The spritsail and its close relative, the lateen rig, were in definite and common use across the Mediterranean by the end of the classical world, and they are both natural evolutions of the square rig. Simply lower the spar of a square rigged ship, twist it round to point fore-and-aft, do a lot of annoying work to reshape the sail, and suddenly you have a primitive but workable rig for tacking. It’s because it’s such a natural evolution that I think it must have come earlier than we think.
You might be wondering how Diotima managed to still be pregnant at ten months. It’s because Athenian months are lunar. Every month is twenty-nine days. Therefore every classical Greek woman gives birth at ten months.
First sons were always named for the paternal grandfather. That rule was so universal that historians have used it to trace ancient families across centuries. Girl names were slightly more flexible, though you’d still expect a family name to be repeated over generations.
Thus we leave our heroes as happy new parents.
Nico and Diotima have come a long way since their early days as crime fighters, investigators, and secret agents for Athens. I thought for fun I might repeat the jacket copy of their very first adventure, The Pericles Commission. Here it is:
Nicolaos, the ambitious son of a minor sculptor, walks the mean streets of classical Athens as an agent for the promising young politician Pericles. Murder and mayhem don’t faze Nico; what’s really on his mind is how to get closer (much closer) to Diotima, the intelligent and annoyingly virgin priestess of Artemis, and how to shake off his irritating twelve-year-old brother Socrates.
How things have changed.
Pericles is no longer a struggling young politician. He is the leader of the world’s newest empire, and overwhelmingly the most influential man alive. There’s a good reason why they call this the Age of Pericles. Little does anyone know that Pericles will one day hand over that mantle to a rather annoying young fellow named Socrates. Nico has finally achieved his lifelong ambition to shake off his little brother. Socrates is serving his time in the army. He won’t be out for another two years, but then he’ll be back to annoy Nico.
Nico’s doing well, too. He not only got the girl, but he’s got a family.
Now Nico and Diotima must face their greatest challenge yet. They’re going home to raise some babies.
GLOSSARY
Apollo
God of the sun and of healing.
A major god of the Greek
pantheon.
Artemis
A major goddess of the Greek
pantheon. She is the Huntress.
Her weapon is the bow. When
Zeus wants to send a message he
often assigns the job to Artemis,
in which role she is something
like a divine hit girl.
Delian League
An early version of NATO,
and that’s no exaggeration. The
Delian League was a mutual
defense alliance of most of the
city-states of Greece, and by
implication, the major European
states. Corinth and Sparta had
been members during the Persian
Wars, but dropped out later. That
left Athens as the most powerful
member. The Delian League
morphed into the Athenian
Empire.
Delos
A small island not far from
Mykonos. It was the birthplace of
two gods: the twins Apollo and
Artemis. For the Greeks, Delos
was a place for worship and the
greatest reverence. In some sense
Delos was like the Switzerland
of the ancient city-states. It was
neutral turf where nation states
could meet to do deals. Hence
the Greek alliance was founded
during a huge meeting at Delos,
and thus became known as the
Delian League.
Drachma, Tetradrachma, Obol
A drachma is the standard unit of
currency, but too large an amount
for everyday use. A tetradrachma
large for anyone but merchants.
Shoppers in the agora use obols.
Six obols make a drachma.
Eileithyia
Goddess of childbirth and
midwifery. Sorry about the weird
spelling, but that’s the way it is.
The ancients had a whole slew
of extra deities, most of them
specialists, who we don’t much
hear about these days. But if you
were a woman back in classical Greece,
you would know all about Eileithyia,
because she’s the one who’s going to keep
you alive when you give birth.
Nico’s mother is a midwife
and therefore an expert on
entreating Eileithyia. Legend
has it, incidentally, that this
goddess came to Greece from
Hyperborea.
Hyperborea
A lond described not only by
Herodotus, but also by other
respected and credible men,
including Hesiod, Europe’s first
non-fiction author. Hyperborea
is located beyond the cold north
wind, often taken to mean
Scandinavia. Every year the
people of Hyperborea sent to
Delos what became known as the
Hyperborean Gift. The gift was
encased in a sheaf of wheat. No
modern person knows what the
gift actually was. Many people
assume both Hyperborea and the
Gift were myths, but Herodotus
states very clearly that the Gift
was delivered right up to his own
day.
Leto
A Titan goddess, one of Zeus’s
many girlfriends. Why Hera
didn’t divorce Zeus remains a
mystery. Instead Hera hunted
Leto, who hid out on Delos,
where she subsequently gave
birth to Apollo and Artemis.
Month / Pregnancy
Diotima is ten months into her
pregnancy. There’s a good reason
for that: the Greeks used lunar
months! In the classical world
every month is twenty-nine days.
calendar, because 29 into 365
doesn’t go, but more to the point
for this story a ten-month term
was the norm.
Nemesis
A mere word in modern English,
in classical Greece she is a
deity. Nemesis gives to mortals
whatever they deserve. In the
original version that could be
good or bad. In later versions
it became all bad (presumably
due to a lack of well-deserving
people).
Oikos of the Naxions
An administration building.
The foundations of the Oikos
can be seen today. Oikos is a
strange word in classical Greek.
Technically it means household—
the family home is an oikos—but
it could also be used in parallel
meanings. Like many ancient
Greek words, i
t has found its way
into modern English. The variant
spelling eco has given itself to
the modern word economics.
Some people have used the word
oikophobia to mean an irrational
fear of household appliances (I’m
not making this up, but I wish I
were).
Phoenicia
A famous ancient land now
Lebanon. They invented the
alphabet that the Greeks adopted
and which became our own.
They were unbelievably good
sailors. At the time of this story,
Phoenicia is a client state of the
Persian Empire.
Porinos Naos
The oldest temple to Apollo
on Delos. It is built of a type of
limestone called poros, hence
the temple name. By the time of
this story the Porinos Naos has
become the treasury house of the
Delian League.
Stoa of the Naxions
A stoa is a covered portico. It’s
a nice, shady place to hang out.
The Sanctuary at Delos has the
Stoa of the Naxians. In Nico’s day
Athens was the main protector
and supplier to Delos, but a
hundred years before, the main
benefactor had been Naxos. The
Naxians did an outstanding job
of donating fine buildings to the
temple area. They also donated
the lion statues that face the lake.
Temple of Artemis
It’s incredibly old. The ruins you
see today are of the third (maybe)
Temple of Artemis on this site.
It was built long after Nico’s
time. The temple in Nico’s day
really does have a tomb to the
Hyperborean women on the left
as you enter.
Treasury Houses
Most temples had a treasury,
not unlike the treasuries that
accumulated in medieval
cathedrals. Delos had so much
wealth that there were five
separate treasuries. There are
surviving inventory lists for some
of the temples, so we have a
fair idea of the sort of offerings
they kept. It mostly amounted
to finely wrought items of
precious metals. The treasuries
were accounted for individually.
It’s wrong to think of the entire
temple complex on Delos as
being one big financial account.
In addition Delos stored the
treasury of the Delian League,
which was a fighting fund with no
theological implications.
Trireme
The warships of the classical
world. Long, low, sleek,
incredibly fast, with a battering
ram built into the prow. In
modern terminology they would
be classed as Destroyers.
Acknowledgments
Thanks as always to my wife, Helen. Every time I say there wouldn’t be a book without her, and every time it’s true.
Catriona’s friends like to photograph my dedications to her and post them for maximum embarrassment factor. I’m afraid I’ve added fuel to that fire with this book.
Megan likewise has put up very well with a father who writes, as she approaches her senior school years. She was six when I started The Pericles Commission. If I am lucky I will talk her into drawing the map for this book.
Janet Reid is a literary agent who took a chance on a classical Greek crime novel back in 2008, and here we are with book number seven. That success is largely due to her. As super agents go, it’s a tough choice between Janet and Nico.
My superb editor at Soho Press announced her impending nuptials to Soho’s Director of Marketing while I was writing this book. By the time you read this they will be thoroughly married.
Congratulations to Juliet and Paul!