Anne Zouroudi's "The Messenger of Athens" Quiz

Answer: Thiminos

Thiminos is a fictional Greek island in the southern Aegean, of which a map is given at the beginning of the book. It is very small, only about five miles across, and naturally most people living here know each other quite well. As is usual in a tight-knit community, many of the inhabitants of Thiminos look down on so-called "foreigners", that is, those from mainland Greece, even though they are fellow countrymen. Many too have never left the island.

It is described as "one huge rock", with cliffs around its coast and little more than some black pines and shrubs. The only way in and out is by sea, and the island is at least five miles away from the usual shipping lanes. Although the island is said not to have much beauty, the seashores provide a dazzling display of greens and blues, and the island's various chapels give small pockets of paradise.

Answer: Theo's grandfather Thodoris

We are introduced to Theo at the funeral of his grandfather and namesake, Thodoris (or Theo for short). He was born on Thiminos and expects to die here, following the line of his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather and so on. Each of the male line are buried in the same plot after death, being disinterred later and their bones stored in the ossuary.

Theo reflects that knowing the location of one's own grave throughout life makes one pessimistic; he simply gets on with life as a carpenter and his marriage to Elpida.

He is resented by his brother, Takis, who disdainfully calls him "Saint Thodoris".

Answer: Wearing winged sandals

"Diaktoros" is a Greek word meaning "messenger", so he is named "Hermes Messenger" by his father, who was a classical scholar. Hermes is a very mysterious character, never mentioning who has sent him on this private investigation to Thiminos, only that he has come from Athens.

Often referred to in the narrative as just "the fat man", Hermes's appearance is described as an eccentric mix: he wears a fine, gray suit that "shimmer[s] with a lavender sheen" whenever he moves, a sports shirt, a fancy Italian leather belt, old-fashioned glasses, and finally, to the bafflement of Thiminos's police officers, white canvas tennis shoes. Hermes points these out as his winged sandals to various people, evoking those worn by the god himself. He carries shoe whitener with him and frequently touches up the canvas of the shoes, wherever he is and whoever he is with.

Answer: Irini and Nikos

Irini is the niece of Nikos, who lives on the west coast of the island. He is an old man who has a sign by his door saying "Café Nikos", serving drinks to anyone who comes, for company rather than business. He is sick, with problems in his stomach, but is too afraid to see a doctor. Nikos stayed on the island after falling in love with his wife, and enjoys the quiet existence of island life.

Nikos and his sister, Irini's mother, arranged Irini's marriage to Andreas here on Thiminos after her previous fiancé moved to Australia and married someone else. Andreas had promised her that they would travel, but since the wedding, they have stayed on Thiminos, where Andreas is content but Irini wishes to see more of the world. After her apparent suicide, Hermes wonders if the marriage was unhappy enough to have driven her to this.

Answer: Fisherman

As a fisherman, Andreas is often away from home for days or even weeks at a time, leaving Irini very lonely, especially because as a "foreigner", she feels ostracized by the others on the island and has no real friends. Even when she knows he won't be back for days, Irini often walks down to the coast to keep an eye out for his boat returning. Although she loves him, she is still unhappy at his broken promises and wishes for excitement in her life.

Andreas himself is content with life, being at one with the sea and its fish. While working, he often eats raw sea-life, and feels that "sharing of their fluids" is vital to his job, absorbing their oils and being spattered by their blood. As a man who'd "choose to be a merman" in another life, he is happy on Thiminos and feels no need to travel and see the world beyond his sea voyages.

Answer: Theo

Irini dreams of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, bringing her a gift. Shortly thereafter, during a storm, Theo's truck crashes into a tree blocking the road outside Irini's house, and she falls in love with him on sight. Their affair largely consists of secret glances as they pass each other, then they begin to intrude on the other's thoughts, although neither has spoken to the other since the day of the storm.

Irini begins to show obvious signs of trying to catch another man's attention, such as starting to wear more make-up, not coming to meet Andreas's boat when he returns, and feigning sleep to avoid making love. Meanwhile, Theo's wife Elpida also realizes he has found another woman, as he has extreme mood swings, fails to concentrate at work, and refuses to switch on the TV, as it might mask the sound of Irini's footsteps approaching the house.

Answer: She was stoned by Elpida's mother.

Although the official police ruling is that her death was an accident, most of Thiminos believes that Irini jumped from the cliff beneath which her body was found. In his investigations, Hermes talks to Eleni, the mother of Elpida, Theo's wife, who becomes enraged at any mention that Theo was in love with Irini instead of her daughter. She gives herself away when Hermes asks if Elpida is the guilty one in Irini's death, and Eleni replies "Elpida wasn't even there!", confirming that she herself is involved.

It transpires that Eleni had discovered Theo crying over Irini, and knew that it was love rather than just sex. (In fact, Irini and Theo had never had full sex, as they'd been interrupted in his truck.) She, her other daughter Yorgia, and her mother went to confront Irini at the garden she was growing on a plot of abandoned land, and destroyed the garden. They then killed Andreas's pet lark as a warning. After Eleni's mother suggested they go again to confront Irini face to face, they began to throw stones at her, until Irini was curled up on the ground, crying and screaming. Eleni then dropped a large rock on her head, claiming she didn't realize the damage it would do.

Answer: Harris

Hermes' first step in deciphering that Eleni was the killer is by talking to Lukas, a social outcast who lives up in the hills with his animals. The other inhabitants call him mad because he is different and eschews human company. It turns out that a few days before Irini's death, Lukas had seen the police sergeant, Harris, up by the cliff in a police car wearing no uniform. He only realizes the information is important after Irini's body is found below the same cliff, but he is scared.

Hermes uses this information to confront Harris, who is actually Eleni's brother. He threatens to go to Harris's boss, and prompts him to confess. After Eleni killed Irini, she contacted Harris who used the police car to move the body to the cliff.

Answer: Sofia

Sofia is Theo's aunt, and has been in "mourning" for her estranged husband Stamatis for over thirty years. Their marriage only lasted a week, as her husband, who is gay, deserted her. To keep the family's honor, they set her up as a grieving widow even though she was only seventeen and Stamatis was not actually dead, instead of having the marriage annulled. As a result, Sofia must play the grieving widow for her whole life, never remarrying, never having children.

Hence it is actually somewhat good news when Hermes brings a message from Stamatis's lawyer that the man has died, and Sofia is set to inherit his estate. Finally, she is set free from the constraints of false widowhood by real widowhood. Although she feels bad for Stamatis's death, she is greatly relieved. After Theo's wife throws him out following the revelation of his affair with Irini, Theo and Sofia use the money to depart on a ferry for a change of scene away from Thiminos.

Answer: False

When Hermes arrives at Nikos's house, it seems no one has been there for days; the cat is howling to get in, the milk has gone sour, and there is an awful smell. Nikos has been bedridden, a bucket beside his bed to urinate in and a water jug that is now empty.

He seems resigned to the fact that he is dying; he has been urinating blood and the swelling in his stomach is growing larger. Hermes prepares for him to leave the island on his boat, Aphrodite, offering to take him to his sister's house on the mainland.