Just Finished Reading: Heroes by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (FP: 1994) [274pp] 

The War is finally over. After long years of conflict Troy has fallen and is burning. Eager to leave the Greeks know that the Gods will not approve of the killings and desecration of temples, the result of years of tension and disappointment. They are not wrong. The journey back home is cursed for many. Some will not make it back alive. Others are blown off course and spend years in far off lands complete with new unwanted adventure and loss. Others, the hero Diomedes among them, manage to complete their journeys only to find that their home has changed beyond recognition and that only death and betrayal await them. Knowing that his wife wants him dead and her lover to take the throne, Diomedes manages to convince part of his fleet to follow him to unknown lands and, eventually, to far off Hesperia to build a new city and begin a new life. Meanwhile, back in Greece Menelaus plots his revenge against his brother's wife while a deeper conspiracy begins to unfold. After years of war there will be no peace for the heroes of the Trojan Wars. 

I’ve read a few books by this author and this was one of his earlier works – his fourth book. I found it to be essentially a book of two parts. The primary tale was of Diomedes and his band of warriors wandering up and down Hesperia – which we know today as Italy – looking for a new home, fighting primitive tribes and coming to terms with their fates. I did find this rather pedestrian to be honest and very little seemed to happen. The second thread was, I thought, much more interesting – the intrigue and plotting back home in Greece involving Menelaus and others in revenge over the death of Agamemnon and the political machinations that followed from it. I enjoyed that a great deal and would have ranked this book highly if it had been the primary (or only!) plot line. 

A few other things interested me – the fact that Diomedes had an, almost fatal, encounter with a warrior wielding an IRON sword which made very short work of his BRONZE sword and armour! Another thing was the ‘true’ role of Helen in the Trojan War... I’d heard it before when reading other books on myths so it didn’t come as a huge surprise. In a previous work I learnt that there is no agreed upon ‘canon’ in Greek myths and there are MANY variations on a theme none of which is the ‘correct’ version. The myths we know these days are just one ‘agreed upon’ version. The BIG thing that I’d never come across before (which, to be honest, the author may have created out of whole cloth) was the ‘REAL’ reason for the war itself – which wasn’t what we had been led to believe. It was, taking into account the beliefs of the time, a creditable one. I’ll see if I can find reference to it elsewhere. 

Overall, this was a fair read. I was a little bored at times by the Diomedes story but the Menelaus plotline more than made up for it. An interesting look at a timeless story. Recommended and more to come from both this author and this Myth series. 

Translated from the Italian by Christine Feddersen-Manfredi