Expanded Summary
Prime Directive: An Epic Novel of the Rise of Alexander the Great (Book One of the Ptolemaios Saga) is set in ancient Macedonia, during the period 343 to 334 B.C.E. It covers the reign of Philip II and the rise to power of his son, Alexander. Part time travelogue, part military debriefing, part love story, part alternative history, part murder mystery, and part personal memoir, it is historical fiction at its most colorful, witty, engaging, entertaining best. Through fully realized portraits of such historical figures as Philip, Alexander, Olympias, Ptolemy, the two Cleopatras, Demosthenes, Aristotle, Darius, Parmenio, Antipater, Attalus, Demades, Aeschines, and many others, this lively account, written from the viewpoint of someone who was there, brings to life the daily exertions, ambitions, loves, and jealousies of an extraordinary group of people destined to play pivotal roles at the dawn of Hellenism.
Ptolemaios Metoikos (Ptolemy Soter) serves as our travel guide as we visit ancient Macedonia and experience the day-to-day exploits of a remarkable cast of characters, who found themselves at the center of the epic contest between Greeks and Persians that would determine the course of Western civilization over the next two millennia. We partake of heady wine, bawdy humor, and lethal political intrigue at symposia hosted by such luminaries as King Philip in Pella and the orator Demosthenes in Athens; secretly observe a group of euphoric, semi-naked, ecstatic celebrants disporting themselves, under the tutelage of Queen Olympias, at a Dionysia held in the dead of night deep in the highlands of ancient Macedonia; join young Alexander and his friends as they stroll with, and learn from, the great philosopher Aristotle, at the most exclusive boarding school in Greece; fight on the front lines of the battle at Chaeronea that changed the history of Greece; take part in the wedding celebrations of Cleopatra, the daughter of Philip and Olympias, after which nothing would ever be the same; grow up with their son, Alexander, as he becomes the greatest military leader the world has ever known; follow the mercurial progress of Ptolemaios himself, as he arrives, survives, and eventually thrives in the rough-and-tumble world of a nascent empire; and witness the myriad scenes, some quotidian and others momentous, that serve as the colorful, multifaceted, luminous tiles comprising the shimmering mosaic of this thrilling, vital, exuberant era.
The intriguing twist is that the narrator is a time traveler, who arrives for a short, discrete, scholarly visit, and ends up staying longer than intended. As a result, he finds himself in position to unravel the mystery of Philip’s assassination; to plumb the depths of Alexander’s character, in the days before anyone thought him Great; to romp, frolic, and fight with the coterie of young men who would become Alexander’s generals and eventual successors; and perhaps inadvertently to change the course of human history. Ptolemaios Metoikos, as the narrator, brings to bear a modern sensibility to understanding the motivations, belief systems, and aspirations of people who lived a long time ago, in a very different milieu, but whose yearnings, passions, and foibles might not be all that much different from our own. Brimming with telling details, page-turning adventures, larger-than-life personalities, sanguinary battles, meretricious sex, and the full panoply of human drama, this vivid, engrossing novel puts the reader squarely amidst the heroic age of classical Greece, the echoes of which continue to reverberate to this day. A beautifully rendered, thought-provoking, and informative portrayal of a vibrant age and culture, at once alien and so much like our own.