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As I recall (dimly), =
Plutarch said a sailor =
heard a
voice from a distant island commanding him to proclaim that “The =
great
god Pan is dead!”
Since Pan’s name literally means =
“All,” I had
always assumed that this was supposed to be a coded message that the =
entire
Greek pantheon of gods were dead – i.e., that the Christian era =
was
coming. In Soldier in the Mist the lamia =
complains
that Io has dropped her chains into the snake’s hole, that =
supernatural
beings dislike iron, and that “The reason is to come.” =
Again, dimly
do I recall that faeries were supposed to shun iron because of the =
significance
of the nails holding Christ to the cross. =
This raises the wider question of =
Wolfe’s ambiguous
and often quite terrifying presentation of the Greek deities. I think we =
are to
view them as actual gods, not just Latro’s
hallucinations, but Wolfe says in one interview that they were =
“not
worthy of being worshipped.” Would that make them demons? What is =
the
orthodox Catholic position these days on rival religions and their =
supernatural
beings? Certainly the underlying logic of the Latro
novels thus far is the move from Earth-worship to Father-worship, and as =
usual
in Wolfe all the major evil characters are either female (or in one =
case) become female. (Not that he’s totally
misogynistic: the Amazons are portrayed entirely positively, and Io the =
slave
girl is the brightest and best of all his =
characters.)