Writing Historical Fiction? Research is essential.

I find one of the most enjoyable things about writing a historical novel is doing the research needed

to recreate the setting. My novel, Belerion Odyssey, is a fictional adventure of pirates that raid and trade their way from Greece to England circa 480 BCE. The storyline touches on several actual historical events as well as Greek Myths for inspiration. Above all things the ancient Greeks were seafaring traders and pirates. To facilitate their success in trade they established the first coin based monetary system. To write the tale an understanding of commerce and trade was a vital component.

I am sure we have all heard reference to a talent of silver. The talent was foundation of their currency. It was equal to about 57 pounds (26 kg) of silver. That is about $15,000 in today’s market ($16.41/Oz). How did they decide on 57 pounds? They shipped olive oil and wine in somewhat standardized ceramic jugs called amphora. An amphora filled will water held 39 liters and weighed about 57 pounds (26 kg). This became a talent of silver and standard unit of measure throughout the Greek world. Amphora and water were readily available in any port to create a weight that could be placed on a balance.  

The talent was further broken down in 60 minae and 1 minae equaled 100 drachma. The drachma is another unit you may have heard of before. These coins were adopted by the Romans and used for thousands of years. The drachma was further broken down to 6 oboloi. These smaller units were more like our dollars: for example; an oboloi could buy a loaf of bread, new sandals would cost about 10 drachma, a slave cost 200-300 drachma. One of the major values of the talent was that one talent was cost of operating a Greek war vessel for one month. The ships were rowed by paid labor, not slaves. The navy could not afford to purchase slaves for this purpose.  

My advice to anyone considering writing a historical novel is to be sure you enjoy doing the research and become fascinated with some of the details.