The Last Odyssey (Sigma Force #15) - James Rollins Page 0,154

which both humanizes the man and offers insight into his genius (do read it). So, I won’t go into great detail here. But as the Islamic Golden Age ended, men like Da Vinci did indeed pick up the torch that was nearly snuffed out, conserving and building on the knowledge of the Islamic world. Other details about Da Vinci in this novel were also based on real events. Leonardo did lug his poor Mona Lisa from country to country. He did perform anatomical dissections to better hone his paintings and sculptures. He also was called upon and commissioned by the French king—François I—to craft a mechanical golden lion, following the sacking of Milan.

On to some specifics:

Arabian Dhow

The ship locked in ice at the beginning of the story is based on a Sambuk design. These large dhows were not only oceangoing but often exploratory. The Islamic world should be thanked for all their many contributions to navigation, mathematics, and astronomical studies. Including one very important element of this novel—

Spherical Astrolabes

Oxford University’s History of Science Museum was kind enough to permit me to use the pictures in this book of the only known example of a spherical astrolabe. The technology and use of such devices found in this novel is accurate, from the universality of these astrolabes to the rods used to “program” them to different latitudes. Even the name inscribed on their astrolabe was a bit of serendipity. I had already been writing about the Banū Mūsā brothers in this novel, and lo and behold, who had signed the astrolabe at Oxford University: someone named Mūsā. Read into that what you’d like.

Ancient Automatons

Ah, now we’re getting to the crux of my story. It seems we’re always underestimating the technology of ancient peoples. They keep surprising us, even now. I had a chance to study the Antikythera mechanism at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, a Greek device dated to the first century B.C. It was discovered aboard a shipwreck in 1901, but it would take until we were developing our own computers that the mechanism’s purpose and design became known. Most archaeologists now accept that it is the first known analog computer.

Still, the litany of amazing Greek automated designs is astounding. So much so that the Greeks incorporated them into their legends of Hephaestus and Daedalus (who some speculate could have indeed been a historical figure). But historians and archaeologists have documented countless designs of self-operating mechanisms, cunning automatons, and yes, those “Ingenious Mechanical Devices” of the Banū Mūsā brothers and Ismail al-Jazari. I could fill pages on this very subject, but luckily someone already did. I’ll refer you to the second of the two bibles listed above.

Greek Fire and Promethean Flames

Those Hellenistic pyros did invent a great war weapon known as “Greek Fire.” It terrified sailors and was critical to winning many battles. The infernal liquid was said to be ignited by water and could not be doused by it. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the recipe for making Greek Fire has been lost to antiquity. Speculations abound regarding how it was crafted.

This novel touches upon similar concoctions found in the myths and stories surrounding the sorceress Medea, who helped Jason of the Argonauts defeat all manner of fiery mechanical automatons, from Talos of Crete to the Colchis Bulls. It is said she did develop two important potions: Medea’s Oil (which possessed the secret to an unquenchable fire, a gift from Prometheus, and very much like Greek Fire) and Promethean (what I called “Promethean Blood” in the novel, which was a black potion that could grant one resistance to fire, and if consumed, the ability to ward off arrows and spears). It made me wonder: If Greek Fire was historical—and very much like Medea’s Oil—could Promethean Blood be real, too?

Tartarus/Tartessos/Tarshish

The section in the novel relating to the myths and historical history of the three abovementioned cities is as accurate as I could make it. The Greek historian Strabo also believed that Homer’s Tartarus and the rich Spanish city of Tartessos were the same place. And later others believed the biblical city of Tarshish was just a new spelling of that same mysterious metropolis. Even the speculation about all three cities being home to an advanced civilization was not born of my own imagination, but instead, based on more scholarly (and controversial) research.

Tectonic Plates

The map of tectonic plates used in this novel is accurate. What I found again to be a bit of serendipity was how many of Strabo’s theories regarding the