Are They Singing in Sparta?
This novel is set during the Messenian War when democracy was still a radical, new and controversial experiment. It is based on an event recorded by ancient historians as fact, although to our modern eyes it seems more like legend: the appointment of an Athenian poet to be Sparta's supreme military commander in time of war. Tyrtaios is without doubt a historical figure. Three full elegies and various fragments of Tyrtaios' verse (although sadly none of his music) have survived. Plato is the key source that described him as a lame, schoolmaster from Attica. Although this fact is sometimes disputed by modern historians, the fact that his music inspired generations of Spartan warriors is not. Terpander and his story are also taken from ancient sources as are the assassination of Kign Polydorus, the capture of Phigalia -- and its return at the orders of the Delphic Oracle. Messenian legend, which greatly embellished and fantasized about the deeds of Aristomenes (a real person), includes references to audacious deeds including a strike within Sparta itself. I have used this -- admittedly weak source -- as the basis for the murder of the children of the agoge described in the novel.