#pieris

Menelaus trains to build his strength is given in parallels with the fact that the horses need to be prepared for battle. Horses get easily agitated by loud noises or flashes so it is natural that war horses need special preparation to face the battlefield Menelaus probably needed nothing else but to take revenge on Paris, unfortunately for him, in most versions of the myths around the Trojan War, he never gets to do it We probably expect large scale construction projects have quite a few accidents along the way that might cause delay, archeological examples we have come for instance from the pyramids in Egypt where we find workers actually given burials to the are for their contribution. Payment in bronze age happened through exchange rather than coinage, hence Menelaus offering compensation to grain and not in some coin. Metal was probably used as a method of payment and measuring value but usually not used for everyday transactions. When Menelaus mentions "public physician" is based on some archeological fragmentary evidence in linear b tablets we have the titles of "healers" in antiquity -me-no-i-ja-te seems to be the second half of a longer term that includes the word i-ja-te was the term used aka "healer" that also gives the later and modern Greek word ιατρός or γιατρός aka "doctor". There is also an interesting addition to the term, if we considered the lost first half, because of the term ke-ke-me-no which stands for "public property" so I have read the theorizing of the term ke-ke-me-no-i-ja-te which could stand for "public doctor". In ancient times seems more common for women to give birth either crouching, kneeling or standing while holding onto something even if we do have art evidence that lying down also happened for instance in ancient Rome. I decided to use a combination of these in my fic so I have Pieris initially giving birth kneeling or holding onto something and then made lie down because she grew tired For those who got the signs from my previous chapter, Pieris was probably suffering from pre-eclampsia and died from eclampsia. This condition is not frequent but is very rapid. Happens mostly due to high blood pressure to mothers and often occurs to very young or very old mothers. Menelaus seems to be determined to be as cruel as he can be. That was inspired by his stance during the events of Aulis when Iphigenia needed to be sacrificed at least according to Euripides and sources based on him, he was one of the most vocal in favor. However he soon realizes that is not how he wants things to be as he bends under the sorrow of his brother. The same cycle of violence and mercy will continue in Menelaus's life till the peak that is the attempt of execution of his wife and her eventual forgiveness. The words attributed to Nestor are from a fragment of the lost poem Cypria believing to be some event where Menelaus was in Pylos and was interacting with Nestor who seemingly soothes his pain through their talking. His goodbye with his daughter was heavily inspired by this Greek song The lullaby that Pieris sings to Menelaus is in reality a more modern Greek song named "Picus the little bear" and I paraphrase it a bit. It is a very sad song which I thought fitted Pieris (plus as you know the word "xanthos" that I translate as "blonde" often used to describe the red hair of Menelaus too) also the singer Πόπη Αστεριάδη (Popi Asteriadi) was a big inspiration for Pieris's looks as well as voice The plants for Menelaus's wreath are inspired by sacred plants for these gods I mention. Hera except from her protective nature for Greece we also see her as the protector of marriage and so in one way to support Menelaus to his trip towards the war against those who insulted the marital laws. This story has gained a beautiful illustration by my friend @midnightproser on tumblr one can see here

I want to separately deeply thank @sua-moonbow and @midnightproser who have been with me throughout the process of this fic, never missing a chapter and showering me with their precious thoughts and amazing comments, never missing a detail!

They were the greatest thing that happened to my fics the past months and I thank them both deeply for it

Also special thanks to @midnightproser for being the one to actively get inspired by my fics to create artwork of them, especially the beautiful illustration based on the spirit of the story: