It is the 7th century BCE. The local calendars, where there are any to speak of, are lunisolar, and typically count the year by the reign of their monarch. The 'countries' are indeterminate as states, with undefined borders and no ruling political power to unify the various tribes. Everything is highly localised - and this includes religion.

This, then, is the temple of Medusa, one of the more widespread cult figures among the Pelasgians, Thracians and other Mediterranean tribes - a monstrous female deity associated with fertility, with snakes for hair, whose terrible visage adorns the doorway of the temple - a warning for nonbelievers and usurpers to remain at bay, lest they incur divine wrath. The imagery is further used within by the priestesses who wear that same visage as a mask - a prophylactic to ward off those who would trespass on the mysteries of their goddess.

But the air is uneasy. Word comes in slowly but surely of a new religion spreading across the region, one that pays no heed to fertility or the gods of old - one that brings with it its own gods, dominating male figures like Zeus and Heracles. And their Hellenic followers would profane their goddess by portraying her as a monster to vanquish!

All is not well in the temple. But they will not let their unease prevent them from continuing their sacred duties.