The Mask of Apollo

De: Mary Renault

Narrado por: Barnaby Edwards

In a vivid depiction of Ancient Greece and its legendary heroes, The Mask of Apollo tells the story of Nikeratos, the gifted tragic actor at the centre of political and cultural activity in Athens, 400 B. C.

Wherever he goes, Nikeratos carries a golden mask of Apollo, a relic and reminder of an age when the theatre was at the height of its greatness and talent. Only a mascot at first, the mask gradually turns into Nikeratos' conscience as he encounters famous thinkers, actors, and philosophers, including the famous Plato himself.

©1966 Mary Renault (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

“Well, my dears, that’s the theater.”

In Mary Renault’s The Mask of Apollo (1966), the (fictional) 4th-century BC Athenian tragic actor Nikeratos (Niko) recounts the story of his formative years growing up on stage with his actor father, meeting the philosopher Plato and his politician friend Dion of Syracuse (brother-in-law of that city’s tyrant Dionysus), building a successful career as tragic actor under the aegis of his antique mask of Apollo, playing a peripheral role in the fraught and volatile political situation in Syracuse, accepting the inchoate-genius actor Thettalus as student/lover (it is a frankly homosexual novel), and witnessing and sometimes participating in some of the great events of his day while meeting some of the movers and shakers of the Hellenic world.

The novel is set after the devastating war between Sparta and Athens, the execution of Socrates, and the rule in Athens of the Thirty Tyrants. For decades, the tyrant Dionysus has been ruling Syracuse, where the brilliant, charismatic, and loyal Plato and the uncompromising, noble to a fault Dion will go to try a little philosopher-king training. How will their belief that it’s better to have evil done to one than to do evil oneself fare when leaving Plato’s Academy for the real world?

Dion has some wonderful lines, like:

“To crave revenge is to fall down before one’s enemy and eat dust at his feet. What worse can we let him do to us? In hatred as in love we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul… Who in his senses would give that triumph to the man who had wronged him?”

And

“Philosophy is not a tool which can be passed about like a mason’s rule. It is a fire struck from the glow of minds in search of truth. Without that fire, it is nothing.”

I especially liked the ancient Greek theater details interwoven into the story, like the actors’ divine calling (excused from military service for the work of the god, usually Dionysus), their use of masks to perform multiple roles (old or young, male or female, human or divine), the playing of all roles in the plays by only three actors (ranked first—the protagonist—second, and third), their use of “engines” to achieve special effects like thunder, earthquakes, and flying gods, and the insights into the merits of plays by the likes of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Indeed, Renault often has Niko describe scenes and people’s lives as though he were watching a play, and he comes to see Dion’s relationship with the people of Syracuse in terms of a tragedy, both “characters” having good in them but being unable to find it in each other.

The novel has all the best features of Renault’s historical fiction: believeable, interesting characters who think, feel, and act as we’d imagine people living in their eras and cultures would think, feel, and act; serious ideas to contemplate; convincing historical figures; a compelling protagonist; and an often suspenseful story with an unpredictable plot that yet adheres to historical events.

And vivid, culturally apt similes and descriptions, like these:

--“I sat like a grain of sand in a scraped out bowl, listening to the grasshoppers on the hillside.”
--“He walked past me into the high-walled courtyard. It was green now with vine-shade, and the gourd dangled great yellow flowers. It gave his face the tint of bronze that has lain under the sea.”
--“With his long hair, cut as they show it in their archaic statues—Macedon is full of these customs—and his ardent eyes, bluer even than theirs, he was like some Kouros in ancient legend listening for the voice of a lover, who is also a god.”

And wise lines:

--“There was always one more war to win or one more election.”
--“Such men see in others what they know about themselves.”
--“Like many good men, he had no sense of humor.”

Barnaby Edwards reads the audiobook just right.

It’s an excellent novel.

A wonderful reimagining of the story of Dion of Syracuse and his mentor Plato of Athens

No one has yet surpassed the ability of Mary Renault to take her readers back to ancient Greece. In this novel, the hero Nikeratos is famous 4th century Athenian actor, He is a friend of Plato and also of Dion. Dion was a protege of Plato who hoped to make Syracuse into his ideal Republic, led by a philosopher king. Rich in historical detail and full of the inherent excitement of the story, this is a highly entertaining and educational work. The author includes an extensive bibliography unusual for this kind of historical fiction. The narrator is sublime. This one is a real gem.

what happened to Dion?

I enjoyed the book but I read the end twice and I'm still not clear on what was the end of Dion. There was a reference to his death but after the fact, so I don't know how he ended. Also , at the end, the description of the 14-year-old Alexander was a little too exaggerated for my taste.

Mesmerizing

Excellent book full of history and heart. The reader is skilled and creative. Though complex, it works well as an audio book.

Entrancing use Of the English language.

One gets lost in the story. Only Mary Renault Can take one Into such an enchanting period.