![]() ![]() ![]() When Ephialtes’ friend, the renowned politician and orator Pericles, comes upon the scene a few moments later and offers Nicolaos a commission to find the person or persons responsible for the crime and who are thus imperiling the new democracy, Nico accepts. Nicolaos, a young man just out of his army training, isn’t certain what he wants to do with his life, but he is sure he doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his father, a sculptor. Three days after the laws are passed, he is shot by an arrow and his body falls in front of Nicolaos, son of Sophroniscus apparently there were no last names in ancient Greece. The novels opens in 461 with the murder of Ephialtes, an Athenian lawmaker who has just successfully pushed through reforms to bring democracy to the city-state. ![]() In fact, it took 130 years from the first written constitution (about 590 b.c.e.) until the time that Athens finally became a one citizen (read male), one vote democracy (461 b.c.e.). The world’s first democratic city state didn’t have a smooth beginning. ![]() Gary Corby’s first novel tells the story of how democracy came to Athens. The Pericles Commission has only increased my interest. After a wonderful trip to Greece two summers ago, I’ve become interested in all things Greek, both ancient and modern. ![]()
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