Sailing the Wine Dark Sea - An Interview with Author, Glyn Iliffe

I've got a real treat for everyone this week. 

Over the years, I've read a lot of historical fiction/fantasy novels set in the ancient world. I've enjoyed most of them, but there is one series of books that makes me say 'Yes! That's how it's done!'

I first picked up King of Ithaca while roaming my public library's stacks looking for some new fiction. I thought the take on Odysseus' well-known story sounded intriguing, so I took it home and gave it a try. 

I'm so glad I did! It's one of the best historical fantasy novels I have EVER read (and I don't say that lightly). The male and female characters were so real, the world of Mycenaean Greece so vivid, that I was just drawn into the tale. From there, I went on to devour the other books. 

And now, there is a new book in the series entitled, The Oracles of Troy. 

Today I'm very happy to have author Glyn Iliffe on Writing the Past to talk about history, writing, and the fantastic world of The Adventures of Odysseus. 

WP: What got you interested in historical fiction in the first place? Was it a particular book?

GI: Writing historical fiction is just a marriage of two of my favourite things: writing and history. I’ve wanted to be an author since primary school. Nothing else appealed then or has since. The love of history comes from my dad. He was in the army before I was born, but he had shelves full of books about military history. I read these enthusiastically and it’s probably still my preferred branch of history to this day, even ahead of ancient Greece. In my younger days I was more a fantasy fiction fan (Tolkien and Edgar Rice Burroughs were top of my list), but I still remember the first histfic novel I read was The Happy Return by C S Forester. As far as characters go, Hornblower is a masterpiece.

WP: You really bring a place to life in your writing. Have you travelled to all the places you have written about, and how important do you think travelling is for writing historical fiction/fantasy?

GI: I’ve travelled to most of them - Ithaca, the Peloponnese, Mycenae, Delphi and so on - and I found it a real help to get an understanding of the lay of the land. But it still needs a lot of imagination to describe these places as they might have appeared in the Bronze Age. One difficulty is that the Trojan War occurred a very long time ago and the geography, flora, fauna and weather have changed somewhat in the three thousand or so years since then. The great bay in front of Troy silted up hundreds of years ago, for example. Another issue is that I’m trying to recreate the mythological/historical world described by Homer. If you read his descriptions of Troy you get the impression of a vast city housing many thousands of people. He fills you with a sense of awe. The actual site of Troy, though, is quite small and doesn’t lend much to the imagination. So I tend to exaggerate all the towns and cities I describe to give them the glory and majesty they would have been viewed with at the time. If I didn’t most modern readers would be a little underwhelmed.

WP: There are so many larger-than-life characters in the Iliad and Odyssey. What made you pick Odysseus from among the rest?

GI: Several reasons, all of them good. The original plan was to tell the story of the Trojan War in its entirety, from cause to conclusion. It wasn’t intended to be a series about one character, I just wanted to help people form a wider and deeper understanding of the whole tapestry of myths rather than the best known elements such as Helen of Troy, Achilles and the Trojan Horse. As with most series, though, I needed a character to tell the story through. Odysseus was the best choice for this. He was there when Helen was married, he was one of the key players throughout the ten years of the war and - very importantly - Homer gives him an epic poem all to himself for his journey home. No other character is present for the whole thirty-year span of the Trojan myth cycle. Besides that, he’s more complex than the likes of Agamemnon, Ajax or Achilles: a lowly king who has to work hard to earn his place at the top table; a thinker, schemer, orator and a warrior with more depth than some of his glory-seeking peers; a family man driven reluctantly from his home into a war he doesn’t want to fight; a character of dubious morality and yet somehow more humane than his contemporaries. All in all, with his strengths and weaknesses he is much more “modern” than the other Homeric characters, and that is key to engaging the reader.

WP: Academia often frowns on the popularization of history through movies, books and other media. How do you reconcile your academic background with your writing?

GI: Greek mythology carries a lot of baggage. On the one hand there’s a good deal of snobbery about it. I’ve had feedback from people on Amazon who are disappointed that I don’t take a high-brow approach to these stories. That doesn’t bother me, as I want my books to be accessible to anyone, not just those people who love ancient Greece. The most important thing is the story itself, and that’s where academic criticism falls down. Like all mythology, the original tales were designed to convey essential messages about the real world in a format that was engaging and entertaining. If I aimed my books at the academic level I think I’d be missing the true essence of what these myths are about.

On the other hand, I think Hollywood approaches Greek mythology at an angle that is far too low-brow. Clash of the Titans and the recent film about Hercules, for example, just want to project muscles, explosions and over-the-top monsters on to the screen. The sad thing is their multi-million dollar CG extravaganzas completely overlook the intelligence, emotion and basic humanity of these fantastic tales.

WP: What is your favourite historical fiction/fantasy novel (and why)?

GI: You said favourite, so I’m going to be honest. It has to be The Lord of the Rings. A boring answer, I know, especially for anyone looking for a new book to read. But it’s true. I re-read it every two or three years and I’m just drawn into a complete fantasy world that never disappoints (except for the fact they’re too short - after the Grey Havens I just want to keep reading).

WP: Do you envision yourself writing in Bronze Age Greece only, or are there other periods you would like to explore? Is there a historic person in particular whose story you would like to tell?

GI: I’m tempted by Heracles, but maybe not for a while. The historical period I’d most like to write about at the moment is the Great War. For much too long I’ve turned aside from studying this vital period in history because of the common perception that all the death and suffering was for nothing. There isn’t the same sense of futility with the Second World War. But a couple of years ago I started to explore the Great War a little more and now I’ve become hooked on it. Almost all the stereotypes I knew have been exploded and to be honest I feel I’ve been cheated for too long by modern interpretations. Worse still, I think the men who fought that war have been cheated. What I’d like to do is write a series of novels that attempts to honour the memory of those men and the reasons for their sacrifice. So instead of portraying a single historical person, I’d like to do justice to the soldiers who fought on the Western Front and perhaps dispel some of the purely negative mythology attached to them. The problem is that the market will be saturated with Great War novels for some time, so it might be difficult to find a gap.

WP: Many authors struggle for years to break out or get noticed, and from what you say on your website, you had just such an experience. In hindsight, is there anything you would do differently? Do you have any advice for new historical fiction/fantasy authors?

GI: Yes it took a while. I started writing King of Ithaca in 1999 and it was rejected 38 times before I was offered a contract in 2006. It hasn’t been much easier since, either. If I could go back to 1999 (or earlier) and give myself some advice, I would say “have more faith”. Writers need to believe in themselves to succeed. When sending a synopsis and sample chapters to a publisher or agent, they’re much more likely to pay attention if the writer sounds upbeat about the book and their own talents.

The first bit of advice I would give any historical writer is to remember that plot should be secondary to character. An exciting storyline can only go so far in engaging readers; it’s more important they care about the people you’ve created if they’re to continue to the last page. When a reader invests emotionally in your characters then, as an author, you’ve succeeded.

Another thing is that research is vital and takes time, but don’t feel the need to include everything you’ve learned in your story. You should do enough to feel comfortable with the place and era you’re describing, which will then come through in what you write. But don’t be tempted to bog the reader down with historical facts - leave that to the textbooks. Little details here and there should be enough to draw the reader in without hindering the flow of your story.

WP: Do you ever see your work being made into a movie? Who would play Odysseus and Eperitus?

GI: See my earlier comment about Hollywood. Obviously I’d be mad to turn down a movie offer, but judging by what has been done so far with Greek mythology I dread to think what Hollywood would do to my characters and storyline. I would love the books to be made into a US TV series, though. You just have to look at the quality of The Wire, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead to realize the storytelling power of this medium. As for actors, that’s a tough one. I can’t think of anyone who just fits either role. Damian Lewis is a good actor and a natural redhead so might be an interesting choice for Odysseus. And maybe Norman Reedus (Daryl in The Walking Dead) would be a good Eperitus - quiet, thoughtful and mean.

WP: Do you have any writing rituals that you would like to share? What is a typical ‘writing day’ like for you?

GI: Over the years I’ve learned I have a writing ‘sweet spot’ that occurs in the middle of the afternoon. I average around 2,500 words a day, most of which get written between 2pm and 6pm. Knowing that, I usually start my writing day (which is Friday - I have another job the other four days of the week) with a cooked breakfast at a café in town. It’s a very old fashioned place with high ceilings, sash windows and listed wallpaper from the 1920s, but it’s got a great atmosphere and serves wonderful food. I usually sit there until 11am drinking tea with a couple of friends, then head home to start the day’s writing. It still takes me a while to get settled and one pitfall I have to avoid is the temptation to look at e-mails, the internet or play games. It’s always best to jump straight in - the sooner I force my brain into writing mode the better. My worst writing days are when I haven’t had enough sleep. My best are when I have a clear outline of what I’m going to write, so I can just slip straight into it and let the pistons of my imagination get pumping.

WP: What is your next project?

GI: I’m busy sorting out a paperback version of The Oracles of Troy, the fourth in my Odysseus series. I’m also a third of the way through the fifth book, currently entitled The Voyage of Odysseus. That’ll take me into 2015, with editing and so on, and then it’ll be on to the final episode in Odysseus’s adventures. I’ve also written a teenage novel set in the modern era, which I’m hoping to send out to agents and publishers soon. Then there’s another teenage novel rattling around my head that I’m quite excited about, but, as ever, it’s a matter of finding the time to get it on to paper.


I'd like to thank Glyn for taking the time to answer all my questions and give us some insight into his love of history and his writing life. 

I highly recommend The Adventures of Odysseus! The series will inspire you, make you rage, make you cry, and make you want to get stuck in there with sword, and shield, and spear alongside all the heroes that have haunted story and myth since that long-ago war beneath the walls of Troy. 

Be sure to check out Glyn's website to find out more about the series. You can also connect with him on Twitter. 

His books are available on both Amazon and Kobo. 

As ever, thank you for reading. 

Brauron – The Sanctuary of Artemis, Defender of Children

“Muse, sing of Artemis, sister of the Far-Shooter, the virgin who delights in arrows…” 

(Homeric Hymn IX)

It was early January in Attica, Greece, a few years ago, and I remember it clearly. I drove out of Athens on a grey day that could dampen anyone’s post-holiday spirits.

The New Year had come and gone, copious amounts of food and wine having been consumed. A new adventure was needed.

My destination on that rainy day? - The Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron.

I drove the forty two kilometres from Athens to Brauron, passing dark, rocky mountains and hills covered in deep green foliage. Greece is a very different place in the winter. This was another one of those journeys in which I didn’t know what to expect.

I had never heard of Brauron or of an Attic sanctuary of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, protector of young girls and women in childbirth.

The car splashed its way over tiny roads and through villages lost to the outside world. As I drove past, the few heads that poked out of windows followed my progress like in some eerie back-woods movie setting.

Finally, I came to my destination. I parked the car on the side of the road and stopped for a moment to listen to the pattering of the rain on the roof. I wiped my foggy window and could just make out a set of grey columns standing sentry in the rain. I put on my rain gear and jumped out.  

The gate to the site was open and no one was at the booth. So I walked into the sanctuary.

My initial reaction was one of sadness. I don’t know why, but the rain seemed fitting then, as though the gods wept for something.

This is a place of great antiquity.

Supposedly, Brauron has been inhabited since the early Mycenaean age. Legend has it that the sanctuary of Artemis was established by none other than Iphegeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae.

Iphegeneia is brought to Aulis in this painting:
'The Anger of Achilles' by Jacques-Louis David (1819)

Here is a brief summary for those of you who do not know her story. The Greek army, led by Agamemnon, was stuck at Aulis because of bad weather which prevented them from setting out for Troy.

This was said to be due to an offense done to Artemis. Calchas, the high king’s seer, told Agamemnon that the only way for the goddess to be appeased and for the winds to abate was for him to sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigeneia, to the goddess.

The young girl was brought to Aulis under the pretence that she was to marry the hero Achilles, and when she arrived, Agamemnon did the unthinkable.

Euripides opens his play Ipheigeneia in Tauris. Iphegeneia speaks:

“Child of the man of torment and of pride

Tantalid Pelops bore a royal bride

On flying steeds from Pisa. Thence did spring

Atreus: from Atreus, linked king with king,

Menelaus, Agamemnon. His am I

And Clytemnestra’s child: whom cruelly

At Aulis, where the strait of the shifting blue

Frets with quick winds, for Helen’s sake he slew,

Or thinks to have slain; such sacrifice he swore

To Artemis on that deep-bosomed shore.

For there Lord Agamemnon, hot with joy

To win for Greece the crown of conquered Troy,

For Menelaus’ sake through all distress

Pursuing Helen’s vanished loveliness,

Gathered his thousand ships from every coast

Of Hellas: when there fell on that great host

Storms and despair of sailing. Then the King

Sought signs of fire, and Calchas answering

Spake thus: “O Lord of Hellas, from this shore

No ship of thine may move for evermore,

Till Artemis receive in gift of blood

Thy child, Iphegeneia. Long hath stood

Thy vow, to pay to Her that bringeth light

Whatever birth most fair by day or night

The year should bring. That year thy queen did

Bear

A child – whom here I name of all most fair.

See that she die.”

So from my mother’s side

By lies Odysseus won me, to be bride

In Aulis to Achilles. When I came,

They took me and above the altar flame

Held, and the sword was swinging to the gash,

When, lo, out of their vision in a flash

Artemis rapt me, leaving in my place

A deer to bleed; and on through a great space

Of shining sky upbore and in this town

Of Tauris the Unfriended set me down;

Where o’er a savage people savagely

King Thoas rules. This is her sanctuary

And I her priestess. Therefore, by the rite

Of worship here, wherein she hath delight –

Though fair in naught but name. …But Artemis

Is near; I speak no further…”

(Iphegeneia in Tauris; Euripides; c.413 B.C)

Even in translation, the words Euripides gives to this tragic girl are powerful, moving.

Thankfully, the goddess Artemis is said to have substituted another sacrifice for the girl Iphegeneia and taken her far away to be a priestess in her temple at Tauris, in the Crimea. She spent years there away from her mother, Clytemnestra, and her brother, Orestes. She also lived knowing her own father had been ready to end her life.

Orestes meets Electra at the tomb of their father

The Trojan War played itself out and Agamemnon made his way home to be murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. About seven years later, Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, returns from Athens and with encouragement from his sister, Electra, kills his mother and her lover.

Orestes is pursued by the Furies for his deeds but then Apollo orders him to go to Tauris in order to take the wooden cult statue of Artemis and bring it back to Athens. Euripides tells how Orestes goes to Tauris and eventually sees his sister Iphegeneia there. They are reunited and she helps him to take the statue and together they return to Attica where she establishes the Sanctuary of Artemis.

Here, the Goddess Athena speaks to Iphegeneia before she leaves Tauris:

“…Iphegeneia, by the stair

Of Brauron in the rocks, the Key shalt bear

Of Artemis. There shalt thou live and die,

And there have burial. And a gift shall lie

Above thy shrine, fair raiment undefiled

Left upon earth by mothers dead with child.”

(Iphegeneia in Tauris; Euripides)

Iphegeheia is said to have spent the remainder of her days at Brauron.

Apollo blesses Orestes and tells him to go to Tauris
Clytemnestra's shade and a Fury look on

The cult of Artemis at Brauron died out after the Mycenaean age but was re-established from the 9^th century B.C. on. Eventually, the cult of Artemis was brought to Athens. After that, there was a procession every four years from the Temple of Artemis Brauronia on the Athenian Acropolis to Brauron, in honour of the goddess and her priestess, Iphegeneia.

But what was the purpose of the sanctuary besides the honour of the goddess?

It seems that the sanctuary also functioned as a sort of orphanage or fostering place for young girls who served the goddess from about five to ten years of age. They performed rituals which included sacred dances in which they acted like bears. In fact, the girls were called ‘arktoi’, or ‘the bears’. This odd tradition of the bears is said to commemorate the slaying of one of Artemis’ sacred bears by one of the girls’ brothers. The ‘Arkteia’ was a service to the goddess in which young girls would transition from childhood to puberty and marriageable age.

Votive statues of children from the site at Brauron museum

At Brauron, Artemis was worshipped as a protector of girls and women in childbirth. Women who survived childbirth dedicated a set of clothes to the goddess. The clothes of women who died in childbirth were, in turn, dedicated to Iphegeneia.

I imagine a lot of hope springing up in this place, but also much sadness.

Once you cross the 5^th century bridge into the sanctuary you come to the unusual p-shaped stoa which has what are thought to be dining rooms or, more likely, rooms for the girls living within the sanctuary. Inside, you can still see places where their sleeping pallets might have been and the doors posts carved into the marble.

The stoa is known as the ‘Stoa of Bears’.

View of the remains of Artemis' temple

I walked along the paving slabs on that rainy day, peeking into the small rooms and wondering at the children who would have been there. Were they peasants or nobility? Were their parents killed by war or plague? Were they sent there in fulfillment of a vow? Who did they have left in the world?

It must have been a frightening prospect to leave the safety of the sanctuary as well. What must a young girl have thought when she turned ten and knew that her time had come to perform the sacred dance one last time before going out into the world. Ancient Greece was not so kind a place for women. They were seen as vessels to be kept indoors.

A good thing they had Artemis to look over them, and to see them through childbirth.

The stoa courtyard was overgrown with sodden grass when I was there, and the ruins of the small Temple of Artemis were minimal.

View of the 'Stoa of Bears'

As I made my way through the site, I eventually came to a small cave-like recess that was supposed to be a shrine to Iphegeneia, that sad daughter of Agamemnon.

The rain stopped here, and the skin prickled on the back of my neck.

For how long had this first priestess of Brauron been honoured here? Ages, it seemed.

I let my imagination go in the sanctuary and could hear the laughter of little girls playing, or their lonely cries upon their straw pallets. I could see them mimicking the bears for which they were named and hear the sound of their voices raised in song to Artemis, their protectress.

From Brauron’s beginnings as a sacred site, each of those little girls likely stood where I was standing and remembered Iphegeneia and her plight. I thought of how they must have wept at her sad story and perhaps felt better about their own lives that led them to that place in the green hills of Attica.

The Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron is a very special place.

Votive statue of a young girl

When I crossed back over that classical bridge and made out way back to the car, I turned at the gate and looked back through the driving rain one last time.

Usually, when I leave an ancient site or sanctuary, I feel uplifted and at peace. Not so with Brauron.

Upon leaving Brauron, my heart was in a bit of turmoil, and still is when I think back on it.

It is place of conflicting emotions wrapped in myth and legend.

It is a great comfort in some ways to know that this was a place where young girls were protected, watched over by their patron goddess who saved the first priestess; this, in an ancient, male-dominated world of war and superstition.

On the other hand, as I turned my back on the dark columns and sodden earth of the sanctuary, my sole, sad thought was for Iphegeneia whose father was so determined to sail for Troy that he was willing to perform such a heinous and tragic act.

Thus do myth, legend and history combine to shape our view of the places of the past.

Thank you for reading. 

This is a nicely done site map of the Brauron sanctuary
 by J.M. Harrington (map source: Wikipedia)