Shades of Artemis: A Novel of Ancient Greece and the Spartan Brasidas

Shades of Artemis recounts the life of Brasidas, Sparta’s most audacious commander, from his upbringing in the Spartan military school called the Agoge to his induction into the ranks of the ancient world’s finest warriors. Overcoming petty jealousies and the politics of his own country, he finally rises to the rank of general and embarks on a daring mission to bring Athens to its knees and an end to the Peloponnesian War. With the death of Pericles, the politician Kleon becomes the architect of war policy in Athens, directing the strategy against Sparta. Thucydides, the Athenian general and chronicler of the conflict, bears witness to the brutality of ancient combat, the devastating plague that strikes his city, and the ambition of fellow Athenians that rely on war to sustain them. In the last quarter of the fifth century BC, these three men would meet in battle on the plains of northern Greece and determine the course of Western Civilization’s first world war.