Around 675 BC, a wandering Greek poet made the wondrous claim that gryphons were real—not a mythic creature lost in the mist of time, but a living presence in the world. This in turn sparked a cultural fascination for the creature that lasted a thousand years. The poet Aristeas from the Greek island of Proconnesus …
Gryphons were real…or so the ancient Greeks believed. Could they have been right? After all, they did have proof. The Gryphon was unique in the Greek pantheon of hybrid creatures. For example, the winged horse Pegasus; the half man, half horse Centaurs; the Minotaur with its human body and bull’s head; the Sphinx—all were created …
Long after her death, Queen Nitocris of Babylon slapped the hand of a Persian king while serving up a lesson on greed. I would have loved to work her story into my novel Quest for Gryphon Gold, but as it had no place there, I’ll share it with you here. This mischievous lady was queen …
🧿 What better way to launch a writing career than to stage a dramatic disappearing act? That’s exactly what Aristeas of Proconnesus did! His epic poem Arimaspea (7th century BC) relates the fantastic odyssey that inspired my novel Quest for Gryphon Gold. How his journey began is nearly as strange a tale as the journey itself: …
🧿 Aristeas of Proconnesus (poet and mystic, 7th century BC) had a fine flare for theatrics. As described in my previous post, he began by dropping down dead in a fuller shop (which is something like a laundry), then disappeared for six years; reappeared with dramatic claims of having been traveling while possessed by Apollo, then …
🧿 Quest for Gryphon Gold begins in ancient Babylon, 553 BC. How do you rebuild a once-great city fallen to dust? Capital of the ancient land of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia, Babylon was situated on the sacred Euphrates River. In the 6th century BC, she was riding the crest of her power and splendor, a city like …
🧿 Beloved of blessed Ishtar, ancient Nineveh once sat like a jewel upon the banks of the Tigris, where those sacred waters meet the river Khosr. In Quest for Gryphon Gold, the adventurer Samir leaves Babylon behind. The caravan with which he travels follows quick-flowing Tigris north, heading for the Taurus Mountains. Coming up to …
🧿 Research for Quest for Gryphon Gold turned up some interesting stories that did not make it into my book. This one about Assyria’s queen Naqia-Zakutu I especially like. For their magnificence, ancient Babylon and Nineveh are largely indebted to Assyria’s last great queen. Yet, her stellar rise to power from palace woman to queen …
Read more “Naqia-Zakutu: Assyria’s Last Great Queen – Part 1”
🧿 A royal inscriptions venerating perhaps the most influential woman in ancient Assyria reads: Naqia-Zakutu, wife of Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, daughter-in-law of Sargon, king of the world, king of Assyria, mother of Esarhaddon, king of the world, king of Assyria…* When we left Assyria’s Last Great Queen in Part …
🧿 The legendary gardens of Mesopotamia: What can they tell us about the Land Between Two Rivers? In Quest for Gryphon Gold—a 6th century BC odyssey—my hero’s adventure begins and ends in his private garden in the Queen of Cities, Babylon. So come along and I’ll paint for you a picture of the all-important gardens of Mesopotamia. …
Read more “Legendary Gardens of Mesopotamia: Coloring the Past – Part 1”