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''[[Thais of Athens (Literature)|Thais of Athens]]'' (Russian: "Таис Афинская") is a [[Historical Fiction]] novel written by the Soviet paleontologist and SF writer [[Ivan Yefremov]] and set around the time of [[Alexander the Great]]'s conquests. The eponymous heroine Thaïs is a famous [[Ancient Greece|Athenian]] [[High Class Call Girl|hetaera]], whom history remembers for burning the Achaemenid Persia's capital to the ground and later reigning as queen of [[Ancient Egypt|Ptolemaic Egypt]]. The novel takes these facts and [[Historical in In-Joke|fills in the gaps and gray areas between and around them]] with invented characters and events that Thais encounters in her journey across the Ecumene. The result is both a compelling story and an epic panorama of [[The Greatest History Never Told|life in the Hellenistic world]] during the late fourth century BCE.
 
Although the novel was first published in Russian in 1972, it was only [http://www.thaisofathens.com/ recently translated] to English, almost forty years later.
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* [[Good People Have Good Sex]]: Thais is all over this trope.
* [[Go Out With a Smile]]: Customary among the Greeks. In particular {{spoiler|Menedem and Cleophrades}} die smiling. Eris [[Lampshade|lampshades]] this when {{spoiler|she almost dies in Thais' arms after saving her from assassins}}.
* [[Green -Eyed Monster]]: What drives {{spoiler|Aeositeus to kill Aegesichore}}.
* [[The Greatest History Never Told]]
* [[Happiness in Slavery]]: Pretty much every slave Thais has is happy with their fate (except Za-Asht).
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* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Thais, Alexander, Ptolemy, Hephaestion, Nearchus, Cleitus, [[Aristotle (Creator)|Aristotle]], and Lysippos. Also, Thalestris... kinda.
* [[Historical Fiction]]: While the novel is [[Shown Their Work|extremely faithful]] to history books (with one exception<ref>The author himself acknowledges that he pushed the creation of Venus de Milo two centuries earlier to be used in a discussion of Greek sculpture.</ref>), it has a number of clearly fictional plot lines, such as Thais' initiation in various ancient mysteries and her rocky romance with Alexander.
* [[Historical in In-Joke]]: 90% of the text.
* [[Hot Amazon]]: Eris. Bonus points for cosplaying an actual amazon (alongside Thais) in Persepolis once.
* [[Huge Guy, Tiny Girl]]: Thais with pretty much every man she is with, but especially Menedem.
* [[Identical Grandparent]]: Kinda. In the Cretan ruins of Matala, Thais discovers an ancient mosaic depicting a woman who looks ''exactly'' like herself.
* [[Initiation Ceremony]]: Thais goes through the Orphean initiation, the Atargatis cult rituals, and the "kiss of the viper" ritual.
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* [[No Loves Intersect]]: For pretty much anyone in the book who isn't Thais.
* [[No Name Given]]: The Delian Philosopher.
* [[The Obi -Wan]]: The Delian Philosopher to Thais.
* [[Power Blonde]]: Aegesichore.
* [[The Promise]]: Ptolemy's promise to become a king and make Thais his queen in the first chapter.
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