Zenon  Chief Astronomer and not accountable

Nicanor  Head of Legal Studies, honest (honestly!)

Aeacidas  a self-assured tragedian, as good as anyone

Pastous  a library assistant, closely taking stock

Chaereas and Chaeteas  zoo and autopsy assistants, good family folk

Sobek  a Nile crocodile, hungry for action

Nibytas  an obsessive old reader and book-lover

Heras, son of Hermias  a Sophist scholar, none too wise

Students  as you would expect

Aedemon  an empirical physician (purges and laxatives)

Heron  a deus ex machina, earthly god of machines

Colourful Alexandrian characters

Roxana  an admired young woman, with poor sight

Psaesis  a litter-bearer (deserves a raise)

Katutis  in the gutter, gazing at the stars

Petosiris  an undertaker (knows where the bodies are)

Itchy and Snuffly  his helpers (stitching people up)

Diogenes  an ambitious man of commerce

A box-maker  his sidekick

Also

The legendary catoblepas  not appearing, but deserves a mention

The gnu  pure nostalgia

EGYPT: SPRING AD77

I

They say you can see the Lighthouse from thirty miles away. Not in the day, you can’t. Still, it kept the youngsters quiet, precariously balancing on the ship’s rail while they looked for it. When travelling with children, always keep a little game in hand for those last troublesome moments at the end of a long journey.