Stealing Athena by Karen Essex

This is the kind of book I thoroughly enjoy from first page to last. It takes a small historical fact and builds a story around it that is, at least, plausible, if not in every detail true. I came away feeling I knew a lot more about both the British Georgian empire-building period and the Age of Pericles when the Parthenon was built.

The two simultaneous stories take the "diplomatic" coup of British Earl of Elgin in bringing to Great Britain a number of the frieses and columns from the Parthenon during his stay as Ambassador to Turkey. Despite what we may feel about the appropriateness of taking another country's artifacts, during the Napoleonic period it was really a matter of seeing them destroyed by the French or the Turkish, or taking possession of as many artifacts as possible for Great Britain.

The heroine of the 19th century part of the tale is Mary, Countess of Elgin, who was a trail-blazer as a woman in diplomatic circles within an Islamic country and managed to charm both men and women among the Turkish. Without her persistence and charming, and culturally sensitive social skills, her husband would never have been able to pull off the artistic and cultural feat of bringing so much of Greek antiquity to Great Britain.

The additional, and more speculative story, is that of Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles, who may have been the inspiration for the face of Athena at the Parthenon. This ancient story is not exploited in as much detail, but we do get a flavor of the Greek world in the Age of Pericles and the role of women during that time.

I strongly recommend this title for anyone who enjoys historical fiction for either the Napoleonic period, Ottoman Empire history or the history of the Greek Golden Age.