The Gryphon's Skull

The Gryphon's Skull

First edition
Author	H. N. Turteltaub
Cover artist	Richard B. Farrell
Language	English
Series	Hellenic Traders
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	2002
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	384
ISBN	0-312-87222-4
OCLC	52079813
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 21
LC Class	PS3570.U758 G79 2002
Preceded by	Over the Wine Dark Sea
Followed by	The Sacred Land

The Gryphon's Skull is a historical fiction novel written by H.N. Turteltaub (a pseudonym of Harry Turtledove). It was first published in hardcover by Tor Books in December 2002, and in paperback by the same publisher in December 2003. ^[1] The book was reissued under the author's real name as an ebook by Phoenix Pick in March 2014, and as a trade paperback by the same publisher in April of the same year. ^[1] It is the second book in the Hellenic Traders series. ^{[2] [3]}

Plot summary

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.

Reception

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

References

1. The Gryphon's Skull title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
2. "The Gryphon's Skull". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
3. THE GRYPHON'S SKULL by H.N. Turteltaub. Kirkus Reviews.