Caesar had had his conference with Sosigenes the astronomer, and made notes on the reform of the calendar, which would be undertaken on his return to Rome.
She had a project of her own to undertake, as well. Timaeus was sent for, and the author of the treatise on automata, and the guilds of artificers who might have to do with this, and the shipwrights. They stared at each other across the table, until she had the wine and dainties brought in.
And then they drank, and argued fiercely, with the queen’s own scribe to take notes, and the queen herself to interject a thought or question from time to time, and Timaeus after the fact to tell her he wasn’t sure it would be a symposium or a brawl.
“Some of both, I would imagine,” she said.
E. P. Beaumont 
You always delight and surprise me. Thanking you for such wonderful inspiration. Great writing!
Big project you’ve undertaken here, seems to be going well
And that some of both is likely what will make it interesting. Well done!
Would be or was a brawl? But I can see that there would certainly be some conflict between the traditionalists and the innovators. There always is.
Terrific. I’ve always wanted to write Roman steampunk, but Egyptian works really well too. 🙂