But it may have been born when talking to various Vietnam veterans, returning from that war a war that may not have been worse than any other war, but loomed large in my young consciousness of conflict. My grandfather and my father and my uncle all veterans said things, when they thought I wasn"t around, that led me to suspect that while many men can be brave, some men are far more dangerous in combat than others.
Still later, I was privileged to serve with various men from the Special Operations world, and I came to know that even among them the snake-eaters there were only a few who were the killers. I listened to them talk, and I wondered what kind of a man Achilles really was. Or Hector. And I began to wonder what made them, and what kept them at it, and the thought stayed with me while I flew and served in Africa and saw various conflicts and the effects that those conflicts have on all the partic.i.p.ants, from the first Gulf War to Rwanda and Zaire.
Killer of Men is my attempt to understand the inside of such men. is my attempt to understand the inside of such men.
This book was both very easy and very hard to write. I have thought about Killer of Men Killer of Men since 1990 in some way or other; when I sat down to put my thoughts into the computer, the book seemed to write itself, and even now, when I type these final words, I am amazed at how much of it seemed to be waiting, prewritten, inside my head. But the devil is still in the details, and my acknowledgements are all about the investigation and research of those details. since 1990 in some way or other; when I sat down to put my thoughts into the computer, the book seemed to write itself, and even now, when I type these final words, I am amazed at how much of it seemed to be waiting, prewritten, inside my head. But the devil is still in the details, and my acknowledgements are all about the investigation and research of those details.
The broad sweep of the history of the Ionian Revolt is really known to us only from Herodotus and, to a vastly lesser extent, from Thucydides. I have followed Herodotus in almost every respect, except for the details of how the tiny city-state of Plataea came to involve herself with Athens. That, to be frank, I made up although it is based on a theory evolved over a hundred conversations with amateur and professional historians. First and foremost, I have to acknowledge the contribution of Nicolas Cioran, who cheerfully discussed Plataea"s odd status every day as we worked out in a gymnasium, and sometimes fought sword to sword. My trainer and constant sparring partner John Beck deserves my thanks both for a vastly improved physique, and for helping give me a sense of what real training for a life of violence might have been like in the ancient world. And my partner in the reinvention of ancient Greek xiphos fighting, Aurora Simmons, deserves at least equal thanks.
Among professional historians, I was a.s.sisted by Paul McDonnell-Staff and Paul Bardunias, by the entire brother- and sisterhood of RomanArmyTalk.com and the web community there, and by the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum (who possess and cheerfully shared the only surviving helmet attributable to the Battle of Marathon), as well as the staff of the Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, who possess the best-preserved ancient aspis and provided me with superb photos to use in recreating it. I also received help from the library staff of the University of Toronto, where, when I"m rich enough, I"m a student, and from Toronto"s superb Metro Reference Library. Every novelist needs to live in a city where universal access to JSTOR is free and on his library card. The staff of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland just across the street from my mother"s apartment, conveniently were cheerful and helpful, even when I came back to look at the same helmet for the sixth time. And James Davidson, whose superb book, and the web community there, and by the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum (who possess and cheerfully shared the only surviving helmet attributable to the Battle of Marathon), as well as the staff of the Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, who possess the best-preserved ancient aspis and provided me with superb photos to use in recreating it. I also received help from the library staff of the University of Toronto, where, when I"m rich enough, I"m a student, and from Toronto"s superb Metro Reference Library. Every novelist needs to live in a city where universal access to JSTOR is free and on his library card. The staff of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland just across the street from my mother"s apartment, conveniently were cheerful and helpful, even when I came back to look at the same helmet for the sixth time. And James Davidson, whose superb book, Greeks and Greek Love Greeks and Greek Love helped me think about the th.o.r.n.y issues of ancient Greek s.e.xuality, was also useful to a novelist with too many questions. helped me think about the th.o.r.n.y issues of ancient Greek s.e.xuality, was also useful to a novelist with too many questions.
Excellent as professional historians are and my version of the Persian Wars owes a great deal to many of them, not least Hans Van Wees and Victor Davis Hanson my greatest praise and thanks have to go to the amateur historians we call reenactors. Giannis Kadoglou of Thessaloniki volunteered to spend two full days driving around the Greek countryside, from Athens to Plataea and back, charming my five-year-old daughter and my wife while translating everything in sight and being as delighted with the ancient town of Plataea as I was myself. I met him on RomanArmyTalk, and this would be a very different book without his pa.s.sion for the subject and relentless desire to correct my errors.
But Giannis is hardly alone, and there is literally a phalanx of Greek reenactors who helped me. Here in my part of North America, we have a group called the Plataeans this is, trust me, not a coincidence and we work hard on recreating the very time period and city-state so prominent in these books, from weapons, armour and combat to cooking, crafts and dance. If the reader feels that these books put flesh and blood on the bare bones of history in so far as I"ve succeeded in doing that it is because of the efforts of the men and women who reenact with me and show me, every time we"re together, all the things I haven"t thought of, who do their own research, their own kit-building and their own training. Thanks to all of you, Plataeans. And to all the other Ancient Greek reenactors who helped me find things, make things or build things.
Thanks are also due to the people of Lesbos and Athens and Plataea I can"t name all of you, but I was entertained, informed and supported constantly in three trips to Greece, and the person who I can name is Aliki Hamosfakidou of Dolphin h.e.l.las Travel for her care, interest and support through many hundreds of emails and some meetings.
In a professional line, I would like to acknowledge the debt I owe to Mr Tim Waller, my copy-editor, whose knowledge of language both this one and Ancient Greek always makes me feel humble. He"s pretty good at east and west, too. Thanks to him, this book is better than it would ever have been without him.
Bill Ma.s.sey, my editor at Orion, found the two biggest errors in this story and made me fix them, and again, it is a better book for his work. A much better book. Oh, and he found a lot of other errors, too, but let"s not mention them. I have had a few editors. Working with Bill is wonderful. Come on, authors how many of you get to say that?
My agent, Sh.e.l.ley Power, contributed more directly to this book than to any other first, as an agent, in all the usual ways, and then later, coming to Greece and taking part in all the excitement of seeing Lesbos and Athens and taking us to Archaeon Gefsis, a restaurant that attempts to take the customer back to the ancient world. Thanks for everything, Sh.e.l.ley, and the dinner not the least!
I"m lucky that my friends still volunteer to read my ma.n.u.scripts and criticize them: Robert Sulentic, Rebecca Jordan (who also maintains the websites at www.hippeis.com and and www.plataians.org), Jenny Carrier, Matt Heppe, Aurora Simmons and Kate Boggs. Thanks to you, this is a better book.
Christine Szego and the staff and management of my local bookstore, Bakka-Phoenix of Toronto, also deserve my thanks, as I tend to walk in and spout fifteen minutes" worth of plot, character, dialogue or just news writing can be lonely work, and it is good to have people to talk to. And they throw a great book launch.
As usual, this book was written, almost every word, at the Luna Cafe in Toronto, where I sit at my table, take up another table with Barrington"s Cla.s.sical Atlas, and despite that, get served superb coffee, good humour and excellent food all day.
It is odd, isn"t it, that authors always save their families for last? Really, it"s the done thing. So I"ll do it, too, even though my wife should get mentioned at every stage after all, she"s a reenactor, too, she had useful observations on all kinds of things we both read (Athenian textiles is what really comes to mind, though) and, in addition, more than even Ms Szego, Sarah has to listen to the endless enthusiasms I develop about history while writing (the words "did you know" probably cause her more horror than anything else you can think of). My daughter, Beatrice, is also a reenactor, and her ability to portray the life of a real child is amazing. My father, Kenneth Cameron, taught me most of what I know about writing, and continues to provide excellent advice and to listen to my complaints about the process, which may be the greater service.
Having said all that, it"s hard to say what exactly I can lay claim to, if you like this book. I had a great deal of help, and I appreciate it. Thanks. And when you find misspelled words, sailing directions reversed and historical errors why, then you"ll know that I, too, had something to add. Because all the errors are solely mine.
Toronto, March 2010
About the Author.
Christian Cameron is a writer and military historian. He is a veteran of the United States Navy, where he served as both an aviator and an intelligence officer. He lives in Toronto where he is currently writing his next novel while working on a Masters in Cla.s.sics.
To learn more, visit www.hippeis.com and join the online agora, or visit our reenactment group website at and join the online agora, or visit our reenactment group website at www.plataians.org and look through the photo gallery. Or join and come to the 2500th anniversary of Marathon! and look through the photo gallery. Or join and come to the 2500th anniversary of Marathon!