Acknowl­edge­ments begins with an expres­sion of deep grat­i­tude from the author to the many peo­ple who have played key roles in mak­ing the nov­el a real­i­ty. The first and most promi­nent acknowl­edg­ment goes to the UK and US edi­tors, Isabel Wall and John Free­man, whose tire­less efforts ensured the manuscript’s refine­ment. The author thanks them for their metic­u­lous atten­tion to detail, insight­ful edit­ing, and con­stant sup­port through­out the process, which ele­vat­ed the book to its cur­rent form. Their guid­ance, both con­struc­tive and encour­ag­ing, was instru­men­tal in shap­ing the nar­ra­tive into some­thing coher­ent and com­pelling. Addi­tion­al­ly, the author acknowl­edges Jon­ny Geller, their lit­er­ary agent, whose exper­tise in guid­ing the devel­op­ment of ideas and fos­ter­ing cre­ativ­i­ty helped make the project come to life. Geller’s role in nur­tur­ing the author’s vision and help­ing to find the right direc­tion for the nov­el can­not be over­stat­ed. The Cur­tis Brown team, includ­ing Sophie Bak­er and Katie Har­ri­son, is also rec­og­nized for their efforts in man­ag­ing the author’s rights, ensur­ing the book reached a broad­er audi­ence.

The appre­ci­a­tion extends to the staff mem­bers at Viking and Knopf, includ­ing Toye Oladin­ni and Saman­tha Fanaken, for their con­tri­bu­tion to the pub­lish­ing process. Their behind-the-scenes work in cre­at­ing the best envi­ron­ment for the book’s pub­li­ca­tion, from strat­e­gy and mar­ket­ing to over­all logis­ti­cal sup­port, was cru­cial in mak­ing the nov­el a suc­cess. A spe­cial men­tion goes to Lisa Babalis, who is com­pared to a “Greek sis­ter” for the warmth and sup­port she pro­vid­ed, always believ­ing in the author’s work. Her gen­eros­i­ty and belief in the project were invalu­able to the author. Friend Stephen Bar­ber is also acknowl­edged for his intel­lec­tu­al assis­tance, offer­ing the author thought­ful and insight­ful feed­back on the man­u­script that helped refine the sto­ry fur­ther. The con­tri­bu­tions of Don­na Pop­py, the copy edi­tor, are high­light­ed as well, espe­cial­ly her patience in engag­ing with the author in long dis­cus­sions about the intri­ca­cies of lan­guage and style. These con­ver­sa­tions played a sig­nif­i­cant role in enhanc­ing the man­u­scrip­t’s clar­i­ty and cohe­sion. Ellie Smith is also thanked for her remark­able atten­tion to detail, which ensured the narrative’s smooth­ness and accu­ra­cy.

Schol­ars and aca­d­e­m­ic fig­ures are also men­tioned for their role in sup­port­ing the book’s intel­lec­tu­al foun­da­tion. David Dam­rosch, whose kind­ness and help­ful­ness were piv­otal in enrich­ing the research for the nov­el, is specif­i­cal­ly men­tioned for his invalu­able assis­tance. Dr. Sebastien Rey is acknowl­edged for his expert knowl­edge in ancient his­to­ry, which con­tributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to the his­tor­i­cal accu­ra­cy of the nar­ra­tive. Francesca Stavrakopoulou and Dr. Moud­hy Al-Rashid are thanked for their schol­ar­ly con­tri­bu­tions and their will­ing­ness to engage with the author’s inquiries. Their respons­es helped bring depth and authen­tic­i­ty to the author’s under­stand­ing of the ancient world. The ear­ly feed­back from Mary Beard is men­tioned as a for­ma­tive moment, pro­vid­ing the author with cru­cial per­spec­tives on the man­u­script. Richard Oven­den is also rec­og­nized for his encour­age­ment dur­ing the novel’s incep­tion, offer­ing moral sup­port at a crit­i­cal stage. The acknowl­edg­ments sec­tion clos­es with heart­felt thanks to Ley­la Fer­man and Mona Kizil­han, both of whom embody the strength and resilience that have inspired the author through­out the writ­ing process. Final­ly, the author gives spe­cial thanks to their family—particularly their moth­er and siblings—whose con­stant love and emo­tion­al sup­port pro­vid­ed the foun­da­tion for the entire cre­ative endeav­or. The sec­tion under­scores the essen­tial truth that writ­ing is not just an indi­vid­ual pur­suit but one that is sup­port­ed by a net­work of peo­ple who offer intel­lec­tu­al, emo­tion­al, and prac­ti­cal help. It is a reminder that cre­at­ing some­thing mean­ing­ful involves many con­trib­u­tors, whose col­lec­tive efforts shape the final work. Through these acknowl­edg­ments, the author reflects on how inter­twined per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al sup­port is in the artis­tic process. The con­clu­sion of the acknowl­edg­ments pays trib­ute to the inter­con­nect­ed­ness of all these peo­ple, with the metaphor of rivers—flowing and transformative—serving as a pow­er­ful rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the many forces that come togeth­er to shape a piece of art. The author’s deep grat­i­tude for these con­tri­bu­tions is reflect­ed in the heart­felt nature of these thanks, remind­ing read­ers of the col­lab­o­ra­tive nature of cre­ation.