The large number of Greek names which inevitably appear in this story can be an irritant or even a barrier to a reader who is not sure how to pronounce them. Stress often falls in unexpected places, so has been marked, but pronunciation of Greek is relatively straightforward because unlike in English each letter or combination of letters is always pronounced the same. In the transliteration of Greek used here, the vowel sounds are:
| a | as in basket |
| e | as in bed |
| i | as the first i in blini |
| o | as in box – even at the end of a word |
| ou | as in boot |
The only unusual consonant sounds are:
| ch | as in loch |
| dh | a soft th as in then – but |
| th | a hard th as in thin |
Anglicised versions have been used for the better-known place names – Athens, Corinth, Hydra (not Ídhra) – and personal names – Alexander and, a bit of a hybrid, Georgios rather than Yeóryios or George. Odysseus, always a problem for the transliterator, has not been changed to the strange-looking Ódhissefs but left in its familiar form.
All translations are by the author unless otherwise attributed.