This is a historically-based novel with authentic, mythic, and fictional characters interacting across the extraordinary panorama after the Fall of Troy and the Hittite Empire during the Bronze Age Collapse. Diomedes leads his Akhaians (Achaeans) to the Isle of Kyprios (now Cyprus) to meet his lost love, Lieia, the ex-queen of the Hittites. Kyprios is where the Peoples of the Sea have gathered before their final assaults on Canaan and Aigyptos (Egypt).
But Diomedes unexpectedly meets the avatar of the Goddess Aphrodite at her Temple in Paphos, the city of her birth. Will she take him from Lieia? Will his wanderings end, or will he head back to sea to seek redemption from the past in the further unknown? Aphrodite must also deal with the beautiful, impetuous youth, Adonis, who swears he would die for her.
The Bronze Age Collapse was a time of such chaos that empires fell, royalty was overthrown, palaces and temples were destroyed, and the hierarchy of the gods was doubted, yet people's self-reliance emerged like never before, and the ancient Great Goddess of the Cycles of Time, who had been suppressed, began to regain her former dominance.
Book Title: Diomedes in Kyprios
Series: The Diomedeia II
Author: Gregory Michael Nixon
Publication Date: November 19th, 2024
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 243
Genre: Mythico-Historical Fiction
Excerpt
“I have one more question for you, O Captain, but it is to do with here and now.” Teukros nodded. “It seems we are headed south, likely toward Ugarit. Do you intend to bypass the east coast of Kyprios entirely?” Diomedes was no longer smiling.
“Ah, you have a seaman’s eye for direction, I see,” Teukros said, unconsciously grasping a mast rope just as the Turms hit a trough between waves. At this, Diomede did allow a half-smile, for he did not consider himself a seaman. He did not like life at sea, often being seasick but suppressing the symptoms. “We are heading south to ride Boreas, the north wind. Soon you will see the long eastern peninsula of Kyprios and then we shall come about in the opposite direction. As the day wanes and the wind dies down, we shall enter the northern current. It makes for a longer journey, but as a sea captain yourself, I’m sure you know it’s what we must do. The main current will take us back around the big island west toward Morphou Bay, which is, I’m guessing, your destination.”
In the evening, Diomedes told the captain and a few others who understood his speech that his goal was ancient Paphos on the western side of Kyprios. Seeing no reason to obfuscate, he told the truncated tale of the promise he had made to Lieia, the Hatti Great Queen, in the depths of the Underworld, that he would be there to meet her. The romantic story moved everyone, but Teukros himself was so stirred he pledged to take Diomede right to Paphos harbour. He grasped Diomede’s wrist and further swore that he would stand by him on this extraordinary adventure until he was no longer needed.
Buy this Book
Gregory Michael Nixon
Gregory M. Nixon is a retired university professor who, after spending his professional years publishing academic papers, was pleased to discover he still had an active imagination. He moved alone to a nice cottage overlooking magnificent Okanagan Lake in western Canada to create his mythico-historical novels set after the Trojan War and the fall of the Hittite Empire during the Bronze Age Collapse. Nigel, an outdoor cat, also sometimes lives with him.
Social Media Links:
