In The Harbor At Sinope

The Golden Slave, XV.

Poul Anderson is at his best when describing busy streets or harbors.

See:

The Life Of Tyre
At The Egyptian Harbor

There are many other examples on the blog. Anderson's texts celebrate life, activity, dynamism, commerce and multiple sensations.

On the south coast of the Black Sea, there are:

red cliffs;
green valleys;
many streams;
"wine-dark waters" (p. 196);
high, blinding white, summer clouds.

The city of Sinope as seen when entering its harbor:

marble colonnades;
colorful gardens;
working bustle;
crowded galleys "...from half the East." (ibid.) - as in Tyre;
coracle paddlers selling fruit, wine, sausage, cheese, delicacies or guidance to brothels;
"...a mixed lot..." of a population;
Armenians;
a Byzantine merchant;
a Gallic warrior;
Macedonian mercenaries;
an Alanic tribesman;
a bearded Jew;
an Arab.

Not Rome but international enough. Perhaps four powerful states have been mentioned:

Rome;
Bithynia;
Pontus, governed from Sinope;
Egypt.

Sinopean Clothing

The Golden Slave, XV.

Now treated as guests, Eodan, Tjorr and Phryne must be clad appropriately.

Eodan has:

a white linen tunic;
a blue chlamys;
a leather belt;
leather sandals;
his sword polished;
shaven face;
hair undyed.

(No longer needing a disguise, it will be better if he looks foreign.)

Tjorr is dressed like Eodan but remains unshaved.

Phryne has a white dress and a palla whose hood hides the hair that she had cut short to look like a boy.

Tjorr thinks that his hammer has brought them luck. They have:

captured a ship;
freed themselves;
escaped from their enemies;
been rescued from drowning;
been given a good passage to Sinope.

This overlooks the fact that Eodan's wife, Hwicca, was killed. Eodan is unsure what luck is. We must read the novel to its end.

The Golden Slave, Chapter XVI: Some Details

The Golden Slave, XVI.

When Eodan left Ancyra (see image):

"He was on the edge of the Axylon, the vast treeless plateau running south to Lycaonia..." (p. 210)

Three Gallic tribes had conquered:

"...Cappadocians and Phrygians until a new nation stood forth around the Halys." (ibid.)

There is a stump of independent Paphlagonia between Sinope and Ancyra. (p. 212) When "...entering Galatia through the country of the Trocmi...," Eodan and Tjorr stayed in the city of Trapezus. (ibid.)

Tjorr thinks that there is luck in his hammer and:

"'Maybe even something of the lightning.'" (p. 213)

A myth is taking shape.

Meanwhile, Eodan considers initiation into the mystery of Mithras. Centuries later, Poul and Karen Anderson's character, Gratillonius, will convert from Mithraism to Christianity. History involves religions and religions have a history.

A Solid World And A Waste Of Years

Rogue Sword, CHAPTER II.

I think that I am proving a point here, whether or not anyone else agrees with it, that the actions and adventures of Poul Anderson's historical novels occur in a solid world that remains invisible to the readers if they just read past all the place names and other local details as I used to do. All of the background information in these fictional narratives imparts a strong sense of place and time, including both physical and political geography.

To continue:

"'The quarrel took place beyond the Bailo's jurisdiction...'" (p. 45)

"'I suppose you know that Holy Church has forbidden Christians to sell their fellow...'" (p. 46)

- human beings? -

"'...believers. Therefore slavers are at pains to withhold the Word of God from their poor pagan victims.'" (ibid.)

That makes sense, doesn't it?

Lucas has traveled:

by sea "...to the Crimean port, Soldaia, which Venice maintained." (p. 47);
by caravan to Bokhara and Samarkand.

Soldaia has fought the Genoese colony, Kaffa.

Lucas has served a Tartar merchant and visited:

Sarai;
Karakorum;
Khan Baligh;
Cathay;
Sinope;
Anatolian emirates;
Trebizond. (Scroll down.)

He has been with many women including a Kazakh and Mei-Mei in "...the Heavenly City." (p. 48)

However, most of the women that he has known are:

"...nearly forgotten, lost in a waste of years and miles." (ibid.)

The phrase, "...a waste of years...," could be applied to Anderson's time travel saga, "Flight to Forever," but also fits as a description of a man's life.   

On The Black Sea

The Golden Slave, XV, the opening paragraph.

This image clearly shows the geographical relationships between the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas. Our characters are now on the Black Sea. Eodan, regaining the intiative, has persuaded their captor, Arpad, to treat him and his companions not as recaptured slaves but as honored guests at least until they have been presented to King Mithradates ("Gift of Mithras") but what is the message that Eodan claims to bear for a king?

They see:

the Caucasus
Sinope, halfway between Byzantium and Colchis

More on this later.

Strange Sensations In Stellar Space

Poul Anderson, "Starfog" IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 709-794.

Daven Laure, a Ranger of the Commonalty, is on the bridge of his self-piloting spaceship, Jaccavrie. He orders Jaccavrie's self-aware "computer" to activate "...the simulacrum." (p. 712)

Suddenly:

the bridge is invisible;
Laure seems to float in space;
he is surrounded by stars scattered through night;
he sees the star and planet that they are approaching;
he paces, feeling the hardness of the deck;
he senses the ship's energies;
he smells piny air.

An extraordinary experience that we might too readily accept as we concentrate on Laure's thoughts and his dialogue with Jaccavrie.

Laure approaches the colonized planet, Serieve, just as Eodan approaches the ancient Greek colony of Sinope. Adventure awaits at both.