: he's the earliest chronologically; he's a single person who's easy to locate in geography and time; and he shows obvious changes in his work that suggest some time-traveler interference.
Next time: off to find a crazy philosopher!