The inspiration for this scene is the Alexander Mosaic, found in one of the houses at Pompeii.
“Alexander” (Alexandros, technically Ἀλέξανδρος in the original Greek) means something along the lines of “protector of men“, ironic for a dude who killed a whole bunch of people — including one of his generals and his chronicler — and reputedly burned down a city on a drunken dare…
Conversely, Cassandros (Κάσσανδρος; masculine form of Cassandra, as in the Trojan Princess) means either “the one who shines on men” or “the one who ensnares/entangles/destroys men”, depending on how exactly the Cass- element is parsed.
In this context, I’m leaning towards “destroyer” as a good name for an ambitious conqueror, but I mostly went with a name that resembles Alexander for a character who resembles Alexander.
With Annie as her guide and, as ever, clutching Count Bunnyescu close, Sally Lyte is touring the Museum run by the University of Porthaven’s Department of Archaeology.
They stop in front of a large mosaic that takes up most of a wall.
“And this,” Annie tells Sally, “is the Cassandros Mosaic, recovered from the ancient city of Beneffectum, which was founded by the Elven aristocrat Lucius Myopicus Maximus, who built the city at the foot of Mount Praesagium and famously declared ‘I have a good feeling about this.’ Of course, Mount Praesagium turned out to be a volcano an then it erupted and buried the city…”
Sally stares thoughtfully up at the mosaic, depicting a vivid battle scene, albeit one with missing large chunks of the image.
“Count Bunnyescu would like to know why most of it is missing,” he declares.
“Well,” Annie answers. “The mosaic is more than a thousand years old. And there was the whole volcano issue. But, look, you can still see all the important bits.”
She points.
“There’s Cassandros the Conqueror, riding his favourite horse Anax and leading his Companions into battle. See, his favourite strategy was to personally lead a charge right at the enemy general to win the battle as quickly as possible.”
“Uh huh, uh huh,” Sally says, nodding along.
“Most scholars think the Mosaic depicts the battle of the Fords of Nahara,” Annie explains. “This is a few years after Cassandros had finished unifying Archipelago, when he launched his invasion of the continent Laodike. The Nahara was the river that was border King Aram’s territory.”
She points to the opposite side of the Mosaic from Cassandros.
“That’s King Aram, in the chariot,” she notes. He fought three battles trying to stop Cassandros’ invasion, but he was defeated every time. Cassandros conquered the kingdom and King Aram was forced into exile. But Cassandros respected him so much that the histories say he cried when he got news that King Aram had died.”
“Uh huh, uh huh,” Sally says, nodding along.
“And, well, Cassandros pretty much just kept conquering and conquering,” Annie explains. “We wanted to get all the way to the eastern ocean.”
“Did he?” Sally says.
“Well, no,” Annie answers. “By then, his army had been away from Archipelago for ten years. They were getting tired and homesick, and Cassandros was turning into more and more of a tyrant. And then he died.”
“Well,” Sally says. “That’s pretty sad.”
Annie nods. “It is. But by the time he died, Cassandros had established the largest empire in history by that point.”
“Bah!” a voice declares indignantly. “Impressive though he was, he was but a rank amateur compared to the glorious and mighty conquerors of Hrimfaxi that was of old — the peerless likes of Egil Eagle-Eye and Helgi Hammerface and Baldur Bald-Head!”
“Hi, Professor Styrbjorn,” Annie says. “Have you come to visit the Museum?”
“Just passing through, actually, my dear Miss Annie,” Professor Styrbjorn says, in unexpectedly mild manner following his bombastic introduction. “Mid-terms are fast approaching, and I needs must sharpen my axe.”
I had trouble finding names that were either in Old Persian or not already the names of Persian monarchs, so “Aram” is actually Aramaic, rather than Persian. Though Aramaic was the common language of the Achaemenid Empire. It also means something like “lofty” or “exalted”, so it’s a good name for a king.
And Professor Styrbjorn, as you’ll recall, is the Professor of Hrimfaxi History, known for chasing after his students with a traditional Hrimfaxi axe.
The recap of Week 2 is forthcoming.
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