Jasmine Mas on Blood of Hercules combining Greek and Roman myths

Blood of Hercules is the first book to the Villains of Lore series, and this dark romantasy novel is an instant bestseller and is currently nominated for Goodreads Choice Award. To celebrate this amazing feat, we are honoured to have Jasmine Mas here to discuss the inspirations behind her smashing tale.

This guest post is written by Jasmine Mas, author of Blood of Hercules.

Rome fell, Greece lived on.

My book Blood of Hercules is a true enemies-to-lovers, fantasy romance retelling of Hercules that combines aspects of both Roman and Greek civilizations and casts Hercules as a woman.

Today, I’d argue that Greek myth retellings are probably more popular than Roman retellings because ancient Greece lives on in modernity as a country, while Rome is more of a legendary fallen civilization. Aka, they ultimately failed. Also, Roman civilization in many ways is a Greek civilization. In my Greco-Roman classical studies major at Georgetown University we spent a lot of time learning how ancient Greek society in many ways migrated from the Greek islands to what is today southern Italy and became Rome. The Roman gods for the most part are the Greek Gods with different names. Basically, the Greeks did it first.

There’s also something romantic and alluring––and not necessarily historically accurate––about how we imagine ancient Greece: bronze and gold statues, white shiny pillars, boats, wine, mythical creatures, fancy togas, and philosophers pontificating. But when we think of Rome, blood comes to mind. We picture gladiators, unhinged Emperors, the library of Alexandria burning as soldiers marched across Europe slaughtering people. While it’s not the full picture of what Rome was, for better or worse, that is how we picture it.

In Blood of Hercules, I combine aspects of both ancient cultures in a mythical retelling that casts villains versus heroes.

I was most heavily inspired by my classical studies major. I’d spend hours sitting through lectures on the history of Greece doodling pictures of Ares and Hades in the margins. I suffered through intensive Latin trying to figure out not only what words meant but what order they should be put in (I firmly believe the language died for a reason), thinking about how wild it was that people actually spoke it every day of their lives. There is something about ancient Greece and Rome that feels fantastical. How did people so long ago make such stunning art and architecture? How did they understand each other when words are out of order? How did they accomplish so much, during a time where they had such little resources when compared to today.

I always knew that I wanted to write a fantasy romance inspired by Greek and Roman myths because to me, their society already was a fantasy romance.

However, the reality of bringing to life the feelings I had about these societies was no easy venture. There didn’t seem any easy way to capture it. No clear-cut path or direction I should take to bring it to life.

So my senior year of college, when I signed up to take a class on the ancient Greek Gods, I went in expecting romantic tales and exciting heroes, but alas my professor focused on actual historical accounts of how they were worshipped. In fact, she made us learn all twenty-plus steps on how to sacrifice a cow. I’m not even joking. Nevertheless, my vegetarian heart was devastated, and my whimsical romantic brain who wanted to learn more about Ares being the world first morally grey villain (I’m delusional) was crushed.

But I learned something very important­––what we do with ancient myths is entirely up to us. No one is going to say, “Artemis had this color hair and acted exactly like this,” because she’s a myth. No one can know for sure.

So, a few years later when I was a full-time lawyer, I decided to write the story I’d always dreamed of writing. I turned to the myth of Hercules. I always love reading retellings of stories, and it just felt right to write a romantic retelling of one of my favorite myths.

It’s strange, because people seem surprised that Hercules is a woman, but it wasn’t something I even thought about that hard. It just felt fun. Probably because as a little girl I wanted to be the one to save everyone like Hercules did. I wanted to be the hero.

Blood of Hercules is my ode that giddy feeling I got when I discovered I was going to take a class on Greek Gods. It never occurred to me that the historically accurate content might involve sacrificing a cow for its smoke­­ (something about the gods inhaling the smoke like ambrosia? I memorized for the test and promptly forgot every step) because to me the myths are fantastical and romantic. They’re villains, heroes, and so much more. I hope when you read Blood of Hercules you get the same sense of awe that I feel about ancient Greece.

Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas is out now.