If Indiana Jones wrote epic fiction...
WRITING MORAL CHARACTERS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
By Aria Cunningham
“Historians
will say I am a liar,
But History is
written by those who have hanged heroes.”
Prologue to the
movie Braveheart, 1996.
Where there moral characters in ancient
times? It’s a difficult question to answer but one that begs consideration. If
you believe Hollywood, ancient history was a time of testosterone-fueled
bloodshed inspired by high hormones and a lack of clothing. Sadly, classical
sources do little to dispel this skewed perspective. History is taught as a
series of unrelated events, usually following the shift of power from one
conquest to the next. Our understanding of time is broken into Ages, organized
by the technology we used to implement death: Stone, Bronze, Iron, etc. Even
archaeology is influenced by death and destruction, the best sources for
excavation being tombs and cities buried by war.
Taken together, we have a pretty messed up
understanding of ancient life, one that suggests mankind was dominated by
unscrupulous characters obsessed with war. Aside from the Bible, we rarely
discuss the details of everyday life, and the societal ethics that must have
influenced ancient man. We lose sight of the real people who lived,
loved and lost: the moral, spiritual people whom we must have much in common
with.
There is perhaps no greater example of this
skewed perspective than with Greek myth. The epic poems of Homer were written
400 years after the real events that took place at Troy, which raises the
question about reliability (see the William Wallace quote above). Not only was
Homer extremely biased toward Greek supremacy; he celebrated a culture of war.
The heroes of Greek myth are warriors who bring wholesale death to Troy, and he
glorified them.
In conducting research for my “Heroes of the
Trojan War” series, I began to question: Is Homer’s version of Troy a true
picture of history?
I’m an archaeologist with a background in
Late Bronze Age Mediterranean cultures. There is a multitude of evidence that
the world of the Greek Heroes, from roughly 1600-1200 BC, was a complex
landscape of international trade and diplomacy. It was a time of palatial
grandeur, monumental architecture, and massive cultural interaction and
tolerance. Taking those factors into
consideration, the events that lead to the Trojan War paint a very different
picture than the tale depicted by Homer. The world was complex, and the players
in that world were too.
That was the kernel of inspiration for my
retelling of the fall of Troy. I wanted to find the moral characters of the
Late Bronze Age whose stories were stamped out by “those who hanged heroes”. I
wanted to explore the ethical standards those characters lived by and examine
the circumstances that ultimately led to their destruction. Perhaps, in doing
so, I could learn from their mistakes.
From that hope, I discovered a new Paris,
one who lived up to his true name, Alexandros—which means “protector”. Paris
and Helen, more than any other Homeric characters, have been mistreated by
historical retelling. The vilified prince, in reality, was an ambassador for
Troy, well traveled and sophisticated. He would have interacted with countless
kingdoms, cultures, and religions. From his own words in “The Princess of
Sparta”:
“It’s
a perverse tradition we honor. Kings adorn their halls with images of battles
they won, the people they’ve conquered.” He paced as he vented, a lifetime of
frustration pent up in that twisted truth. “I have brought kingdoms on the
brink of war to peace, and my deeds will never be deemed as heroic as those who
kill.”
Often, in war and everyday life, the
unscrupulous people win. Those who don’t have a moral compass, who don’t play
by the same rules as ethical people, have an inherent advantage. The Trojan
Horse is the perfect example. It was an offering of peace to the Gods and
Trojans, but one poisoned by deceit. Ultimately, it was the Greek’s willingness
to take advantage of their enemies’ honor that brought them “victory”. I found
that behavior unworthy of my respect.
Hopefully my readers will too. I hope they
will find cause to celebrate a moral character that chooses life over death. I
hope they cheer Paris’ goodness and see it as strength instead of a weakness.
Yes, the tale for Troy ends in tragedy. But, the epic struggle of good verse
evil, of right over wrong, of love above hate— that fight doesn’t take
place on a battlefield. And the heroes who embody it deserve a rightful place
on our bookshelves and in our history.
About the Book:
The historically faithful retelling of the epic love that sparked the
Trojan War and has captivated the world for 3,000 years…
The star-crossed lovers at the crux of the tragic tale are depicted as
you’ve never seen them before. Helen, no longer the seductress of Homer’s
poems, begins as a princess of Sparta: honorable, loyal, with promise to become
a powerful queen. Her lauded beauty is more curse than blessing, inciting lust
and jealousy in the greedy kings who would make her their prize. Paris is a
noble prince of Troy, whose reputation for fairness and fortitude precede him
as an Ambassador. Unjustly cursed at birth by a dark omen claiming he will
cause the destruction of Troy, Paris is a haunted figure, a man who has never
known love.
Until the day the Fates intervene and Paris travels to Mycenae as an
ambassador of Troy. He meets Helen, and two souls linked by common destiny and
purpose are reunited. Their love becomes legend, provoking the greatest war of
ancient history, shaking the foundations of the world, and paving the way for the
rise of Greece and Rome.
AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE APRIL 1ST,
2014 OR PRE-ORDER TODAY
TRADE PAPERBACK Amazon $12.99
~ Amazon UK £8.99 ~ Amazon EU
€10.99 | KINDLE US $5.99 ~ UK £3.99 ~ EU
€4.99 | ALL OTHER E-READERS Kobo $5.99
~ Nook $5.99
~ Apple $5.99
EARLY PRAISE FOR “THE PRINCESS OF SPARTA”:
“I quickly found my ideas
of Helen the bratty beauty fall away, and be replaced with a more female
empowered version. What Cunningham quickly reminded me of, is that there are
many sides to one story, and I might just prefer this romantic one the best!” iErlynn @ Books Hug Back.
“An intricate web of conflict; honor, power, family, love,
sex and the powers of the Gods. It transported me to a world of mystical
proportions and took me on a journey where I rooted for my heroes, always
fearful of what the star-crossed lovers' fate might be. Powerful, gripping,
sexy.” C.T. Hayes, Slackwire Films
Meet the Author:
Inspired at an
early age by the adventures of Indiana Jones, Aria Cunningham studied marine
archaeology at UC Berkeley. In 2004, she set forth to create her own adventures
and helped excavate a Roman palace from 200 AD at Tel Dor, Israel.
Continuing her
old world education, she travelled the expansive fjords of Norway, castle hopped
from Wales to the Rhineland, and explored the funeral complexes along the
Egyptian Nile. She is an avid scuba diver who has navigated shipwrecks on the
ocean floor, the immense kelp forests off the Channel Islands, and the
legendary Cenote caverns of the Yucatan.
Aria has a
Master’s degree in the Cinematic Arts from USC and currently lives off the
coast of Southern California.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Comments
Cold As Heaven