Sophia’s Visions, Part 20. The 3rd-century crisis: Shapur captures the emperor Valerian, Zenobia of Palmyra takes Egypt, and Aurelian’s war destroys the quarter of the Library. A C1 English lesson on causatives, with a gamebook.
Alexandria · the 754th year since the founding of Rome · 1 CE
Sophia’s Visions, Part 20 · Causatives: have something done, get someone to do, make, let · C1
Think first. What would be lost if every library in your country burned tomorrow? What would survive, and where?
While you read, notice how rulers rarely do things themselves: they have things done, and make others do them.
Philo: “That day Sophia walked through the whole Library, room by room, as if she were saying goodbye. I did not understand why. Read it.”
A caravan from Palmyra had arrived in the city, with camels loaded with spices, and a merchant’s daughter called Bathzabbai had come to the Library to see the famous rooms. She was perhaps fifteen, with dark, bold eyes, and she asked more questions than Demetria.
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