Quicksilver (11 page)
GLOSSARY OF CHARACTERS
Gods and Mythical Creatures
Aphrodite (af-roh-
dy
-tee): The beautiful, seductive Goddess of Love, a daughter of Zeus, was the wife of Hephaestus and the mother of Eros.
Apollo (a-
pol
-lo): The God of Prophecy, also a healer. Apollo’s temple at Delphi, with its many snake-wielding oracles, was renowned throughout the ancient world.
Ares (
air
-eez): The God of War.
Argos: A hundred-eyed monster.
Artemis (
ahr
-tuh-mis): The Goddess of the Hunt, the Moon Goddess, and Apollo’s virginal twin sister.
Athena (a-
thee
-na): The Goddess of Wisdom. Athena sprang fully grown out of Zeus’ head, causing the first known splitting headache in mythological history.
Calypso (ka-
lip
-so): A sea nymph and enchantress.
Cerberus (
sur
-bur-us): The three-headed watchdog of the Underworld.
Charon (
kair
-un): The ferryman who rowed the dead across the River Styx.
Demeter (dih-
mee
-tur): The Goddess of the Harvest and Fertility and the mother of Kore.
Dryads (
dry
-ads): Forest and tree spirits.
Eris (
ee
-ris): Ares’ sister; also called Spite and Discord.
Eros (
air
-ohs): Aphrodite’s mischievous young son. Eros spent his time shooting magical golden arrows at mortals. His targets fell hopelessly in love.
Furies: Three crone-like sisters who pursued and tormented erring mortals; also called Erinyes (ih-
rin
-ee-eez).
Hades (
hay
-deez): Brother of Zeus and Poseidon and the God of the Underworld.
Hephaestus (huh-
fes
-tus): The God of Fire and a master artisan. His creations included magical armor, self-propelled tripods, and mechanical golden servants.
Hera (
hair
-uh): The Goddess of Marriage and Zeus’ wife.
Hermes (
hur
-meez): Zeus’ personal messenger. Hermes also brought luck, protected travelers, escorted the dead, invented musical instruments, played pranks, and stole.
Hestia (
hes
-tee-uh): The Goddess of the Hearth.
Hymenaeus (hy-mun-
ee
-us): The God of Marriage.
Iris (
eye
-ris): The Goddess of Rainbows.
Kore (
kohr
-ee): Demeter’s daughter; called Persephone after her marriage to Hades.
Medusa (muh-
doo
-suh): A young woman turned into a snake-haired monster by Athena; sometimes called a Gorgon.
Nereids (
nee
-ree-ids): The fifty nymphs of the calm sea, daughters of the old ocean god Nereus and the Oceanid Doris.
Oceanids (oh-
see
-uh-nids): The 3,000 sea nymphs born to the river god Oceanus and his consort Tethys.
Oenone (eh-
noh
-nee): A nymph of Mount Ida in love with Paris.
Pegasus (
peg
-uh-sus): A winged horse who sprang out of Medusa’s headless body.
Persephone (pur-
sef
-ih-nee): Demeter’s daughter. Kore became known as Persephone after marrying Hades.
Poseidon (puh-
sy
-dun): Lord of the Oceans and brother of Zeus and Hades; also called Earth Shaker for his power to cause earthquakes.
Tityus (
tit
-ee-us): A giant, son of Zeus and the Earth Goddess, Gaia.
Zeus (zoos): Most powerful of all the gods, Zeus had many appellations, including Lord of the Universe, Deliverer, Cloud Gatherer, and Averter of Flies.
Mortals
Achilles (uh-
kil
-eez): Greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War.
Acrisius (uh-
kree
-zhus): Danae’s father; King of Argos.
Agenor (
ag
-uh-nor): Andromeda’s betrothed.
Andromeda (an-
drahm
-ih-duh): Daughter of the King and Queen of Joppa, she wed Perseus after he rescued her.
Ascalaphus (as-
kal
-uh-fus): Hades’ gardener.
Atalanta (at-uh-
lan
-tuh): An Arcadian princess, known as the swiftest mortal in the world.
Cassiope (kuh-
sy
-uh-pee): Andromeda’s mother.
Cepheus (
see
-fee-us): Andromeda’s father.
Danae (dan-
ay
-ee): Perseus’ mother.
Dictys (
dik
-tis): A fisherman on the island of Seriphos.
Helen: A great beauty, married to King Menelaus of Sparta.
Idaeus (ih-
day
-us): King Priam’s servant.
Menelaus (men-uh-
lay
-us): With his brother, Agamemnon, he led the Greek forces in the war against Troy.
Molpus: A blind singer.
Odysseus (oh-
dis
-ee-us): The Greek captain whose ten-year journey home after the Trojan War is described in Homer’s epic poem
The Odyssey.
Pandora: The first woman, fashioned out of clay by Hephaestus and sent to earth by Zeus to release misery into the world.
Paris: The prince of Troy whose seduction of Helen led to the Trojan War.
Peleus (peh-
lay
-us): Achilles’ father.
Perseus (
pur
-see-us): The Greek hero who beheaded Medusa and then used her head as a weapon to vanquish his foes.
Polydectes (pahl-ee-
dek
-teez): King of Seriphos and Danae’s suitor.
Priam (
pry
-em): King of Troy.
Sisyphus (
sis
-ih-fus): King and founder of the city of Corinth; doomed to eternal torment for defying Zeus.
Tantalus (
tan
-tuh-lus): Punished with constant, gnawing hunger for offering the gods a meal of human flesh.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I set out to write about Hermes because he had a unique position in the Greek pantheon. He was the only Immortal familiar with the three worlds of gods, mortals, and shades, and he was Zeus’ personal messenger as well as his son and confidant. In addition, he was gifted with speed, flight, invisibility, and prophecy. If he was never the central figure in the myths in which he appeared, he sometimes played an important part in them, and he always knew more about them than any of the other characters. Add to this his cunning, his curiosity, and his mischievous nature, and you get Hermes, the ultimate Olympian insider.
But there was more to him than his access to privileged information. There was his geniality, which never seemed to sour; his deep love of music; and his affection for animals. He was impressively versatile, too: he guided shepherds, conferred fertility and prosperity, invented musical instruments, and led the nymphs and the Graces in dance. He was also a master of knots and chains, which no doubt helped him in his thievery.
Hermes liked mischief but not cruelty, and was more reliably kind to mortals than the other gods. For this he was well loved. The thousands of pillars called
herms,
erected to him throughout ancient Greece, attest to his popularity, as does the fact that at a certain point in his career, he became a protector of children and the god of education.
My affection for Hermes grew when I learned that he hated violence. It made me certain that I wanted to write
Quicksilver
and helped to shape the book. Thinking about this aspect of his personality gave me the order of events and their emotional tone and colored the way I imagined many of the other characters.
As for
what
I imagined and what I didn’t, readers of Greek mythology probably know the myth in which the infant Hermes steals Apollo’s cattle—it’s the only one in which he takes center stage. They may have noticed him in all the many versions of the myth of Demeter and Kore/Persephone, the myth of Perseus and Medusa, and the myth called the Judgment of Paris, where his role is much smaller. Mythology zealots will also know the myth about Zeus and Io, in which Hermes kills Argos at Zeus’ command.
I based two episodes of
Quicksilver
on Homer: Priam’s visit to Achilles’ tent in
The Iliad
and Calypso’s release of Odysseus in
The Odyssey.
Needless to say, anyone with an interest in Greek mythology should read Homer’s epic masterpieces.
Hermes was a prankster, but examples of his humor are hard to find. I was forced to invent his jokes, and I apologize for them. Other events in
Quicksilver,
and Hermes’ many changes of heart, are my invention, too.
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ALSO BY STEPHANIE SPINNER
It was Artemis, goddess of the hunt and mistress of the wild, who rescued the abandoned baby Atalanta, sending a shebear to nurse her and a band of hunters to raise her in safety. Now sixteen, Atalanta, famed archer and swiftest mortal alive, has devoted her life to the goddess.
When strangers appear in Atalanta’s village one day, they bring shattering news. The father who forsook her is a king. And he has summoned his daughter with a simple, chilling command: marry and produce an heir. Fleet-footed Atalanta, determined not to betray Artemis, counters with a grim proposal. She will marry the first man to outrun her in a footrace, and those she defeats must die. It is Atalanta’s desperate hope that no man will be foolish enough to meet her challenge.
“A stirring novel that reinterprets the myth
of Atalanta . . . a page-turner.”—
Booklist,
Starred
“Engrossing.”—
The Horn Book Magazine
A Bank Street College of Education
Best Children’s Book of the Year
Published by Laurel-Leaf
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2005 by Stephanie Spinner
All rights reserved.
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RL: 5.8
December 2006
eISBN: 978-0-307-43364-0
v3.0