What wonderful invention! What fun! What a glorious mixture of humor and adventure and gruesomeness and tragedy we rollick through in these pages as Percy and Annabeth and all their friends battle it out with scores of monstrous enemies in order to try and forestall a war between gods that would shake the world to its core! Reading it, I felt plunged back into the world of my younger self, into a landscape where everything was possible, where gods and monsters lived in all kinds of guises and might not only pop up in your dreams but in your life too. But I also read it very much as an adult, as writer as well as reader, and was enormously impressed. For the series is more than just a very skillful, clever, imaginative use of the Greek myths in a wonderful fantasy adventure for kids. It delves into characters’ motivations, into their backstories, their troubles and traumas—especially Percy’s, as he tries to be brave and make sense of a world that has suddenly become bewildering and dangerous. It also successfully transposes the setting for the gods, heroes, and monsters. As the wheelchair-bound centaur tutor Chiron tells Percy, in chapter five of The Lightning Thief: The gods move with the heart of the West . . . What you call Western civilization. Do you think it’s just an abstract concept? No, it’s a living force. A living consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn’t possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated.
He tells Percy that this living force started in Greece and went on to Rome, Germany, Spain, France, England—wherever the flame of Western Civilization was strongest, there were the gods. And now they are in Percy’s own country, the United States: “Like it or not—and believe me, people weren’t very fond of Rome, either—America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here.”
A year or two before I read The Lightning Thief, I read Neil Gaiman’s extraordinary (adult) novel, American Gods, in which Gaiman imagines a United States in which all the gods brought over with the diverse multitudes of immigrants are struggling to keep their niches and make a home in a place which has half-forgotten them. They scratch out livings in corners and run various scams and get involved in all sorts of things, especially the trickster gods like the Norse god Loki and the West African god Anansi. It’s an amazing and vivid and detailed picture of a weird and yet totally believable world, and in many ways reading Percy Jackson reminded me of reading it. The Percy Jackson series is aimed at kids rather than adults, but it is just as strong and interesting and unusual, and does not underestimate its readership. And it is just as focused on the concept that it is America that is the new home of the gods, America where important, world-changing battles are fought.
For the non-American reader, that can be a bit of a challenge—and yet Riordan carries it off with such élan and pizzazz that you can’t be offended. You really enter into the whole idea. You feel as though he has completely, and successfully, re-imagined modern America as the new home of myth, where just about anything can happen. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, one of the characters (incidentally named after one of the Greek heroes, Theseus) talks of “airy nothings”—the enchanted world of myths and legends and fairy tales—being “given a local habitation and a name.” And that’s what Riordan has done, with his daring re-imagining of the myth in an American setting: He has given them a new “local habitation and a name.” And it works. In fact, it works very well.
But of course, if Percy’s country is the new home of the gods, then it follows it’s also the new haunt of the monsters. And like the gods, they’ve come back in forms different from how they presented themselves in the original myths. They, too, have moved with the times. They come at Percy from all angles, and he has to learn to fight them, as well as try to accept he’s actually a demigod. And through his fights with the monsters, as well as his confrontation with Hades, he also learns another important thing: that death may not be the ultimate enemy. No, the thing that crouches in the pit, waiting to rise again—the ironically timeless evil that is the Titan Kronos, devouring old Father Time himself—is the ultimate enemy. And he’s the scariest and most powerful monster of them all, for he devours everything.
I think about the child that I was, waking from that Medusa nightmare, and I know she would have loved this book. She would have carried it around with her, like she carried around the Tales of the Greek Heroes. She would have wished herself into Percy’s world (probably in Annabeth’s shoes, she sounds cool!) and tried out all the wonderful magic gifts and gadgets in her imagination. She would have wondered about whether she was brave enough to fight the monsters. Maybe she would even have dreamed of Medusa as a scary old lady in a warehouse full of statues.
For with this series Rick Riordan has accomplished something extraordinary: He has become a keeper of the flame, writing in the language of the heart. He is fighting Father Time and the wiping-out of memory and tradition by keeping alive the deepest old stories and traditions of the West, in a form that has renewed their glorious and grand and exciting and scary appeal for a whole new generation.
Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, of French parents, Sophie Masson came to Australia at the age of five and spent the rest of her childhood shuttling between France and Australia. She is the author of many novels for children, young adults, and adults, which have been published in many countries. Her latest U.S. publication is a fantasy adventure novel, Snow, Fire, Sword (HarperCollins, 2006), set in a magical, alternative-world version of modern Indonesia. Just out is The Case of the Diamond Shadow (ABC Books), a fun detective novel for young readers, set in the glamorous 1930s. And forthcoming in April 2009 is The Madman of Venice (Hodder Children’s Books), a mystery for older readers set in the magical, dangerous atmosphere of seventeenth-century Venice.
A Glossary of Ancient Greek Myth
Nigel Rodgers
A
Aegis
A sacred adornment of great importance, normally worn as a medallion or necklace around the chest of a god (or a man worshipped as a god, such as Alexander the Great), or carried on its own in solemn procession. Zeus, king of the gods, first gave an aegis to his daughter Athena, patron goddess of Athens, which made her invulnerable even to his thunderbolts. Fringed with snakes’ heads and decorated with images of the Gorgon—the dread creature that turned viewers to stone—the aegis brought victory to whichever side the god wearing it supported.
(See Athena, Perseus)
Aegean Sea
The main sea around Greece, which took its name from Aegeus, King of Athens. When Aegeus’ son Theseus, as a young man, sailed off to Crete as part of Athens’s tribute to the Minotaur, he promised his father that he would change the color of his ship’s sails from the normal black if he had returned safely. Although he did escape alive from Crete, Theseus failed to do so, and Aegeus threw himself, in grief, into the sea—which was thenceforth known by his name.
Aeneas
Son of the goddess Aphrodite and the Trojan prince Anchises, and hero of The Aeneid. Aeneas escaped from Troy as it fell, carrying his aged father. His subsequent wanderings around the Mediterranean led him to Carthage, where he had a passionate affair with Dido, the city’s founder and queen, and when his god-given duty called him reluctantly away, Dido in despair committed suicide. Aeneas then visited the Underworld to meet the ghost of his father, who had since died, and hear of his part in Rome’s future greatness before sailing on to Latium (now Lazio, central Italy). There Aeneas married Lavinia and founded Lavinium, a city on the coast that was the precursor to Rome. The Romans venerated Aeneas. Julius Caesar claimed to be descended from him, as did Augustus, during whose reign Virgil wrote The Aeneid.
(See Aphrodite, Trojan War)
Amazons
Female warriors. While real women in Greece were secluded indoors, unable to vote let alone fight, one mythical race rejected male dominance: the Amazons. Their name may come
from Amazona, meaning “without breasts,” for they reputedly cut off their right breasts in order to shoot better, but in Greek art they are always shown with both breasts. The Amazons lived in Pontus (the north coast of modern Turkey) and other remote, legend-misted regions around the Black Sea. Here they formed societies where the women ruled and men either did the domestic work or were excluded altogether. Above all, the Amazons fought, invading many territories and even founding cities such as Ephesus (on the Aegean coast of modern Turkey). Theseus of Athens, who had joined Hercules on one of his adventures, abducted Antiope, an Amazon princess, and took her home to Athens. In revenge the Amazons invaded Greece, and were only defeated right outside Athens. During the Trojan War, the Amazon queen Penthesilea went to Troy’s aid, fighting valiantly until killed by Achilles. Most unusually, Achilles wept at her death. Later, Alexander the Great reputedly loved an Amazon queen whom he encountered in central Asia.
(See Theseus)
Andromeda
Mythical princess, the daughter of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, and Cassiopeia. Andromeda rashly boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids, and the angry sea nymphs complained to Poseidon, the sea god, who sent a flood and monster to ravage the land. To appease the angry god, Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the monster. But Perseus, the hero who had just killed the hideous Medusa, saw Andromeda and fell in love with her. He killed the monster and married Andromeda, and their son (also named Perseus) became the ancestor of the Persians. Along with Cepheus and Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Perseus were later raised to the heavens as constellations.
(See Perseus)
Antaeus
Son of Poseidon and Gaia. Antaeus was a giant of great strength so long as he maintained contact with the ground. Once lifted into the air, all his strength vanished. He would challenge passersby to wrestle him; he would kill them and take their skulls to use as building material for a temple to his father. Hercules discovered Antaeus’ secret and defeated him in a wrestling match by lifting him into the air.
Aphrodite
Goddess of love and the most beautiful of the Olympian deities. Aphrodite was worshipped in many forms across the Mediterranean; doves were sacred to her and she was often shown attended by Eros, mischievous god of desire. However, Aphrodite had disconcertingly foul origins. The god Kronos, urged on by his mother Gaia, castrated his father Ouranos and threw the severed genitals into the sea. Out of the resulting foam rose Aphrodite, the “foam-born.” Blown ashore by Zephyrus, the west wind, she landed at Cyprus, where she was dressed and bejewelled by the Horae, goddesses embodying the four seasons. Now dazzlingly lovely, she caused amorous chaos on Olympus, for every god adored her. Zeus married her off to Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, but it did not prove a marriage made in heaven. Aphrodite soon grew bored with her lame (and ugly) husband and had an affair with Ares, the war god. When Hephaestus realized this, he threw a steel net over the sleeping couple that chained them to their bed. The other gods looked on, laughing. Aphrodite had affairs with other gods such as Hermes and men such as the Trojan prince Anchises (the father of her son Aeneas). Aphrodite’s beauty bewitched another Trojan prince, Paris, and when he was called on to judge who was the most beautiful, Athena, Hera, or Aphrodite, Paris chose the love goddess. In return he was gifted with great sex appeal, which won him the heart of Helen, the loveliest woman alive. Unfortunately, Helen was married already—to Menelaus, king of Sparta. By eloping with her, Paris started the Trojan War.
(See Aeneas, Ares, Athena, Eris, Hephaestus, Hera, Jason, Nereids, Ouranos)
Apollo
God of music, poetry, medicine, light, and science, and for many the archetypal Greek deity. Apollo was born with his twin sister Artemis on the island of Delos. His father was Zeus, king of the gods, and his mother Leto, a Titaness. The baby god was fed nectar and ambrosia rather than milk, giving him the strength he used to kill the serpent Pytho, which had molested his mother. He named the site of his victory Delphi, and it became the seat of his Oracle, the greatest in Greece. Each winter Apollo went far north to the land of the mysterious Hyperboreans in a chariot drawn by white swans, and returned with the spring. He was master of the lyre, Greece’s main musical instrument, and of the bow. On Mount Parnassus near Delphi he held court, playing his lyre and attended by the Nine Muses. Apollo could be dangerous if crossed. The satyr Marsyas rashly challenged him to a musical contest, and when Apollo won, he had Marsyas flayed alive. He could dispense sickness as well as medicine, sending plagues if angered. But generally Apollo was a beneficent god, honored by humans and the other Olympians. Depicted always as a serenely handsome, beardless young man, Apollo had many, often unhappy, love affairs, most notably with Daphne, a nymph. Apollo pursued her passionately but in vain, for she prayed to her father, the river god Peneus, and he turned her into a laurel tree just as the god was about to grasp her. One of his other love affairs was with the princess Coronis. When Apollo discovered she had left him, he shot her with one of his arrows, and repented of his rage too late to save her. Their son Asclepius was saved by the centaur Chiron, however, and grew up to be a divine healer. Apollo also fell in love with Hyacinthus, a Spartan prince, whom he taught to throw the discus. When Hyacinthus was killed by a flying discus, the first hyacinth flower sprang from the ground stained by his blood. Apollo was at times identified with Helios, the sun god, but they were really distinct deities.
(See Artemis, Delphi, Hecate, Helios, Hercules, Hermes, Laurel, Mount Olympus, Nymphs, Oracles, Orpheus, Python, Zeus)
Arachne
Daughter of a Lydian dyer, who rashly challenged the goddess Athena to a weaving contest. The tapestry Arachne wove depicted the scene of Athena’s contest with Poseidon with such brilliant realism that the goddess, jealously enraged, destroyed Arachne’s works. Athena then turned the weaver herself into a spider, doomed to repeat forever her compulsive weaving. From Arachne’s name come the terms arachnid and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).
Ares
God of war. Irascible and cruel, Ares was disliked both by other gods and by human beings. Although the son of Zeus and Hera, and so part of Olympus’ “royal family,” Ares was not loved by his parents. Only Aphrodite, bored by her blacksmith husband Hephaestus, loved him, and even then only briefly. More usually, he spent his time haunting the battlefield with his supporters, the lesser gods Deimos (fear) and Phobos (panic), killing at will. But Ares was not invincible, for he lacked intelligence as well as charm. Athena often managed to outwit him and even Hercules, who was a mere demigod, at times defeated him. Ares was worshipped by men only in Thebes, a city noted for its militarism and dullness. (See Aphrodite, Eris, Hephaestus, Hera)
Ariadne
Daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae of Crete. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus of Athens when he came to Crete as one of the sacrificial victims for the Minotaur, and so she gave Theseus a thread to help him find his way back out of the Labyrinth, the maze in which the Minotaur was held. After Theseus had killed the monster, the couple escaped from Crete together. However, Theseus—for reasons still debated—abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos. There she was rescued by the god Dionysus, who married her. Ariadne, in origin, was probably a Minoan goddess connected with the Great Mother. (See Dionysus, Minotaur, Theseus)
Artemis
Daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo. In one avatar she was a chaste huntress, slim, athletic, and short-skirted (Greek women usually wore long robes). Protector of young wild animals, she roamed the woods with a bow and was attended by nymph-huntresses sworn to celibacy like her. (These twenty shadowy nymphs, immortal but with no real power, were nameless apart from Callisto. Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, was seduced by Zeus while he was disguised as the goddess herself. When Artemis discovered this, she shot the unfortunate Callisto.) When the hunter Actaeon came upon Artemis bathing naked, she angrily transformed him into a stag and he was devoured by his own hounds. Often shown with the crescent moon, Artemis was sometimes as
sociated with Selene, the Titan moon goddess, and even with Hecate, the fearsome queen of darkness. As Selene, she fell in love with the beautiful youth Endymion, who was put by Zeus into an immortal sleep to preserve his beauty. Artemis was also worshipped as the Great Goddess, an older multi-breasted fertility goddess venerated in a huge temple at Ephesus in Asia Minor. (This is the temple of Diana that St. Paul later attacked; Diana is the Latin form of Artemis.)