Owls to Athens
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| Author | Harry Turtledove |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Hellenic Traders |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Forge Books (Tor) |
Publication date | 2004 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 382 |
| ISBN | 0-7653-0038-9 |
| OCLC | 55625156 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3570.U758 O95 2004 |
| Preceded by | The Sacred Land |
Owls to Athens is the fourth book in the Hellenic Traders series by H.N. Turteltaub (a pseudonym of Harry Turtledove). Like the others in the series it is a work of historical fiction concerning the adventures of a pair of Greek traders from Rhodes.
Title
"Taking owls to Athens" was a contemporary Greek saying, roughly the equivalent of the modern "selling snow to eskimos" or "carrying coals to Newcastle". The saying referred to the owl depicted on Athenian silver drachmas, Attica being home to large silver mines.
Plot
Sostratos and Menedemos arrive in Athens in time for the Dionysia. Sostratos spends much of his time visiting with his old teachers. His cousin, Menedemos finds himself having a sexual encounter with an important Athenian woman.
Setting
The setting is Athens in 307 BC, sixteen years after the death of Alexander the Great.[1] As in the other books in the series, persons and places are frequently given their original Greek names (Sokrates, Platon, etc.) rather than the Latin-derived ones common in English.
References
- ^ Owls to Athens, pg. 381, hardcover, Forge/Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
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