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September 25, 2006
Kostas Karamanlis Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic Maximos Mansion 19 Irodou Attikou Street 106-74 Athens, Greece
Honorable Prime Minister Karamanlis,
As a former citizen of Troy I was forced to flee the city when it fell. In fact, I’m glad I got out of there quickly because the city fell directly onto my house. All of my friends and relatives fled to Rome but I went to New Jersey (a Muse sang to me of its world-famous tomatoes).
I have been living here in New Jersey for years. As far away as I am from my homeland of Greece, it is long before I hear news of any sort. And I have just heard word of the great Trojan warrior Hector’s death! What god has intervened to cause this atrocity? Was it noble, grey-eyed Athena? Or was it Zeus, who struck down Hector, breaker of horses, with a single white-hot thunderbolt? Did Poseidon, the earth-shaker, bestow a watery death upon our beloved Hector with a storm that ravaged the seas and split his ship down the middle? Or, perhaps, did Apollo strike him down on land with a quick arrow?
I was pondering the endless possibilities when Hermes, the messenger god, came down from the high heights of Olympus with his golden wand and told me how Achilles murdered Hector and then dragged his body behind a chariot! How appalling! How can mortal men toy with each others’ lives so? Surely one of the gods by now has struck Achilles down in revenge. But if this is not the case, I urge you to bring justice upon this fiend, Achilles! Shame his name, so that every man will remember Achilles no longer as a runner but as the murderer of our great hero.
As the Prime Minister of Greece, it is your duty to take action! I am entrusting this letter to one of my finest men, and sending it to you upon my fastest ship. She sets sail tomorrow when bright Dawn spreads her rosy fingers over the land. By the gods in Olympus, may this letter reach its destination!
A Former Trojan Citizen,
Kevin Dickinsonopolous |
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