#I don't get to talk enough about the res publica AU I love it so much

[breitzbachbea]

HI, I'M A SHOUTY MAN! AND I AM HERE TO TELL YOU ABOUT ALL NEW ANCIENT HISTORY AUS!

Is there not enough historical hetalia about antiquity around in your fandom circles? Do you crave a deep-dive into the Graeco-Roman world that you barely see reflected on the fanfiction side of your choice? Try these new ancient history AUs! While they don't have the inherent question about the nature of nations, how much free will and personality is allowed in the manifestation of the politics, biases, mentalities and values of an entire culture - they do have an ardent fondness for the characters featured in them and an utter fascination with their historical framework. If it's antiquity that you want, antiquity is what you will get! (Warning: Product may contain an excessive amount of OCs, Hetalia and Human, that take the center stage. Consume at your own risk of falling in love with them.)

Crave that imperial time period, far away from the Imperial court and in the weeds of daily life? Try these new Ancient AUs today!

Between Me and the Goddess (and You) - SicIre. Sicilian copier Michele and his Hibernian delivery runner Harry live in Londinium, but come down to Aquae Sulis to treat their ailments. (Topics: Ancient religious syncretism, the curse tablets (Prayers of Justice) at Bath & Ancient medicine).

The Spoils of Syracuse - SicIre. Harry and Michele moved to Ostia, where they talk about their landlord's taste in statues and the beauty of Michele's home city of Syracuse. (Topics: Ancient sculpture, historiography and the construction of cultural identity in an Empire).

But maybe you're more on the "what the fuck is an emperor I'll kill you" train of history and love a good, chaotic, late res publica. In which case, look no further than this AU! It's even named Res publica AU!

Res publica AU - Gen, but it does include Spamano, TurGre, SicIre and a whole bunch of other OC ships. Businessmen Michele and Francesco turned catty insults how good the other cutthroat would do in the senate into genuine political ambitions. Chaos ensues. (Topics: Too many to cover. Mostly the general cultural and political atmosphere of the Late Roman Republic - the daily madness, so to speak. Here's also an overview over one-shots I started but didn't get around to finishing/publishing yet).

"But I don't like the Romans! I think the Greeks are much cooler!" Well, first let me congratulate all the ancient Greek authors on winning the tussle about their perception in reception in the 21st (century) round and then let me tell you that you are in luck! Just for you, we have this brand new Ancient GREEK historical AU!

The Ancient Olympics AU - GreSic. All of Magna Graecia convenes every four years to honour Zeus and achieve everlasting sports fame! However, the Sicilian trainer Michele finds out that it's a GREAT place to be if you're into naked, sweaty, fit men like that runner Herakles from Athens ... (Topics: It's only a rough outline, but you can glimpse at gender & politics and the general workings of the Olympic Games).

TRY NEW ANCIENT HISTORICAL AU TODAY! AND GET A FREE INFODUMP WITH ANY COMMENT YOU LEAVE THE AUTHOR! ONLY AS LONG AS THE INTEREST IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY LASTS!

9 for the ask game 💖

Answering this by popular demand lol.

I feel like my choice is pretty uncommon, but a while ago my good friend @breitzbachbea showed me a short fic (or the beginning for a fic) she wrote that was set in Ancient Rome/Ancient Greece. It feels like it’s still such an unexplored territory hetalia-wise, despite making for a super interesting setting and the chance to make chibi characters like Italy, Egypt, or Greece interact with their canon ancestors! Yeah, that’s the time period I’ll go with.

[breitzbachbea]

🌻

Give me your purest crack and I shall consume

Well, I can't give you crack but I can give you the cracks in the ... entire building and foundation of the Late Roman Republic!

Send me a 🌻 and I'll tell you whatever the fuck I want

One of my favourite pasttimes is coming up with AUs, but I never write them, because I know how much of an effort it would be. I don't want to deliver anything half-baked for the sake of it existing and I especially don't want to take time away from writing my main projects that establish the characters in the first place.

There is one exception, however. My little pet project of the Res publica AU. One of my all-time favourite bookseries is the Cicero Trilogy by Robert Harris, which is a fictionalized retelling of Cicero's political career. The politicking. The drama. The intricate machinations. I love it all so much. Which is why I came up with an AU set somewhere non-specific in the Late Roman Republic (133 BCE to 27 BCE), although it's set either before the civil war between Marius and Sulla in the 80s BCE or the civil war between Caesar and Pompeius in the 40s BCE. I am tending towards the latter.

The basic gist of the AU is that two men gave each other backhanded insults at a party and then that grew into a whole thing. Francesco Belfari is a Roman citizen living in the bay of Naples, whereas Michele hails from Syracuse on Sicily, though he is no less Roman by law. They meet at a dinner party and their longstanding, low-simmering enmity manifests itself in a banter about how the other should go and try be a politician in Rome, they have all the snake oil salesman qualities for it. During the next years, however, both Michele and Francesco have the idea grow of them independently - and when they find themselves both in Rome at the same time to run for the senate, an unspoken bet is made: Whoever gets further in the cursus honorum, wins. A game of political rivalry and maneuvering thusly begins ...

By now, I'm also striving that each drabble I upload into the collection would teach the reader something. Not anything grand, not any moral point, but that each drabble would concern itself with an aspect or more of daily Roman political life during that time. You can check out the drabbles already uploaded in the link I provided. I now want to talk about the drabbles I still have planned and might add in the future:

(Content warning for sensitive topics such as ancient slavery)

Summary: Francesco comes home from a dinner party, utterly frustrated, and comes onto his lover & slave Dolcetto. Pillow talk turns to a discussion about free choice and living life without it. Topic: Slavery and its nature on a very personal level. I already have this drabble all typed up, but I am hesitant to post it just yet. The topic is an important one to discuss and explore in a setting like this, I think. I wanted to highlight how dehumanizing the entire state of being a slave is, no matter how you're treated. It's inherently a form of violence to confine any person's freedom of action. To keep it unadressed when many of the characters in this setting are enslaved people wasn't right. It's a nuanced take on the situation.

Summary: Michele returns from the senate in tatters and with much ruckus following him. Turns out that he had gotten into a brawl in the senate due to a rather defamatory speech by Francesco about his alleged origins. Topic: How Roman xenophobia worked & was weaponized in a political setting. Since in Rome, you didn't really run with a political platform, but with your integrity as a person, campaigning got deeply personal. I still haven't come around to read Punica Fides by Herbert Heftner (which any of my germanspeaking clutuals can access with an account on academia.edu!), but that would be the basis. Both Francesco and Michele suffer already from allegations of being 'greek-y', since both of them come from areas of Greek colonization, but with Michele's father from Panormus and Syracuse's general history, the allegaton of being 'punic' aka phoenician aka carthaginian, and thusly untrustworthy and unrealiable is an even harder hammer. I am still unsure about writing this one, however, for I think a brawl in the senate isn't unprecedented, but would wreak a lot of damage for their careers. Michele and Francesco simply do not have the same political standing and allies as the heavy hitters of their time to allow themselves such an undignified display of affect. They're not tribunes sponsored by Pompey or heirs to one of Rome's very old aristocratic families that consistently renewed its political capital over the years. They're two homines novī who achieve their political victories by the skin of their teeth.

Summary: Right before their move from the bay of Naples to Rome, Francesco gets cold feet in his study when he realizes he lacks skills, connections and money to garner clients and has to be talked back into the project by his household members. Topic: The client system of Ancient Roman society. People garnered social standing and an effective network of voters and other supporters by playing patron to clients. This would mean that in exchange for natural produce or services and their political loyality, the patron would be obliged to help his clients with finding work, some financial assisstance or representing them in court.

Summary: Antonio has returned from fighting rebels in Hispania and Francesco visits him during a visit to the Vargas to talk about their political future. After Francesco's visit, Antonio would like to rekindle old passions with Lovino though ... Topic: The importance of military success in Roman society. (An as of yet undrafted story about the Spamano morning after is for the whole nuanced situation about same-sex relations in ancient Rome.) Military success was something that could not only garner his achiever everlasting glory, but of course also immediate political capital. Even though Antonio may not have achieved the conditions for a military parade, whether a triumph or ovatio, since he wouldn't be able to enter the city before either of these had been granted to him by the senate, he'd still be lauded by the senate and be able to donate loot to the temples.

That's all the ideas I have notes for now, though by far not all that have crossed my mind yet. Thank you for listening!