Back cover:
Amazons
Strangely,
literature and cinema have neglected one of humanity’s most fascinating topics:
the fabled Amazons of ancient Greece. They’re rarely mentioned in modern books
or movies. They remain mostly invisible, unknown.
My novel plunges
into the uncharted zone, relating the passion and peril of the legendary female
fighters.
A few sources have
portrayed Amazons as an entire nation of women - but I find that implausible.
Instead, I depict them as small cliques of spirited women who rebelled against
oppressive male domination and fled to live in fugitive bands. Most had been
slaves, concubines, temple prostitutes or other underlings before escaping to
freedom. To reach the female hideouts, runaways followed a clandestine network
of safe houses similar to the Underground Railroad of America’s slavery days.
Their tale is
related by a young male scribe who was wounded, captured, and kept as a
slave-concubine. He slowly attains wisdom, seeing absurdity in the chaos around
him. He senses madness in Greece’s never-ending warfare - and feels injustice
in the pervasive slavery - and comes to doubt the many sacrifices to gods on
Mount Olympus and mystical revelations of oracles. He finds joy in the love of
a runaway slave girl who became a novice Amazon.
I hope my story
resonates with readers.
-- James A. Haught
Illustrations from novel:
One of many Greek-versus-Amazons battle friezes from the
tomb of Mausolus at Halikarnassos, Greece, fourth century BCE, which ranked
among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
(British Museum, London. Public domain image from
Wikimedia Commons)
“Amazon Preparing for
Battle,” by Pierre-Eugene-Emile Hebert, 1853
(National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.)
“Battle of the Amazons,” by Peter Paul Rubens, 1618,
(Alte
Pinakothek museum, Munich, Germany)
Hercules killing an Amazon.
Ancient Greek red-figure bowl, c. 490 BCE
(Royal Museums of Art and
History, Brussels, Belgium)
Links to Amazon sources:
Women Warriors - The
Sarmatians
Characters in “Amazon Moon”
Modern:
JACK
HASTINGS and CAROLINA KING, young American archeologists who join an
international dig in northern Greece.
DR.
CHICHESTER, their craggy British director.
Ancient:
MELOS,
a teen-age scribe who comes of age, sees violence as a noncombatant, suffers
slavery, loses his virginity, falls in love, witnesses tragedy - and reaches
wisdom, disdaining the warfare, religious sacrifices and slavery around him.
LITHA,
a spirited young slave woman who stabs her oppressive owner and runs off to
join the Amazons. She finds Melos, slave of the warrior women, and becomes his
lover.
MITHA,
older sister of Litha, who escapes with her. Both are blondish Slavs who were
captured by Greeks and put into slavery.
OVERSEER,
cousin of a rich family that owns the farm village of Melos and Litha.
RECTUS,
best friend of Melos, son of the wealthy Overseer.
HIGH SCRIBE,
Kavopolis official who trains Melos in writing.
DALIEN,
aristocratic soldier wounded and captured along with Melos.
WAR
QUEEN, Saria, chief of the Amazon fighting force.
HOME
QUEEN, Hella, chief of other Amazon village functions.
EILA,
sensual priestess of the Amazon colony.
LEEANTHA,
tough woman warrior who screams during sex.
COMELLA,
sturdy, funny, bawdy warrior.
ALETHA,
temple prostitute turned Amazon.
RACHA,
black Nubian from the Nile Valley who became an Amazon.
THEBA,
daughter of a Thebes prince's concubine.
ASPASIA,
descendant of a famed Athens courtesan.
OCTOS,
one-legged male soldier-slave, a rogue and skeptic.
ANKUS,
long-bearded male slave, keenly intelligent.
PENDILEE,
young woman rescued from a Greek slave auction.
ARCTINUS,
macho Greek ex-soldier and patriot.
PRINCESS
XANTHIA, who is captured by Amazons and joins them.
ADMER,
devout soldier-slave who prays and wears magical amulets.
AUGUR,
sappy astrologer who gets everything wrong.
OLANDRA,
battle-maimed Amazon who serves as lookout.
OONA,
the smallest Amazon warrior, caught by a Greek patrol.
COMMANDER
MALGON, Greek officer whose squad suffers a midnight Amazon raid.
COMMANDER
PATROS, Greek officer who heads a search-and-destroy mission against the Amazon
hideaway
Chapters of “Amazon Moon”
ANCIENT
1 - A
deadly Greek army attack on an Amazon hideout looms.
MODERN
2 -
American archeology student couple analyzes extreme subjugation of women in
Ancient Greece - an odd contrast to the era's many paintings, sculptures and writings
about fierce warrior women.
3 - The
lover-archeologists join a Mediterranean dig and find the first written account
of an Amazon village.
ANCIENT
4 -
Melos tells of his village, boyhood, doubts - and his reaction to the flogging
of the slave girl Litha.
5 -
Melos becomes a teen-age scribe, assigned to a military brigade.
6 - A
midnight attack decimates the brigade. Melos, wounded, is taken by Amazon
raiders to their concealed colony as a slave-concubine.
7 -
Litha reappears and tells of an Underground Railroad guiding runaway females to
the Amazon hideaway.
8 - An
arrogant soldier-prisoner cites Aristotle on natural slaves, and male dominance
over women.
9 -
Melos finds the joy of sex. The
arrogant soldier is killed during an escape attempt.
10 - A
wounded Amazon dies, despite prayers and sacrifices. Melos begins teaching Amazons to read and write.
11 -
Melos records the Amazon colony's history.
12 -
Melos records Aletha, Racha, Theba, Olandra tales.
13 -
Litha wants Melos. They become
lovers.
14 -
Melos is punished for letting girls read skeptical scrolls.
15 - An
Epicurus scroll is even worse sacrilege.
16 -
Warrior trainee Mitha joins her first caravan raid.
17 -
Princess Xanthia invents stirrups.
18 -
Octos tells of his oracle caper.
19 -
Amazons break a brothel siege.
20 -
Aspasia's Amazon group is discovered.
21 - A
slave market raid triggers a Greek attack on Aspasia's group.
22 -
Pendilee's slave story.
23 -
Human sacrifice horror.
24 -
Arctinus plots revolt, but Melos thwarts it.
25 -
Mitha-Melos mess mangles monogamy.
26 -
Ankus explains the Sacred Wars.
27 -
Sex in a storm, followed by a flood rescue.
28 -
Augur the astrologer bungles again.
29 -
Admer loses his faith.
30 -
Oona is executed; Amazons take revenge.
31 - Wheat
harvest; more runaways arrive.
32 -
Litha and Melos flee, but are caught.
33 - A
gory Greek attack strikes the Amazon colony.
34 -
Melos and Litha live alone in the deserted village.
MODERN
35 -
The archeologist couple recounts Melos-Litha wisdom in book lectures.
Opening chapter:
"Sing
out. Hup, ho. Roll her over in the clover. Make her laugh. Make her cry. Make a
baby bye and bye."
The
brawny Greek warriors chanted to liven their march in late-summer heat up the
wide Thermodon Valley south of the Black Sea. They were an elite troop, deadly fighters, expert with
sword, bow, ax, javelin and mace.
Killing is the occupation of soldiers, and they were masters of their
craft. They were battle-tested,
hardened to shrieks of death, renowned for combat spirit. "Fire from Zeus," declared
their platoon flag bearing a lightning bolt.
All the
soldiers had been proclaimed patriotic heroes by the Kavopolis Assembly for
their part in a gory victory over Ionians. They were equipped with the finest
iron swords forged at the Chalcis foundry on the island Euboea, and with the
strongest bows of mountain goat horns: state-of-the-art killing instruments.
The unit contained seven horseback lancers, thirteen archers, twenty
foot-soldiers, a camp cook and a supply wagon, all under leadership of
hawk-faced Commander Patros.
The
warriors were marching to a new assignment, a search-and-destroy mission. From
spy intelligence, they knew the concealed location of their target, a secret
colony of rebels hidden in an isolated side-valley. The mouth of that valley
was overgrown by an impenetrable thicket of thorn trees and vines. The spot
appeared to be lonely wilderness. But the spy report disclosed that, beside a
cliff at one edge of the ravine, tree branches could be pulled aside, revealing
a narrow lane into the enclave. Also, the report said, occupants of the hidden
colony always kept a sentry posted on a ledge above the cliff, lest outsiders
discover the unknown sanctuary.
Commander
Patros rode at the front, tall on a high black steed, a stiff figure of
authority. From a rich family, he exuded the confidence of rank, social and
military. Approaching a riverbend, he swung his horse and squelched the
chanting.
"Silence
among the troops."
The
commander led the unit off the trail into the screen of trees. The men threaded the forest quietly
until Patros waved a halt. He dismounted and peered between trunks at an
overgrown side-valley barely visible ahead. He summoned a wiry archer he had
selected for a stealthy task, and instructed him carefully:
"Don't
approach directly or you will be seen. The sentry will sound an alarm and we
will lose the element of surprise. Instead, climb the intervening hill, cross
the ridge, and descend silently from above, unseen. After the sentry is
removed, signal us and we will advance."
The
archer checked his weaponry, test-pulled his bowstring, saluted, and hastened
toward the hill. Grass of the valley floor was baked dull but foliage on the
hillsides remained lush. The bowman stayed within the cover of bushes as he
crept to the top, then quietly descended the opposite slope.
The
sentry, a young Amazon, was bored from staring at the still ravine. Day after
day, she had served her shift on the clifftop ledge without even a passing
squirrel to break the monotony. Around her neck, suspended by a leather thong,
was a trumpet crafted from a ram's horn. In event of intruders, she was to
sound it and run down the path to the village, blowing as she went, to alert
the whole Amazon colony. But the trumpet never had been blown, by her or others
taking their turns on watch.
The
sentry's hair was honey color, unlike the black locks of most Mediterranean
people, indicating that her ancestors were Slavs from the north. In the sultry
heat, she wore the briefest tunic. She paced back and forth on the ledge,
restless. She watched a spider string its web between branches of a bush. She
scratched and fidgeted. She stretched and yawned. She was in mid-yawn when the
arrow pierced her heart. She looked astonished and clutched the shaft
protruding between her breasts. She tried to gasp, but couldn't breathe. Her
knees buckled. She fell onto the front of the ledge and tumbled down the cliff.
Moments
later, the archer emerged into the Thermodon Valley sunshine and waved to the
waiting platoon. Commander Patros signaled the advance. The warriors left the
woods, approached the side-valley, and carefully entered the hidden lane by the
cliff. They passed the twisted body of the sentry, her arms and legs skewed
oddly.
The
Greek fighters neared the upstream edge of the thicket. Through branches, they
glimpsed the colony, the secret village of Amazons. Some women swam nude in a
dammed creek. Others cooked in doorways. In vegetable gardens, male slaves hoed
under female supervision. A few girl children were seen.
Hidden
by greenery, Patros quietly arrayed his warriors for the attack. Horsemen
readied their lances. Archers fitted arrows to strings. Foot soldiers drew
their swords and adjusted their shields. Silently, the commander raised his arm
to launch the surprise assault.