The Hoplites of Delon

By Shawn Kristopher

Where does a myth begin? The epic yarns of heroes, imbued with powers beyond mortal men, tales of fantastic beasts, or stories of monsters to fill our nightmares.

The people of Delon love logic. No gods, no legends, no fairy tales. For them, reasoning and discourse can explain everything...until it cannot.

Their soldiers, known as hoplites, armed with bronze pike and shield, march to punish their nemesis, the Lakon, who have broken the truce made by the confederacy. In these times, war is a common tool to resolve disputes and a seasonal event. The fighting is measured and controlled. Defending one's Polis, their home city, is how a man earns his citizenship.

This conflict is different. The Lakons have new allies, who forge steel and bring foreign tactics and technology to Delon's battlefield. These interlopers worship a thousand gods. The Hatti have brought evil with them. They are being persued by beings that embody fear, and theses mysterious people seek an escape from the horror they have unearthed.

Young Arpeus and his hoplite companions find themselves caught up in a conflict far larger than they were prepared to meet, and must find new allies. Forced into unexplored lands that lay to the west, Arpeus meets forest dwellers as strange and inexplicable as their new enemies - and somehow, amidst it all, finds love.

Set in a Bronze Age world, the very origin of gods and myths are explored. Centaurs, Minotaur, Cyclops and Harpies abound in an Ancient Mediterranean realm, where Hellenistic, Near Eastern and Celtic cultures clash.

Will the Delons abandon their stoic beliefs and embrace the supernatural to save their homes and preserve their way of life?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GPJ17FX9
• ISBN13: 9798247260172
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"