I've been trying to devise a pun about the rear leg joints of murine rodents (Mice-a-Knee-ans), but I've got a cold and can't seem to come up with anything.

No, Mistress, this is interesting. One could imagine that this was where Achilles trained, perhaps, and drilled his Myrmidons (warriors created from ants, if I recall my 8th-grade mythology class correctly).

This might also have been the staging area for the Trojan War, where Agamemnon assembled the forces that would travel overseas to attack Troy. Probably the war was not due to the kidnapping of anybody's beautiful daughter; more than likely it was a war over the right to trade in the eastern Mediterranean, or something like that.

Homer probably exaggerated the length of the war, too -- 10 years' siege would be hard to manage. Maybe a year. Remember that all the chieftains fighting under Agamemnon, such as Achilles and Ajax, would have had obligations back home, lands to oversee, female slaves to check out, and so would have been reluctant to remain overseas for too long. Look what happened at Odysseus' house, with all the suitors chasing after his wife! These guys were thinly-disguised freebooters/pirates, likely to lose interest in a venture (like a siege) that didn't turn a profit fairly quickly.
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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
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