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c.700 BC |
Battle of al-Arish: One of the most destructive battles of the ancient world, ‘when the pharaoh drove back the Assyrian army from Egyptian soil’. During this battle Bart (working for the Egyptians) killed a great many Utukku, and gained their undying hatred. Afterwards, at the site of the battle, ‘for two square miles around the sand clogged red’. |
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c.680s BC |
Nineveh, Assyria: Bart is sent here by Babylonian magicians to slip arsenic in Sennacherib’s food, only to be spotted by Faquarl who is working for the king. Bart and Faquarl have the ‘mother of all food-fights’ until Bart fells Faquarl with a ham bone and escapes. Their relationship goes rapidly downhill from here. |
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c.600 BC |
Media: Around this time Bart works for the Median Magi, the first magicians to start the (afterwards typical) solitary master-apprentice structure. |
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?550 – 330 BC |
Persepolis, Persia: Bartimaeus works for the Persians during this period, probably under the by-name Sakhr al-Jinni. He perhaps witnesses the destruction of Persepolis in the 480s by the entity Nouda the Terrible. |
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440 BC |
Athens, Greece: the magician Phidias builds the Parthenon with the help of the marid, Atlas. Bart does not specifically state he was there, but he seems to know a fair bit about it. |
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c. 220 BC |
Syracuse, Sicily: Around now, Bart allegedly meets and gives helpful advice to Archimedes. |
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200s BC |
Rome/Carthage: Bart meets the afrit Naeryan during the Scipio campaigns. |
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126 BC |
Egypt, Alexandria. Bartimaeus meets Ptolemy.
Bartimaeus, now known by his Egyptian byname, ‘Rekhyt’, is employed by the magician Ptolemy and quickly becomes his friend.
For two brief years Ptolemy devotes himself to understanding spirits. He sends Bart and his other djinn – Affa, Penrenutet and Teti – out to help the ordinary people with their problems. Ptolemy becomes popular, and arouses the resentment of his cousin, the Egyptian king. |
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125 BC |
Assassins make an attempt on Ptolemy’s life. Bartimaeus kills them. |
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124 BC |
Ptolemy sends Bart to fight against Barbary pirates and desert raiders. He fights against the jackal-headed djinni Jabor, and takes part in the Battle of the Cataracts. Afterwards, Ptolemy gives Bartimaeus a week off – his first experience of pure free will on Earth. Ptolemy visits the Other Place and is seriously weakened. Later that year Ptolemy is assassinated by Roman magicians. Affa, Penrenutet and Teti are also killed. Bartimaeus survives. |
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0 |
Rome: Around this time, Bart befriends Julia, a Vestal Virgin, with
whom he watches chariot races at the Circus Maximus. He meets the afrit Naeryan again. |
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AD 300s - 800s |
Yucatan Peninsula, Central America: The Mayan civilisation reaches its height during this period. At some time during these centuries Bart becomes active in Yucatan, often employing his ‘winged serpent with silver feathers’ guise. |
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400s? |
Tollan, Central America: The Toltec civilisation is at its height. Bartimaeus possibly fights the entity Tlaloc of Tollan around this time. |
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440s |
Syria: Hairy ascetics, known as stylites, spend years perched atop pillars as acts of extreme spiritual devotion. To prove their faith they summon djinn to beguile them with temptations. Bartimaeus doesn’t bother with temptations, but tickles them until they fall off. |
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475 |
Fall of Rome: The last Western Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, falls to revolution among the people and barbarian invasion. Bart apparently hides in the catacombs below Rome during the invasion, but is spotted by two foliots who pass on the news to Faquarl. |
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500s |
Bart spends much of the 6th Century AD in an old sesame-oil jar, corked with wax, bobbing in the Red Sea. Why is not known. An old fisherman rescues him, with sadly fatal results. |
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610-641 |
Byzantium. Reign of the magician-Emperor Heraclius in Constantinople. Bart is in his employment for a time. |
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800 |
Baghdad: With the reign of the great caliph-magician Haroun al-Rashid, the Arab Empire is at its peak. Baghdad is the greatest city in the world and remains so for more than 100 years. Bartimaeus is employed by splendid Arab magicians in Baghdad and Basra during this period. He witnesses wonders and tragedies, including the love story of Asmoral and Ianna, and performs many feats, such as hunting for Rocs’ eggs, and building palaces on clouds or underwater. |
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850s? |
Around this time Bartimaeus is employed by the formidable magician Zarbustibal of Yemen, who is ‘renowned about the Red Sea for his hook nose and protruding warts’. |
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1173 |
Pisa, Italy: Construction begins on the Tower of Pisa. Bart claims to have been consulted about the building work, but his advice isn’t taken. |
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c.1200 |
North America: Around this time, Bartimaeus’s contact with northern native Americans begins, and continues off and on for several hundred years. It appears to be one of his happier associations, and he enjoys the freedom of the wilderness. At some point he speaks with Hiawatha, though the date is unknown. He is particularly linked to the Algonquin peoples (to whom he is known as Wakonda) and the Iroquois, and frequently adopts the guise of a sinister Crow-man, to awe the people of the plains. |
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