A friend of mind called with a request for information on the ancient Greek period of 750-650 B.C. for a novel she is writing, including selecting an optimal date for a mythological fantasy. She did not want to take me away from my writing. So I offered to send off the books I wrote on ancient boxing, which has much of what she needs. Then I paged through them and said, “For Zeus’ sake LaFond she’ll have to dig through knuckleheads for a week to find what she’s looking for and I’d still have to prepare a primer…”

Victoria wants to do an authentic piece that is not fraught with the anachronisms that could ruin it for the knowledgeable reader. The way much of ancient history is done in comics, on TV and in movies is not unlike an author from the year 3000 penning a story which has Barack Obama, Harry Truman and George Washington sitting down to dinner with Sitting Bull and General Custer together beneath the Saint Louis Arch in August of 1914.

So here it goes Victoria, I’ll publish one chapter per week over the next 3 months. The chapters do not have to be written in order, and Chapter 1 largely explains why I picked the very last year from your period as most conducive to the project you outlined. The table of contents below essentially assigns a chapter to each question you asked. Feel free to leave a comment any time you would like me to write a chapter out of order, which is no problem at all. The appendix will go up first.

This sourcebook is dedicated to Victoria J. Waks

1. Rose-Fingered Dawn: In the Shadow of ‘The Poet’

2. The Song of Hybrias: Extant Verse 750-648 B.C.

3. Beside the Wine Dark Sea: Geography, Flora & Fauna

4. The Queen of Weapons: Swords and Usage

5. Panoply: Armor, Equipment, and Weapons

6. Centaur & Amazon: Barbarians

7. Horses & Hulls: Archaic Hellenic Transportation

8. Heroes: Male Historical Figures

9. Heroines: Female Historical Figures

10. Moline & Lysippe: An Undated Tribal Curse

11. Cosmology: Calendars & Sacred Appointments

12. Appendix: Chronologies & Deities