Hellenic Traders Series by H.N. Turteltaub, Harry Turtledove

In Rhodes, Menedemos is a young, daring sea captain; and scholarly, reserved Sostratos is his cousin. Now Menedemos and Sostratos plan their largest, most audacious trading voyage yet, which will take them from the shores of Asia Minor all the way to the coasts of faraway Italy, and to confrontations with the barbarians of an obscure town called Rome. Along the way they will buy and sell wine, silks, and even to the astonishment of all, peacocks.

In the tradition of Steven Pressfield and Mary Renault, a seafaring novel of the ancient GreeksThe vast tapestry of the Hellenic world unfolds in this stirring tale of two traders from the island of Rhodes, who range across the wind-blown face of the beautiful and treacherous Mediterranean in search of adventure and profits.In Over the Wine-dark Sea, H. N. Turteltaub transported his readers to the year 310 B.C. and the lives of Menedemos and Sostratos, two sea traders of Rhodes... moreIn the tradition of Steven Pressfield and Mary Renault, a seafaring novel of the ancient GreeksThe vast tapestry of the Hellenic world unfolds in this stirring tale of two traders from the island of Rhodes, who range across the wind-blown face of the beautiful and treacherous Mediterranean in search of adventure and profits.In Over the Wine-dark Sea, H. N. Turteltaub transported his readers to the year 310 B.C. and the lives of Menedemos and Sostratos, two sea traders of Rhodes. From the smell of papyrus and ink to the thrumming of sail in the wind and the grunt of the oarsmen, the details of life in a now-vanished world come alive again in his new novel, The Gryphon’s Skull, an epic of grand adventure and finely realized characters. Sostratos, long and rangy, intellectual and curious, chases knowledge as ardently as his cousin chases women; Menedemos, nearly as perfect a physical specimen as Alexander himself, is the headstrong man of the sea, his eyes unable to resist the veiled beauties around him . . . including his young stepmother, Baukis, whose voice and form he struggles to ignore.Having profitably returned on the Aphrodite to Rhodes, the two cousins find that war threatens their once free-trading world. Alexander the Great’s successors are warring for control of the eastern Mediterranean. The ruthless one-eyed general Antigonos, who draws on the strength of all Anatolia, and his rival Ptolemaios, who controls the endless wealth of Egypt, are each ruthlessly maneuvering for advantage . . . and the neutrality of Rhodes, so essential to commerce, may be coming to an end. Yet though war and rumors of war surround them, Sostratos and Menedemos need to turn a profit. It seems the height of folly to try one’s luck so strenuously, but Sostratos has come into possession of what he is convinced is the skull of the mythical gryphon, the fabled beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. They sail to Athens, intending to sell it to a school of philosophy. And the Egyptian emeralds they’ve obtained on the cheap promise to make them an even tidier profit.But between the Aphrodite and Athens lie two war fleets, innumerable pirates, and enough danger and intrigue to satisfy even Homer. Unfortunately, it may be more than Sostratos and Menedemos can hope to survive. less

IT'S A HARD DAY'S WORK,HUSTLING FOR AN HONEST DRACHMAMenedemos and Sostratos, those dauntless traders of the third century B.C., have set sail again--this time to Phoenicia. There Menedemos will spend the summer wheeling and dealing, while cousin Sostratos travels inland to the little-known country of Ioudaia, with its strange people and their even stranger religion. In theory, Sostratos is going in search of cheap balsam, a perfume much in demand in the Mediterranean world... moreIT'S A HARD DAY'S WORK,HUSTLING FOR AN HONEST DRACHMAMenedemos and Sostratos, those dauntless traders of the third century B.C., have set sail again--this time to Phoenicia. There Menedemos will spend the summer wheeling and dealing, while cousin Sostratos travels inland to the little-known country of Ioudaia, with its strange people and their even stranger religion. In theory, Sostratos is going in search of cheap balsam, a perfume much in demand in the Mediterranean world. In truth, he just wants to get a good look at a part of the world unknown to most Greeks. And the last thing he wants is to have to take along a bunch of sailors from the Aphrodite as his bodyguards.But Menedemos insists. He knows that bandits on land are as dangerous as pirates at sea, and he has no faith in scholarly Sostratos' ability to dodge them. Meanwhile, it turns out that the prime hams and smoked eels they picked up en route are unsalable to Ioudaians. (Who knew?) And then there's the olive oil they've been rooked into taking on board, as they set sail for a part of the world that makes the stuff. Compared to these kinds of headaches, mere bandits seem like a trivial problem. But greater dangers lurk ahead.... less

In 306 BC, the small, free, and independent polis of Rhodes is trying to stay neutral between the local great powers, each ruled by one of Alexander the Great's marshals: Asia Minor, controlled by one-eyed Antigonos, and the Egypt of Ptolemaios. Antigonos' son, Demetrios, comes to Rhodes seeking an alliance against Ptolemaios. The Rhodians, who trade a lot with Egypt, refuse his offer.Menedemos and Sostratos take the Aphrodite to Egypt for business.. moreIn 306 BC, the small, free, and independent polis of Rhodes is trying to stay neutral between the local great powers, each ruled by one of Alexander the Great's marshals: Asia Minor, controlled by one-eyed Antigonos, and the Egypt of Ptolemaios. Antigonos' son, Demetrios, comes to Rhodes seeking an alliance against Ptolemaios. The Rhodians, who trade a lot with Egypt, refuse his offer.Menedemos and Sostratos take the Aphrodite to Egypt for business...and to tell Ptolemaios what has been going on. Just before they leave, they learn Demetrios has invaded the island of Cyprus, which Ptolemaios dominates. He is advancing on the southeastern town of Salamis, where Ptolemaios' brother, Menelaos, has concentrated his forces. After they pass on their news, Menedemos does business in the brash new city of Alexandria while Sostratos travels up the Nile to old, old Memphis to trade there, and to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Ptolemaios, meanwhile, readies a fleet to rescue his brother and drive Demetrios back to Asia Minor. Ptolemaios, needing shipping to carry weapons for the army he intends to land, coerces Menedemos into bringing the Aphrodite along as part of his expeditionary force. And so, very much against their will, Menedemos and Sostratos become small parts of one of the ancient world's greatest naval battles. less