King of Ithaca (Adventures of Odysseus) Read online

  KING OF ITHACA

  GLYN ILIFFE

  KING OF

  ITHACA

  MACMILLAN

  First published 2008 by Macmillan

  First published in paperback 2009 by Pan Books

  This electronic edition published 2009 by Pan Books

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan Ltd

  Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Rd, London N1 9RR

  Basingstoke and Oxford

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-0-230-74449-3 in Adobe Reader format

  ISBN 978-0-230-74448-6 in Adobe Digital Editions format

  ISBN 978-0-230-74450-9 in Mobipocket format

  Copyright © Glyn Iliffe 2008

  The right of Glyn Iliffe to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  FOR JANE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My thanks go to my editor, Julie Crisp, for her persistence and faith in King of Ithaca, as well as her hard work in making this book what it is. I would also like to thank Professor Helen King of Reading University for providing notes and comments on the original manuscrips.

  GLOSSARY

  A

  Achilles

  –

  Myrmidon prince; later the principal hero of the Trojan War

  Actoris

  –

  Penelope’s body slave

  Aegisthus

  –

  son of Thyestes; he murdered his uncle and foster-parent, Atreus, the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus

  Agamemnon

  –

  king of Mycenae, and most powerful of the Greeks

  Ajax (greater)

  –

  king of Salamis

  Ajax (lesser)

  –

  prince of Locris

  Alybas

  –

  home city of Eperitus, in northern Greece

  Anticleia

  –

  queen of Ithaca; mother of Odysseus

  Antiphus

  –

  Ithacan guardsman

  Aphrodite

  –

  goddess of love

  Apollo

  –

  archer god, associated with music, song and healing

  Arcadia

  –

  region in the central Peloponnese

  Arceisius

  –

  shepherd boy named after a former king of Ithaca

  Ares

  –

  god of war

  Argos

  –

  powerful city in the north-eastern Peloponnese

  Artemis

  –

  hunter goddess, noted for her virginity and her vengefulness

  Athena

  –

  goddess of wisdom and warfare

  Athens

  –

  city on Aegean seaboard

  Atreides

  –

  the sons of Atreus: Agamemnon and Menelaus

  Atreus

  –

  former king of Mycenae

  Attica

  –

  region of which Athens was the capital

  C

  Castor

  –

  Cretan prince

  Cedalion

  –

  former apprentice of Hephaistos, taken by the blind Orion to act as his guide

  chelonion

  –

  flower native to Ithaca

  Clytaemnestra

  –

  daughter of Tyndareus and wife of Agamemnon

  Crete

  –

  island to the south of Greece

  Ctymene

  –

  sister of Odysseus

  D

  Damastor

  –

  Ithacan guardsman

  Demeter

  –

  goddess of agriculture

  Diocles

  –

  Spartan warrior

  Diomedes

  –

  king of Argos and ally of Agamemnon

  Dulichium

  –

  Ionian island forming northernmost part of Laertes’s kingdom

  E

  Echidna

  –

  monster with the upper torso of a beautiful woman and the body of a serpent

  Elatos

  –

  chief priest of the oracle at Pythia

  Eperitus

  –

  warrior from Alybas, exiled for refusing to support his father after he had murdered King Pandion

  Epigoni

  –

  collective name for the sons of seven Argive heroes who led a doomed expedition against Thebes; the Epigoni, amongst them Diomedes, later avenged their fathers by laying waste to the city

  Eumaeus

  –

  faithful slave to Laertes

  Eupeithes

  –

  ambitious and treacherous Ithacan noble

  Eurotas

  –

  Spartan river, named after the king who drowned himself in its waters

  Eurycleia

  –

  slave to Laertes, formerly Odysseus’s nurse

  Eurytus

  –

  father of Iphitus

  G

  Gaea

  –

  earth goddess

  Gyrtias

  –

  warrior from Rhodes

  H

  Hades

  –

  god of the Underworld

  Halitherses

  –

  captain of Ithacan royal guard

  Helen

  –

  foster-daughter of Tyndareus (actually fathered by Zeus); renowned for her beauty

  Hephaistos

  –

  god of fire; blacksmith to the gods of Olympus

  Hera

  –

  goddess married to Zeus

  Heracles
/>   –

  greatest of all Greek heroes (otherwise known as Hercules)

  Hermes

  –

  messenger of the gods; his duties also include shepherding the souls of the dead to the Underworld

  Hestia

  –

  goddess of the hearth and protectress of the household

  I

  Icarius

  –

  co-king of Sparta, with his brother Tyndareus; father of Penelope

  Idomeneus

  –

  king of Crete

  Ilium

  –

  the region of which Troy was the capital

  Ionian Sea

  –

  sea to the west of the Greek mainland

  Iphitus

  –

  Oechalian prince who befriends Odysseus

  Ithaca

  –

  island in the Ionian Sea

  K

  Kerosia

  –

  Ithacan council meeting

  Koronos

  –

  wealthy Ithacan noble

  L

  Lacedaemon

  –

  Sparta

  Laertes

  –

  king of Ithaca

  Leda

  –

  unfaithful wife of Tyndareus

  Locris

  –

  region in north-eastern Greece

  M

  Menelaus

  –

  brother of Agamemnon

  Menestheus

  –

  king of Athens

  Mentes

  –

  Taphian warrior

  Mentor

  –

  close friend of Odysseus

  Messene

  –

  city in south-western Peloponnese

  Mycenae

  –

  most powerful city in Greece, situated in north-eastern Peloponnese

  Myrmidons

  –

  the followers of Achilles

  N

  Neaera

  –

  Helen’s body slave

  O

  Odysseus

  –

  prince of Ithaca, son of Laertes

  Oechalia

  –

  city in Thessaly, northern Greece

  Olympus

  –

  mountain home of the gods

  Orion

  –

  legendary hunter

  P

  Palamedes

  –

  suitor to Helen

  Pandion

  –

  murdered king of Alybas

  Parnassus (Mount)

  –

  mountain in central Greece and home of the Pythian oracle

  Patroclus

  –

  friend of Achilles and captain of the Myrmidons

  Peisandros

  –

  Myrmidon spearman

  Peloponnese

  –

  southernmost landmass of Greek mainland

  Penelope

  –

  Spartan princess, daughter of Icarius

  Philoctetes

  –

  shepherd who lit the pyre of Heracles, for which he was awarded the hero’s bow and arrows

  Phronius

  –

  Ithacan elder

  Polybus

  –

  henchman of Eupeithes

  Polytherses

  –

  twin brother of Polybus

  Poseidon

  –

  god of the sea

  Priam

  –

  king of Troy

  Pythia

  –

  home of the chief oracle in Greece

  Python

  –

  giant serpent, guardian of the Pythian oracle

  Pythoness

  –

  high priestess of the Pythian oracle

  R

  Rhodes

  –

  island in the south-eastern Aegean

  S

  Salamis

  –

  island in the Saronic Gulf, west of Athens

  Samos

  –

  neighbouring island to Ithaca, also under the rule of Laertes

  Sparta

  –

  city in the south-eastern Peloponnese

  T

  Taphians

  –

  pirate race from Taphos

  Taygetus Mountains

  –

  mountain range to the west of Sparta

  Teucer

  –

  half-brother and companion to the greater Ajax

  Thebes

  –

  city in central Greece

  Theseus

  –

  Athenian hero who slew the Minotaur

  Thrasios

  –

  priest of the Pythian oracle

  Tiryns

  –

  city in north-eastern Peloponnese

  Tlepolemos

  –

  prince of Rhodes

  Troy

  –

  chief city of Ilium, on the eastern seaboard of the Aegean

  Tyndareus

  –

  co-king of Sparta and father of Helen and Clytaemnestra

  X

  xenia

  –

  the custom of friendship towards strangers

  Z

  Zacynthos

  –

  southernmost of the Ionian islands under Laertes’s rule

  Zeus

  –

  the king of the gods

  book

  ONE

  Chapter One

  MOUNT PARNASSUS

  It was a chill dawn on the foothills of Mount Parnassus. The sun rose slowly in the east, infusing the dark, empty skies with a pale radiance. A collar of mist clung to the upper reaches of the purple mountainsides, shifting restlessly with the morning breeze. Eperitus shook the stiffness from his limbs and sniffed the air, which was sharp with the savoury prick of smoke. Pilgrims, he guessed, warming themselves by freshly made fires before the trek up to the oracle.

  He decided against the luxury of heat. After a frugal breakfast of cold porridge he gathered his few possessions and followed the bank of a stream that fed down from the hills. The sloping route was crooked and stony, but it gave an even footing and its steep banks were topped with twisted olive trees that hid his progress from unwelcome eyes. In his right hand he carried two ash spears, their shafts smooth and black. He also kept a sword slung in a scabbard under his left arm, its blade sharpened to a keen edge. Hanging from his shoulder was his grandfather’s ox-hide shield, given to him by the old man before his death, whilst for added protection he wore a shaped leather corselet and greaves. A bronze helmet hid his long, black hair, its cheekguards tied loosely beneath his clean-shaven chin. His only other possessions were a thick cloak of brown wool, a bag of oats and stale bread, a skin of water and a pouch of copper pieces.

  For a while as he walked the only sounds were the clear water washing over the stones of the riverbed and the sighing of the wind in the trees. Birdsong greeted the winter sun as it edged above the green hilltops, and he felt a lightness in his mood that he had not sensed since leaving his home in the north. The journey to Mount Parnassus had taken several days, during which he had walked alone with sombre thoughts, pondering the fateful events that had forced him from his home. But now, with his goal only a few hours’ march away, his spirits were reviving with every step.

  His peace was suddenly disturbed when harsh shouts erupted from the other side of the river, followed by the angry clash of weapons. Men cried out in fear and confusion before, as suddenly as it had occurred, the din of combat ceased and left a ringing silence in its wake.

  Like most young Greek
nobles, Eperitus had been taught to fight from an early age and this training came to the fore as he crouched low and glanced about himself, his spears clutched tightly in his sweating palm. Taking up his shield by its handgrip, he strained his ears for further sounds of battle. Although he had yearned to see combat for as long as he could remember, as battle lurked unseen amidst the troughs and swells of the landscape opposite he felt his mouth grow dry and the blood pump thicker through his veins.

  He took a moment to calm his nerves, then splashed across the riverbed and threw himself down against the bank, his heart rampaging against the hard earth. Crawling cautiously up the slope, he eased into a position where he could spy on whatever waited beyond.

  Before him lay a broad bowl scooped out of the rocky landscape, filled with scrubby grass and circumvented by a low ridge. In the centre were the remains of a disturbed camp: the ashes of an extinguished fire, some wooden dishes and a few trampled cloaks. Two bands of warriors faced each other across the debris, waiting in taut readiness for a movement from the others.

  The smaller group, whose camp had been attacked, had formed a line of perhaps a dozen shields. They were half dressed and had obviously armed in a hurry, but were organized and ready to defend themselves. At their centre, casually wiping blood from the point of his spear, stood a short and powerful warrior with a chest as broad as his shield and muscular arms that looked strong enough to break a man’s spine. He was clearly of noble blood and stared at the opposing force with disdain, his eyes calm and untouched by fear.