This chapter is a novel in content although not in length. It could easily have been expanded. In the unnumbered opening section, Aliyat makes her first appearance when she surreptitiously asks the caravan master, Nebozabad, for help. She reminds him that he has known her family all his life and he then recalls more than thirty years of experiences although the ensuing extended flashback is narrated from her point of view, not from his.
Sections I-14 are a flashback, recapitulating Aliyat's life until her flight from the city immediately before her appeal to Nebozabad. Sections 15-16 recount her successful escape with his help. Aliyat and her family had done their best to conceal or play down her unprecedented youthfulness and longevity. After she had been widowed, her son, now himself a grandfather, arranged for her second marriage to a merchant who subsequently adopted the religion of the Muslim conquerors. He took a second wife and concubines and arranged to catch his embarrassingly young older wife in adultery so that he could rid himself of her while keeping her property. A skilled survivor, Aliyat escapes. She will go out into the world and will eventually meet other immortals. Another building block has been added to the history of the Survivors. Maybe one of the gods goes with Aliyat?
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Even as a high price, top quality courtesan Aliyat has chosen a very dangerous means of survival. And that would be even more true in any countries ruled by Islam, where women have so few rights recognized in custom and Sharia law. Which would be why Aliyat moved to the unconquered parts of the Eastern Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
Apologists for Islam like to claim that Islam was a step up for women's rights. Since Anderson usually gets things right on subjects I know something about, I regarded Aliyat's story as a point against that claim.
The story that early on Mohammed was employed as a camel caravan worker *by a woman* whom he later married, certainly implies a higher status for (some) women in pre-Muslim Arabia than after Mohammed.
Kaor, Jim!
Exactly! The more I learned about Islam the more disgust I have for it. But note: I said "Islam," not all Muslims as individuals, many of whom are decent persons. But they cannot change what Islam teaches.
I could be cynical and say Mohammed married that older woman because "money talks"! But, yes, the pre-Muslim Arabia of Mohammed's youth probably allowed a higher status than was later the case.
Ad astra! Sean
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