Gary Corby: Death Ex Machina

The Phrygians treated me like an honored guest. They installed me on a fine couch-I decided not to ask where it had come from-and they brought me wine and food of the highest quality. Petros sat beside me and we talked as we ate.

I said to Petros, “After that performance you’ll be able to win more roles.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit it into my schedule,” he said. “We have more work than we can cope with.”

“You do?” I said, confused.

“After the funeral of Romanos we attracted much attention,” said Petros. “We put on a show that was tasteful and elegant, much better than the usual hysterics that our customers demand. We showed Athens how a funeral should be done. Next day, we had a couple of men at our door-your door, rather, Diotima’s house-”

“I understand.”

“It seems people liked what they saw. They wanted advice on how to stage funerals for their own relatives. Of course, we charged them for our expertise.”

“Of course.”

“We’re very good at burying people. Every day we have more customers lined up outside your house. They want us to manage the funerals of their parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters.”

Which meant Diotima’s house was being filled every day with people in a state of ritual pollution. The neighbors were going to love me for this.

“We’ve upgraded from being mere professional mourners,” Petros went on. “We think of it as burial consultancy. People come to us for all their funerary needs. We arrange the jars for the ashes-I’ve done a deal with some potters in Ceramicus-we can get some excellent alabaster. We supply the mourners and build the pyre and sweep up the mess afterward. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the show.”

“I’ll keep your services in mind. Are your rates affordable?”

“Oh, we’d bury you for free!”

“You’re very kind.”

“I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for us,” Petros said. “If it hadn’t been for you, we might already be on our way back to Phrygia. I can’t help but feel, now that we’re making money, that we should be paying you rent. Would the going rate suit you?”

“I accept,” I said at once.

There’s a bright side to everything.

Aeschylus

First of the three great tragic playwrights of the ancient world. The other two were Sophoclesand Euripides. Aeschylus wrote the oldest known play to survive to this day, The Persians. For that reason he’s considered the founder of modern theater.

Agora

The marketplace. Every city and town in Athens has an agora.

Amphitheater

The meaning hasn’t changed in three thousand years.

Archon

A city official, elected for the term of a year. The three most senior archons appear in this story: the Eponymous Archon, the Polemarch, and the Basileus.

Artemis Agroptera, Artemision

Artemis is one of the major goddesses of the Greek pantheon. She’s usually pictured as a young lady with a bow and arrow and called The Huntress. That’s exactly what the Agroptera part means in ancient Greek. Artemis Agroptera is Artemis the Huntress.

The Temple of Artemis Agroptera is the name of her temple in Athens. The Artemision is her temple in Ephesus, over on the Asian mainland. There, the goddess Artemis was worshipped not as a huntress, but as a mother goddess. Artemision simply means “place of Artemis.” The Artemision was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Diotima has served (across two previous adventures) at both the Temple of Artemis Agroptera in Athens, and the Artemision in Ephesus. This gives her serious credentials as a priestess, as Nico remarks in the book.

Attica

The region controlled by Athens. The relative power of each city-state determined how much land it controlled. Attica was very large indeed, comprising what we’d call southeastern Greece. Many villages, towns, and minor cities existed within Attica, one of which was Rhamnus.

Basileus

The archonin charge of religious affairs for Athens.

The Romans copied much from Athens, and the role of Basileus is a good example. To do the same job the Romans built an administration center that in Latin they called a Basilica. There are no prizes for guessing what happened next. Thus a Basilica in the Christian Church is a direct descendant of the Basileus of classical and very pagan Athens.

Choregos

We’d call him the producer. The man who provides the chorusand funds the play. The choregos of the oldest known play, The Persians , was none other than Pericles.

Chorus

The small group of boys and men who sing the narration of a play. The first plays were nothing but a chorus. They were musicals! Then Thespis added an actor. Then Aeschylus added a second actor. Then Sophocles added a third. That arrangement proved stable for a thousand or so years. Throughout it all, the chorus sang the action.

Deme

Like a modern suburb, with the added rule that to live in a deme you had to belong to the tribe that owned it. Every citizen belonged to one of the ten tribes. By classical times the tribes were purely administrative units for running the city.

Deuteragonist

The second actor in a play. All plays had only three actors. They covered every role between them.

Dionysos

Greek God of wine and serious partying. A rather rustic fellow, since most parties happen at harvest time, the Great Dionysiawas held in his honor. The statue of Dionysos was taken from its temple and placed on stage for the duration of the plays, so that the God could watch the action.

Eponymous Archon

The closest thing Athens had to a mayor. The Eponymous Archon was responsible for all civic affairs to do with citizens.

Most importantly for our story, he was also in charge of the calendar. The Eponymous Archon had the power to add or subtract days, or even declare an extra month in the year. This was no idle power, since the Athenians had to make their lunar months fit into their solar years. He’s called the Eponymous Archon because the year is named after him (they didn’t number their years). This story takes place in the Year of Habron.

Euripides

The third of the three great tragic playwrights. At the time of this story, he’s three years away from putting on his first play.

Great Dionysia

Also known as the City Dionysia, because it was born from a country version. The Great Dionysia was the arts festival of the classical world. There were three parts to it: the choral competition, the comedies, and lastly, the three tragedies. In Death ex Machina I’ve concentrated on just one event, because if I tried to cover everything that went on during a Dionysia you’d be reading this book in twelve volumes.

Mekhane

Machine! Specifically, the god machine used in the Theater of Dionysos. Our English word machine comes directly from classical Greek.

Metics

Resident aliens with permission to live and work in Athens.

Phallus

Yes, we all know what a phallus is. What you probably don’t know is that to the Greeks, they were symbols of good fortune. Lots of amulets of erect phalluses have been recovered from the ancient world, but for some reason you don’t tend to see them on open display in modern museums. If, however, you go to the Great Dionysiain 458BC you’ll find boys walking around with large wooden ones that they use to hit people. It’s a way of wishing good fortune.