CHRYSES AND CHRYSEIS. Chryses was an Anatolian priest of Apollo. His daughter, Chryseis, was taken as a slave by Agamemnon. When Chryses came to retrieve her, offering a generous ransom, Agamemnon refused, then insulted him. Enraged, Chryses called upon his god Apollo to send a plague to punish the Greek army. When Achilles publicly urged Agamemnon to return Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon erupted, precipitating their dramatic rift.
DEIDAMEIA. The daughter of King Lycomedes and the princess of the island kingdom of Scyros. To keep him from the war, Thetis dressed Achilles as a girl and hid him among Deidameia’s ladies-in-waiting. Deidameia discovered the trick and secretly married Achilles, conceiving the child Pyrrhus.
DIOMEDES. The king of Argos. Known for both his guile and his strength, Diomedes was one of the most valued warriors in the Greek army. Like Odysseus, he was a favorite of the goddess Athena, who in Book 5 of the Iliad grants him supernatural strength in battle.
HECTOR. The oldest son of Priam and the crown prince of Troy, Hector was known for his strength, nobility, and love of family. In Book 6 of the Iliad, Homer shows us a touching scene between Hector; his wife, Andromache; and their young son, Astyanax. He was killed by Achilles in the final year of the war.
HELEN. The legendary most beautiful woman in the world, Helen was a princess of Sparta, the daughter of the queen Leda and the god Zeus (in the form of a swan). Many men sought her hand in marriage, each swearing an oath to uphold her union with whoever prevailed. She was given to Menelaus, but later ran away with the Trojan prince Paris, setting in motion the Trojan War. After the war, she returned home with Menelaus to Sparta.
HERACLES. The son of Zeus and the most famous of Greek heroes. Known for his tremendous strength, Heracles was forced to perform twelve labors as penance to the goddess Hera, who hated him for being the product of one of Zeus’ affairs. He died long before the Trojan War began.
IDOMENEUS. The king of Crete and grandson of King Minos, of Minotaur fame.
IPHIGENIA. The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, promised in marriage to Achilles and brought to Aulis to appease the goddess Artemis. Her sacrifice made the winds blow again, so that the Greek fleet could sail to Troy. Her story is told in Euripides’ tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis.
LYCOMEDES. The king of Scyros and the father of Deidameia. He unknowingly sheltered Achilles disguised as a girl in his court.
MENELAUS. The brother of Agamemnon and, after his marriage to Helen, the king of Sparta. When Helen was kidnapped by Paris, he invoked the oath sworn by all of her suitors and, with his brother, led an army to retrieve her. In Book 3 of the Iliad he dueled with Paris for possession of Helen, and was winning before the goddess Aphrodite intervened on Paris’ behalf. After the war, he and Helen returned to Sparta.
NESTOR. The aged king of Pylos and the former companion of Heracles. He was too old to fight in the Trojan War but served as an important counselor to Agamemnon.
ODYSSEUS. The wily prince of Ithaca, beloved by the goddess Athena. He proposed the famous oath requiring all of Helen’s suitors to swear a vow to uphold her marriage. As his reward, he claimed her clever cousin Penelope as his wife. During the Trojan War, he was one of Agamemnon’s chief advisers, and later devised the trick of the Trojan horse. His voyage home, which lasted ten years, is the subject of Homer’s Odyssey, which includes the famous tales of his encounters with the Cyclops, the witch Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, and the Sirens. Eventually Odysseus returned to Ithaca, where he was welcomed by his wife, Penelope, and grown son, Telemachus.
PARIS. The son of Priam who became the judge of the famous “beauty contest” between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, with the golden apple as a prize. Each goddess tried to bribe him: Hera with power, Athena with wisdom, and Aphrodite with the most beautiful woman in the world. He awarded the prize to Aphrodite, and she in turn helped him spirit Helen away from her husband, Menelaus, thus starting the Trojan War. Paris was known for his skill with a bow and, with Apollo’s help, killed the mighty Achilles.
PATROCLUS. The son of King Menoitius. Exiled from his home for accidentally killing another boy, Patroclus found shelter in Peleus’ court, where he was fostered with Achilles. He is a secondary character in the Iliad, but his fateful decision to try to save the Greeks by dressing in Achilles’ armor sets in motion the final act of the story. When Patroclus is killed by Hector, Achilles is devastated and takes brutal vengeance upon the Trojans.
PELEUS. The king of Phthia and the father of Achilles by the sea-nymph Thetis. The story of Peleus overpowering the shape-changing Thetis in a wrestling match was a popular one in antiquity.
PHOINIX. A longtime friend and counselor of Peleus, who went with Achilles to Troy as his adviser. In Book 9 of the Iliad, Phoinix spoke of having cared for Achilles when he was a baby, and vainly tried to persuade him to yield and help the Greeks.
POLYXENA. The Trojan princess whom Pyrrhus sacrificed at his father’s tomb, before leaving Troy for the voyage home.
PRIAM. The elderly king of Troy, who was renowned for his piety and his many children. In Book 24 of the Iliad, he bravely made his way into Achilles’ tent to beg for his son Hector’s body. During the sack of Troy, he was killed by Achilles’ son, Pyrrhus.
PYRRHUS. Formally named Neoptolemus but called “Pyrrhus” for his fiery hair, he was the son of Achilles and the princess Deidameia. He joined the war after his father’s death, participating in the trick of the Trojan horse and brutally murdering the old king of Troy, Priam. In Book 2 of the Aeneid, Vergil tells the story of Pyrrhus’ role in the sack of Troy.
Acknowledgments
Writing this novel was a ten-year-long journey, and I was fortunate enough to meet many more kindly deities than angry Cyclopes along the way. It would be impossible to thank everyone who offered me encouragement over the years—it would take a second book—but there are some divinities that need worshipping.
In particular, I want to thank my early readers, who gave me such loving and thoughtful responses: Carolyn Bell, Sarah Furlow, and Michael Bourret. I also want to thank my amazing godmother, Barbara Thornbrough, who has cheered me on the whole way, as well as the Drake family for their kind encouragement and for being expert consultants on wide-ranging matters. My heartfelt appreciation goes also to my teachers, especially Diane Dubois, Susan Melvoin, Kristin Jaffe, Judith Williams, and Jim Miller; and to my passionate and fabulous students, Shakespeareans and Latin scholars alike, for teaching me much more than I ever taught them.
I have been fortunate enough to have not one but three amazing mentors in Classics, teaching, and life: David Rich, Joseph Pucci, and Michael C. J. Putnam. I am grateful beyond measure to their kindness and erudition. Thanks also to the entire Brown University Classics Department. It goes without saying that all errors and distortions in this work are my own entirely, and not theirs.
Special thanks to Walter Kasinskas, and to the beautiful and talented Nora Pines, who has always believed I would be a writer despite reading a number of my early short stories.
Thanks and thanks and ever thanks to the inimitable, irrepressible, and outstanding Jonah Ramu Cohen, a fierce fiery warrior who fought for this book every step of the way. I am so grateful for your friendship.
A Mount Olympus of gratitude to the astounding Julie Barer, best of all Agents, who swept me off my feet and into a miracle, along with all the rest of her amazing team.