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Chapters (89)
  1. Title page
  2. Contents
  3. Map
  4. ONE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. TWO
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. THREE
  54. 48
  55. 49
  56. 50
  57. 51
  58. 52
  59. 53
  60. 54
  61. 55
  62. 56
  63. 57
  64. 58
  65. 59
  66. 60
  67. 61
  68. 62
  69. 63
  70. 64
  71. 65
  72. 66
  73. 67
  74. 68
  75. 69
  76. FOUR
  77. 70
  78. 71
  79. 72
  80. 73
  81. 74
  82. 75
  83. 76
  84. 77
  85. 78
  86. 79
  87. Afterword
  88. By Stephen Baxter
  89. Copyright

I have used the name ‘Anatolia’ for modern mainland Turkey. The ‘people of the Land of Hatti’ are the great Bronze Age kingdom we know as the Hittites (see Trevor Bryce’s The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford University Press, 2005, and his Life and Society in the Hittite World, Oxford University Press, 2002). In our timeline, by 1159 BC, the setting for my Book Two, the central Hittite empire had already collapsed. Its Anatolian heartland later became the centre of the Byzantine empire, and my fictional history reflects something of the Byzantine reality (see Judith Herrin’s Byzantium, Allen Lane, 2007). The Hittites’ ‘Constantinople’ is a rebuilt Troy – an option considered by Constantine I when he moved the capital of his empire from Rome (Herrin, Chapter 1). ‘Greater Greece’ is Italy. ‘Hantilios’ is on the site of Venice. In the Hittites’ pantheon many gods were ‘syncretised’, that is, identified as aspects of each other. Sharruma was the offspring of the Hurrian gods Teshub and Hepat, later syncretised with Hittite gods. The potato blight, which causes famine in my Hittite empire here, caused the similar and similarly terrible nineteenth-century ‘Great Hunger’ in Ireland (see Christine Kinealy’s A Death-Dealing Famine: The Great Hunger in Ireland, Pluto Press, 1997).

My ‘River City’ is the city now called Cahokia, on the flood plain of the Mississippi (the ‘Trunk’). Tiwanaku was near Lake Titicaca in the Andes highland. The ‘Altar of the Jaguar’ is the Olmec city known as San Lorenzo. A provocative recent survey of the pre-Columbian Americas is Charles Mann’s 1491 (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005).

A recent study of the life of the great sixth-century sage Pythagoras and his heritage is Kitty Ferguson’s Pythagoras, Icon Books, 2010. Pyxeas’ ‘world position oracle’ is loosely based on the Antikythera mechanism. This remarkable gadget (see Decoding the Heavens by Jo Marchant, Windmill Books, 2009, and Lucio Russo’s The Forgotten Revolution, Springer, 2004) is evidence of an advanced mechanical capability among the ancient Greeks – which, in the universe of this novel, led to a precocious development of steam engine technology. The Northlanders’ Atlantic fishing craft depicted here are based very loosely on the sturdy British design known as ‘doggers’, which in our timeline appeared a little later in the historical record, during the seventeenth century (see The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, ed. I.C.B. Dear, Oxford University Press, 2005).

This is a novel, not meant to be taken as a reliable history. Any errors or inaccuracies are of course my sole responsibility.

Stephen Baxter

Northumberland

Winter Solstice, 2011

By Stephen Baxter

Also by Stephen Baxter

NON-FICTION

Deep Future

The Science of Avatar

FICTION

Mammoth

Longtusk

Icebones

Behemoth

Reality Dust

Evolution

Flood

Ark

Xeelee: An Omnibus

Stone Spring

Bronze Summer

THE WEB

Gulliverzone

Webcrash

DESTINY’S CHILDREN

Coalescent

Exultant

Transcendent

Resplendent

A TIME ODYSSEY (with Arthur C. Clarke)

Time’s Eye

Sunstorm

Firstborn

TIME’S TAPESTRY

Emperor

Conqueror

Navigator

Weaver

Copyright