The Gryphon's Skull

The book follows the adventures of Menedemos and his cousin, Sostratos, seafaring traders from Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean in the years after Alexander the Great. The plot centers around their commercial voyages across the Aegean Sea in their ship the Aphrodite during the year 309 BC. Early on, Sostratos acquires what appears to be the skull of a mythical gryphon (in reality the fossilized skull of a Protoceratops dinosaur), which he hopes to transport to scholars in Athens for study. Various other responsibilities and events get in the way, notably a commission from Ptolemaîos, satrap of Egypt, to spirit Polemaîos, disaffected nephew of Antigonos, master of Asia, from Chalcis to Cos to join him in his campaign against Antigonos. The cousins succeed in their mission, though Polemaîos later betrays Ptolemaîos, and is ordered to drink hemlock. Sostratos witnesses the enforced suicide. The gryphon's skull is later lost in a pirate attack on the Aphrodite.

Publishers Weekly notes that "[i]n the end, readers [of the book] will count themselves satisfied with the journey." The reviewer points out that "[t]The author has spelled names as the Greeks did—Kyklades, Thoukydides, Skythians—and this adds to the fun."^[2]

Kirkus Reviews calls the novel "[s]uperlative historical adventure, narrated with plenty of action and a good feel for the era." The two protagonists are characterized as "a somewhat Patty Duke-ish pair of cousins" who "make a good pair, each complementing the other's weaknesses and strengths."^[3]

Michele Leber in Booklist characterizes the book as "factually-laded historical fiction, although history is sometimes dispensed awkwardly through dialog rather than through narrative; and while a table of weights, measures, and money is provided, a glossary is sorely missing. But there is appealing camaraderie between the cousins, and no lack of action; and plans for a future voyage, plus unresolved issues, pave the way for more to come."^[4]

The book was also reviewed by K. V. Bailey in Vector 227, January 2003, and Peter Heck (2003) in Asimov's Science Fiction, May 2003.^[1]