Standing in History: Imagining Famous Events at Their Exact Locations

I call it “exactly at this location,” which involves standing in a place where a major event has happened, going back in time, and imagining you are exactly where a famous event occurred or a character stood. For many of us, the sensation of going back—let’s say, to your childhood home—and standing exactly where you stood decades, or even half a century ago, reflecting on how you felt then and what you saw, and how you feel now, is an interesting and sometimes beautiful or sad experience. Since I love ancient history (which should be quite obvious given my books), I often wonder about these moments as I write my novels. The list below reflects my own interests that show up in my works, along with which of my novels feature events around this. I have provided links to Google Maps of the hypothesized locations, but remember, we don’t know the exact spots for any of them.

In no particular order, here are some of my favorites:

Alexander’s final step before returning from Hyphasis in India:

There must be a specific place, somewhere in the modern state of Punjab near the river Beas, where Alexander the Great stood and looked wistfully to the east, towards what he thought was the Ganges, beyond which reigned the “king of the Indians” (which would be Dhana Nanda at the time), before turning back one last time. What’s there today? The areas are mostly dotted with little villages and farm fields, not very different from how Arrian describes it as it was about two thousand three hundred years ago! Perhaps today, a farmer walking in his field, or a tea shop, or maybe a hotel may be on the exact spot where Alexander stood and turned his back from India one last time. But sometimes, I look down on the map of the region and wonder—perhaps where a row of homes stands today was once the campsite of the great conqueror’s army, complete with tents, fluttering flags, horses, siege weaponry, and men lying down or walking around tired and no longer ready to march any further.

Google Maps

(featured in: The Atlantis Papyrus, the first book in the Whispers of Atlantis anthology)

Cleopatra’s final place of embarkation in Actium:

Today, Actium is an active harbor, and there’s even a marina called “Cleopatra Marina.” But about two thousand and fifty odd years ago, in 31 B.C., Cleopatra was there in miserable conditions, supporting Mark Antony with her army, facing Octavian (later Caesar Augustus). One who might wander there or drive down the E592 to cross over perhaps would be on the exact spot where she once stood, waiting for Antonia (it probably had an Egyptian name, we don’t know), her ship, to take her to battle and Egypt. What might she have been thinking? Was it warm and humid? Raining? And when she turned to her left, could she see the masts of her enemies’ ships? Did she foresee what might happen? As we look down at the site, we can imagine a vast Roman camp, with both Roman and Eastern forces, and the water side dotted with the navy. In just a few hours after her final steps off Actium, the events that unfolded would bring to an end the three thousand years of Pharaonic rule.

(featured in: Empress, the final book in the Last Pharaoh trilogy)

Google Maps

Spartacus’s final stand:

Somewhere in the upper Silarus River, today called the Sele, is where Spartacus made his last stand, fighting Marcus Crassus’s disciplined army. Today, most of those areas are farms, little towns, and roads. A farmer walking his fields, or perhaps a motorist lost in their music, or a pizza shop owner chatting with friends, might be on the exact spot where Spartacus once knelt, fighting off the centurions, unyielding until the very end. That would have been where the desperate slave army fought bravely, many finally facing the grim end of crucifixion. Their lives are long gone, buried, forgotten.

(featured in: Savior - The Spartacus Rebellion trilogy)

Google Maps

Ashoka’s moment of change:

Of the various emperors in history, I find this king’s change among the most fascinating. He is an example of a powerful emperor who decided that he would no longer indulge in unnecessary violence. Somewhere in the modern state of Odisha, which once harbored a kingdom called Kalinga, he stood near possibly a hillock, looking at the devastation he wrought. All the dead, dying, rotting corpses, enslaved people, and he decided this was wrong. Today, someone walking that path would not realize that they are on the very spot where this emperor, nearly 2300 years ago, stood, surveying the devastation he caused, with his army behind him. What did he see? What was he thinking? Was it in the bright light of the sun, or the darkness of night, with oil-lit lamps and lamentation all around? It was Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism that spread it far and wide, from Afghanistan in the west to Sri Lanka in the South East.

Google Maps

(While not featured in any of my novels yet, Ashoka’s grandfather is a key figure in my book, Maurya, part of the Whispers of Atlantis anthology)

The last soldier’s view in Cambyses’ lost army:

Writing sometime in the mid 400s B.C., Herodotus tells us that Persian Emperor Cambyses, sometime in 525 B.C., angry at the slight by the priests of Ammon (modern day Siwa oasis in Egypt), sent an army of fifty thousand into the stark desert from today’s Luxor, and they were lost in the desert in a storm. Now, we don’t know with certainty that this happened. But let’s say it did. Perhaps a desert caravan, a remote drone, or an intrepid desert trek group in the Great Sand Sea could be on that exact spot, where once a tired, terrified, thirsty, and desperate army—or whatever was left of it—watched in horror at the gigantic sandstorm hurtling toward them. Perhaps they’re all still there, buried beneath feet of sand, waiting to be found, maybe by chance or through advanced ground penetration radar. This event is a backdrop to The Curse of Ammon, and you can read it as a standalone if it interests you!

(featured in: The Curse of Ammon, based on the Lost Army of Cambyses)

Google Maps

Nefertiti’s last gaze at her sculptor’s work:

Most of you are probably aware of the famous Nefertiti bust, now in the Berlin museum, so lifelike and magnificent, and just over three thousand five hundred years old! It was found in the ruins of Amarna (then called Akhetaten), the capital of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, in the workshop of a royal sculptor named Thutmose, abandoned sometime either during or after her lifetime. I’d like to think that if you were to walk to that spot today, you’d be standing where she once stood, perhaps looking at her sculptor’s work, maybe admiring it or offering some advice or feedback. Then she would have looked at it one last time before stepping out. Was she there one final time in the morning? Or was it afternoon and hot and sunny? Was she in a good mood or worried? What might have been the situation then? Was there trouble brewing? Had she already decided to leave Amarna and return to Thebes? And why did the sculptor simply leave that magnificent work behind? Oh, the answers we’ll never get!

(featured in: The Crimson Aten, set in the final year of Akhenaten’s rule)

Google Maps

So, those were some of my favorites. I have many more that I ponder, but this will suffice for now.