#i realise this is a very focused rant. like i said. proof of concept

[verstpn]

asking you about that ancient greek literature inspired sebmark au ;)

tysm for the ask moot <3

it's more proof-of-concept than an actual au at this point, but i didn't put myself through five extensive years of ancient and classical studies for nothing.

achilles and hector have always moved me because they're routinely portrayed as a pair of men who had a personal stake in the death of the other- this isn't strictly true. hector was one of fifty sons, and wasn't the target of achilles' wrath (so integral to the story of the Iliad that it's the statement that frames the entire epic, made especially obvious in dan simmons' translation; "sing, o muse, of the rage of achilles, of peleus’ son, murderous, man-killer") until the death of patroclus (who historically would have been achilles' mentor rather than his equal).

it took hector killing patroclus and stripping him of his armour whilst the body was still warm ("despoiling patroclus") for achilles to properly involve himself in the conflict he had been brought to troy for in the first place.

when trying to draw parallels, mark webber consistently seems to display the most traits shared with achilles- as hector was deemed to be his greatest rival, the association was, for sebastian, an easy one to make.

hopefully this made sense!! dan simmons' translation of the iliad is my primary text here <3