Controversial, well-researched and well-written intriguing, captivating book about issues relating to religion and human rights that affect us today, just as they affected us thousands of years ago. Every religious and non-religious person should read this book.

The author uses historical facts and twists them with fiction.

The main character in the book, young Athina, finds herself chosen, probably against her will, to be a role model, the type that would be the envy of many fictional heroines and real girls.

I found the age range of the characters to be very important, from very young girls to very, very old women (and men). It was very satisfying how the author, even though the period of the book is ancient Greece, made the book easy to read by using ordinary situations like girls learning from family members who are teachers or potters, competing with one another, participating in great debates affecting not only Greece and Rome, but also the rest of the world, and other situations familiar to us today to make very grand points about human rights, womens' religious and non-religious issues.

It was very fitting that the Olympics was used as the background for this book. It allowed the author to display how female power was taken over by men, and it allowed me to see what the girls and women chose to do about it. The old belief that Zeus founded the games was disputed by these women, who insisted that Hera was the founder. Just this week on the game show Jeopardy, one of the categories had an answer that stated that Zeus was the founder of the Olympics. This was what the women in the book disputed and inspired them to make all the earth-shattering changes that they did.

Because the book is one of a series, I can't wait to find out what will happen to that Roman Emperor who seems to have been lured by the women to invade Greece, now that they have him under their control.

The intellectual (and physical) battles for truth in this book make it a must-read.

Before I read the book, I found great excerpts from it here