The Lion's Slave

Terry Deary's Greek Tales

by Terry Deary

213 BC. The great inventor Archimedes has just one problem. His clumsy servant, young Lydia, is the bane of his life. But when the Romans besiege Syracuse, and the Greeks turn to Archimedes for help, it is young Lydia who always seems to come up with the answers. Of course Archimedes is a lion in the eyes of the folk of Syracuse. He takes all the credit, but that's life for a Greek girl slave. As Aesop said, 'You may share the labours of the great, but you will not share the rewards.'

Genres: History

64 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

A former actor, theatre-director and drama teacher, Deary says he began writing when he was 29. Most famously, he is one of the authors of the Horrible Histories series of books popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.

A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.

The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.

Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).

He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Bear of MoonBear · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. Just a shame it uses the word stupid so much in reference to the girl who then goes on to refer to herself as such.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lion’s slave (Terry Deary’s Greek Tales) by Terry Deary-Illustrator Helen Fluk- Hindi language translation by Arvind Gupta- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The book narrates the story of Archimedes and his maid servant named Lydia in 6- chapters. Archimedes (287 BC-212 BC) a Greek mathematician and inventor resides in a house with a garden on a hillock. Syracuse is a Greek colony at the eastern side of Sicily, Italy. Greek army attacks Syracuse, help is required to protect. One day, while bathing in a tub filled with water, Archimedes discovered that his body displaces water equal to his weight. He was so happy that he shouted “Eureka” and ran out naked to inform his findings to all. Lydia takes the initiative and suggests to Archimedes to (1) to design catapult which can throw large stones on ships, (2) concentrate sun’s rays on ships to create fire, (3) to throw large stones using a pivot. Ultimately, Greek soldiers entered Syracuse, Sicily, captured the town and killed Archimedes. Coloured illustrations help the reader to relate to the story. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.

[Eva S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny book :)

[Xanthi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this on audiobook format.
Smart people aren’t necessarily good people or emotionally intelligent - that seems to be the message here.

[Niamh Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As clever and interesting as Terry Deary's other Roman tales, with subtle humour throughout. Behind every strong man, is a strong woman, even if the genius mistook her for a fool.

[Philippa Brunt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy to read, engaging story. Good for emergent readers.