Last week, I posted an article on historical accuracy and whether it matters. My general contention is that I won’t change anything in history unless there’s a very good plot reason for doing so. And even though I am willing to move a battle, I try very hard to get the small things right. I wrote, “If I make mistakes–and I will–I promise to admit them.”

So, it’s time to admit a mistake which was recently brought to my attention by the very astute Joanne Renaud.

When choosing a name for Cleopatra Selene’s freedwoman, Chryssa, I decided to forego the usual male-dominated naming conventions of the time (which might have resulted in a Antonia Chryssa or Julia Chryssa or Julia Chryssa Jubatiana) in favor of using the names of actual freedmen and servants found on inscriptions in Mauretania. To that end, I chose the name Cleopatra Antonianus. It looked very strange to me–not in keeping with Roman naming conventions. One might have expected a Cleopatra Antoniana at the very least. But who was I to question the translation of an inscription by a scholar? How much better to incorporate a strange but historically accurate name, right?

I thought I was being very clever. And right there, in my notes, I had culled the name from the scholarship: Cleopatra d C. Antonianus

Except, what do those abbreviated letters in the middle mean? The actual reference is: Cleopatra daughter of C. Antonianus

A rather big difference. Clearly, I’m not allowed to abbreviate anything in the future. I remember obsessing about this name for quite some time, so I’m not sure how I managed to get this one so wrong.

I’ll have to figure out how to handle this in the next book. Suggestions?

When your heroine has magical abilities and you’ve written your book to be as accessible as possible, historical accuracy may not seem like something an author would be overly concerned with. But when it comes to my writing, I like to make sure that when I deviate from history–I do it purposefully.

To that end, I’ll always make diligent efforts to correct any mistakes I’ve made in my work and list them on this site. So, if you find something, don’t hesitate to let me know!