Wiki Wash Out

For those of you who doubt the idiocy of relying on Wikipedia and ONLY Wikipedia, I submit to you this golden nugget on Pausanias:

"Pausanias (Greek Παυσάνιας) Nephew of Leonidas the Spartan king who commanded the land force at Platea in 479bc. Was co-king with Leotychidas. King of Sparta from 409 BC. In 395 BC, Pausanias failed to join forces with Lysander, and for this was condemned to death and replaced as king by his nephew Agesipolis I.

Pausanias escaped execution and left Sparta to live in exile in Tegea. He also traveled in the Persian Empire, and married a Persian princess. At some point he returned to Sparta, where he eventually perished. The Spartans had trapped him in the temple of Minerva, by placing a large stone by the door. It is believed his own mother helped to carry the stone to the door. His people destroyed the roof of the temple, as it was hoped that this would initiate a faster death."

I'm surprised it also doesn't claim that as king he travelled around Greece taking notes. Eegads.

New Links

I finally got around to adding links. I hope I got everyone but if not please don't feel bad about asking me to link to your site. And if you happen to know a historical fiction site that I've missed and should visit please let me know that as well.

My Meme Challenge

I have been tagged for a meme. I don't get tagged very often, so it's always a little exciting.

This meme involves listing seven interesting or weird facts about a historical figure. I chose Pausanias, nephew of King Leonidas and one of Sparta's most contraversial kings.

1) Pausanias was the nephew of Sparta's most famous soldier-king Leonidas (one of the heroes of Thermopylai). His father Prince Cleombrotus was king only for a short time before dying of an illness. Cleombrotus may have been Leonidas' twin.

2) Pausanias was an Agiad, one of the two royal families of Sparta. The Agiad was considered the "older house," and may have had more power and authority than the Eurypontid. The two houses had a bit of a rivalry.

3) Pausanias was the general at the decisive battle at Platea (479 BCE).

4) In the spring of 478, Pausanias led a Greek expeditionary force first to Cyprus and then to Byzantium. He was the first Spartan king to fight outside of Hellas (Greece) since the Dorian invasion.


5) It was an important campaign, but Pausanias lost authority when rumors were spread that he wanted to collaborate with the Persians. He was recalled by the Spartan authorities to stand trial but was found not guilty. Later he would return to Byzantium but was recalled again and put on trial for helping to instigate a helot revolt. Again he was found not guilty.

6) After nearly ten years of contraversial actions Pasuanias would have to flee from his many enemies at home and take sanctuary in a temple. The Spartans barricaded the temple and starved Pausanias to death (though they dragged him out just before he died so he would not pollute the shrine).

7) Thucydides' account completely contradicts Herodotus' account of Pausanias. In the former, Pausanias is arrogant and ambitious, in the latter he is a typical Spartan general who is capable of great mercy and has no taste for Persian luxeries. Talk about polar opposites!

In my story I try to reconcile the two versions of Pausanias found in Thucydides and Herodotus. I do so by stressing that Pausanias is young and is given the crushing responsibility of kingship during wartime, something he is not ready for. He is also forced to live up to an impressive list famous relatives. His grandfather King Anaxandrides helped lead the Spartans to victory over Tegea, his uncle Cleomenes was Sparta's most influential king (and the most contraversial), and of course his uncle Leonidas lead three hundred Spartans to a glorious end at the Hot Gates. Pausanias also has to contend with a much older and very bitter king. All of this compounds his determination to not only make Sparta victorious, but to be remembered as a great Spartan like the Agiad before him.

I tag anyone who wants to play along. This meme is a lot of fun!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008 everyone!

Inspired by Scott Oden's blog, I decided to declare a few resolutions of my own.*

1) Finish The Owl & The Eagle. It needs to come together.

2) Don't second guess. Just write. It's a hard habit to break, but I need to look foward and allow my imagination to just flow. If a chapter or scene makes no sense. No worries. Just WRITE.

3) Write everyday. I'm pretty good and reading/researching, but I need to write more than just a few sentences everyday. I need to really push myself.

I won't give up. I'll get this story finished. It needs to be told. At least for me.

*I need to remake a list of links. For some reason the previous list got erased when I changed formats on my blog.

Creativity vs Organization

I'll cut right to the chase. I'm reaching out to authors, published and aspiring alike in the hopes of getting some tips on organizing my many many many many many many notes. Many.

I have them down on paper. I have them down on various floppy discs. I have notes on this website. I have a collage of pictures so I can get an idea of what a certain character looks like. I have print-outs from various websites about the history and geography of Ancient Greece and Persia. I have it all, and no way of organizing it.

I tried by buying various folders and putting the notes in them, but it's still overwhelming mixing and matching stuff. I put all of my chapters together to see how they fit, but they're all over the place (stupid transitions...).

I have so many questions. What I do with quickly jotted down ideas? How do I get myself to look over these ideas in the future so I don't forget about them? What if Historians don't agree on dates or facts (as I've mentioned more than once 480BCE is a transitional period so it's not quite Archaic but it's not quite Classical)?


Of course there's no right or wrong answer here, I'm simply overwhelmed by how much "stuff" I have now. Should I make a website with character profiles and geography? Should I collect floppy discs (or in the came of labtop a usb port thingy) and keep track of different stuff that way?

Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you are having a magical time!

I am typing on my new Sony Vaio labtop. It is awesome. I'm hoping being armed with a new labtop will give me the motivation to organize my story notes, write more now that I have a computer in my room (and at just over 5 pounds can take around with me) and get my novel finished! Woot!

Thinking Aloud

Famous bust of Themistocles (Roman copy)

I keep mulling over why it's so hard to write O&E. I think I've said this before, but I blame the time period. The early 5th century in Attica is a transitional period, which makes it hard to write about. To add to the frustration, ancient historians didn't always agree with one another, which means modern historians squabble about when things were invented, who did what and when they did it. This confusion makes it hard to reconcile certain "facts" in history and in my story.

This past weekend I finally come up with a plausible backstory for Themistocles, and even then I had to tweek some stuff. For example, his Archonship is traditionally dated to 493 BCE, but I push it foward to 483 BCE, because it makes his career easier to follow (and besides, Herodotus says that Themistocles had only recently came to power when he was in charge at Salamis!)

Anyway, this is what I have so far (keeping in mind it's still a very rough draft) :

Themistocles (son of Neocles) was raised by a single father after his mother--a foreigner-- died when Themistocles was two. The boy who's name means "Glory of the Law" lived in dire poverty after his father gambled away most of their money. The only way they could get by was to swindle the citizens of Athens by various monetary scams. Meanwhile Themis was influenced by the philospher Mnesiphilus and learned to appreciate the art of oration, which would help him later in the political arena.


When Themistocles was in his early teens he was a witness to great political change. In the late 6th century Cleisthenes established democracy in Athens, loosening the stranglehold the aristocrats had on power and giving it to the common citizen. Themistocles was so inspired by Cleisthenes he vowed to become a powerful politician himself. In the meantime he eeked out a living as an unsuccessful lawyer, until he suddenly landed a major case: Miltiades had fled Thracian Cersonese where Athens had a colony and was accused by the citizens of Attica of being a tyrant and put on trial. Remarkably, Themistocles managed to convince the jury not only to drop the charges but pursuaded them that Miltiades could be useful should the Persians ever attack Athens. When the Persians made their move not long after it was Miltiades who led them in battle. After the spectacular victory Miltiades tried to "punish" the city-states in the east that supported Persia but his mission was a failure and he returned home in disgrace. Men called for the death penalty, claiming that Miltiades tricked them, but once again Themistocles managed to change the verdict to a fine instead. Unfortuantly Miltiades died in jail and his young son Cimon was forced to pay the steep fine of 50 talents.

After making a name for himself as a lawyer Themistocles went on to work in the public sector until he gained enough popularity to run for Archon. In 483 he did just that and won by a landslide (some say a crafty scheme was involved). It was during his Archonship that Athens had a major windfall: a huge amount of silver was discovered just south of the city. Themistocles--using his political muscle, a little persuasion, and a lot of blackmail--convinced the citizens to use the silver to pay for a new fleet of ships. They agreed, though not without his enemies trying to ostrasize him. In an ironic twist he managed to get his enemies ostrasized instead! Meanwhile Themistocles increased the power of the Board of Generals so that he could join it after being Archon and continue to be a major influence. He also made sure nobody could have as much power as Archon again by pushing for the Archonship to be determined by lot. After a whirlwind year of change Themistocles go onto the Board of Generals where he continues to wield a surprising amount of power. But his enemies are determined to see his downfall. And for some, that means looking to the East for help...

New Blog

As you can see, I changed the design and the name of this blog in the hopes of attracting more historical fiction fans. I'm not sure I'm happy with "Ancient Musings" though. Any ideas on a good name? Here are some words that I would be down with (not in any order):

1) Ancient
2) Greece
3) Hellas
4) Persia
5) Sparta
6) Queen
7) Lady
8) Chariot
9) Marathon
10) Scroll
11) Artemisia
12) Xerxes
13) Cyrus
14) Themistocles
15) Leonidas
16) Darius
17) Atossa
18) Artystone
19) Pasuanias
20) Archippe
21) Cimon
22) Acropolis
23) Palace
24) Muse
25) History/Historical

...you get the idea.


If you can make anything out of this list of random words/names or have an idea for a cool title for my blog, let me know! I appreciate any and all suggestions.

Random Thoughts

Ack! I'm stuck again! Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Is three books too much? Should I just write straight through as much as I can? I just can't make little stuff come together. I have no idea what my problem is lately. I write (or at least research/read) for my novel almost every single day, but once again I'm suffering from writer's block. What gives?????!!!!!

This random string of thoughts was brought to you by the letter S. As in STUCK.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to drop by and say Happy Thanksgiving! I'm really thankful to everyone who reads this blog and responds. I love being a part of such a cool writing group. I'm also thankful I have a blessed life and am able to do what I love.

What are you thankful for?

The Attican & The Ionian

This brief chapter will probably not make it into the final version of the novel, but I thought it was a cute idea to have a famous philosopher and a famous general meet. I know it's weird to give Anaxagoras an accent, but for some strange reason it just fit. This is the first half of the chapter. Enjoy!

*Themistocles asks his friend Mnesiphilus to find someone credible person to prove that a recent eclipse is not a bad omen for Athens and that they should continue to make preperations for war with Persia. Who Mnes finds is not who Themis expects...


A small breeze from the Aegean whispered through the distant olive groves, cutting the oven-like heat that hung over the city like a heavy cloak. Riding the wind was the faint tang of fish and salt, making a man hungry for charcoled tuna and fried mackerel. Above the polis the twinkling constellations floated in the cool black pool of night. Themistocles was lying on a stone bench looking up at them, fanning himself with one hand. He wondered if the deities of the sky looked down on humans and pitied them. They probably laughed. He would.

Taking a sip of Rhodes, he listened to the sounds of the city in his empty courtyard. Athens was never truly silent. Men stumbled home drunk from parties, married couples argued loud enough so everyone could hear, dogs barked in back alleys and goats bleated high atop the hills. The noises were signs that life went on, no matter how many times the Boeotians raided the northern frontier, or how many earthquakes there were, or how many volcanoes erupted, or how many eclipses happened, or even how many stories of the Persians marching west were heard. The sounds were comforting, a reminder that no matter how terrifying Night's presence Helios would never fail to rise up and chase her off. Even if it was an endless chase. Themistocles grimaced. I shouldn't think such things. Night is night and day is day. He rose up from the bench with a yawn. Tomorrow would be a brand new day, and he would begin his own chase.

He was just about to retire when there was a knock at the gate. It was late, and he was expecting no visitors. “Xenos.” Silence. "Xenos! No Sic, not you." He waved the servant away. As usual Sicinnus refused to retire until Themistocles was safely in bed. "Xenos!" The boy finally appeared from the servant quarters, bleary-eyed and yawning, his tunic inside out. "We have a visitor." Blinking away sleep, Xenos stumbled across the courtyard and unlatched the gate, swinging it outward slowly so as not to hit the visitor in the face. It was Mnesiphilus.

“Oh good you're up,” he chirped as he handed Xenos his hat and bent down to unlace his sandals. “Go on, boy! I don't need my feet washed and I'm not so old I can't unlace my own shoes." He grinned up at Themistocles. "Forgive the hour but I just had to come and see you." “Been drinking, have we?” His friend laughed as he threw his sandles against the wall and strolled over to clasp Themis on the shoulder. “Only a little. I was making my way home from a tavern in the Ceramicus and decided to take a walk to clear my head. I ended up on the Acropolis. And I met someone there." Themistocles gave a sly smile. "Oh?" His friend nodded. "Today's council meeting bothered me quite a bit so I went up their to comtemplate things. I mean, for those damn aristocrats to suggest making a peace offering with the Satrap in Lydia? And now trying to contact the grandson of Croesus, who may not even be alive for all we know.” “Like it would do any good anyway,” Thems said dryly. They had cut their ties forever with Lydia when the Alcmaeonidae had convinced Athens to help in the Ionian Rebellion fifteen years ago. The capital of Sardis had burned and the Persian king had been wroth.

“I suppose even more men are saying the eclipse means we should capitulate?” “Yes,” Mnes admitted. Then he grinned. “But that’s where this lad comes in.” Behind them a youth was just handing his dirt-stained boots over to Xenos, a freckled-face boy of no more than twenty with frizzy copper hair and large dark eyes. His beard was as gangly and scant as the rest of him, split by crooked-teeth that grinned out at his host. That was not what Themistocles had been expecting.

“How do you do, General!” the lad said in excited tones. He rushed over and grabbed Themis' hand and shook it vigorously. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Sir! I’ve 'eard all about you Marathon men! General Mnesiphilus 'ere was kind enough to talk to me and now I get to meet another brave soul such as yourself!” “Oof!” The boy's handshake was so enthusiastic Themistocles felt his teeth rattle. In the shadows Sic shifted as though ready to charge. It was an effort to shake hands and wave the slave away at the same time. When the boy let him go the world was spinning quite nicely.

“Do you have a name to go with that handshake?” “Anaxagoras of Clazomenae,” the boy announced proudly. Themisotcles frowned. “Clazo…?” “Between Sardis and Halicarnassus,” Mnes explained. “They speak a form of Attic dialect there.” “That they do, General that they do.” The boy's grin managed to widen. “No Dorian blood in this skinny ol’ body, if that’s what you’re wonderin’.” Mnes laughed. “It seems the Doric dialect isn't popular in that area of Ionia. At any rate, I remembered what you said about finding someone who thought the eclipse a good omen so we could convince the council to go to war with Persia, and found this boy right in the middle of market traffic today. Everyone was looking up and frowning as though another eclipse was coming. This one was was staring up at the sun and grinning. I saved him from getting his teeth knocked out by a farmer trying to get his wagon by.” It would have been an improvement, Themis thought. The boy’s teeth were truly ugly. It was an effort not to stare while the youth talked. “Me and the general 'here met again tonight when I was studyin' the stars. I just turned around and saw my 'ero nearby, standin' all by 'imself on the other side of the Acropolis. We got to talkin', and I told the General 'ere that the 'eavens are truly a blessin’ with many miracles, and that’s why I was smilin' at the sun earlier today'. That's when General Mnesiphilus said I should come with 'im. Meet the brains behind the great new fleet o' Athens.” His grin threatened to split his face in half. Themistocles had to struggle to keep his own smile. I wanted a scholar, not a vagabond!

"Great. Xenos, go mix up a bowl of wine for our guests.” The youth was lighting more torches in the yard but now put down his flint and oil and skittered off towards the kitchen. “Should I bring out the couches as well, Master?” he called over his shoulder. "I'd rather not have my guests sit on the ground, yes.” Meanwhile Sicinnus still had loomed in the shadows, glowering at the strangers. Themis sighed. He was going to have to keep an eye on Sic tonight. The man had not taken the eclipse as a good sign, and seemed to think it might be personally dangerous to Themistocles and his family. Lectures about who and who not to trust did not penetrate the man’s skull.

Once they were settled he was able to learn more about the strange youth from Ionia. The boy was as happy as a blind bard to tell his story...

The Things We Learn

While looking up how the Ancient Greeks used the pillory (as mentioned in Herodotus), I stumbled across a totally unrelated fact: "In Ancient Greece, bankruptcy laws forced the debtor to sit in the market place and place a basket over his head." I had never read that anywhere, so I thought it was interesting.

It's always interesting how while looking for one thing, we find another. I didn't find anything on the use of pillories in Ancient Greece though. I wanted to know since King Cleomenes of Sparta gets thrown in one by his relatives. Did it look like the ones used in Europe 1000 years later? It would be interesting to know for my novel.

This IS SPARTAAAAAA!

I saw this and thought it was hilarious....O&E still in progress.

Dear History Channel...

Would you please stop airing shows that are not related to history? I'm tired of turning to you in the hopes of seeing something historical and instead see a show about truck drivers, martial artists or various technology. What happened to Alexander? Themistocles? Pericles? Cleopatra? George Washington? What happened to the battles of Salamis, D-Day, Stalingrad, and Marathon?

We humans have thousands and thousands of years of history involving hundreds of cultures from around the world. Yet like MTV you no longer bother with the things that made you what you are. Instead you have shows about things that would be better suited to the Discovery Channel. What's wrong with you?

If you're in need of ideas why not do a reality show where people must live like Ancient Romans? Or an all-history trivia show? Or even a cartoon for kids (I saw one about Herekles awhile back)?

Oh. And when you DO do history, would you please get basic facts right? Sometimes you get them wrong and it's a bit of a problem.

Sincerely,
M. S.

What's In A Name?

Archippe (?)

I always wondered what the heck certain names meant in Ancient Greek. After all, so many of the names are similar. Thanks to a website I found last week (http://www.behindthename.com/), I now have an idea of what some of those names mean. Here are a few of them:

Themistocles: "Glory of the Law." From the words "law" (themis) and "glory" (kleos). Awesome, especially since in my story he bends, twists, stretches and flat out breaks the law to get what he wants.

Cleisthenes: "Glorious Strength." From the words "glory" (kleos) and "sthenos" (strength)

Interesting. In my story Themistocles was inspired to be a politician after witnessing Cleisthenes turn Athens into a democracy.

Aristides: "The Best Kind." From the words "best" (aristos) and "kind" (eidos). This name fits the man, since he was also known as "The Just."

Xerxes: "King of Heroes/Ruler Over Heroes." From the Persian name Khshayarsha. An impressive name, though according to ancient (and biased) sources Xerxes is less heroic than eccentric...

Darius: "Possessor/possessing of Good." From the Persian name Dârayavahush. A very good name for a very shrewd man who managed to grab power in the wake in a coup. He managed to win battles and win over his rivals at the same time.

Leonidas: "Lion." Perfect name for a Spartan king who was brave enough to make a last stand at Thermopylae.

Archippe: "Master of Horses (?") Possibly a feminine form of Archippos. From the words "master" (archos) and horse (hippos). Archippe is the daughter of an illustrious Athenian so the name is perfect for advertising her blue blood.

Gorgo: "Gorgon." An unusual name for a girl, but perhaps not for a Spartan. Queen Gorgo may have had a male relative with the same or similar name.

Demaratus: "Hoped for by the people." It was this hope that was both the salvation and bane of the Eurypontid throne...

Sadly I still can't find the meaning of the following names:

Pausanias

Cleombrotus

Cleomenes

Artabanus

Artapharnes

Cimon/Kimon

Dieneces

Leotychidas

Mardonius

If anyone knows what --menes means, or Cleo--let me know. Oh. And Meghan means "great." Great...

Mars vs Venus In Writing

While reading over some of my work, I realized that I haven't entirely mastered the art of writing from a man's PoV. Being somewhat of a girly girl, I guess it's hard to wrap my brain around the way men think. At work I'm surrounded by boys who shoot each other with nerf guns, talk about crude bodily functions like it's an art form and do nothing but rib each other all day. Sometimes I think the only way I'll ever understand them is if someone takes a lead pipe to my head for several hours so my IQ goes down from 100 to 1.

I realize that my perplexity over guys also shows up in my writing. Pausanias reads more like a girl than a guy. I feel like I could make Themistocles a bit more rough around the edges. In my mind's eye King Leonidas is far about "fart jokes" and crude humor, but does that make the story less interesting or realistic?

What do you guys think? How can I get my characters to man up?

Stuck Again

Ack! My story has come to a complete halt. The problem is the first book doesn't have any battles or action scenes. It's about Athens and Sparta trying to unite the Hellenes and Artabanus trying to prevent Persia from going to war. Not overly interesting in and of itself, but important to the story. A few characters have some adventures, but other than that I need to make unexciting events exciting. So if you have any ideas, I'd be happy to hear them. (^_^);

Robert Jordan Passes Away

I'm sad to report that one of my favorite authors, Robert Jordan, has passed away. The WoT series is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time and I can't express how much fun it's been to read it. Robert Jordan will be missed by his fans.

Writer's Block

For the past few weeks I've been dealing with Writer's Block, a pesky imp that lurks in dark places and chases away the Muses. I haven't been able to think of any way to bring certain elements of my novel together smoothly and I blame this nasty little customer. It bites at my ankles and taunts me a lot, trying to get me to feel like a complete failure. Then I read Scott Oden and George RR Martin's blogs and apparently every author has had to deal with orcs and imps and other kind of writing fiends, so I know I'm not alone. Luckily last night a Muse made a quick visit to my brain to drop off an idea. I'm excited about it and hopefully something will come of it. Stay tuned.

P.S. Finish your novel, Scott Oden! Some people want to read it!!

Group Tours To Greece?

For the past month I've been trying to plan a trip to Greece that allows me to hit Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Delphi. Unfortunately I've come to the realization that NOBODY wants to visit Sparta. I keep looking up tours for Greece and could see every major city except Sparta. Of course I could just arrange my own tour but I don't want to travel by myself.

If anyone knows of a group tour going to Greece that goes through these cities by all means let me know. I've only found one tour that stops by Sparta and I'm looking for more. Thanks!