Combining
research with common sense, I have written six novels set in archaic
Sparta.
Leonidas
Trilogy:
Leonidas.
The hero of Thermopylae. In 480 BC he would defy an army half a million
strong. This is his story: from his boyhood in the infamous Spartan
agoge to the final stand with the 300 at Thermopylae.
Leonidas of
Sparta: A Boy of the Agoge Fiction, published 2010
The younger of twins, Leonidas
was lucky not to be killed at birth. As a boy, he must prove
himself worthy of Spartan citizenship. Struggling to survive the harsh
Spartan upbringing without disgrace, he never expects that one day he
will be king or chosen to command the combined Greek forces fighting a
Persian invasion. But these were formative years that would
one day make him the most famous Spartan of them all: the hero of
Thermopylae.
Leonidas of
Sparta: A Peerless Peer Fiction, published 2011
The Agiad and Eurypontid kings are
at each other's throats, the Peloponnesian League is in
disarray, and the Greek cities of Ionia are calling on Sparta and
Athens to aid them in their rebellion against their Persian masters.
But Leonidas is less interested in high politics than in putting his
private life in order. He needs to find reliable helots to
restore his ruined estate, and – most important –
to find the right woman to be his bride. This is the story of
both Leonidas and Gorgo in the years before Leonidas becomes king of
Sparta and before the first Persian invasion of Greece.
Leonidas
of
Sparta: A Heroic King Fiction, published 2011
The Persians are collecting
the largest army ever seen. The Delphic oracle proclaims King Demaratus
of Sparta a usurper, and King Cleomenes is going mad. More
and more Spartans turn to Leonidas, Cleomenes' half brother
and son-in-law, to take the helm of the ship of state in what are
clearly going to be difficult times. But Leonidas is the
younger of twins, and his brother Cleombrotus has no intention of
letting Leonidas lay claim to the Agiad throne without a
fight. While the brothers clash, the murder of two Persian
ambassadors by an agitated Spartan Assembly sets in train the
inevitable conflict between Sparta and Persia that will take Leonidas
to Thermopylae – and into history.
The
Olympic
Charioteer Fiction, published
2005, Edited and re-released 2010
Two cities at war – Two men with Olympic ambitions – And one slave, the finest
charioteer in all Greece.
This is the story of a young
man’s journey from tragedy to triumph, and the tale of the
founding of the first nonaggression pact in recorded history: the
Peloponnesian League.
A free teacher
supplement
is also available for teachers using this novel in their classes.
Are
They
Singing
in Sparta? Fiction,
published
2006
The
revolutionary unrest that caused ancient Sparta to adopt the first
democratic constitution in the ancient world, and the bitter war that
followed, are the setting of this novel. These historical
events, the seeds of all subsequent Spartan development, are presented
through the eyes of an Athenian poet, a Spartan commander, and a young
widow.
A Spartan
Slave, Spartan Queen: Tale of Four Women of Sparta Fiction, published 2007
Two women are captured in a raid
and sold into slavery at the same time: the beautiful daughter of the
Arcadian king, Niobe, and her ugly "barbarian"
handmaiden, Mika. While Niobe becomes the concubine of one of
Sparta's princes, Mika is an ordinary slave in the house of an ordinary
citizen's wife. The novel explores the impact of beauty on
four women's lives in an ancient context. This book is a
sequel to Are They Singing in Sparta?
Under SOURCES
you will find the research materials I used in these books and website.
These materials are also additional
recommendations of both fiction and nonfiction books, including
selected ancient and modern sources, for your own research and
reading pleasure.
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