Judith Starkston

I am self taught, too, and agonize over tiny details. What's most frustrating is having to trim the fat from the manuscript, and leave out a lot of interesting facts.

I also gave Kamrusepa the standard Anatolian goddess outfit, with wings. I just asked because I was editing and formatting Helen's Daughter then, and Hermione notices all the amulets Andromache wears. I wanted to make sure there wasn't a picture of Kamrusepa floating around somewhere that showed her differently.

In your research, did you ever find any images of the Hittite goddess Kamrusepa?

I should have an article on Mycenaean kingship and matrilineal succession for you by tomorrow morning. How should I send it?

At this time, I am afraid I am not set up to handle review copies, but I could do an interview.

I find it interesting in your excerpt from your book that you mention Kamrusepa. I mention her also in Helen's Daughter, with Andromache loaded down with Anatolian amulets.

I don't believe that Mycenaean kingship sprang from marriage to royal heiresses except in rare cases. Sparta may have been a special case.

Mycenaean royal women probably exercised precedence in the home and sanctuary, and moderated with the gods, but in military and political matters, they took a back seat to the men. Assuming that these events actually occurred as in the legends, Agamemnon would not have been able to get away with duping Clytaemnestra or killing their firstborn heiress daughter had the succession been matrilineal, nor would everyone have been so anxious about Orestes returning.

Clytaemnestra was probably able to seize power because of her ritual importance and forceful personality, but she must have needed an adult royal male to officiate in certain roles. Aegialia, the wife of King Diomedes of Argos, did the same thing when she ousted her husband and put her lover Cometes on the throne. It's interesting to note that in neither case were the women successful in the long term, as they in turn were both ousted by male authority.