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Athens, 1929. Stefanos Kantartzis is found murdered, and Michael Igerinos, his best friend of 30 years, is being questioned by the police as the last person to see him alive. While looking at his dead friend's body, Michael is immediately taken back to the late summer of 1900 when he and Stefanos first met in the crammed Sorbonne University lecture hall. The story of their friendship begins during the Second International Congress of Mathematics-an event that was to become a landmark for 20th century mathematical research.At the root of this historically based work of fiction lies the question as to whether the solution to a mathematical problem could inspire such passion, so intense and perilous, as to drive someone to murder.The story takes the reader behind the scenes of academia, into the world of Bertrand Russell, Hilbert, Poincare, and Goedel, and through the streets of Bohemian Paris at the heyday of Montmartre, the Moulin Rouge, and the "Zut"-the infamous hangout of Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Max Jacob, and many other colorful characters.Pythagorean Crimes follows in the tradition of popular mathematical fiction like Doxiadis' Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture and Martinez' Oxford Murders. Yet brings with it old-world charm and the cultural richness of the social, political, scientific and intellectual circles of early 20th century France, Germany, and Greece.

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Historical fiction

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Publié par	Parmenides Publishing
Date de parution	20 octobre 2008
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781930972551
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0661€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Pythagorean Crimes

Pythagorean Crimes

Tefcros Michaelides

Las Vegas • Zurich • Athens
PARMENIDES FICTION™
Las Vegas | Athens | Zurich
English Translation Copyright © 2008 Parmenides Publishing
All rights reserved.
Originally published as Pythagoreia Enklemata
Copyright © 2006 by POLIS Publishers and Tefcros Michaelides
Translated from the Greek by Lena Cavanagh
Edited by Jennifer Morgan
ISBN hard cover: 978-1-930972-26-1
ISBN soft cover: 978-1-930972-27-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Michaelides, Teukros, 1954-
[Pythagoreia enklemata. English]
Pythagorean crimes / Tefcros Michaelides ;
translated from the Greek by Lena Cavanagh.
p. cm.
“ Pythagoreia Enklemata © 2006 by POLIS Publishers and Tefcros Michaelides”
ISBN 978-1-930972-26-1 (hard cover : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-1-930972-27-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
I. Cavanagh, Lena. II. Title.
PA5638.23.I24P9813 2008
889’.34--dc22
2008027047
Typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro and OdysseaUBSU (Greek) by 1106 Design
Printed by McNaughton & Gunn in the United States of America World Atlas 1913 Europe courtesy of Historic Map Works™

Parmenides Fiction™ chose to print this title on materials with postconsumer recycled content or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. FSC materials are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations.

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Contents
Note to the Reader
Prelude
One
Two
Three
Interlude
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Postscript
Glossary
Note to the Reader
This book was originally written in Greek and published by Polis Publications in Athens, Greece in 2006. The people, places, and events are based in the late 19th and early 20th century within the rich tapestry of European culture. The characters are deeply involved in the social, political, scientific, and intellectual circles of the time, in France, Greece, and Germany.
The story begins in August of 1900, when the Olympic Games, the World’s Fair (Exposition Universelle), and the Second International Congress of Mathematics were being held in Paris. Throughout the book you will find numerous references to famous and lesser-known but important mathematicians, artists, and philosophers, to the various problems and solutions that dominated their discussions, and to the colorful and vibrant settings of Montmartre, the Moulin Rouge, and the infamous “Zut,” among many others.
The publisher has provided an extensive glossary of terms with descriptions and explanations of names, locations, expressions and historic events that occur. This glossary was not part of the original Greek novel and is an exclusive feature of this English edition. Its purpose is to make the book both enjoyable and educational, with the hope of inspiring further interest in the many themes and subjects it explores.
We would like to thank Lena Cavanagh for her superb translation from the Greek, and also the editor, Jennifer Morgan, for her valuable insight and suggestions. Finally, we’d like to extend a special note of appreciation to Mark Ryan, whose mathematical expertise and devout attention to detail contributed substantially during the final stages of the book. If any errors remain, he is certainly not at fault.
Prelude

Violet vine, pink and purple wisteria, honeysuckle, and trailing ivy—all were preparing to greet her. Anemones, daisies, chamomile, and poppies laid a thick colorful carpet for her to tread on. Flies, bees, butterflies, and ladybugs wove her ethereal robe. All nature wore its finery to welcome Persephone back to Earth.
Down by the sea, Hippasus celebrated too. His long term of study at the school of Pythagoras had come to an end. He had passed all the tests—even the unbearable trial of silence, the most demanding—and he had been found worthy to be accepted as an equal member in the brotherhood of initiates. Sitting on the sand with a stick in his hand, he now attempted out in the open to do what had been forbidden to him for all those years while he was still an acousmatic: he tried to solve a geometrical problem of his own.
It had troubled his thoughts for a long time, haunting his dreams, keeping him awake at night. He had tried many times, in secret, to scratch some diagrams in the ground to make his problem more tangible. But he always panicked and erased them as soon as he heard footsteps. The rule was clear: No student was allowed to practice geometry by himself. Punishment for those breaking the rule was unconditional— permanent exclusion.
But now everything was different. He was a mathematician, and he had a duty to search for and reveal truths for submission to the judgment of the brotherhood. If his discoveries were approved by the members, they would be added to the great corpus of Pythagorean knowledge that was ascribed collectively to the Master and kept secret under seven seals, for the exclusive use of the initiates.
Hippasus had often asked himself silently whether it was right that knowledge should be kept secret. He had heard that in Ionia, at the other end of the Greek world, things were done differently. There, anyone who thought he had discovered some truth could go down to the marketplace of Ephesus or Miletus and proclaim it out loud to the world. The philosopher defended his truth in front of the crowd, heard their objections and criticisms, and responded, and through such dialogue, knowledge and truth became the possession of anyone who was willing to learn. But whenever Hippasus considered this other method of obtaining knowledge, he became frightened by his own blasphemous thoughts and tried to turn his mind to other things.
Indeed, today his mind was occupied elsewhere. He drew a square in the sand and tried to join together various lines—connecting verticals to the diagonal, connecting them to other verticals. Every now and then he gave up and erased everything, smoothing the sand with his foot and starting anew. Something was not quite right.
As the sun set, Hippasus was still at work. Deep in thought, he didn’t hear Hermolaus approaching.
“Where were you? We missed you. I thought you would want to talk to me, now you’ve passed the trial of silence.”
Hermolaus was just above Hippasus in the Pythagorean hierarchy. He, too, had passed the tests only a few months ago and moved from the students’ quarters to the mathematicians lodgings. During the probation period, the two youths had formed a close friendship, but Hermolaus’ promotion had temporarily separated them. Now that they were equal again, Hermolaus was eager to renew their friendship.
Hippasus looked at him in a daze. “All is number,” he murmured. Hermolaus wasn’t sure if Hippasus was addressing him or the empty space. “All is number,” Hippasus repeated, looking at the other man imploringly.
“So? I know that. Thus spoke the Master!” replied Hermolaos with a touch of irony in his voice, using the customary phrase with which the Pythagoreans attributed every knowledge to their teacher.
“Therefore … ?” asked Hippasus in exasperation. He pointed to the shape he had traced in the sand.
Puzzled, Hermolaus bent down to look. Hippasus explained his drawing, while his companion listened attentively. Finally, Hermolaus understood what Hippasus was saying.
“You are right,” Hermolaus acknowledged, with fear in his voice. “But do you realize what this means? I suggest you do nothing for the time being. You must consider carefully whether or not you’re going to speak out and what you will say. Above all, don’t do anything hasty. We’ ll be late for dinner.”
“Do you know what we’re having?” asked Hippasos, more to say something than because he really cared.
“No beans, at any rate,” replied Hermolaos. They both laughed a little too forcefully.
One

I was woken up by a persistent knocking on the front door. I heard Martha’s steps as she went to open it, followed by the creaking of the door, an unfamiliar voice, then silence. Next came Martha’s quick footsteps approaching my room. Although she was more than eighty years old, she still bustled about the house full of energy, taking care of everything, controlling everything.
At the age of ten, Martha had been taken into the service of my grandfather, Konstandinos Mavroleon. When my mother was born four years later, Martha was charged with the care of the newborn child. She worshiped the baby from the very beginning and gave it all the tenderness she herself had never had, filling in the best possible way the void left in my mother’s life by my busy, distant, socialite grandmother and the lack of any siblings. My mother was the only child the couple ever wished to have, or were able to.
Mother married Alexis Igerinos, an engineer, at eighteen, and Martha followed her to her new home; after I was born she became my nanny, too. There are times I think she still maintains the role, although I’m now over fifty years old and, strictly speaking, she holds the position of housekeeper.
“Michael, are you asleep?” she asked through the door.
“No, my dear, I’m awake. What’s the matter?”
“There is a policeman downstairs. He’s asking for you.”
“For me? Did he say why?”
“No. He says it’s something urgent. He apologizes, but says he must see you.”
“Tell him I’ll be down in five minutes.”
I dressed quickly and went downstairs. A young police officer was sitting on the sofa in the drawing room. He jumped up as I came in.
“Mr. Michael Igerinos? I’m Officer Antoniou. I’m sorry to trouble you at such an early hour, but we need your help. Did you know someone named Stefanos Kandartzis?”
My heart gave a jump, and I felt the blood drain from my face. I latched onto the use of the past tense. “ Did I know? Why do you use the word ‘ did ’? Stefanos Ka