Over the Wine-Dark Sea

I have trouble appreciating historical novels, but I was curious as to what Harry Turtledove, author of numerous alternate histories and here writing under a pen name, would do with historical fiction set not too far outside of his formal training in Byzantine history.

Set in 310 BC, it features only two main characters - not several like his alternate history novels - who are cousins going on a trading voyage for their family business. Menedemos is younger but still the alpha male. Smart, but not intellectual, impulsive, charismatic, a natural leader and frequent bedder of other men's wives; he's the captain. The older Sostratos is not as comfortable among others, an intellectual and would-be historian, not at all impulsive and not as show more physically gifted as his cousin. They bicker about much, not the least the merits of Homer, Aristophanes, and Thucydides.

The novel is a leisurely description of a trading trip through the Mediterranean from Rhodes to Italy and Sicily. This is a workaday novel with no secret messages being carried, no quest for fabled or magical items, no endangered beautiful princesses , no villain to pursue or flee. The most exotic thing is the cousins' attempts to get rid of a load of peacocks. In his afterwords, Turtledove gives his historical sources for some of the events and characters. (It turns out Menedemos is an historical character though Turtledove gives no further details.)

Turtledove keeps his usual tics down to a minimum. In other words, there aren't too many puns, and the author doesn't spend as much time as usual blatantly emphasizing the callousness of our heroes to the moral evils of the novel's world.

If you want a detailed description of the minutia of this world, I suspect this isn't the novel for you. I thought I got enough details without Turtledove trying to show off his research. Whenever I've encountered that sort of historical novel before, I get impatient and think I might as well just read a straight history about the same time period. Neither cousin being a famous historical personage was also a plus for me. show less

310 BC--nearly a generation after Alexander the Great's death, while his generals are still squabbling about how to divide Alexander's Empire. Interesting and readable humorous novel of two cousins, Menedemos and Sostrates. one a sea captain and the other a quartermaster-cum-accountant, on a trading voyage from Rhodes, Greek island-hopping, to the Italian mainland: Taras and other cities, buying and selling goods throughout their voyage: Chian wine, Coan silk, papyrus, ink, AND peafowl. At different points they are harried by Romans, they overcome a pirate ship, take grain to Syracuse on Sicily. At that time Syracuse is fighting a war against Carthage. In Taras, each cousin has woman trouble, so much so they decide never to return to show more that city. Much ado about maintaining on shipboard and selling the peafowl and their chicks for a decent price. Banter between the two cousins, who are completely opposite in personality. Menedemos is impulsive and doesn't think ahead; Sostratos is scholarly, cautious, and does consider consequences. The author did teach us painlessly about customs of those times.

Recommended. show less

Harry Turtledove writes these historical fictions under the name Turtletaub, I guess because of a marketing decision, so the books aren't pre-sold to his WWII and US Civil War Alternates readers. And to my tastes, these are superior products, and the adventures of a couple of Hellenistic Rhodians are good entertainment. We meet the pair, and their world of the divided Greek powers dueling it out over the empire conquered by Alexander in this outing.
We come to understand that domestic slaves are family members, that Greek cuisine of the period was a lot duller than our contemporary array, and a more classical view of sex as a plot driver. I think the Sci-Fi readers could benefit from this less sensational approach to the past.

I love alternate history, and am generally a fan of Turteltaub's books (the ones he writes under his other name, Turtledove). I know he has a good command of history, so I thought this ancient Greek sea-faring story would be interesting. This one, though, was disappointing. I kept thinking, "When does the story start?" by which I mean, at what point does the plot thicken? When does the drama heighten? When do the protagonists get into difficulties that become more difficult before they get out again?

Answer: it doesn't, and they don't. It seems like the author was so intent on exploring the historical/cultural milieu in this one (which he brings nicely alive), that the dramatic arc is sadly neglected or overlooked in consequence. This show more is at best a very "low key" excusion through the minimally challenging lives of the protagonists. It is not the robust storytelling Turteltaub is capable of. show less

Menedemos and his cousin Sostratos are traders, the sons of merchants living in Rhodes. This is the story of one of their summer trips where they take fine goods, silks, perfumes, peacocks, and wine to sell along the western coast of Italy.
It's wonderfully historically accurate and a very entertaining read. It wasn't exactly what I expected having read a number of Mr. Turtledove's sci-fi/history books, but I enjoyed it greatly as a faithful representation of that time in the Mediterranean Sea. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

this book was historically very informative. i liked the writing style. funny, good story.