Priestess of Avalon

infobox Book
name = Priestess of Avalon
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Marion Zimmer Bradley (completed by Diana L. Paxson)
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Avalon Series
genre = Fantasy, Historical novel
publisher = Voyager Press
release_date = November 6, 2000
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD
pages = 382 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-00-224709-7
preceded_by = Lady of Avalon
followed_by = The Mists of Avalon

"Priestess of Avalon" is a 2000 novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley and completed posthumously by Diana L. Paxson. It follows detailing the life of Helena, first wife of Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and mother of Constantine.

This series was started and became prominent from the titles published in Bradley's name, however the series is now being continued by Diana L. Paxson.

Plot introduction

It begins by showing her birth, with a druid giving a prophecy of her life. It proceeds to show her as a young girl named Eilan, who becomes a priestess on the Isle of Avalon.

Plot summary

As a young woman, the British priestess Eilan, known to the Romans as Helena, falls in love with the charismatic Roman Constantius. The Roman noble takes her away from Avalon as she is banished for this forbidden love and, before long, Helen bears him a son, who will become Constantine the Great.

Helen's position in Roman society now gives her the freedom to travel about in the empire. When her son Constantine becomes Emperor, she slowly discovers brand-new roles. She faces the spread of the new Christian religion and seeks to understand the old knowledge of the goddess in light of the new religion. As Empress-Mother, Helena travels on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to find the answers to questions that arise between the old religion and the new.

Characters in "Priestess of Avalon"

*Eilan [Julia Coelia Helena, later, Flavia Helena Augusta] – the priestess of the story, protagonist. She is the daughter of Prince Coelius, consort of Constantius, mother of Constantine, and priestess of Avalon
*Constantius – the Roman noble she marries
*Constantine – Eilan's (Helena's) son, Emperor AD 306-37

*Aelia – a young priestess, trained with Helena
*Arganax - Arch-Druid during Helena's youth.
*Atticus – Constantine's Greek tutor
*Ceridachos – Arch-Druid when Dierna becomes High Priestess
*Cigfolla – a priestess of Avalon
*Julius Colius [King Coel] – Prince of Camulodunum, father of Helena
*Corinthius the Elder – Helena's tutor
*Corinthius the Younger – master of a school in Londinium
*Crispus – Constantine's illegimate son by Minervina
*Cunoarda – Helena's Alban slave
*Dierna – Helena's second cusion, later Lady of Avalon
*Drusilla – cook in Helena and Constantius's household
*Fausta – daughter of Maximian, wife of Constantine, and mother of his legitimate children
*Flavius Pollio – a kinsman of Constantius
*Ganeda – Helena's aunt, Lady of Avalon
*Gwenna – a maiden being trained on Avalon
*Haggaia – Arch-Druid when Helena returns to Avalon
*Helena the Younger("Lena") – a noblewomen of Treveri, wife of Crispus
*Heron – a maiden being trained on Avalon
*Hrodlind – Helena's German maid
*Katiya – a priestess of Bast in Londinium
*Lactantius – a rhetorician and Christian apologist, tutor to Crispus
*Lucius Viducius - a pottery merchant trading between Gallia and Eburacum
*Macarius - Bishop of Jerusalem
*Marcia - midwife who delivers Constantine
*Martha - a Syrian slave, healed by Helena
*Maxentius - son of Maximian, Augustus in Italy and North Africa
*Minervina - Constantine's Syrian concubine, mother of Crispus
*Philip - Constantine's Servant
*Quintillus - brother of the Emperor Claudius II, Constantius's great uncle
*Rain - High Priestess of Avalon, Helena's mother
*Severus - Caesar appointed by Galerius, excuted by Maximian
*Sian - daughter of Ganeda, mother of Dierna and Becca
*Suona - a young priestness of Avalon
*Victorinus - rebal Emperor in the West, AD 268-70
*Vitellia - a Christian matron living in Londinium
*Wren - a maiden being trained on Avalon

*Helena's dogs: Eldri, Hylas, Favonius and Boreas, Leviyah

Release details

*2000, UK, Voyager ISBN 0-00-224709-7, Pub date 6 November 2000, hardback (First edition)
*2001, USA, Viking Books ISBN 0-670-91023-6, Pub date ? May 2001, hardback
*2001, USA, Penguin Group ISBN 0-14-180303-7, Pub date ? May 2001, audio cassette
*2001, UK, Voyager ISBN 0-00-648376-3, Pub date 21 May 2001, paperback
*2002, USA, Roc ISBN 0-451-45862-1, Pub date ? July 2002, paperback