And God Requireth That Which is Past. The Real Faces Behind the Fiction

By Tsira Gelen

The Real Faces Behind the Fiction is a brief introductory Encyclopedia of the series And God Requireth that which is Past - a historical saga about the Achaemenid Persian Empire. It tells how the images of the characters of the novel were created, which of them were real historical people and who are the products of the author's imagination.
"And God Requireth That Which is Past" broaches many controversial historical events during the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Although closely based on primary Greco-Roman and Persian sources as well as the latest archeological research, the narrative is still written in an entertaining, almost sensual manner. The romantic relationship of the two main characters, Mzysia, the spirited daughter of the Svan chief, and Kshayarsha (Xerxes), the fierce ruler of the Empire, is used as the foremost fabula of the novel to bring up the other, perhaps more vital issues of any time, such as: undying love, true friendship, dizzying adventures, distant travels, palace intrigues, dirty politics, bloody wars, early religions, origins of different philosophical trends, sex, homosexuality, the position of women in ancient societies and many other deeply motivating and actual matters. The reader will become broadly acquainted with many vital issues of the time; the Ionian, Babylonian and Egyptian uprising, and the Greco-Persian warfare. Many shocking anecdotes which are acknowledged in ancient sources, (although their historical reliability is quite questionable), along with the entire pantheon of the ancient gods, the teachings of Greek and Chinese philosophical schools, and wisdom of Sanskrit and Zoroastrianism, are more than presented in this work. The events and characters in this book have been dug up from the ancient dust and brought back to life, so when you meet a slave or a rich merchant or a wet nurse of the princes, be assured that they were real people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tsira Gelen
• Release date: Sep 8, 2018

Tsira Gelen

Hi! My real name is Tsira Gelenava-Volobueva, and I am from Georgia, a country located right where the East meets the West. I completed five years at the Tbilisi State University with honors and became a Philologist. I taught language arts at the Technical University of Georgia for ten years and then worked at the Faculty of Russian History at the Tbilisi State University for a year. Later I found myself interested in the field of law and started my employment at a private Law firm. The next ten years of my life I spent in America, working in the field of design, though I had never forgotten my true passion for literature and history. "And God requireth that which is past" was thought out and mostly written during that period of time. In 2009 I returned to my motherland, and continue to live here to this day. During the last years, at different times, I have worked as a teacher at the Academy of World Languages, as an Ambassador’s personal referent and Head of the Chancellery at the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Georgia, and as a freelance tutor and translator for various organizations.Now, at this stage of my life, I think I'm finally ready to release my more than a decade-long literary work into the world for you, my dear reader. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Book preview

And God Requireth That Which is Past

The Real Faces Behind the Fiction

Encyclopedia

Author - Tsira Gelen

Copyright 2018 Tsira Gelenava - Volobueva

License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may be given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedicated to my beloved husband and our daughters, without the support and help of whom this book would not have seen the light of day.

That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Table of Contents

A brief history of a long novel

Writer's kitchen

About Tsira Gelen

Connect with Tsira Gelen

Other books by Tsira Gelen

A brief history of a long novel

The idea of writing a book about Achaemenid Persia popped up in my mind, I may say, completely out of the blue.

Some of my friends insist that this sudden metamorphosis may have something to do with my strange experience with death. I’m not so sure about that but let’s hear the story anyway.

From my early childhood I had a small lump on my left hand. It never bothered me, and I never paid any attention to it. But in 2006, the lump started growing larger and became quite painful, so I decided to get rid of it. At that time, I lived in the United States, so I went to the best surgical center in Massachusetts, where I had all the necessary manipulations carried out. The procedure itself was so simple that, in my opinion, it did not even require anesthesia, but the doctors had a different opinion about this. When I was transferred to the ward after the operation, my husband, Dimitri, never for a moment left my side. The young nurse, too, was always around me, worrying if my wound was sore. Right after the surgery, of course, it was a little bit painful, and I sincerely admitted this fact. The diligent nurse immediately took the syringe and began to enter the substance in the dripping system hanging near my bed. He had not yet emptied the syringe, when I was no longer in this world. When I started to come around, the first thing I heard was the whisper of doctors standing at my bedside:

-Have you any idea what has just happened?- The surgeon was asking the doctor on duty.

- Nope! Have no clue, - was the answer.

In the meantime, I opened my eyes and ran into Dima's distraught gray gaze. As I became aware later, as soon as I lost consciousness, all vital parameters on the medical monitor also fell to zero and the screen showed only straight red lines, which meant that I died. It probably lasted no longer than a minute and the situation was corrected without the intervention of the medical staff, but the doctors were so scared that they unconditionally sentenced me to a month of total rest, strictly excluding any kind of physical activity.

To tell you the truth, doing nothing is the worst thing that can ever happen to me, so I started complaining. To somehow ease my suffering, Dima decided to take me and the girls to the movies. Our little family was not spoilled even with such simple entertainment mainly because of my everlasting busy schedule, so we all loved the idea.

We chose to see a historical film titled: One Night with the King. It turned out to be a very well made new blockbuster release which featured Persian King Xerxes and Jewish girl Esther’s stirring love affair. Everybody in my family liked it, except for me. The girls were particularly fascinated by its visual effects. The casting was also exceptional; Even the supporting roles were played by stars such as Omar Sharif (prince Memucan), John Rhys-Davies (Mordecai) and Peter O'Toole (Prophet Samuel). Despite all this, I still felt quite disappointed and not because it was such a loose adaptation of one of the most popular biblical tales, but because it completely missed the most important factors of the historical genre: the proper sense of the period and a deep understanding of the particular culture. I couldn’t catch even a tinge of Persian or, at least, Oriental spirit in it. It was a typical love story of our contemporary young couple, definitely from Europe or Northern America, who for some reason were dressed up in pseudo-Persian attire.

Here, you can enjoy a couple of pics from this movie:

Now, some of you may ask why you should trust my opinion. Well, I am Georgian, and although we, Georgians, aren’t similar to Iranians in many ways, we are from the same region and at least we understand the peculiarity of their Oriental character and feel the depth of their ancient spirit. Besides, I am a linguist, with many years of experience of teaching the language arts at university, and I am also an avid lover of ancient history.

Thus, provoked by the flamboyant Hollywood movie, I suddenly felt the urge to write something short on the subject of Achaemenid Persia. Why shouldn’t I? I had plenty of free time. it seemed I didn't lack the qualifications either, so I started eagerly working on it. First, I went to libraries and began gathering all available materials regarding Achaemenid Persia, and I must say I found tons and tons of handpicked pure-gold sources. Ultimately, during the last twelve years, from Herodotus’ Histories and Greco-Roman original writings, and to the latest archaeological / historical studies, I had to thoroughly scrutinize more than 45 scholarly works, but this time, the game was worth the candle.

Meanwhile, while I was busy selecting the bits and pieces, another blockbuster came out -300, staring Rodrigo Santoro as god-King Xerxes, and Gerard Butler as King Leonidas of Sparta. Great film indeed, especially for those who love action movies. Most of you probably have seen this one and even enjoyed it. If not, check out the following pics and you’ll get the idea.

I must admit that to some extent I am also guilty of mass idolatry in relation to films. Since the release of Attila in cinemas, . I absolutely adore Gerard Butler and, of course, I was also charmed by his Leonidas But exactly this blind adoration caused me my deepest frustration. After all, everything what is so masterfully presented to us, in the end, is always absorbed by our subconscious. Our perception of the world is based precisely on the totality of such deposits, and what we will like or dislike in the future, greatly depends on them. Therefore, it turns out that even the most insignificant films might be ultimately not so inconsequential after all. Then what to say about the influence of 300, which hardly anyone could label as ‘insignificant’. But what exactly did this expensive blockbuster offer us? Historical truth? No! Did it make people more friendly and tolerant towards each other? No, just the opposite. It deeply insulted Iranians by representing their culture and especially their king as ugly monsters, and frankly speaking, it insulted