“None taken.” Selene settled on the ground beside Hippo, who rolled over to lay her head in Selene’s lap.
The dog looked up with big brown eyes that seemed to say, Don’t believe Ruth for a second. She thinks Steve’s dreamy. Selene stifled a chortle. She’d let Ruth figure it out in her own time. Since Philippe and Esme had returned to Paris months before, they were all free to find their own way, safe from love darts. Flint had gone with them. The three of them made an odd sort of family, but no stranger than the one Selene had constructed for herself on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Ruth stood up from the garden and brushed her hands on the seat of her jeans. “I’ll bring some rhizobacteria tomorrow to try, all right?” she said to Maryam. Then, turning to Selene, she added, “If that’s okay?”
Selene shrugged. “It’s Maryam’s house, too. Or, her garden apartment in the basement of my house, I guess. So don’t ask me.”
Ruth gave Maryam a quick hug, uncomfortably returned, and an even quicker one to Selene, then darted back inside.
Maryam, dirt on her hands and smeared across her forehead, looked pensive. “As a goddess, they served me. As a nun, I served them. This …”
“Friendship?” Selene filled in.
“Yes. Friendship. It’s … different.”
“But not bad.”
“No,” Maryam agreed. She turned back to her spindly olive tree before murmuring, “Not bad.”
Maryam had become a strange sort of Queen of the Gods. She’d taken on the mantle as her mother Metis had always intended. With Hera dead and Demeter and Hestia gone, they had all agreed Athena deserved the title.
“Selene!” Theo called from inside. “Your phone’s buzzing!”
Selene snapped her fingers for Hippo to follow and went inside. Theo stood in the narrow hallway, holding out her phone. “I think it’s the same woman who called a few days ago. The one with the boyfriend who keeps threatening her. She just texted you. It looks like she’s finally ready to accept our help.”
Selene reached for the phone, but Theo held it back for just a moment. “Gabi and Minh left, by the way. You should’ve seen their faces when they found the bear-fur onesie you made for Sibyl. I thought Gabi was going to report you to one of her animal rights activist friends right then. But I told them it meant Sibyl would always have your protection—just like the little girls in ancient Brauron. Minh convinced her it was sweet. I left out the part about the obligatory ecstatic naked dancing in homage to Artemis.”
“Probably for the best.” She gestured again for the phone. He pressed it against his chest.
“I’ve got to head over tomorrow around noon to drop off that new crib Maryam made, but besides that I’m free.”
“Are you saying that if I’m about to hunt down a bad guy, you want in on the chase?”
“Uh-huh.” He took a step closer to her, his eyes full of mischief. On the wall beside him hung a round shield. It was no longer blank. A suspension bridge gleamed across its surface, the attribute of a man who spanned two worlds. Who bent in the wind rather than broke. Who played the song that sang in her heart.
She laid a finger in the dimple on his chin. Flint’s necklace, now looped twice around her wrist, glinted in the light. “You just like watching me work.”
“I like tracking down bad guys and keeping our city safe, especially when those bad guys are in no way supernatural,” he said defensively. “If I get to watch you work at the same time … hey, that’s just a bonus.” He rested his lips on hers, just long enough to remind her that for all the pain and violence and heartbreak this world still held, the love and joy were more than enough to make up for it.
She took the phone and called her client.
“This is Selene. How can I help?”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A book that touches on so many different aspects of myth, mathematics, classics, and archeology requires the input of many different experts. My great thanks to Mine Gezen, my incomparable guide to Ephesus, who made Artemis’s sacred city truly come alive. A special thank-you as well to the magnificent staff at the Cella Boutique Hotel in Selçuk, without whom my adventures in Ephesus might have ended abruptly in a busted rental car on a Turkish beach. Ian Caldwell volunteered his research on the site of the Phrygianum beneath Vatican City. Steve Anderson and Ben Arons assisted my understanding of Big Bang acoustics. Erika Schluntz lent her archeologist’s eye to the entire text and provided invaluable help with Greek and Latin pronunciation. Kathy Seaman generously volunteered her exceptional proofreading skills. As always, my efforts at translating ancient languages would be impossible without the assistance of Dr. Anne Shaw and Dr. Michael Shaw, classicists extraordinaire. If errata remain, I alone am to blame.
Tegan Tigani, to whom this book is dedicated, has traveled with me into the worlds of our imagination since we first built gnome homes together on the shores of Narragansett Bay in 1986. My appreciation for her editorial and publishing advice is equaled only by my gratitude for her unfailing enthusiasm and friendship. Proving myself worthy of her love has been one of the great projects of my life.
To my other indefatigable readers, Helen Shaw and John Wray: This book would not be half as good without you. Your honesty—and your unstinting generosity of both spirit and time—made every chapter, every scene, better. Emily Shooltz and Sharon Green lent their much-needed fresh eyes at the last minute. Thanks as well to my agent, Jennifer Joel, my very own Protector of the Innocent Novelist.
My family—the Brodskys, Millses, and my New York family of friends—have not only shared this adventure with me; they’ve made it possible through their love and support.
Lindsey Hall, my editor at Orbit Books, took on Olympus Bound with enthusiasm and dedication. My great thanks to her for her excellent editorial suggestions, heartfelt encouragement, and hard work. And to the rest of the staff at Orbit and Hachette—Tim Holman, Ellen Wright, Laura Fitzgerald, Tommy Harron, Alex Lencicki, Kirk Benshoff, and so many others—I could not imagine a more supportive and joyful community than the one at Hachette Book Group. I’m honored you’ve made me a part of it.
And finally, to the man who held my hand and pulled me to the top of Mount Olympus while carrying every ounce of our supplies on his back, who happily trekked through Greece and Turkey hunting every possible Artemis reference, whose insights never failed to improve this book even after his third read, who inspired me with his love of both math and action movies, and who has been the love of my life for the past twenty years: Thank you, Jason. You are, and always will be, my Perfect Number.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
While the myth of Orpheus, the musician whose song could overcome death itself, is well-known, the details of the cult that bore his name remain a mystery. Two major relics remain from this esoteric religion: the Orphic Hymns, including paeans to more than eighty different gods; and a collection of small gold pendants, many of them leaf-shaped, found on the corpses of the cult’s initiates. The words Theo recites in the Underworld are based on actual translations of these “Orphic gold tablets,” which were inscribed with instructions for the afterlife and passwords that would allow initiates to proceed past the guardians at the Lake of Memory. For the best modern version of the poetry that both Theo and Selene recite in rough fragments throughout the book, see The Orphic Hymns, translated by Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow.
In the Classical period, Orphism bore a close relation to the cult of Dionysus, the God of Wine. The god’s epithet “Releaser”—assumed by many to refer to drunken revelry—may have meant something different to Orphic initiates, who believed Dionysus could release them from the miseries of the afterlife. The exact connection between the two cults remains unclear; I’ve attempted to explain it through the oft-told myth of the rescue of Dionysus’s mother from the Underworld. The sacred eating of raw meat, a famously Dionysian practice, was disdained by early Christians, but some scholars believe it may have influenced their conception of the Eucharist nonet
heless.
Orphism’s relationship to Mithraism also eludes easy description. Statues of a lion-headed god have been found in several mithraea, and many of his attributes mirror those of the Orphic Protogonos, sometimes known as Aion. Professor David Ulansey, whose work inspired the astronomical components of Winter of the Gods, has written extensively on the possible meanings of this Mithraic lion-headed figure. For more, see his website, mysterium.com.
Followers of the ancient mathematician Pythagoras, possibly influenced by Orphic concepts of the afterlife, believed mankind could transcend mortality by uncovering the mathematical patterns that underlie the universe. The discovery of the tetractys and the harmonic ratios, as Theo explains in Chapter Two, were essential to this Pythagorean philosophy, and still influence our vision of the world today.
We will never know the true extent of Christianity’s relationship to Mithraism. Scholars who believe that Christianity borrowed heavily from Mithraism point to the origins of Saint Paul, the man most often credited with first teaching that Jesus was no mere prophet, but rather the divine son of God. Paul—originally named Saul—hailed from Tarsus, a city widely considered a key conduit for Mithraism’s spread from Persia to Rome. Paul’s prior knowledge of Mithras, one of the earliest gods concerned with man’s individual salvation, may have influenced the apostle’s belief in a divine Jesus as the one true path to heaven.
The Magna Mater’s Phrygianum, the site of the bloody taurobolium rituals, once stood in what is today Vatican City. My description of its interior, however, is completely fictional—no remnants of the building remain beyond a few ancient inscriptions mentioning its existence. The meridian line and the necropolis beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica are real, but the secret passages and the underground mithraeum, sadly, are not. If you’re interested in seeing the excavated necropolis, however (including its Jesus-as-Sol-Invictus mosaic), check out the virtual tour on the Vatican’s website, vatican.va.
Statues of Ephesian Artemis, complete with her temple crown and necklace of bull’s testicles, exist in museums throughout the world, but my favorites reside in the museum at the Ephesus archeological site. To my eyes, they bear a striking resemblance to the statues of Jesus’s mother in the nearby House of the Virgin Mary. The ancient city of Ephesus, where the Church declared Mary divine in the fifth century, is remarkably well-preserved, although the great Temple of Artemis is now little more than a single column surrounded by marshland. Still, it is fully worth traveling all the way to Turkey to walk through the city that once worshiped Artemis above all other goddesses. For photos of Ephesus, Brauron, Rome, Delphi, Athens, the cave in Crete, an ancient hydraulis, and more, visit my website, jordannamaxbrodsky.com.
Minh Loi’s explanation of the music of the Big Bang is based on the work of several scientists, most notably Mark Whittle from the University of Virginia. His excellent and very readable website, Big Bang Acoustics: Sounds from the Newborn Universe, served as the inspiration for much of this book’s climax and includes audio files of the sounds themselves. It does not, however, recommend playing the music on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge. But lest you think such a thing impossible, watch Di Mainstone’s astounding musical performance project at humanharp.org.
As for Mount Olympus, the hike to the summit takes most people two days. The journey up begins with gentle wildflowers and ends with a brutally steep climb across a barren scree field to a final near-vertical ascent. The clouds roll in nearly every afternoon, bringing thunderstorms and bitter chill even when the valley below remains swelteringly hot. It’s easy to see why the ancients imagined Olympus as the home of Zeus, lord of storms and sky. While sprinting down from the summit, thunder rolling off the mountaintop, hail pounding my skull, and fierce winds tearing at my emergency poncho, I fully believed it myself.
Jordanna Max Brodsky
April 2017
New York, New York
APPENDIX
Olympians and Other Immortals
Roman names follow the Greek, where applicable. Relevant information from the Olympus Bound series appears in italics.
Aion: A minor Mithraic divinity associated with the proto-god of Orphism (see “Protogonos”). Sometimes portrayed as a snake-twined, lion-headed man with wings.
Aphrodite/Venus: Goddess of Erotic Love and Beauty. One of the Twelve Olympians. Born of sea foam after Kronos castrates his father, Ouranos, and throws his genitals into the ocean. Wife of Hephaestus and lover of Ares/Mars. Mother of Eros. Called Laughter-Loving, She Who Turns to Love, Mother of Desire. Attributes: dove, scallop shell, mirror. Modern alias: Esme Amata.
Apollo/Apollo: God of Light, Music, Healing, Prophecy, Poetry, Archery, Civilization, Plague, and the Sun. One of the Twelve Olympians. Leader of the Muses. Twin brother of Artemis. Son of Leto and Zeus. Born on the island of Delos, but counts Delphi, site of the famous Pythian oracle, as his most sacred precinct. Called Phoebus (Bright One), Delphic Diviner, Pythian God, God of the Golden Lyre. Attributes: silver bow and arrows, crow, laurel wreath, lyre. Modern alias: Paul Solson. (Killed by Saturn’s Mithraists in the modern day.)
Ares/Mars: God of War, Bloodlust, and Manly Courage. One of the Twelve Olympians. Son of Zeus and Hera. Lover of Aphrodite. Brother to Hephaestus. Often considered the father of Eros. Called Man-Slayer, Battle-Insatiate. Attributes: armor, spear, poisonous serpent. Modern alias: Martin Bell. (Killed by Saturn’s Mithraists in the modern day.)
Artemis/Diana: Goddess of the Wilderness, the Hunt, Virginity, Wild Animals, Hounds, Young Children, Childbirth, and the Moon. One of the Twelve Olympians. Twin sister of Apollo. Daughter of Leto and Zeus. Born on the island of Delos. Worshiped in Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) as an aspect of the Great Mother, robed and crowned with animals, rather than as a virgin huntress. Her many epithets include Huntress, She Who Loves the Chase, Far Shooter, Protector of the Innocent, Lady of Clamors, She Who Helps One Climb Out, the Face of Death, and more. Attributes: golden bow and arrows, hounds, deer, bears, hawks. Modern aliases: Phoebe Hautman, Dianne Delia, Cynthia Forrester, Selene DiSilva, Selene Neomenia, and more.
Asclepius: Hero-God of Medicine. Son of Apollo and the mortal princess Coronis. Worshiped in the Eleusinian Mysteries and many other cults. Called He Who Soothes. Attribute: snake-twined staff.
Athena/Minerva: Goddess of Wisdom, Crafts, and Justified War. One of the Twelve Olympians. Virgin. Daughter of Zeus and Metis. Called Gray-Eyed, Protectress of Cities, Savior, Promakhos (frontline soldier). Patron goddess of Athens, to whom she gifted the olive tree. Attributes: helmet, spear, owl, shield or aegis with Gorgon’s head. Modern alias: Maryam.
Cautes: Minor Mithraic divinity. A torchbearer who symbolizes Birth and Day. Attributes: upright torch, rooster.
Cautopates: Minor Mithraic divinity. A torchbearer who symbolizes Death and Night. Attributes: downward torch, owl.
Cybele/Magna Mater: The Great Mother, originally a primal nature deity from Asia Minor, later incorporated into the Greco-Roman pantheon. Sometimes associated with the Titan goddess Rhea. Mother of all gods, humans, and animals. Attributes: tall crown, lions, pine tree.
Demeter/Ceres: Goddess of Grain and Agriculture. One of the Twelve Olympians. Daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Sister of Zeus. Mother of Persephone. Called Bountiful, Bringer of Seasons. Attributes: wheat sheaves, torch.
Dionysus/Bacchus: God of Wine, Wild Plants, Festivity, Theater. One of the Twelve Olympians. Son of Zeus and Semele, a mortal. Called Phallic, Releaser, He of the Wild Revels. Attributes: grapevine, ivy, thyrsus (a pinecone-tipped staff), leopard. Modern alias: Dennis Boivin.
Eos/Aurora: Goddess and embodiment of the Dawn. After falling in love with Tithonus, she asked Zeus to grant him immortality—but forgot to ask for eternal youth, as well. Tithonus grew so old and shriveled that he turned into a grasshopper.
Eros/Cupid: God of Love. Son of Aphrodite and Ares. Commonly portrayed as a winged infant, although sometimes as a youth. Attributes: wings, myrtle bow. Modern alias:
Philippe Amata.
Gaia: Primeval Earth Divinity. Mother to all. Consort of Ouranos the Sky.
Hades/Pluto: God of the Underworld, Death, Wealth. Son of Kronos and Rhea. Brother of Zeus. Husband of Persephone. Called Receiver of Many, Lord of the Dead, Hidden One. Attributes: helm of invisibility, bird-tipped scepter. Modern alias: Aiden McKelvey. (Killed by Saturn’s Mithraists in the modern day.)
Hekatonkheires: The Hundred-Handed Ones. Giants cast into Tartarus by Zeus during the Gigantomachy.
Helios/Sol/Sol Invictus: God and embodiment of the Sun. Also identified with Apollo, who has dominion over the Sun. The Romans revered him as Sol Invictus, the “Invincible Sun,” and celebrated his birthday on December 25. “Sol Invictus” was also a common epithet for Mithras. Attributes: seven-rayed crown.
Hephaestus/Vulcan: God of the Forge, Fire, and Volcanoes. One of the Twelve Olympians. Son of Hera, born parthenogenically. Husband of Aphrodite. Lamed when thrown off Olympus by Zeus, walks with a crutch. Called the Smith, the Sooty God, He of Many Arts and Skills, Lame One. Attributes: hammer, tongs. Modern alias: Flint Hamernik.
Hera/Juno: Queen of the Gods. Goddess of Women, Marriage, and the Heavens. One of the Twelve Olympians. Daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Sister and jealous wife of Zeus. Mother of Ares/Mars and Hephaestus. Known as “white-armed.” Attributes: crown, peacock, lotus-tipped staff. Modern alias: June Ferarra.
Hermes/Mercury: God of Messengers, Thieves, Liars, Travel, Communication, Hospitality, Eloquence, and Athletics. One of the Twelve Olympians. Son of Zeus and a nymph, Maia. Herald to the gods. Called Messenger, Giver of Good Things, Trickster, Many-Turning. Attributes: caduceus (staff twined with snakes), winged sandals, winged cap. Modern aliases: Dash Mercer, Scooter Joveson.
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