Choice of Alexandria

Change the course of history! Can your scientific discoveries save the ancient Library of Alexandria? Will you defend the empire's legacy, or your own?

"Choice of Alexandria" is an interactive novella by Kevin Gold, author of "Choice of Robots." Your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based--90,000 words, without graphics or sound effects--and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

The year is 245 BCE; you’re a heroic polymath librarian, invited to Alexandria to tutor prince Ptolemy IV. The real Ptolemy IV fell under the sway of his evil advisor Sosibius, and brought the empire to ruin--but perhaps under your tutelage, things will turn out differently.

Or disregard your responsibilities to focus on inventions instead! With the help of Archimedes and Euclid, you can discover the steam engine, the germ theory of disease, or even robotic automata, thousands of years ahead of schedule.

Will you deplete the libraries of other cities to enrich your own? Achieve popularity for your scientific inventions, or protect the legacy of the empire? Will Ptolemy IV grow up hedonistic and selfish, or wise and just? Will you be ransomed by the pirate queen Nefertari, or can you win her over with your silver tongue?

The fate of the city of wonders is in your hands!

• Play as a brilliant inventor, a gifted speaker, or a life-saving doctor
• Make great discoveries while protecting Prince Ptolemy IV from manipulators at court
• Save famed mathematicians Archimedes and Euclid from untimely deaths
• Based on the real life of Eratosthenes, ancient genius who calculated the size of the Earth
• Save the Great Library and invent the steam engine two thousand years early!