Hesione: Troy and Salamis, sister to Priam, taken captive by Herakles and given to Telemon of Salamis. Her sons fight against Troy.
Iphigenia: Mycenae, daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra
Kalchas: Mycenae, seer for Agamemnon and the Greeks
Knaxon: Aulis, Achilles' servant and mentored by Thetis
Laertes: Ithaka, retired king of Ithaka, father of Odysseus, husband of Anticlea
Leda: Sparta, Queen of Sparta, mother of Clytemnestra, Pollux, Castor, and Helen
Lycomedes: Skyros, king of Skyros, father to Deidamia, grandfather to Neoptolemus
Menelaus: Sparta, brother to Agamemnon, husband of Helen
Nauplius: Euboea, father of Palamedes
Neola: Mycenae, trusted servant of Clytemnestra
Neoptolemus: Skyros and Phthia, son of Achilles
Nestor, Pylos, old king of Pylos, in Messenia, wise council warrior
Odysseus: Ithaka, King of Ithaka, husband to Penelope, father to Telemachus
Orestes: Mycenae, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
Palamedes: Mycenae, personal servant to Agamemnon
Patrokles: Phthia, guardian and elder cousin of Achilles
Peleus: Phthia, King of Phthia, father of Achilles
Penelope: Sparta and Ithaka, cousin to Helen and wife of Odysseus
Phoenix: Phthia, friend to Peleus, guardian of Achilles
Pirithous: Athens, helped Theseus kidnap Helen, he wanted Persephone as a wife
Pollux: Sparta, son of Tyndareus, brother to Helen
Tantalus: Mycenae, Prince of Mycenae, murdered by Agamemnon and first husband of Clytemnestra
Telemachus: Ithaka, son of Odysseus
Telemon: Salamis, traveled with Herakles, father of Ajax, took Hesione as concubine
Theseus: Athens, King of Athens, kidnapped Helen
Thrasymedes: Pylos, son of Nestor
Thyestes: Mycenae, King of Mycenae defeated by Agamemnon
Tyndareus: Sparta, King of Sparta, father of Clytemnestra, Pollux, Castor, and Helen
THE TROJANS AND THEIR ALLIES
Aeneas: Troy, Trojan warrior, nephew of King Priam, and founder of Italy
Agelaus, Troy, royal bull herder and breeder, foster father of Paris
Andromache: Hypoplakia Thebe and Troy, daughter of Eetion and Mira, wife of Hektor
Astynome: Chryse, daughter of Chryses, prize concubine of Agamemnon
Briseis: Pedasus and Lyrnessus, daughter of Briseus and Shavash, widow of prince Mynes, concubine and wife of Achilles
Briseus: Pedasus, father of Briseis, King of Pedasus
Cassandra: Troy, daughter of Priam and Hecuba, cursed priestess of Apollo
Chryses: Chryse, priest of Apollo, father of Astynome
Corythus: Troy, son of Prince Paris and Oenone
Eetion: Hypoplakia Thebe, King of Hypoplakia Thebe, father of Andromache
Eurypylus: Tenedos, Son of King Telephus and a physician
Evenus: Lyrnessus, king of Lyrnessus
Hapeshet: Methymna, Seer and wise man to King Mikares
Hecamede: Tenedos, war prize gifted to Nestor
Hektor: Troy, eldest son of Priam and Hecuba, the Golden Prince of Troy and Commander of the Trojan army
Helenus: Troy, son of Priam and Hecuba, twin brother of Cassandra
Hypsipylos: Methymna, Warrior commander of King Mikares army, betrothed to the Princess Peisidike
Kebriones: Troy, bastard son of Priam by Melita
Korei: Tenedos, distinguished warrior in King Telephus' army, father of Valparun
Lateke: Methymna, hand maiden to Princess Peisidike
Lexias: Troy, wife to Agelaus, foster mother of Paris
Lykaon: Troy, half-brother to Hektor and Paris
Megapenthes: Troy, bastard son of Menelaus by Teridae
Malina: Lyrnessus, handmaiden to Prince Mynes, mother of Yoruk
Melita: Troy, concubine to King Priam
Mikares: Methymna, King of Methymna, a kingdom on Lesbos
Oenone: wood nymph married to Paris, mother of Corythus
Paris: Troy, second son of Priam and Hecuba, the Forgotten Prince of Troy
Peisidike: Methymna, princess and daughter of King Mikares
Penthesileia: nomadic, Amazonian queen and warrior
Polyxena: Troy, youngest daughter of Priam and Hecuba
Shavash: Pedasus, mother of Briseis
Sidika: Lyrnessus, Queen of Lyrnessus
Telephus: Tenedos, King of Tenedos, a province in Mysia
Teridae: Troy, concubine of King Menelaus, mother of Megapenthes
Troilus: Troy, youngest son of Priam and Hecuba
Valparun: Tenedos, son of Korei
Yoruk: Lyrnessus, prince of Lyrnessus, son of Mynes and handmaiden Malina
THE GODS
Aphrodite: Goddess of Love and Beauty
Apollo: God of the Sun and Healing
Ares: God of War
Athena: Goddess of War and Wisdom
Artemis: Goddess of Hunting and Chasteness
Cebron: River god, father of Oenone
Eleithyia: Goddess of Childbirth
Eris: Goddess of Strife
Hera: wife of Zeus’
Hermes: Messenger of Zeus
Poseidon: God of the Seas
Thetis: sea nymph, Goddess of Water; also, wife of Peleus, beloved of Zeus, and Achilles’ mother
Zeus: father of the Olympians, true father of Pollux and Helen
Meet these characters:
CLYTEMNESTRA
ACHILLES
HEKTOR
Listen and watch as I breakdown the:
First Trojan War Timeline
TIMELINE
for the Heroes & Heroines of the Iliad and Odyssey
Book One
Song of Sacrifice
1295 BCEHektor is born in Troy
Agamemnon is born in Mycenae
1290 BCEParis is born in Troy
1288 BCEClytemnestra born in Sparta
1285 BCEAndromache born
1282 BCEBriseis is born in Pedasus
Menelaus is born in Mycenae
1279 BCEOdysseus is born in Ithaka
1272 BCEWedding of Thetis and Peleus
Paris fights Ares’ Bull
The Judgment of Paris (15 years old)
1271 BCEAchilles born to Thetis and Peleus
1270 BCEPenelope born
Cassandra’s Curse
Leda raped by Zeus
Clytemnestra (18) marries Agamemnon (25)
Helen born
1269 BCE Briseis (13) meets Hektor (26)
1267 BCEBriseis (15) meets Mynes (25)
1266 BCEIphigenia born to Clytemnestra & Agamemnon
Achilles (5) with Chiron the Centaur
Hektor (29) meets Andromache (19)
1265 BCEHektor (30) marries Andromache (20)
Briseis (17) marries Prince Mynes (27)
1263 BCEOrestes born to Clytemnestra & Agamemnon
1262 BCEPhila born, daughter of Briseis (20) and Mynes
1260 BCE Elektra born to Clytemnestra & Agamemnon
1259 BCEPhila dies of illness
1257 BCEAchilles (14 yrs) returns to Peleus
Studies under Phoenix
Corythus born, son of Oenone and Paris
Achilles (14) sent to Skyros by Thetis
1254 BCEAchilles (17) marries pregnant Deidamia (16)
Helen kidnapped by Theseus and Pirithous
1253 BCENeoptolemus (Achilles’ son) born
1252 BCEHelen (18) marries Menelaus (30)
Odysseus (27) marries Penelope (18)
1251 BCEHermione born to Helen and Menelaus
Paris quests to rescue Hesione
Menelaus attends funeral of Catreus of Crete
Paris (39) takes Helen (19)
Telemachus b
orn to Odysseus and Penelope
Gathering at Aulis for Troy
Odysseus retrieves Achilles (20) at Skyros
Iphigenia (15) at Aulis
Book Two
Rise of Princes
1251 BCEIphigenia’s funeral
Agamemnon’s fleet at Lemnos
Paris farewells Oenone
Yoruk born to Mynes and the handmaiden, Malina
1250 BCEAchilles attacks Methymna
1249 BCEAgamemnon’s fleet arrives at Tenedos
1248 BCEQueen Leda travels to Mycenae
Agamemnon’s fleet arrives at Troy
Ambush of Caster and Pollux
The united armies of the west threaten mutiny
Clytemnestra meets Aegisthus
1247 BCE Odysseus’ revenge
Nauplius seeks restitution
1246 BCE Neoptolemus sent to Chiron
Penelope waits with Anticlea
Paris reveals the truth to Helen
1245 BCE Penelope consults the Oracle
Orestes (18) promised to Hermione (6)
Aphrodite consults Zeus
Achilles takes Lyrnessus
Princess Briseis captured
Lykaon sold into slavery
1244 BCEPriam marries Melita
1243 BCE Achilles and Odysseus at Bay of Edremit
Menelaus takes Megapenthes as heir
1242 BCE Refugee Camp established in Troy
1240 BCE Aphrodite blesses Helen
1239 BCE Corythus (17) to Troy
Achilles sacks Hypoplakia Thebe
Achilles ambushed Troilus and Polyxena
Astynome given to Agamemnon
Book Three
Rage of Queens
The events of book three span the year 1238 BCE. The events are told chronologically, and oftentimes a single day will span several chapters, as the end draws nearer.
MY MYRMIDONS
I want to thank everyone in my life who has endured my incessant talking about Greek mythology and how much my back hurts.
I also wish to thank all my readers who let me know what they love and who they hate in the books. I really enjoy our interactions. Keep it coming :)
This has been a crazy year and a half of writing. I lost my father to a rare gall bladder cancer and I felt much like Achilles shorn of Patrokles, rudderless and and just spinning my wheels. Then the pandemic hit and ... well, I appreciate your patience in getting this book finished. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.
Book four, likely to be titled Song of the White Isle, is already in the works. We will have new characters emerging, who will interact with the ones we love who make it "home."
MYRMIDONS!!!!!
References & Inspirations
Aeschylus, Agamemnon.
Alexander, Caroline. Iliad, translation. HarperCollins Publishers. Reprint edition (November 24, 2015)
Arnson Svarlien, Diane; Scodel, Ruth, translator. Euripides: Andromache, Hecuba, Trojan Women (Hackett Classics) (March 15, 2012).
Cassandra. Retrieved from https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/the-myth-of-cassandra/
Claybourne, Anna. “Achilles.” Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Reference. Retrieved from https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/mcgods/achilles/0
Cuypers, Martine, Ptoliporthos Akhilleus: the sack of Methymna in the Lesbou Ktisis, Hermathena, v.173-174, 2005, pp. 117-135.
Due, Casey and Mary Ebbott, Mothers-in-arms: soldiers’ emotional bonds and Homeric similes. War, Literature and the Arts: An international Journal of the Humanities, 2012. Retrieved from Academia.edu.
Hanson, Victor Davis, On Barry Strauss’s The Trojan War: A New History. Retrieved from www.newcriterion.com.
Hauser, Emily. ‘There is another story’: writing after the Odyssey in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad Classical Receptions Journal, Volume 10, Issue 2, 1 April 2018, Pages 109–126.
Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, H.G. translated by Evelyn-White
Higgins, Charlotte, The Iliad and what it can still tell us about war. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com.
Homer, Iliad.
Homer, Odyssey.
Hyginus, Fabulae, Cassandra 65. Retrieved from http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae3.html#65.
Hyginus, Fabulae, Palamedes105. Retrieved from http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae3.html#105.
Mark, Joshua J., Oenone, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2009.
Mason, Wyatt. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/magazine/the-first-woman-to-translate-the-odyssey-into-english.html (On Emily Wilson’s Odyssey translation)
Mendelsohn, Daniel, Battle Lines: A Slimmer, faster Iliad. Retrieved from www.NewYorker.com.
Muich, Rebecca M. Pouring out tears: Andromache in Homer and Euripides https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/16755
Ovid, Ars Amatoria.
Ovid, Herois 5, translated by R. Scott Smith.
Parada, Carlos, Peleus, Greek Mythology Link. Retrieved from http://www.maicar.com/GML/Peleus.html
Parada, Carlos, Agamemnon, Greek Mythology Link. Retrieved from http://www.maicar.com/GML/Agamemnon.html
Parada, Carlos, Paris, Greek Mythology Link. Retrieved from http://www.maicar.com/GML/Paris.html
Polyxena: Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online. Retrieved from http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/polyxena.html. Accessed March 03, 2017.
Reardon, Tyler (Dramaturge) https://pacifictheatrearts.wordpress.com/ancient-burial-customs/
Restrepo Documentary, June 2010. Directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger.
Seneca, Thyestes.
Shay, Jonathan, M.D., PhD., Achilles in Vietnam” Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character. Touchstone: New York: NY, 1994.
Stewart, M.W. Achilles. Retrieved from https://mythagora.com/bios/achilles.html (now available in Kindle format)
Strauss, Barry, The Trojan War.
Thyestes and Atreus. Retrieved from http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tragedy/
Wilson, Emily. Odyssey, translation. W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (November 7, 2017).