Aegina’s Agony

Bob Miller

Description

This is the second book of a trilogy about the life and loves of Telamon the Greek in 4th Century B.C. Greece. In this book he marries a Persian princess on the Greek island of Aegina near Athens. If Athens is to achieve her ‘Golden Age,’ she must first destroy Aegina, who is her arch enemy and the Greek world’s naval super power. In a multi-year Titanic struggle Aegina repeatedly maules Athens navy, bloodies her armies, and endangers Athens future. Betrayed, Aegina is defeated and the history of her defeat abridged by Athens. Today Aegina’s earlier greatness is still shrouded in Greek history.

Sujets

• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 18 juillet 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664176270
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

AEGINA’S AGONY
 
Love and War at the end of Aegina’s “Golden Age” in 456 BC
 
 
 
 
BOB MILLER
 
Copyright © 2021 by Bob Miller.
 

Library of Congress Control Number:
2021910329
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6641-7629-4

Softcover
978-1-6641-7628-7

eBook
978-1-6641-7627-0
 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 07/16/2021
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
793921
To Farquad al Salman
A patriot who, like Telamon of Aegina 2,400 years earlier, strives today to help his people by the rivers of Babylon, to realize a better world, one free of tyranny, war, and chaos.
The Telamon Trilogy
Set in the ancient Mediterranean world in the years between 480 to 407 B.C., the story of Telamon’s life and times unfolds in three books:
“Telamon The Greek”
In 460 BC, Telamon is captured in Cyprus and forced to serve in military campaigns of the King of Persia. Endebted for his service, the king returns Telamon to Aegina and agrees to help him defend his Island against Athens aggression.
“Aegina’s Agony”
In 456 BC Telmon marries a Persian high born slave on Aegina, and in the next four years defends his island against Athens. In a Titanic multi-year struggle with nearby Athens, Aegina’s fleet and army are eventually destroyed, and Telamon and his family escape to Carthage.
“Souria’s Song”
The third book covers Telamon’s years in North Africa as Carthage, Greece and Rome struggle for power and influence, as new empires are born and others die.
Other Books
By
Bob Miller
America’s Disposable Soldiers:
The real story behind the 1990’s Gulf War Illness scandal. A bestseller which led to Congressionl demands that the Veterans Administration care for tens of thousands of Iraqi Freedom veterans with Gulf War Illness. (non-fiction - 2002)
America’s Abandoned Sons :
The untold story of 25,000 American WW-II soldiers captured in Eastern Europe by Soviet forces in 1945, who were secretly hijacked to Siberia. Russia denied it, and with the onset of the Cold War, Washington secretly changed their status from POW to Missing in action… which continues to be their status seventy years laster. (non-fiction - 2014)
The Z-5 Incident:
A fiction story based on a half-century of research in the National Archives about tens of thousands of WW-II Americans secretly held illegally in Siberia. A fast moving international action-packed plot spans the world from Washington to Europe and the halls of the Kremlin as an American POW in Siberia escapes and tries to reveal his story to a disbelieving nation a half-century later. (Factual fiction - 2015)
November 17 th :
A fast moving international plot to bring to justice the notorious Greek terrorist behind the 1980’s assassination of six American intelligence personnel in Greece and elsewhere. (Factual fiction - 2016)
The Russian Conspiracies:
From Gorbachev to Putin, an action packed thriller about those involved in America’s last 20 th Century Wars in Iraq, and Putin’s behind the scenes program to end America’s world dominance in the new millennium. (Factual fiction - 2017)
Telamon the Greek:
A historical novel set in the 4 th century B.C. world as Athens seeks to achieve its “Golden Age” by destroying its last two opponents: the nearby Island of Aegina and then distant Sparta. The fast moving plot includes a plethora of actors across the Persian and Greek world of that era. (Factual fiction – 2019, and first of a trilogy followed by Aegina’s Agony in 2021)
CONTENTS
The Telamon Trilogy
Other Books by Bob Miller
A Historic Observation
TODAY
Aegina’s Harbor
AEGINA’S MAIN CITY IN 456 BC
Chapter 1 The Fish Market
Chapter 2 The Secret Harbor
Chapter 3 Souria’s Wedding
Chapter 4 The Historian Returns
Chapter 5 The Interval
Chapter 6 The Gathering Storm
Chapter 7 The Olive Grove
Chapter 8 Treason
Chapter 9 North Gate
Chapter 10 The Turtle’s Demise
Chapter 11 The Breach
Postscript
Principal Characters
Glossary
Aegina’s Naval
Historical Time Line(1)
About the Author

A Historic Observation
Aegina was the superpower of her era when confronted by Athens after the battle of Salamis in 480 BC. In the ensuing two decade struggle with Aegina, Pericles lost most of Athens fleet in the waters around Aegina, his army was badly blooded capturing the island, and his treasury was exhausted. Athens Golden Age ended twenty years later
Aegina’s Agony is set in this era of endless conflicts in Greece. It was a time when few believed mighty city-states like Aegina or Athens could suddenly disappear from history. This was the case for both cities in this saga 2,400 years ago.


TODAY

Aegina’s Harbor
M arcel Ramboulette folded the local English edition of the Athens News when he saw Effie approaching the entrance of Aegina’s fish market. He appreciated her lithe lines; narrow waist; and prominent breasts straining against her white halter. She was still attractive, thank God. He sipped at his metrio coffee and then a chaser of the local Metaxa brandy he’d ordered. Here along the quay beside Aegina’s picture-perfect commercial harbor, it was hard to believe things were so out of hand elsewhere in the world. First the recent Muslim invasion of Europe, England’s Brexit insanity. The Trump era which had threatened the world order, seemed less problematic these days, while the earlier Spanish flue epidemic of 1918 had killed so many so quickly, its modern version was slower but more persistent.
“May I?” Effie asked, pointing to the empty chair beside Marcel.
“It is reserved for you, mon-a-mou , my dear.”
Marcel made a rude gesture to a local street hawker now standing beside him with a board of cheap jewelry and trinkets. “Oooxii! Go away and get lost,” Marcel said.
“ Bakhsheesh min fudluck .” The hawker implored quietly.
“ Imshee!” Marcel replied. The problem of impoverished Arab Moslem immigrant beggars was persistent everywhere in Europe these days
“You know, Effie, I’ve been here a week now and am more frustrated than you can imagine. It’s Friday afternoon, and your work at the nearby excavation will not resume until Monday. After lunch, consider spending the weekend with me down the coast at my friend’s house.”
“My, my,” Effie replied, “aren’t we being forward? And it is not yet mid-morning.”
“Would you?” Marcel replied.
“The house with the blue cephalopods painted all over the white walls?” Effie inquired knowingly. “Doesn’t your friend mind?”
“Do you have something more important planned for the weekend?”
She smiled and pecked him on the cheek. “Why not. Pick me up at the Alimos property at four o’clock this afternoon.”
Marcel Ramboullette was pissed off beyond belief. How could this property investment misfortune have befallen him here on this idyllic island? He should have known better. He was a distinguished graduate of Le College de Droit de la Sorbonne in Paris and held an associate’s degree in international law from Princeton University. He was presently associated with the international investments department of the International Monetary Fund, where he’d recently made a name for himself investigating questionable U.S. property investments in Russia via Cyprus’s offshore banks. Some of the leads had led to those in the highest elected offices in the United States, Europe, and Russia. He was not naïve about the problem. He’d attended dinners at Mar al Largo in Miami and others in Washington and London. From these he’d acquired insider information, some of which he’d benefitted from and made his own interesting investments. But his Aegina acquisition had not been one of them. Now he wondered how he’d overlooked the old adage to “beware of Greeks bearing gifts”!
Despite his best efforts, Marcel was beginning to realize that his property here on the island was in serious trouble, so he’d decided to take some time off from his current work in Spain and find a solution for his investment here, which was still little more than a hole in the ground.
Within a week after the initial construction started almost four years ago, it had been stopped when a back hoe excavating the foundation for his future house had unearthed archaeological artifacts. Initially, it was just a copper-sheathed chest buried in an old foundation wall a couple of hundred years before Christ. Nothing to be concerned about his Athens lawyer had assured him. Such things happened all the time in Greece. But the value of the find concerned local authorities as the chest contained gold and silver coins and an unusual collection of jewelry. Everyone at the time referred to the dis