Gods of Men: Where the Spartans are Made

Lysander, disadvantaged by his mothax status, is nonetheless determined to succeed in the harsh Spartan Upbringing. To achieve and shine as no boy before him since the age of the heroes.

Born under lucky omens, it’s not long before the boy is noticed by one of the most powerful men in Sparta, who, knowing that Lysander is favored by the gods themselves, quietly guides him towards a destiny that will one day change the world and the very course of human history in what will become one of the bloodiest and bitterest wars in Ancient history, marking a distinct change in the morality of warfare that resounds into our own age.

He is, from the youngest age, tempered in a crucible of unrelenting violence and cruelty. And Inspired by the young warrior Brasidas the Tamer of Helots, (a man with a destiny of his own) and a commander of those most feared of the Spartans, the 300 Hippeis, Lysander learns and masters the bloody mysteries of Aries like none before him.

But there’s another side to the boy Lysander that draws him in into a strange and secret friendship with a helot servant, Epiphanes. As they grow older, the bond between them grows stronger, the dynamics of their friendship gradually changes, drawing them into a world of sexual awakenings and an ever greater need for each other. But with Tellis, nothing happens by accident…

This first book charts the life and times in a fictionalized account of Lysander’s childhood and youth, growing up in the infamous Spartan Agógé. Set against a backdrop of real historical events, as Greece is gradually drawn towards an inevitable war with itself, Gods of Men draws mostly from the Spartan perspective of the Peloponnesian War. Here we glimpse inside one of the most mysterious and closed societies in human history, recounting international political events going on around one of Sparta’s greatest heroes in his most formative years. Unapologetically violent and unsettling at times, the tender moments in this well researched book remind us that these were human beings after all…