The Athenian Navy was the most powerful the world had yet seen. But how powerful is that? Here are some totally spurious comparisons with the most powerful naval force in the world today, the United States Navy.
Let's start with ships of the line.
Themistocles convinced the Athenians to build 200 triremes. By the peak of their empire they probably had close to 300 triremes.
The United States Navy today has 287 commissioned ships according to their own web site.
So the two fleets were almost exactly the same size.
Of course, you might argue the USN has aircraft carriers (11) and nuclear attack submarines (54), which were distinctly lacking in the Athenian fleet. But keep in mind both fleets are the absolute state of the art for their times.
You can be quite sure Themistocles, who clearly belonged to the peace-through-superior-firepower school of international diplomacy, would have had the Athenians building aircraft carriers if only he'd known about them.
In fact a trireme is the equivalent of a modern destroyer. The trireme was a floating battering ram, the first ship in history designed purely to sink other ships, and the fastest thing on the seas. They even had roughly the same crew size: 200 on a trireme versus 280 for a destroyer.
If you think of the Athenian fleet as being like 300 modern destroyers, you're not far wrong. That's a force strong enough to wipe out almost any navy afloat today.
But wait! We're still not making a fair comparison. America is much larger than Athens.
The population of Classical Athens was about 200,000. The population of the United States is slightly more than 300,000,000. Yet they put the same number of ships on the water. Clearly America can afford to invest much less per person and still get a bigger bang. Let's equalize the naval investment per capita.
Adjusting so there are the same number of ships per head of population, the USN is reduced from 287 to one fifth of a destroyer. My money's on the triremes, even if we don't adjust for 2,500 years of technological advance.
Let's try it the other way. If the US made the same per capita naval investment the Athenians did, they would have not 287 ships, but 430,000. No, I didn't type too many zeroes. Even if you count each carrier as worth a thousand destroyers there's still no comparison. Granted it's impossible to compare across such time with any accuracy, but it seems clear there's no nation today making anything like the naval investment Athens did.
The same outrageous ratios apply when you compare the Athenians to their neighbours. The next largest fleet at the time was Corinth, and they had all of 40 triremes. 40 against 300.
The Athenian fleet was huge.
Songs of antiquity
I think this deserves a new post. The comments on forthcoming titles has devolved (elevated?) into some punny song titles. I want to particularly point out:
Like A Rolling Stone. Duet sung by Bob Dylan and Sisyphus. Courtesy of Loretta.
Get Bacchae (to Where You Once Belonged). Courtesy of Peter Rozovsky. I note in passing this song includes a mention of a Loretta.
You Can Call Me Alcestis. Sung as a duet by Paul Simon and Peter Rozovsky.
My own inadequate contribution are these lyrics, to the tune of Rust Never Sleeps:
Hey, hey,
My, my,
Prometheus will never die,
It's better in Hades,
Than chained to a rock,
With your liver exposed,
To a ravenous flock.
To which Peter adds:
Liver And Let Die.
Any others?
Like A Rolling Stone. Duet sung by Bob Dylan and Sisyphus. Courtesy of Loretta.
Get Bacchae (to Where You Once Belonged). Courtesy of Peter Rozovsky. I note in passing this song includes a mention of a Loretta.
You Can Call Me Alcestis. Sung as a duet by Paul Simon and Peter Rozovsky.
My own inadequate contribution are these lyrics, to the tune of Rust Never Sleeps:
Hey, hey,
My, my,
Prometheus will never die,
It's better in Hades,
Than chained to a rock,
With your liver exposed,
To a ravenous flock.
To which Peter adds:
Liver And Let Die.
Any others?
The Phantom of the Great Dionysia
The Phantom of the Great Dionysia is up on Robert's blog. Enjoy!
The Great Dionysia was the major arts festival in Athens, held in the theatre on the south side of the Acropolis. Most of the great Greek plays were written specifically for the Great Dionysia.
The Great Dionysia was the major arts festival in Athens, held in the theatre on the south side of the Acropolis. Most of the great Greek plays were written specifically for the Great Dionysia.
Forthcoming titles
I am proud to announce these future titles, which were brainstormed over twitter between the clever Robert Greaves and myself. I take full responsibility for the offensive bits.
Orpheus vs The Undead. Having screwed up getting his wife Eurydice out of Hades, Orpheus finds himself attacked by hordes of Undead, led by his somewhat annoyed wife.
The Seven Against Thebes Meet The Seven Samurai. The two bands of warriors, having completed their respective noble missions, meet halfway to determine which of them are the better Real Men. Contains graphic violence and really good sex scenes.
Zeus and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. A confused student in Plato's Academy contemplates the meaning of life, and wonders whatever happened to that rather bright fellow student, Aristotle.
Fear and Loathing in Ephesus. Two guys, one of them a sophist, both high on burned cannabis seeds, pilot a boat to Ephesus. They may or may not get there.
The Phantom of the Great Dionysia. A distressed psyche is haunting the public theatre of Athens. Or is it a hidden, deformed man? We won't know the truth until it bonks Aspasia.
This came up in a conversation in which I argued that the zombies improved Pride & Prejudice. Jane Austen is possibly the greatest writer in the English language ever. Which means P&P is really good chicklit. But it's still chicklit. From the male POV, adding the zombies fixed the only serious defect in her work. Gary ducks for cover and runs away.
Orpheus vs The Undead. Having screwed up getting his wife Eurydice out of Hades, Orpheus finds himself attacked by hordes of Undead, led by his somewhat annoyed wife.
The Seven Against Thebes Meet The Seven Samurai. The two bands of warriors, having completed their respective noble missions, meet halfway to determine which of them are the better Real Men. Contains graphic violence and really good sex scenes.
Zeus and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. A confused student in Plato's Academy contemplates the meaning of life, and wonders whatever happened to that rather bright fellow student, Aristotle.
Fear and Loathing in Ephesus. Two guys, one of them a sophist, both high on burned cannabis seeds, pilot a boat to Ephesus. They may or may not get there.
The Phantom of the Great Dionysia. A distressed psyche is haunting the public theatre of Athens. Or is it a hidden, deformed man? We won't know the truth until it bonks Aspasia.
This came up in a conversation in which I argued that the zombies improved Pride & Prejudice. Jane Austen is possibly the greatest writer in the English language ever. Which means P&P is really good chicklit. But it's still chicklit. From the male POV, adding the zombies fixed the only serious defect in her work. Gary ducks for cover and runs away.
Dana and Sophie nominated for Edgars
The Edgar nominations are out, and two of our friends are in the running!
Sophie Littlefield is nominated for best first novel by an American author. Here's the list:
The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster - Touchstone)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books Thomas Dunne Books)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)
Dana Cameron is nominated for best short story!
"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim
Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
"Animal Rescue" Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
"Amapola" Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)
The last time I mentioned Dana, I was telling you she won the Macavity for a different short story, The Night Things Changed, and before that she won an Agatha too. This should be a hint to rush out and read every short story she's written.
Good luck to both of you in the Edgars!
Sophie Littlefield is nominated for best first novel by an American author. Here's the list:
The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster - Touchstone)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books Thomas Dunne Books)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)
Dana Cameron is nominated for best short story!
"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim
Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
"Animal Rescue" Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
"Amapola" Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)
The last time I mentioned Dana, I was telling you she won the Macavity for a different short story, The Night Things Changed, and before that she won an Agatha too. This should be a hint to rush out and read every short story she's written.
Good luck to both of you in the Edgars!
The ages of Greece
I want to clear up all the different terms used for Greek historical periods, because I use them from time to time. Some are so vague as to be almost useless, some are quite precise, and unfortunately they're often used interchangably.
Ancient Greece is a vague term meaning almost any time from the stone age to the fall of the Roman Empire. People tend to misuse it as a synonym for the combined Archaic + Classical periods. I'm a serial offender. Sorry.
Now for the rest in chronological order:
Minoan Civilization
is pre-Greek but is usually lumped in, because Greek cultural memory begins with the Minoans. Think Palace of Knossos, Minos, Labyrinth, Minotaur (my publisher!) and interesting dresses for the ladies. Women's fashion declined sadly when Minoan civilization fell. The Minoans lived in the Bronze Age to about 1500BC (your mileage may vary on these dates).
Mykenaean Civilisation is the beginning of the Greeks. The transition from Minoan to Mykenaean culture looks almost seamless from our distance. Mykenai, Argos, Thebes and Athens are all well-established cities. (They were before too, but now they're serious cities.) The Minoans and Mykenaeans were really quite advanced peoples. It also appears to have been a relatively peaceful time with lots of trade. About 1600BC to 1200BC.
The Dark Ages. No, not the Dark Ages we know, but one which came long before. There's been more than one period when civilization fell. A tribe of Greeks called the Dorians invaded from the north and messed things up big time. All learning and civilization was lost. The next 400 years were awful to live in, but this is also the Age of Heroes.
Homer's stories take place in the Dark Ages. Homer himself probably lived during the transition from the Dark Ages to the Archaic Period.
Archaic Period. The Greeks and their neighbours drag themselves out of the Dark Ages. They rebuild civilization, recover what was lost and go on to add much more. The invention of writing and money, massive advances in realistic art and architecture. The birth of philosophy. The Constitution of Solon begins the drive to democracy. In terms of cultural advance it was very much like the Renaissance. 800BC to 480BC. At last the dates become solid. The Archaic Period ends precisely on the Persian Wars. Nicolaos was born in 480BC.
Periclean Athens. Athens puts the culture pedal to the floor and you can't see them for the dust. Everything the Archaic Period was building towards explodes into 50 glorious years. Also called The Golden Age. Western civilization is founded. Somehow, at least 12 world-class geniuses were born at the same time into a place the size of a small modern town plus surrounds. When people say Ancient Greece, it's usually Periclean Athens they're thinking of. Periclean Athens is really just a subset of and the beginning of the Classical Period.
Classical Period. Stretches from the Persian Wars to the amazing victories of Alexander. Athens blunders around after the death of Pericles in 429BC and eventually loses its empire, but Athens' position as the School of Greece goes on. This is very much the time of Plato and Aristotle. Toward the end, a military genius called Philip of Macedon does the seemingly impossible by uniting the Greek city states. Philip would be remembered today as the greatest commander Greece ever produced, if he hadn't produced a son called Alexander.
Alexandrian Age. Like Pericles, he defined his time. He took over from Philip in 336BC and proceeded to conquer the entire known world. In 13 years.
Hellenistic Period. Begins with the death of Alexander in 323BC, and ends with the death of Hypatia in 415AD. These 738 years cover almost the entire period of Roman world rule. It's called Hellenistic because Greek learning and culture dominated even though Greece was reduced to a backwater. The Library of Alexandria was built early in the Hellenistic period. Hypatia lived at the peak of ancient learning. After her death, human knowledge begins to slip away. No one will equal her learning until the Renaissance is well underway, 1000 years later. The Ages of Greece are over.
So my stories are all set firmly inside the Golden Age. Nico's birth date has been carefully arranged so we can see all the excitement.
Ancient Greece is a vague term meaning almost any time from the stone age to the fall of the Roman Empire. People tend to misuse it as a synonym for the combined Archaic + Classical periods. I'm a serial offender. Sorry.
Now for the rest in chronological order:
Minoan Civilization
is pre-Greek but is usually lumped in, because Greek cultural memory begins with the Minoans. Think Palace of Knossos, Minos, Labyrinth, Minotaur (my publisher!) and interesting dresses for the ladies. Women's fashion declined sadly when Minoan civilization fell. The Minoans lived in the Bronze Age to about 1500BC (your mileage may vary on these dates).Mykenaean Civilisation is the beginning of the Greeks. The transition from Minoan to Mykenaean culture looks almost seamless from our distance. Mykenai, Argos, Thebes and Athens are all well-established cities. (They were before too, but now they're serious cities.) The Minoans and Mykenaeans were really quite advanced peoples. It also appears to have been a relatively peaceful time with lots of trade. About 1600BC to 1200BC.
The Dark Ages. No, not the Dark Ages we know, but one which came long before. There's been more than one period when civilization fell. A tribe of Greeks called the Dorians invaded from the north and messed things up big time. All learning and civilization was lost. The next 400 years were awful to live in, but this is also the Age of Heroes.
Homer's stories take place in the Dark Ages. Homer himself probably lived during the transition from the Dark Ages to the Archaic Period.
Archaic Period. The Greeks and their neighbours drag themselves out of the Dark Ages. They rebuild civilization, recover what was lost and go on to add much more. The invention of writing and money, massive advances in realistic art and architecture. The birth of philosophy. The Constitution of Solon begins the drive to democracy. In terms of cultural advance it was very much like the Renaissance. 800BC to 480BC. At last the dates become solid. The Archaic Period ends precisely on the Persian Wars. Nicolaos was born in 480BC.
Periclean Athens. Athens puts the culture pedal to the floor and you can't see them for the dust. Everything the Archaic Period was building towards explodes into 50 glorious years. Also called The Golden Age. Western civilization is founded. Somehow, at least 12 world-class geniuses were born at the same time into a place the size of a small modern town plus surrounds. When people say Ancient Greece, it's usually Periclean Athens they're thinking of. Periclean Athens is really just a subset of and the beginning of the Classical Period.
Classical Period. Stretches from the Persian Wars to the amazing victories of Alexander. Athens blunders around after the death of Pericles in 429BC and eventually loses its empire, but Athens' position as the School of Greece goes on. This is very much the time of Plato and Aristotle. Toward the end, a military genius called Philip of Macedon does the seemingly impossible by uniting the Greek city states. Philip would be remembered today as the greatest commander Greece ever produced, if he hadn't produced a son called Alexander.
Alexandrian Age. Like Pericles, he defined his time. He took over from Philip in 336BC and proceeded to conquer the entire known world. In 13 years.
Hellenistic Period. Begins with the death of Alexander in 323BC, and ends with the death of Hypatia in 415AD. These 738 years cover almost the entire period of Roman world rule. It's called Hellenistic because Greek learning and culture dominated even though Greece was reduced to a backwater. The Library of Alexandria was built early in the Hellenistic period. Hypatia lived at the peak of ancient learning. After her death, human knowledge begins to slip away. No one will equal her learning until the Renaissance is well underway, 1000 years later. The Ages of Greece are over.
So my stories are all set firmly inside the Golden Age. Nico's birth date has been carefully arranged so we can see all the excitement.
Gary spends the day with the ladies of Pens Fatales
I'm guest blogging today at Pens Fatales! In which I reveal the existence of Mysteria, the Muse of Mystery Writing.
The Pens are eight ladies who write great books. I met a third of the team at Bouchercon, where they promptly declared themselves my new fashion consultants. I'm in capable hands. The Pens set a high benchmark for coolness themselves.
The Pens are eight ladies who write great books. I met a third of the team at Bouchercon, where they promptly declared themselves my new fashion consultants. I'm in capable hands. The Pens set a high benchmark for coolness themselves.
A writing exercise
There are many interesting writing exercises. Here's one:
Describe a character purely by describing a room they've been in. How much information about the person can you transmit?
Describe a character purely by describing a room they've been in. How much information about the person can you transmit?
Gosh, and to think I knew him before he was famous
In huge news, my agent-sibling Patrick Lee has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list in position #29 with his debut thriller The Breach. He'll be going up from there. Promise.
Purely to point out my prescience, I'll mention I wrote the following about Patrick in October last year, before The Breach was even released:
Purely to point out my prescience, I'll mention I wrote the following about Patrick in October last year, before The Breach was even released:
Patrick Lee. You're going to be reading The Breach. It's scary how good it is. Patrick and I talked a little about his next story. He's such a quiet, unassuming guy, but he comes up with plots I couldn't have thought of in a million years. The moment I heard it I was fascinated. You will be too.Yay for Patrick!
The Twa Corbies
Now for something completely different. It's all about me, or rather, my surname.
Corby means raven in mediaeval Scottish and English dialects. Ravens are scavengers (yep, that sounds about right). In fact there is a mediaeval poem/song called The Twa Corbies. There are lots of versions; here's one in modern English:
As I was walking all alone,
I heard two corbies make a moan,
The one unto the other said,
Where shall we go this day to dine?
Behind that old earthen dyke,
I see there lies a new-slain knight,
And none do know that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.
His hound is to the hunting gone,
His hawk to fetch the wild fowl home,
His lady's taken another mate,
So we can eat our dinner sweet.
You'll sit upon his neck bones,
While I pluck out his eyes of blue,
With his locks of golden hair,
We'll patch our nest when it grows bare.
Many a one for him is grieving,
But none shall know where he is gone,
Over his bones when they are bare,
The wind will blow forever more.
Which proves we Corbies have had a morbid interest in dead bodies for centuries.
Corby means raven in mediaeval Scottish and English dialects. Ravens are scavengers (yep, that sounds about right). In fact there is a mediaeval poem/song called The Twa Corbies. There are lots of versions; here's one in modern English:
As I was walking all alone,
I heard two corbies make a moan,
The one unto the other said,
Where shall we go this day to dine?
Behind that old earthen dyke,
I see there lies a new-slain knight,
And none do know that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.
His hound is to the hunting gone,
His hawk to fetch the wild fowl home,
His lady's taken another mate,
So we can eat our dinner sweet.
You'll sit upon his neck bones,
While I pluck out his eyes of blue,
With his locks of golden hair,
We'll patch our nest when it grows bare.
Many a one for him is grieving,
But none shall know where he is gone,
Over his bones when they are bare,
The wind will blow forever more.
Which proves we Corbies have had a morbid interest in dead bodies for centuries.
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