#Roman Republic speedrun and all that

[diocletianscabbagefarm]

I was just reminded of the 'saturday night massacre' when Nixon ordered attorney general Richardson to fire special prosecutor Cox, and when Richardson refused and resigned, his deputy Ruckelshaus was ordered to fire cox and he also resigned, before finally the third-in-line, Bork (the guy famous for his later failed nomination to the Supreme Court), finally fired Cox. This was a turning point in Watergate and incredibly damaging to Nixon, ultimately leading to Nixon's resignation.

Today they could fire two more layers of management and it would raise less than an eyebrow. Just a reminder how much the strength of US institutions has waned over our lifetimes.

[faintvibes]

Historical Hetalia Day Two: 5000 BCE - 0

Day Two: 5000 BCE - 0 // Celebrations @historical-hetalia-week

My day two piece takes place in the Roman Republic, and this time features nyotalia! This one was a bit more of an experiment than the others, and so undoubtedly features more errors and timeline inconsistencies, but I'm taking those in stride :)

More about the process under the cut!!

So this is the image that's gone through the most revisions from concept to final idea. Originally, I wanted to focus on Prussia's early life, perhaps with Templar &/or Hospitaller (though Templar and nyo!Prussia are my day 7 piece, so if that interests you stay tuned!!), or something to do with the Baltic tribes in BCE, though I could never settle on something that pleased me...

Eventually, my idea drifted from them entirely, and to the Mediterranean. I have a tendency to speedrun writing/worldbuilding concepts (😅), so in the near month I spent considering this, my focus and ideas had shifted more to playing around with the Italy family. Specifically, I was curious about the relationship dynamics between Rome and her (in this instance) granddaughters. To memory, though I'm sure I'm not the most credible source on this, Rome shows a level of favouritism to North Italy- this is particularly interesting to me when tied into South Italy's Himaruya-approved name: Lovino, which could be connected to Rovino, which is from rovinare- which means to collpase/wreck. While we can't know when this name was adopted, the thought that Rome could've chosen it (or something along those lines) sure has some interesting connotations. Of course, the canon status of these names are easy to dispute, so it may not play into their canon relations at all!

(If you can't tell, I'm not here to play things exclusively by canon's playbook- though no hate if we differ on that front.)

Regardless, the idea of showing favouritism and uneven dynamics in the Italy family interested me, and various earlier sketches made this quite explicit. However, again, none of them really satisfied me, and I knew I wouldn't have fun fully drawing them out. So, though I kept this in mind, I started moving farther away from this as the main focus of the piece. Instead, I began leaning more towards family portraits- or something of that style. This brings me to the sketch that would become this illustration.

From here, the details came into play- and thus so does the inevitable inaccuracies. Ancient Rome has never really been my playground, so I'm unfamiliar with the rules. Some of my favourite books on historic fashion pay them some heed, but it is far from the focus. (And, at least in one, pretty much all of the Roman references are Roman recreations of Greek statues, so their credibility in regards to representing Roman fashion is questionable! And that's not mentioning all the French recreations of Roman dress, far after the Roman Empire's fall...) So while these were kept in mind, they weren't my main information sources this time 'round.

From James Laver's 'World of Art: Costume and Fashion', the following were referenced:

And from Panorama's 'A History of Fashion: Loincloths to Lycra' by Jacqueline Morley, David Salariya, etc:

(This one is directly where I took Rome's hair, veil and circlet from- though the rest have far less distinct influences on my piece)

Instead, the source I found most useful was 'How They Did it- Growing Up Roman' by Invicta on Youtube, and I will be scattering illustrations featured in the video amidst my explanation. While I'm unable to verify the sources of all these paintings, the video does itself credit a variety of sources:

Now, it's not specified when in Roman history these paintings are attempting to depict (or even if they are primary sources) nor the class of the people featured (though that, to a degree, can be interpreted) so, while I have used these to create my image, they may not entirely represent my desired vision. To research that to the desired degree would not be possible in such a short span of time (the extensive reworking and re-conceptualising process behind this piece left me with little time to actually complete it), so please bear with me, Roman historians.

The background is interpreted from this painting depicting the inside of a Roman estate:

The top left of the image is directly what I referenced for the background. As for the clothes of the characters...

Rome's was more of an attempt to mess around with the layering of Roman garments than based off anything in particular. Personally, I think it could be reworked in a future exploration of this period of fashion, but I'm glad to have attempted it- without that, I wouldn't be grated by how much it could be improved, because I wouldn't know!

As for North Italy, my main inspiration was a mix of these these lovely ladies (you may need to click on the images to properly see them):

I adored the colours on the second image, and took some inspiration from the shape of the other - though that's mainly hidden behind her grandmother! The addition of a flower crown (and the tree next to her where the flowers come from) is more drawn from lingering vestiges of the favouritism theme. Not only is Nth Italy's section in the image bigger than her older sister's, and she is behind Rome on the elder woman's right (emphasis on ROME'S right, NOT the right side of the illustration), implying a quite close connection. My idea behind the tree is that Rome went out of her way to get both girls a tree of their own in the garden. However, she got Nth Italy the tree that grows beautiful flowers in the spring, so that they can make flower crowns together. Sth Italy still got the tree as a gift, but not the extra level of thoughtfulness.

Talking about Sth Italy, let's move onto her clothes! She was mainly drawn from these women:

Again, adored the colours of the second image and liked the structure of the first outfit.

One other change to Sth Italy I'd like to point out is in regards to complexion. I'm aware he tends to be portrayed in canon as quite light-skinned (though I believe this is less the case in the manga?), however I've always been interested in his speculated Arabic and African roots. This ties into my headcanon about the forming of the two Italian siblings, which is detailed below. If you have no interest in that, here's your conclusion! I hope you found some interest in my ramblings :)

So, we know Nth and Sth Italy came to exist during Rome's rule- why? There are plenty of potential explanations, I'm sure, but I like to imagine it is because they originally represented the Roman territories of North Italy, and the Roman territories of South Italy respectively. Therefore, South Italy came to be either when the Italian peninsula was fully conquered by Rome in 264 BCE, or after they conquered Sicily in the First Punic War (in 212 BCE- though it was considered a province by 241 BCE). I choose the latter, which gives the opportunity for South Italy to be of Carthaginian (and thus Phoenician) heritage, giving a reason for their darker complexion. North Italy, I imagine, was born later on- for while Rome is said to have conquered the Italian peninsula in 264 BCE, this does not actually include the part of Italy where Venice would later be established- and so I don't count it as North Italy's birth year. Instead, I wait until the province of Cisalpine Gaul comes under Roman control by 191 BCE, which does include modern day Venice! This Gallic heritage is also where I get North Italy's fairer skin from- considering I make Rome more in between both of their grandchildren's skin tones.

And there is my explanation! If you made it this far, I greatly appreciate it!! Comment/reblog with an Italian flag if you'd like to show that ;)

Criticism/feedback is greatly welcomed, especially the aspects of Roman fashion I definitely want to learn more about! (Why did no one ever tell me the colours are so pretty?? Ough I want to wear them so bad)

[clodiuspulcher]

HOLY SHIT!!! MY roman literature prof is letting me take HIS advanced Latin reading course next fall after I speedrun Latin this summer - which INCLUDES CICERO (<3 <3 <3) since regular prose of the republic interferes w/ immunology- this means next Spring I can take any of the advanced Latin courses which can be anything from Livy to love elegy so I’m very excited!!!  AND I get to take my Roman history prof’s class about Cleopatra and the Ptolemies AND I’m taking  a Roman art and architecture class SO BASICALLY EVERYTHING WORKS OUT and I’m GONNA get that third major in Classics and its all happening

[sodreamarcade-blog]

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