Xena Season 3 Geography and Chronology

Welcome to my geography and timeline review for Season 3, fellow Xena fans. As I explained last year and the year before, this is my attempt to bring some continuity to the Season 3 episodes, trying to figure out where they took place (and in what possible order) to make the whole thing flow better. As I’ve said before, none of this minutiae really matters all that much (and my reasoning could be completely off), but I’m a continuity nerd, so I have to at least try. This season has more geographical references than Season 2, but a lot of the places mentioned seem to be made up, which makes it harder to place them geographically (although if they’re fictional, they could technically be placed anywhere, so it makes things easier in a way). As I said last year, if you’re not as enamoured of this sort of thing as I am, feel free to skip this post. My first review for Season 4 will be up next Wednesday as always.

I’m sticking to the same format as last time, taking the episodes in the order they aired. I won’t link to individual episodes, since they’re easy to access through my Tag Cloud under “Xena Season 3”. At the end of the post, I’ll suggest a possible viewing order that might make things flow better, but it’s just my opinion and others might have a more logical viewing order. For me, this season’s episodes need to be re-arranged to make things flow better (having those three comedic episodes in the middle of the Rift really doesn’t fit), but if you disagree, let me know in the comments. Again, I believe Xena and Gabi are having plenty of unrecorded adventures (and training sessions, and getting-to-know-you time) in between episodes, so they technically have time to travel wherever they want, if we assume the travelling was mostly done off-screen and between episodes. You can click on the maps for a larger view (CTRL click to open them in a new window or tab) and thanks again to getdrawings.com for my Greece outline map, and to d-maps.com for the more detailed map.

1. The Furies: This one has to take place close to Amphipolis, since Xena walks there in a relatively short time, followed closely by Gabi. They mention a village called Andrea, where Orestes is, but I couldn’t find anything like that near Amphipolis. It would have to be very close, since Gabi gets there and back pretty fast; maybe it’s one of the other villages in the valley that were mentioned in Sins of the Past (maybe even the one where Gabi told stories to the teamsters in the original script). The Furies’ Temple must be pretty close to Amphipolis too, since they go back and forth pretty quickly.

2. Been There, Done That: The village where this takes place is never named, so it could be anywhere. This and the previous episode were actually filmed earlier, and were meant to be part of Season 2. But the networks decided they only wanted 22 episodes per season, so these two were held over for Season 3. But they kinda fit with the Season 2 episodes and I think they could take place right after Comedy of Eros, with The Deliverer basically becoming the first episode of Season 3 (if we move Dirty Half Dozen to later in the season). If we assume Xena and Gabi had a hiatus like the show did (where they had some unrecorded adventures), that hiatus could take place between this episode and The Deliverer instead of between Comedy of Eros and The Furies.

3. Dirty Half Dozen: This must take place near Lerna, since Xena mentions getting King Gregor’s troops to confront Agathon. She’s bluffing, but Lerna must be close enough for the bluff to be credible. This one was filmed after the two Debt episodes and I think it actually fits better between The Debt II and Maternal Instincts because of the questions Gabi has about Xena’s influence on her. Apparently the producers wanted Deliverer to be the 50th episode aired, so they stuck this in to make up the numbers, but I think it works better during the Rift instead of before it.

4. The Deliverer: Most of this episode takes place in Britannia, but the beginning is interesting. Xena and Gabi run into soldiers taking prisoners back to Britannia to be tried by the Romans there, so if we assume the prisoners are being taken north, that means Xena and Gabi are heading south. But where are they coming from and where are they now? Xena mentions Gaul, so they probably aren’t there, but they could be north of Greece somewhere and heading back south. This reinforces my idea that the hiatus took place right before this episode and Xena and Gabi are returning from an unrecorded adventure somewhere north of Greece. Ares mentions giving a chosen few some new armour, which suggests this episode should come before Dirty Half Dozen; also, Xena gives Ares shit for siccing the Furies on her, but if Dirty Half Dozen had happened first, you’d think she would’ve mentioned it there.

5. Gabrielle’s Hope: This also takes place in Britannia and has to occur right after The Deliverer.

6. The Debt: The beginning of this episode could take place anywhere; Xena and Gabi might be back in Greece (or Macedonia or Thrace), or they might be somewhere north of there. Obviously Xena heads for Chin immediately upon getting Lao Ma’s note, but what route does she take? Most people seem to think she goes by sea, since she’s on a ship. But that would mean she had to go down to a Middle Eastern port (since there was no Suez Canal back then) and detour way around India and up the Chinese coast, then make a long journey overland to get to Lao Ma (who’s in the middle of China, according to the flashback map we see of Xena’s army moving east). I think Xena would take the fastest route, which would mean she heads straight east, so the ship she boards is taking her across the Caspian Sea, not the Indian Ocean. (And that is apparently the route her army took ten years ago.) That would make her trip a lot shorter, and she’d be relatively close to Lao Ma’s palace after disembarking on the eastern shore of the Caspian. That would also fit with the montage of Xena and Gabi travelling through forests and acquiring warmer clothing for the journey.

7. The Debt II: This whole episode takes place in Chin and obviously follows the previous one. Xena and Gabi might have returned by ocean, or they might’ve retraced Xena’s path and crossed the Caspian Sea again for a more direct route.

8. King of Assassins: At the end of the episode, Xena says they’re in Miramus (or something that sounds like that); I couldn’t find any towns called Miramus, even under alternate spellings, but there is a place called Myrrhinus not too far from Athens. That would fit if we assume Cleopatra was being cautious about recruiting help against her brother, not wanting to go to Athens itself but trying to find support nearby. Xena mentions going to Perseponis to take care of something, but I can’t find anything close to that anywhere near Athens. I get the feeling that name might’ve been a joke based on Parsippany, New Jersey. I think this and the next two episodes should be moved back to take place after the Rift. I think the Rift works better if you watch it all in a row with no interruptions and having these light-hearted episodes in the middle really disrupts the flow of the story. (Not to mention having Xena and Gabi act out of character when they should be feeling guilty and angry.) And the fact that Joxer is in all three of these makes me think they should all take place after the Rift, since he was in Bitter Suite as well.

9. Warrior … Priestess … Tramp: This must take place near Corinth, since Xena mentions being late because she ran into Zagreus near there. As I said above, I think these three comedic episodes work better after the Rift; that also gives Xena and Gabi some time to rebuild their relationship up to what we see in One Against an Army, instead of just going from Bitter Suite straight into the lovey-dovey stuff in that episode. The producers probably thought having the comedy episodes in the middle would relieve some of the bleakness from the Rift, but I think it works better without them.

10. The Quill is Mightier … : There’s a mention of Kargas (where most of the episode takes place) and another town called Achinacea to the east. I assume the latter is a joke (based on the flower Echinacea) and I can’t find anywhere called Kargas either. But this has to take place pretty close to Amphipolis, since Xena says she went to see her mother (and dropped off some fish). I’m not sure how much time goes by in this episode, but it seems like it all happens in one day (or maybe two at the most), so Amphipolis has to be really close for Xena to go fishing for hours, visit her mom, and catch up with Gabi and the others. That raises the question of how they got from near Corinth (last episode) up to Amphipolis, but if we change the order a bit and put this episode before King of Assassins, then move all three of the comedy episodes after Bitter Suite, it works; Bitter Suite has to take place relatively close to Amphipolis, so maybe Xena and Gabi stopped in there after reconciling to start rebuilding on their relationship in comfortable surroundings (and maybe that’s when they told Cyrene about Solan).

11. Maternal Instincts: This takes place in the Centaur village where Solan and Kaleipus live, which I speculated in last season’s geography post could be in the Pholoe Oak Forest, where Centaurs supposedly lived according to (real-life) Greek myth. That would fit with Callisto being nearby, as her plunge into the lava would’ve been not too far away. Gabi mentions to Ephiny that it’s been two months since she was in Britannia; I assume most of that time was taken up with returning from Britannia and going back and forth to Chin.

12. The Bitter Suite: This starts in the Amazon village, which I’ve assumed is east of Amphipolis near the coast. (See the first map above.) It’s a long way from the Pholoe Oak Forest, but I think Ephiny probably took Gabi back to the village after what happened to help her heal, and maybe Xena followed because of her anger (or because she wanted to be closer to home). The mountain where Xena is mourning Solan could be Mount Pangaion, which is just east of Amphipolis.

13. One Against an Army: This episode uses real-life history and geography, but is impossible to fit into any semblance of reality. Supposedly, the Persians land at Marathon and defeat the Greeks, moving towards Athens by way of the pass at Thermopylae, then (after Xena makes them think the pass is blocked) diverting through Tripolis. Okay, where do I start? First, Marathon and Thermopylae happened ten years apart in real life and Marathon was a victory for the Greeks, not a defeat. Marathon is on the Attica coast, east of Athens, while Thermopylae is way north, not far from Trachis. And there were several places called Tripolis in Greece, none of which is between Thermopylae and Athens (or between Marathon and Athens, for that matter). So we have to pick and choose what to keep; I think Thermopylae is the most important element of this story. The Persians could’ve landed north of there and instead of diverting through Tripolis, maybe they went through Hyampolis, Tithronium, or Thranium, (which kinda, sorta sound like Tripolis) any of which is close enough to Thermopylae to work. Of course, that means Pheidippides had a really long run to Athens, but maybe that’s why Xena knew they had to delay the Persians, because it would be a while before help came. Xena mentions going to Thessaly to get serum for the poison affecting Gabi; Thessaly is north of Thermoplylae, so that means they’d be going in the opposite direction to help Athens, which fits with Gabi’s determination not to let Xena do that.

14. Forgiven: Xena mentions what sounds like the Meni River, which I couldn’t find anywhere. The thieves are going to meet Cilician traders, presumably from Cilicia in Asia Minor, so maybe the river in question is the Maritsa, which rises in the mountains well north of Amphipolis and flows east before turning south towards the Aegean. That would fit, if the Cilicians were coming from Asia Minor and Xena and Gabi tracked the thieves from the temple where they stole the urn.

15. King Con: I don’t think the town here is ever named, so it could be anywhere. This could fit ahead of Forgiven, if  Xena and Gabi were on their way to Syria when they ran into Tara (and it fits better with Gabi’s sprained ankle), but it works just as well after Forgiven.

16. When in Rome: This starts with Xena and Gabi in Syria (maybe they were headed that way when they ran into Tara and the Cilicians?) and ends up in Rome. They take a ship back home, so presumably they end up somewhere on the Greek mainland.

17. Forget Me Not: This takes place near the Temple of Mnemosyne, which could technically be anywhere. But there was apparently a real-life Temple to Mnemosyne at Lebadea, north of Athens, so this could take place there. (Maybe Xena and Gabi’s ship back from Rome landed at Athens.)  This episode should logically follow When in Rome, especially if my theory is right about that being when Xena and Gabi first get intimate; Gabi’s subconscious guilt suddenly flaring up here would make sense.

18. Fins, Femmes, and Gems: This mostly takes place at a favourite childhood fishing spot of Xena’s, which suggests it could be near Amphipolis. But the guys who stole the diamond are heading for Parnassus, which is a fair distance from Amphipolis. So I’m thinking maybe this particular fishing spot isn’t near Amphipolis, it’s near the farm where Xena’s grandparents used to live (which we’ll see in Season 6’s Old Ares Had a Farm). I don’t know where that farm is exactly, but it could be some distance from Amphipolis, which would put it closer to Parnassus. There’s a lake called Boebeis in Magnesia that could work.

19. Tsunami: This is another one that’s hard to place geographically. The volcano that causes the tidal wave is said to be Mount Etna, which is in Sicily. But what would Xena and Gabi be doing there? They could be returning from Rome (meaning this takes place right after When in Rome), except Gabi tells the seer that they’re just passing through and denies they’re going on a sea voyage, which she wouldn’t do if they were sailing back to Greece. But it doesn’t make sense they’d be wandering around Italy on foot either, so maybe this starts off in Greece and we just have to ignore the reference to Mount Etna. There is a volcano called Mount Methana (which sort of sounds like Etna) in the Argolis peninsula, so that might be the one that caused the Tsunami if we assume Xena and Gabi were travelling somewhere in Argolis before getting shanghaied onto the convict ship. I’m not sure where the ship was going, since I don’t know of any diamond mines near Greece, but maybe in the Xenaverse, the geology is different.

20. Vanishing Act: This takes place in a port city, which fits with Xena and Gabi being near the coast in the previous episode. The city seems to have a Middle Eastern flavour to it, especially in music and fashion, but maybe it’s just cosmopolitan, like most ports. The stolen statue is taken to Mykonos, an island in the Aegean, so presumably the port city is in Greece, although it could be on one of the numerous islands in the Aegean. Xena mentions going to Pergos, which I couldn’t find anywhere, but Attica seems to be the closest place to Mykonos, so they could’ve started there. Chronologically, it almost feels like this episode could precede Tsunami (especially since there’s no mention there of Xena’s debt to Autolycus), and that would fit with them being near Mount Methana, if we assume they landed near there on their return from Mykonos.

21. Sacrifice: According to various Hercules episodes, the Halls of War are near Corinth, so this episode must take place in that general area. There are plenty of mountains around, so the Sister Peaks could be anywhere in the vicinity, and I assume Mount Areopagus doesn’t refer to the hill in Athens. The Halls of War are shown as being on the coast, so maybe it’s the coast north of Corinth, on the Corinthian Gulf.

22. Sacrifice II: This probably takes place in the same area as the previous episode. Dahok’s temple is near an active volcano and there was a volcano called Sousaki (which is dormant in real life) about ten miles east of Corinth, which would fit with this episode (and the previous one) being set in that general area.

So, if we rearrange the episodes to keep the Rift continuous and make things flow a bit better, we could end up with this:

1. The Furies                                                    12. Warrior…Priestess…Tramp
2. Been There, Done That                          13. One Against an Army
3. The Deliverer                                             14. King Con
4. Gabrielle’s Hope                                      15. Forgiven
5. The Debt                                                      16. When in Rome
6. The Debt II                                                 17. Forget Me Not
7. Dirty Half Dozen                                     18. Fins, Femmes, and Gems
8. Maternal Instincts                                 19. Vanishing Act
9. The Bitter Suite                                       20. Tsunami
10. The Quill is Mightier                           21. Sacrifice
11. King of Assassins                                  22. Sacrifice II

I think it works better to have all of the Rift (Deliverer through Bitter Suite, with Dirty Half Dozen inserted in the middle) in sequence and put the three light-hearted episodes between the Rift and One Against an Army to give Xena and Gabi some time to repair their relationship. And Vanishing Act probably fits a little better before Tsunami, since there’s no mention of Xena’s debt to Autolycus in Tsunami. If my geographical speculations are sound, this episode order works pretty well, although there’s a bit of a discontinuity between Fins, Femmes, and Gems and Vanishing Act, but we don’t know how much time elapses between episodes, so there’s no reason it couldn’t work.

And that’s my take on this season. If you have any questions or have some ideas about the geography and chronology, let me know in the comments. I love talking about this stuff. And join me next Wednesday as usual for my first review of Season 4.