From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.
Session V - Scene III (of VI)

The raft is torn to pieces and everyone falls into the rough waters.  Dion tries to grab a piece of the flotsam, but it drifts out of his reach.  Chrysostomos and Artemisia fare better, each grabbing a small piece of wood they can use to paddle their way to shore.

Gayloria, on the other hand, is concerned with the bag of their armor and other equipment.  She manages to grab the line but can barely hold it and tread water.

The mighty Dion grits his teeth, planning to chew through the sea serpent should it return.  Using all the force he can muster, he swims over to Gayloria, grabs her, and swims her and the large bag to shore.

As the heroes get closer, they find the tides rough and the area rocky.  Chrysostomos has difficulty navigating his small piece of wood.  He gets too close to the rocky shoreline, scraping his back across some rocks.

Once ashore, everyone hides in the darkness out of sight.  Artemisia bandages up Chrysostomos’ wounds while Dion and Gayloria regain their strength.  Once they are ready, everyone puts on their armor and readies to move on.

They decide to begin by exploring the sea coast to the left of the beach to see if they can find a sea cave.  Walking in a single column, Dion leads them along in the dark, guided only by moonlight.

Up ahead, the barbarian spots movement.  He cautions the others to stop.  Once again he starts to ready himself for battle only to be reminded that they wish to avoid detection.  He reluctantly agrees, but notes he will taste the blood of Xersian soon.

Torchlight can be seen close by as a Xersian patrol passes through the area.  With everyone staying hidden, the patrol passes by without detecting them.  Once they are well out of distance, the heroes move on.

From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.
Session V - Scene IV (of VI)

A short distance further down the coastline, Chrysostomos spots a cave below at the bottom of the cliff.  Due to the high tide, the cave is at least half submerged.

Although they have found what they were seeking, the heroes reconsider the plan.  The cave is only accessible from the water, largely submerged, and in all likelihood is the lair of the sea serpent.

Instead, they turn their attention to the nearby cliffs around the stronghold.  Dion notes that there is a large crevasse along the cliffs that could be used for cover.  It may also provide a less steep area to climb.  The heroes also spot one of the towers near the crevasse.  They wonder if perhaps it has a way inside.

Everyone agrees to the plan.  Dion leads the others as they carefully make their way over to the crevasse while avoiding being spotted.  Once inside, they find plenty of cover to hide in and notice the slope up the crevasse to the walls is gentle enough to climb.

Nearby, a tower along the stronghold wall looms.  Dion climbs up to investigate.  He can see there are arrow slits along the tower with light inside.  The flickering of light suggests the tower is manned, but patrolled at irregular intervals.  He also notices a balcony looking over the beach, with a door leading inside the tower.

Heading back to the others, he explains what he found.  They decide not to attempt a siege tonight, but wait to use it once the ship returns.  They head back out the way they came, once again careful to avoid detection.

They head further out into the grassy hills on the outskirts of town.  Stumbling around in the dark, both Gayloria and Chrysostomos manage to badly twist their ankles.

Eventually the heroes reach a good camp site and set watch.  The night passes without incident.

From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.
Session V - Scene V (of VI)

In the morning, the heroes survey the area.  Artemisia notes that the local farmers, being Hellasians, will be sympathetic to them and their struggle against the Xersians.

Looking around, they spot a small farm.  Chrysostomos suggests Artemisia be the one to approach the farmer, as she will appear to be the least threatening.

The sorceress heads in and finds a farmer at work in his olive grove.  He greets her, saying his name is Eustachus and asking what he can help with.

Artemisia slyly asks if the farmer has heard any stories of impending battle.  Eustachus responds that he has heard rumors a ship will land soon.  He hopes the ship will contain powerful heroes that can free the land from the tyranny of the Xersians.

The sorceress then explains she has friends nearby who are the heroes he speaks of.  At first the man laughs at her, for she appears to be a very unassuming woman.  But after she calls out to the others to show themselves, and he seems their greatness, he ushers them into a nearby shed.

Surrounded by the stores of the farmer’s rutabagas, the heroes explain they need assistance getting into town.    Eustachus explains that small groups of farmers are always allowed into the city, but only for the day; and they are always searched for weapons.  He notes that the wealthy merchants who live in the city are allowed to stay there.

When asked about how to sneak their weapons in, Eustachus suggests using his cart and covering them with rutabagas.  Wanting a way to access their weapons more quickly, the group instead elects to build a secret compartment on the bottom of the cart.

After a hard morning of carpentry, Eustachus brings out food to the heroes.  He explains it is a dish his wife makes known as “rutabaga surprise”.

Before trying to move weapons into the town, Artemisia wants to get inside and look around.  She suggests they take some of Eustachus’ olives in and pose as farmers.  Before they go, Dion asks the farmer which of the rich men in town would likely be sympathizers with the Xersians.  He suggests the jeweler, Krysos.

From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.
Session V - Scene VI (of VI)

With their weapons and armor back at the farm, save for Artemisia's staff serving as a walking stick, the group heads up the road into town.

They are met at the main gate by a watch commander and his two guards.  As the guards check over the group for weapons, Gayloria notices the watch commander has a particularly nice looking scimitar strapped to his side.

The guards summon laborers to grab the bags of olives.  The men take the bags back to a large, locked building nearby.  The watch commander explains that the goods will stay there until a sale has been arranged with someone in town.

A scribe is summoned to take down the names of the heroes.  Dion and Chrysostomos give obviously fake, nonsensical names.  Artemisia and Gayloria opt instead for attempting something similar to Xersian names.  The watch commander looks at them with a curious eye, but says nothing.

The heroes travel around the town to get a good idea of the layout.  Near the front entrance is the large warehouse to store goods for sale from traveling merchants and next to it are the stables.  Around the corner sits a blacksmith's shop.

The town features a large guild hall for the merchant guilds, and there are several homes inside owned by the wealthy merchant class Hellasians; the most opulent one owned by the jeweler.  The temple in the city has been converted to worship the Xersian Lord of Light, and appears to house a priest with several acolytes.  Finally, a large fortress at the far end appears to house most of the Xersians, including the stronghold commander.

Once they have a good idea of the stronghold layout, the heroes focus on selling their goods.  They decide to have Gayloria use her feminine wiles to perform the negotiations.  She finds the idea of flirting with men to be distasteful, but agrees.  In a short time, they manage to sell the olives; a large portion of which are bought by the jeweler Krysos.  Gayloria notes that Krysos employs several bodyguards.

With the proceeds from the sale, Dion suggests they purchase goods the farmer will need.  Artemisia agrees it will help them fit in and assist the farmer as well.  While the others are buying agricultural goods, Dion uses the opportunity to feel out the blacksmith.

The blacksmith is a cautious Hellasian man named Aristedes.  Dion asks him about buying farm equipment, in particular a wood axe.  Aristedes agrees he can have it ready in three days time.  Before he leaves, Dion also asks about the sea cave near the town; which the blacksmith explains is rumored to be the home of a sea serpent.

Done with their business, the heroes leave the town and head back to sleep in Eustachus' rutabaga shed.

Session V - Translation Notes by Prof. Barker

Stories of warfare are quite common during this period of mythology.  The conflict between the ancient Hellasians and the Xersians made for epic tales of adventure and danger.

The first part of this story is all build-up and suspense along with a dangerous journey.  The battle is coming, but the heroes must first make themselves ready.  Still, the original storytellers managed to add in a sea serpent to keep things interesting; though the ocean itself is portrayed as being almost as dangerous.

The character of Gayloria is a common trope found in these stories.  Whenever a hero does die, a lost child, sibling, cousin, or other relation always seems to pop out of the woodwork and take their place.  Many attribute this to the relatively simple style of storytelling of the time – substituting suspiciously similar characters is not only a very easy technique for lazy and unimaginative storytellers, but also makes things easier to understand for the dull-witted masses.  Hence, this technique is still widely used in the television serials of today.

One aspect of Gayloria that is in question is whether or not the character was intended to be a lesbian.  Some have argued that she is simply a female version of Gaylord.  Others assert she is masculine as an allusion to the Amazon warriors.  In some years, women’s studies groups have claimed she is an example of classical feminism.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge the general confusion over why the farmer has a rutabaga patch.  Given that rutabagas are generally found indigenously only in colder climates, it is likely the original story featured turnips instead (a very similar vegetable found in abundance in the Anatolian region).

However, the inclusion of the rutabaga goes back to the Middle Ages, when most copies of the story were recorded by the Holy Roman Empire.  As part of a Hohenstaufen Pride initiative, minor details in stories were often changed to present a more Swabian-centric view.  It is said that Conrad III was quite fond of rutabagas, calling them “God’s vegetable”, and thus they ended up being featured in many stories.  Other historians dispute such claims, theorizing that rutabagas were used simply because the name is more humorous sounding than “turnip”.

Session V - Session Notes

People following the thread probably noticed the large gap between sessions due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  Similarly, the Christmas weekend will interrupt the next regularly scheduled session so there won't be another one until the first weekend of 2012.

This session ended up better than I was expecting.  I've been kind of tired and work-related issues have me feeling a bit down lately.  So, I wasn't really looking forward to the session.

I was still pretty tired during the session and barely made it to the 10:00 mark, but it did end up being pretty fun.

A session like this represents my ideal for DMing games: I like to present the PCs with a goal and a setting, but leave everything else up to them on where to go from there.  In this case, the goal is taking back the town from the Xersians and the setting is the stronghold, patrols, and monsters in the area.  But what they decide to do from there is all them.

For this setting, I took the keep from Keep on the Borderlands, made it smaller/simplified (to fit the setting), and made the goal to invade it.  I thought it would be a fun way to re-use some classical material in a different way.


I decided we already did a fair amount of sea adventuring getting to the first island, and I wanted to introduce the new PC, so I started straight off with meeting up with the fleet.  The Gayloria player was clearly being a bit lazy (he hadn't even bothered to change the name on his character sheet yet), but mostly he thought it would be funny to do the inverse of his last character so there wasn't a lot of thought behind it.

Then I introduced the NPC Neros and had him give the setup.  From there, they decided they wanted to go in ahead.

The sea cave wasn't originally part of the plan, but since they wanted to find one I figured I'd give it to them.  Since they arrived at night, it was largely submerged due to tides.  And since they had a random encounter with a sea serpent on the way over, I figured that must be where the thing lived.

During the fight, the Dion player came up with the "row the raft to spin it" idea.  I let him make a strength roll and gave a penalty to the monster's attack.  Oddly, it was just enough to make it miss.

The swim over to land was really just a couple of ability score checks.  Since Chrysostomos failed his, he got a couple points of damage.

Sneaking around used a couple of checks, too.  I took a page from the Mongoose Legends rules and just had the PC with the worst Dex make a check to be stealthy.  The crevasse they found was always in the plans (its on the KotBL map) but the balcony door got added after they decided to look for one.

The farm idea was all them.  I originally hadn't really thought much about the rest of the island.  But I thought, sure, there have to be some farms around.

Naturally, because they find a farm they want to know what farm it is.  I said olive grove, but they figured the farmer would have more than one crop.  Lacking much in the awareness of Mediterranean island agriculture, I used the first semi-exotic thing that cropped into my head - the rutabaga (plus, the name/absurdity of it was used for much humor).  We even had jokes that they would be attacked in the middle of the night by anthropomorphic, vampiric rutabagas (as doodled by one of the players).

Then they came up with the olve merchant recon idea, which I thought was pretty cool.  Plus talking with the blacksmith.


Really, I was impressed this session with the number and quality of ideas for how to handle the situation.  This is exactly the kind of stuff I want to see in a game.

Now I'm looking forward to next session to see how the inevitable larger scale battle goes.

Session VI - Cast of Characters

Dion, the crude barbarian
Chrysostomos, the stoic cleric
Artemisia, the magic-user and scholar
Gayloria, the sapphic fighter

From the Epic Poem, as translated by Prof. Arty Barker, Ph.D.
Session VI - Scene I (of VII)

As night falls, the heroes gathered in Eustachus’ barn, drawing out a map of the stronghold in the dirt.  Dion notes the layout is similar to that of one he visited previously in the borderlands.

The mighty barbarian is eager to travel back to the stronghold and crush the Xersians immediately.  His companions try to quell his rash plans, saying they would be better served to organize the local farmers into some kind of resistance that could assist them.  Dion is skeptical that any farmers could possibly help him, but agrees to let the others proceed with their plan.

At this time, Eustachus enters, carrying a dish of delicious-smelling food.  Gayloria realizes it is one of her favorite dishes, rutabaga stew.

Artemisia inquires to the farmer about the possibility of getting any local help against the Xersians. Eustachus explains that all of the Hellasian fighting men were captured or killed when the Xersians took over the island, but the sons of some of the farmers living in the hills may be able to help.

Artemisia believes the group will need somewhere hidden to have their clandestine meeting with the farmers. Eustachus suggests the old catacombs in the hills could be used for such a meeting; they are an ancient burial barrow used to house the remains of the first Hellasian conquerors of the island who died while fighting the now-extinct natives.

Dion perks up at the mention of the barrows. The mighty warrior knows that old catacombs are often used as dens by monsters. He suggests the group go in first to clear out any dangers before the farmers enter. Eustachus agrees the plan makes sense; he tells the heroes he will gather the farmers during the day while they clear out the barrows, and they can all meet that night under the cover of darkness.

Chrysostomos knows the dark catacombs may house more than living creatures. He prepares his prayers to the gods.

Artemisia, concerned about injuries that may be incurred, asks the farmer if his wife has any knowledge of herbs or healing. He explains that she does not, except for her strong belief in the folk cure of using warmed rutabaga juice poured in the ear to cure any disease.

The sorceress graciously thanks the farmer for his help, though finds the suggestion of rutabaga juice poured into the ear to be a strange belief. After Eustachus leaves, the heroes bed down for the night amongst the vegetables, resting for their travels the next morning.

Session VI - Scene II (of VII)

The next morning, the heroes awaken to a shining sun as Eustachus opens the door to the shed. He brings them small bowls of a hearty breakfast, rutabaga gruel.

After their hearty meal, the heroes begin making their way through the old hills. As they travel in the direction of the catacombs, Dion can hear the barking of dogs ahead.

Wanting the glory of battle for himself, the barbarian sneaks up ahead. From behind the cover of the hills, he spots a Xersian patrol with a pair of war dogs. The dogs are barking and pulling the men in his direction.

Dion's first instinct is to charge straight into the patrol and kill them all, but he hesitates; he is concerned that some of the patrol may go after the others while he is fighting and knows his companions are not as strong as he.

The barbarian decides to quietly move out of sight then rush back to the others to warn them. Gayloria is frightened the men will catch sight of them if they don't quickly leave. Artemisia likewise does not wish to risk the later meeting with the farmers.

To keep his weaker companions out of harm's way, Dion leads them around in circles, taking care to avoid getting near the barrows area. After some time, the Xersians become convinced their dogs are following a false trail and lead them away. They drag the dogs away, still barking, as Dion watches from afar.

Session VI - Scene III (of VII)

Eventually, the heroes reach the old barrows. They see it is built into the side of an old hill, the entrance badly overgrown. A small section is cut out of the hillside with old stone steps leading down to an ancient wooden door with a stone archway.

Dion readies his mighty fist and makes his way down the steps to the old door. Using his great strength, he rips the lock out of the door; the rusty mechanics disintegrating in his fist.

The other heroes move in behind Dion. Chrysostomos says a prayer to the gods as Dion lights Gayloria's torch. Dion then opens the old door and everyone moves inside.

The door is spiked to keep it open, and everyone looks around.  The entrance area to the old barrows is quite wide and suggests a circular structure. A large earthen column stands before them.

The mighty Dion, wary of traps, pounds the ground with his foot as he moves forward. After one of them, a click is heard. The barbarian narrowly dodges out of the way as several javelins fly out from the walls and into the ground where he stood.

Dion laughs at the feeble ancient trap as Gayloria examines the javelins stuck in the ground. The warrior finds three of them still in usable conditions and takes them.

Spreading out, the heroes make their way to the left. The chamber feels eerily cold; causing Chrysostomos to remark he has a bad feeling about what's coming next.

As they advance, their torchlight falls on many skeletal remains, four of them which appear to be animated and holding ancient weapons. Before they can react, Dion immediately charges in and smashes one of them into pieces with a double-handed strike.

Gayloria attempts to smash another with her shield, but the skeleton fends her off. Artemisia follows with her staff, knocking the skull off.

In the back, Chrysostomos prays to the gods to drive back the unclean chthonic spirits, but his faith is too shaken by his terror and the gods refuse to answer his plea.

The skeletons swing their rusty old swords at Dion and Gayloria. The warrior blocks the attack against her with her shield while Dion dodges. The mighty barbarian then grabs the skeleton's arm, rips it off, and beats the skeleton into shards with it while Gayloria and Artemisia smash the other into pieces with their shield and staff.

Session VI - Scene IV (of VII)

With the immediate threat over, Gayloria moves her torch around to look for other threats. Another large earthen column stands nearby but off to the side she can see the glitter of coins beneath the remains of ancient funereal offerings. She suspects the treasure may be trapped.

Suddenly, she hears a snarling and crunching sounds from behind the area blocked from view by the natural column. Terrified, she and Artemisia stay back. From afar, Chrysostomos tries to throw a bone to lure the creature out.

Only the mighty Dion is brave enough to face the beast. He advances towards the dark area, but suddenly the creature pounces on him, knocking him down. He has only time to see the face of a badger before it bites into his neck and he falls unconscious from the loss of blood.

The others can see the creature is the dreaded leucrotta, a demon beast with the body of a lion, the legs of a stag, and the face of a badger.

Knowing how dangerous the magical beast is, Artemisia immediately casts a magic missile at it while Chrysostomos and Gayloria move into attack. The creature howls as Gayloria's spear strikes home, but it turns and snaps the spear in half with its mighty jaws.

The jaws of the beast manage to keep the priest and his mace at bay. But another solid hit on it by Artemisia's staff is enough to send it running away. As it leaves, Gayloria hurls one of the javelins, striking the rear of the beast. As it fades into the darkness, they can still see the javelin stuck into its hindquarters.

Session VI - Scene V (of VII)

Everyone then rushes over to Dion who lies in a pool of his own blood. Artemisia and Gayloria try to bandage the wound, but are unsuccessful; it falls to Chrysostomos to bind the wound enough to stabilize the barbarian.

Artemisia hopes there is something useful among the old offerings in the cavern. She and Gayloria move over to the other side and she begins shifting through the remains with her staff. There are no traps and plenty of coins, but she also discovers an intact old bottle with liquid still inside.

A learned man of healing, Chrysostomos takes the bottle and examines it. In the torchlight, the liquid inside appears to be vermillion colored. On a hunch, he rubs the bottle but no genie emerges as in the Bedab legends.

His next hope is that the liquid is some kind of healing salve, as such potions are often found as offerings to the dead. Popping off the cork, Chrysostomos smells the contents inside; it has the distinct odor of bat guano mixed with fried parsnips.

With the fragrance indeterminate, the cleric decides to taste a sip of the potion. It has a strong taste of elderberries but also the liquid vitality identifying it as a healing potion. He quickly pours it down the throat of Dion.

Dion's wound immediately closes and he wakes from his coma as Artemisia collects the treasure. The sorceress manages to collect forty old pieces of gold and sixty in silver.

When the others explain what happened, Dion charges around the catacombs looking for the beast but finds it has already fled out the door they spiked open. Cursing his luck, Dion leads the group out of the barrows and spikes the door shut so the area will stay secure for meeting the farmers that night.

Session VI - Scene VI (of VII)

Using an indirect route, the heroes make their way back to Eustachus' farm. Chrysostomos, worried Dion's wounds will prevent him from fully participating in the assault on the Xersians, instructs him to rest until the evening.

Before long, Eustachus enters the rutabaga shed and explains to them he has managed to gain the interest of a half dozen local farmers. Dion confirms with the man that these farmers have no special skills or powers, but Artemisia reminds him they could still be useful. The farmer tells them he has arranged for the meeting to occur at the old barrows at dusk.

Before the old farmer leaves, Chrysostomos tells him to have some of his wife's rutabaga juice herbal remedy prepared. While none of the heroes believe it will help, the priest feels it is worth a shot to see Dion better healed.

The heroes decide to get back to the barrows earlier than the farmers so they can be sure the area is secure. On the way over, Artemisia wonders if they should use the treasure they found to bride or fund the farmers. Dion scoffs, noting she has stolen the treasure from the men's dead ancestors.

The trip to the barrows is uneventful. When they arrive, Dion pulls the spike from the ground and opens the door. They quickly check to make sure it is still empty.

They wait some time and the sun begins to set. As darkness falls, a heavy fog rolls in to the area. Dion knows this is a bad omen.

After some time, two young men appear in the doorway. Gayloria calls out to them and tells them to enter. They cautiously enter the barrows and the heroes explain their need for help.

As Gayloria is the soldier, she comes up with the plan. She wants to get the farmers inside the city before the Hellasian ship lands. Then, she wants the farmers to focus on keeping the gate open. They respond that they may be able to do that, but the Xersians have confiscated all weapons in the region.

Gayloria hands the men the two remaining javelins as a third man arrives. Artemisia explains to them about her idea for the secret compartment on Eustachus' wagon and suggests they do the same. The men note they can keep their wagon with them if it is empty when they enter the city and they head over to the provisioner's shop.

Just then, a fourth farmer shows up at the doorway, but he is covered in blood and looks as if in a state of shock. He begins rambling about an evil beast and how it ripped the other two men he was with into pieces. The heroes grit their teeth with knowledge that it was likely the leucrotta they let loose that killed the men.

Session VI - Scene VII (of VII)

Chrysostomos offers his condolences to the man but now the other farmers grow scared and agitated. They worry about being able to get back to their farm. The mighty Dion assures them that he and the others will safely escort them back.

Feeling it is best to get out of the area as soon as possible, the heroes immediately lead everyone out of the barrows and into the hills. The fog is heavy and there is only a small waning moon out. Dion calls out the howl of a dire wolf, hoping to frighten the creature away.

The farmers band together surrounded by the heroes positioning themselves as a circle with Gayloria in the lead.

In the back, Chrysostomos hears a snarling behind him. He tries to quietly signal the others but no one is looking his way. He turns around to walk backwards to avoid being attacked from behind. But walking backwards in the foggy hills proves difficult, and he trips and falls after stepping into a rabbit hole.

A claw emerges from the fog, swiping at the cleric. He quickly scuttles backward, narrowly avoiding injury. The claw then disappears back into the fog as he stands himself up. The others hear the commotion and ready for an attack.

The blood-covered farmer begins to panic. Dion slaps him and tells the man not to run. But as soon as the barbarian averts his gaze, the man tries to make a break for it. Dion, reacting quickly, trips him before he can get too far.

At the front, Gayloria can now hear the snarling coming from beyond them. Dion can tell the beast is circling. He yells for them to move to the top of the nearest hill.

As they advance up the hill, keeping their formation, Artemisia hears the beast near her. She jabs into the darkness with her staff, but connects with nothing.

When they arrive at the top of the hill, the beast emerges, charging at Dion. He avoids its bite but misses with a kick of his own. The beast then melts back into the fog.

After a minute, the beast re-emerges, this time attacking Artemisia. It bites at her but she smashes it in the face with her staff. The creature howls in pain and retreats. The heroes can hear the sound of its running growing distant.

With the immediate threat gone, the heroes proceed with returning each of the men to their homes then return back to Eustachus' farm.  A plate of mashed rutabaga has been left out for them to sup on. Discussing the successes and failures of the night, they know they have gained three allies but the fourth man will likely not be amenable to offering assistance.

They all then head to bed. The next morning, they are awoken early by the farmer. He tells them some terrible beast has mutilated one of his goats during the night.

Session VI - Translation Notes by Prof. Barker

A strange, dangerous beast stalking the countryside is a popular one of both ancient myths and the urban legends of today.  It shows up everywhere in fiction, from classic British literature such as the Hound of the Baskervilles to the modern French film Le Pacte des Loups.

This story is more of a transitional one. It begins with the heroes planning to coordinate with the locals, setting up the important events of the next section of chapters. At the same time, it sets up the cause of the roaming beast story.

In my studies, I've discovered that this story was intentionally created as a transition and not part of the original tales. The tale, in full, is not often featured completely in several translations. In Cousin's 1947 translation, the story is heavily abridged – starting directly with the meeting with the farmers in the catacombs. And Goodhope's 1932 translation leaves the story out altogether, starting the next chapter with the heroes hunting the beast in the hills after it has attacked several farms at night.

Once again we see the heavy Swabian influence of the tales with the preoccupation with rutabagas. Over the decades of the Middle Ages, it is believed that more and more mentions of the vegetables were included as part of an in-joke among mythologists. Some say this alone was the reason for Anton Goodhope removing parts of the tales in his 1932 translation, as he was reputed to detest the taste of them.

Finally, I wish to make a note about the barbarian, Dion. Clearly these stories present an exaggerated view for the purpose of myth – with many of the stories exaggerating to the point of making him seem far closer to the Marvel comic character the Incredible Hulk rather than a real human being.

But although Dion was from a tribal area, he was likely still closer to a calculating soldier than a rampaging brute. He almost certainly used actual weapons instead of his fists. It has even been suggested that he may, in fact, been responsible for a lot more of the thoughtful plans and ideas in the stories than he is given credit for – with the stories purposely changed to attribute those ideas to other characters as part of making him more the stereotypical wild barbarian.