#like i know that slaves were very much a thing in ancient greece and in the original story

[gallopinggallifreyans]

I would love to hear your opinions about ancient currency! And any recommendations you have for learning more about the Roman economy!

oh boy i am SO glad you asked! I'm going to put everything under a readmore because it's a Lot.

I have a few opinions on Greek coinage, specifically that of the introduction of coinage to Athens, though I'm working on a proposal for studying Spartan coinage rn.

Current publications re:Athens haven't really determined For Sure who introduced coins; it's a toss-up between Solon and Pisistratus but I'm in the Pisistratus camp for reasons that I can absolutely summarize in a separate post, as I've written and published a paper in my undergrad journal that (hopefully) holds weight in the current hodgepodge of thoughts. If you'd like that, I can write it up and link it here!

Re:Spartan coinage, I think the Spartan homoioi were real idiots. Most city-states were using silver (and very occasionally gold) for their coins, but Spartan homoioi were using iron spits. The spits (obeloi) were six to a drachma, which was the exchange rate for a long time. And by long time I mean there was no such thing as a floating conversion, coins were just the most portable form of precious metal, which was intrinsically valued. Outside Sparta (even the perioikoi) most city-states would have used ingots pre-coinage and that evolved into stamped metal, i.e. coinage. The Spartans considered themselves to be very religious and followed the Great Rhetra (unsure if Lykourgos existed), which maintained that silver and gold were holy and could not be used, so they used iron.

Unfortunately, the rest of Greece didn't follow that, and used silver in their coins, especially influenced by Attic-Ionian city-states who were in regular trade with Persia and further east, i.e. regions that valued precious metal outside their religious significance. Essentially, Spartans kinda screwed themselves over re:trade outside Sparta; they couldn't even trade in contemporary currency with the rest of Lakonia and forced their subject city-states into the same position. This is supported mostly by the explosion of Messenian and other Lakonian coinages after Sparta collapsed, though I want to see if I can find more text evidence, since I (an archaeologist) tend to rely too heavily on material. It's a whole thing, personally I believe this was a significant factor in Sparta's collapse, though other things factored in as well. Sparta was incredibly insular both in its trade/economy and religious practice and that combination led to its downfall.

For the Roman sources, I recommend starting with the Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy by Walter Scheidel, and The Ancient Economy by Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden. Von Reden has excellent articles related to the ancient economy in general, and most are available on JSTOR, so I recommend giving her stuff a look.

I also highly recommend reading Moses Finley's work The Ancient Economy (no relation to Scheidel and Von Reden's work), as it lays the foundation for much of our current school of thought. Peter Temin's subsequent work, The Roman Market Economy argues against Finley and kicks off a whole debate about how to define an economy without using capitalism as the basis, because capitalism as we know and define it did not exist then, and it is incorrect to assume that. We can call it protocapitalist, but not capitalist.

Slavery in Rome is a nuanced subject that is integral to learning about its economy — I suggest keeping an open mind and treading carefully with respect to post-1492 slave trades. Noel Lenski's chapter "Framing the Question" (linked; you need access through your institution) discusses the slave trade against a Finleyan model, while Scheidel (him again) talks about how to determine the wages of slaves (JSTOR link). W. V. Harris talks about the demography and geography of slaves here (JSTOR link). These three are good starts for learning about Roman slavery, but if you want more sources, I can pull some up for you.

I don't want to overload you with sources, so in general I'll recommend anything by Scheidel, Von Reden, Nicholas Purcell and Peregrine Horden (connectivity), Seth Bernard (coins and emissions), Astrid Van Oyen (tech innovation), and Willem Jongman (economic structure). As with the slavery sources, if you want direct links I can definitely find them for you! I'm always happy to share info :)

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Dionysos Loves His Mom(s), a very long essay

Going to just preface this by saying that I may/may not have gone a bit overboard, but I hope everyone enjoys reading my rambles on how amazing it is that we still have this message even through to day, how important this is for our understanding of Dionysos, and also just a little bit of (what I hope will come across as) Semele appreciation :) Also, I did write this during finals week, so if it seems rambly, please bear with me ;-;

And for clarification, I'll be referring to Semele with capitalized pronouns because even though She was human, mythologically, while carrying Dionysos, She was also deified by Him after He brought Her up from the Underworld.

The first interesting thing is that we get our description of Dionysos, as well as the love he shows for His Mother, in Greek mythology. While myths are usually pretty good resources for understanding the Gods, they are also usually written by the people who are in power at the time - which would be specifically older men who were not slaves. Because of this, a lot of myths tend to trend towards the "male" perspective of the Athenians. Also because of this, women are frequently represented in a very negative light, or at least as being relatively unimportant.

There are no Gods who have quite a relationship with Their Mothers like Dionysos has of His. Some of the Gods technically have no mother, like Aphrodite and Athena, and others just... don't seem to have much of a relationship at all. And this isn't necessarily to say that the Gods that we worship don't love Their Mothers, but more that the popular attitude of Greek society was simply to push women off to the side, and let the men take the glory.

And then, strangely, we have Dionysos, He Who Takes No Shit When It Comes to Women, as well as Him Who Has Two Moms. He's already something of an anti-Athena in Greek mythology, for while She was born of Zeus's head, and Metis was a sort of mother-base, Dionysos was born of two mothers, and from Zeus, in a way that echoes an intimate, "maternal" sort of birth, instead of the detached birth of Athena. And we know full well that Dionysos did not forget about either of His first two mothers. Persephone and Him famously get along well enough that they shared a rite in the form of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and it is to Persephone that initiates go, telling Her that the Bakkhic One Himself has freed us!

And we haven't even touched on Semele! It's one thing to have a divine Mother to welcome us to the afterlife. It's another thing to have a once-human-become-Goddess Mother in the form of Semele-Thyone. And Dionysos loves Her as well, very much so as well! Even though He never met Her as a child, He still very clearly has a lot of love for Her. At the start of the Bacchae, when Dionysos first arrives in Thebes, you will notice that one of the very first things He mentions in His monologue is that His mother is being disrespected by King Pentheus, and that this disrespect is part of the reason why He has driven the women of the city mad, as well as the sisters of Semele, who also were disrespecting Her.

This loyalty is only further emphasized by the fact that even though Semele is dead at the time of the Bacchae (and obviously after it as well, as the myth of Dionysos traveling to the underworld is an entirely separate story). And yet we must once again emphasize that this was written in a time where mothers were so often thrown under the bus (or horse-drawn chariot), and all of these myths were notably written by men, as far as we know. It seems that there is an inherent thread which ties Dionysos to the world of women, or at least has Him incredibly sympathetic to it, and one which could not be broken with all of the hyper-patriarchal nonsense that was woven deep into the cultural fabric of ancient Greece, especially Athens.

And to finish this fun little rant off, I want to offer two significantly longer ideas than the initial thing that I wrote! One for reflection on how we relate to Dionysos (and how He relates to us), and another as a reflection on Semele-Thyone and how She relates to us, and how we should relate to Her.

To start, this sympathy that Dionysos shows with women does, in some ways, hits culturally closer to a sisterhood than to the way that a man would have been encouraged to act towards women in ancient Greece. Dionysos as God understands His band of madwomen's own self-worth, and does not question their autonomy. Instead, he seems to encourage it, especially with all of the sassing he gives Pentheus while being grilled by him. This is such a good thing for all of us. Not only is Dionysos a friend of humanity, but He is specifically a friend for the marginalized. Whoever finds themselves marginalized in society will be His "favorites", so to speak, because that is where He truly finds His followers. It's almost as if He naturally finds where there is a power imbalance, and jumps on the other side to even things out, even if it is a little bit. I also think that this same "purposeful marginalization" is something which adds further theological credence to Dionysos being also validly a trans woman and nonbinary, as He does not sit within a patriarchal "Him"-ness, but rather within a "Him"-ness that refers to a more equal world.

Moving on to Semele-Thyone, we have a wonderful ally in a divine woman, sympathetic to humans, who knows full well not only the sufferings of humanity, and the pain in disrespect, but also the importance of kindness and respect towards others. In Greek mythological and religious canon, Semele-Thyone became the Goddess of the Bacchic revel, which, if you really think about it, isn't just about the Bacchic revel (it's never "just about the Bacchic revels"). This also tells us that Thyone, like Her Son, is also a God of the marginalized. Like Dionysos, She oversees the safety and wellbeing of the community which Her Son has founded. In some way, Thyone has become a Mom to all of us, through Her assistance with the divine inspiration that strikes frenzied devotees. It's a caring thing, too!

Anyways, the long and short of this is - Dionysos loves His Mom, Semele-Thyone is an incredibly underrated Goddess, and Mother's Day was yesterday. So hug your mom if you've got a good relationship with her, and if not, we can all borrow Dionysos' Mom :)

[prpfz]

twenty1+. 🏺i will start off by saying i will be a bit selective with this, and i apologize in advance. this will include 🕊️ & 🍪/🍭.

i am looking for a mxm pairing set in ancient greece! i am particularly looking to write a relationship between a noble boy and a slave boy, and to sort of explore their lives and how they grow up together yet so differently (very coming of age.) very much song of achilles vibes, so if that is your thing i think we could get along! i am not necessarily looking for history buffs, however if you have an interest or enjoyment for history, it would be a bonus. <3

as for my requirements, if you are semi lit to lit, this is not for you – i am strictly looking for novella level writing, with enough prose and embellishments to get us going. moreover, i would very much appreciate if you were rather active, or to only interact if you know you would be able to make time for this. i am a very chatty and active partner in terms of ooc discussion, and i would prefer if my partner was comfortable/able to keep up with that. finally, i get very involved in terms of plotting – i will write paragraphs upon paragraphs on my character’s thoughts, feelings, ideas, experiences, before we even begin our thread. i would appreciate a partner that can reciprocate the same enthusiasm and time and energy.

i have no preference in terms of which character i would like to write, as i have an idea for both! so if you are interested, feel free to like / interact with this ad, and i will reach out! 🏛️

give a like and anon will get back to you

[virgin-martyr]

MARTHA NUSSBAUM: I wake up at night thinking about Euripides’ Hecuba. That to me is a story that says so much about what it is to be a human being in the middle of a world of unreliable things and people. Do you know the story?

BILL MOYERS: Well, from a long time ago. She was the queen of Troy, whose country was destroyed by war, and her whole life was changed. She fell from here to here.

MARTHA NUSSBAUM: Right, right. She lost her husband, she’s lost most of her children, she’s lost her political power. She’s been made a slave. But up to that point, she remains absolutely firm morally. And she even says she believes that human good character is something extremely stable in adversity and can’t be shaken. But then, her one deepest hope is pulled away from her. She left her youngest child with her best friend, who was supposed to watch over him and watch his money, too, and then bring him back when the war was over. And when she gets to the shore of Thrace, she sees a naked body that’s been washed up on the beach. And she looks at it more closely, and then she notices that it’s the body of her child.

And she realizes right away that what this friend has done is to murder the child for his money, and to do it in a callous, heedless way, without even taking thought for burying the child, just has tossed it out into the waves. And all of a sudden, the roots of her moral life are undone. She looks around, and she says, “Everything is untrustworthy. Everything that I see is untrustworthy,” because her moral life had been based on the ability to trust things and people that were not under her own control. And if this deepest and best friendship proves untrustworthy, then it seems to her that nothing can be trusted, and she bas to turn to a life of solitary revenge.

BILL MOYERS: Against the friend.

MARTHA NUSSBAUM: And we see her at the end of the play putting out the eyes of this former best friend, and turning herself into, what the chorus says is in effect, a dog. I mean, they predict that she will literally turn into a dog. But we know that the story of metamorphosis from the human to something less than human has really taken place before our very eyes.

No, I think it’s pretty clear that this comes about not because she’s a bad person, but in a sense because she’s a good person, because she has had deep friendships on which she staked her moral life. And So what this play says that’s so disturbing, is that the condition of being good is such that it should always possible for you to be morally destroyed by something that you couldn’t prevent. To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust certain things beyond your own control that can lead you to be shattered in very extreme circumstances, in circumstances for which you are not yourself to blame.

And I think that says something very important about the condition of the ethical life. That it is based on a trust in the uncertain, a willingness to be exposed. It’s based on being more like a plant than like a jewel, something rather fragile, but whose very particular beauty is inseparable from that fragility.

Martha Nussbaum: Applying the Lessons of Ancient Greece

[venusofvolterra]

Do you think Felix would love curvy women or girl who look like bella since he flirted with her multiple times and tried to call dibs on her

//CW: We are discussing historical views of sex/sexuality/beauty standards. Be warned there is some incredibly uncomfortable topics touched on briefly -- many of which involve consent that is dubious at best.

First things first: we are operating purely in HC territory

First, let's establish that we have exactly nothing as far as a canon backstory for Felix is concerned, we just know that he is really old.

Reasonably, based on Felix's unknown but incredibly old age, his rank in the Volturi despite lacking a gift, his physique and height, and his role as an executioner, enforcer, and strategist; many have headcannoned him to have been a Roman gladiator or soldier in his human life.

The historical context that may have influenced Felix’s preferences

I have discussed before how I do think a Vampire’s human life may have some influence on their preferences concerning physical attractiveness.

Without knowing exactly when/where in Rome Felix was born, it is impossible to pinpoint the exact beauty standards he would have been conditioned into appreciating. 

That being said, it is a common misconception that Romans were largely interested in curvier women. This was definitely a much more prominent beauty standard in ancient Greece. In Rome, a particular physique was not as emphasized as other standards of beauty were and the appreciation of curves varied in different places and times. Other beauty standards were generally more emphasized. For example, paleness, smelling nice, and generally speaking: athleticism was appreciated amongst Roman women. 

Here is a more extensive article on Roman beauty standards if you’re interested.

It is very common that in one way or another, most people’s preferences somewhat differ from those that are popular. This is for a plethora of reasons, however, much like today, it was very difficult for women who were not rich or nobility to fully attain these standards. 

As far as how much Felix’s own preferences matched these standards? Frankly, if he was a gladiator in his human life, that would not have mattered.

As a gladiator, Felix would have been a slave with no actual bodily autonomy.

That being said gladiators did have sex, however, they definitely couldn’t be as choosey as say, a free nobleman. Most of his sexual encounters would have either been with prostitutes that would have been paid for by his keepers or with female slaves (who were often forced to participate by their owners). 

Some scholarship even suggests that certain gladiators themselves were sex trafficked, and if this was the case, it was likely the strongest, most successful, or famous ones. Which is along the lines of how people headcanon Felix. I’ll leave it at that.

And Frankly, I don’t want to get into Felix’s potential exploits if he had been a soldier *cough cough* pederasty *cough cough*

Okay so let’s inch closer to twilight canon: we know he was probably there for the Volturi golden age in the Renaissance

As far as a time period that I think would have had an immense impact on Felix’s sexual preferences in which he was probably the most sexually liberated and autonomous he’s ever been? The Italian Renaissance bay-by!

From the context clues you can reasonably gather the Volturi and Volterra particularly thrived during the Renaissance and on into the Enlightenment.

Italy’s city-states were massive cultural centers.I can imagine that this is where the Volturi’s appreciation for the arts and sciences was reignited – much like how it was in actual history, this return to ancient heritage reignited these in Italy generally. World maps from the renaissance even place the Mediterranean as the exact center of the world. Even though the Volturi kept themselves a secret in the time, I do believe this would have been something of a golden age for them. The architecture of Volterra even suggests this and so does their rather Machiavellian style of rulership (Caius read The Prince and quotes it to win arguments with Aro now). 

As far as renaissance beauty standards are concerned, we do have many more exact depictions and articulations of what was prized. Things like curves, long, flowing hair, and dark brown eyes were preferred. 

Think of the works of Botticelli for example. 

On Bella and these standards

Other than being bigger, Bella does fit some of these beauty standards, so I don’t think it’s entirely fair to discount her being attractive to Felix if we’re assuming that Roman and Italian Renaissance standards played a role in his personal preferences. Bella still has long, beautiful hair, dark brown eyes, pale skin, and soft features.

But also, immortality and general worldliness

I do also find it difficult to believe that when one’s as old, worldly, and couth as members of the Volturi are portrayed as being that one maintains a myopic view of physical beauty. 

Now, this gets really nerdy but at that time (Renaissance into Enlightenment), contemplating and questioning beauty as a concept was very popular amongst the enlightened crowd (you bet Marcus was all over that shit). Even if you don’t think Felix is as interested in art, philosophy, and the sciences as the kings (I do), he was at the very least exposed to them and is decently well-versed in them. What well-off renaissance man wouldn’t have been?

Also, Vampires are on average significantly hotter than the average person. Which means regardless, Felix has met beautiful vampires from all walks of life, people he would maybe not have considered beautiful before meeting them. To put it simply: when you have access to the worlds hottest people, how much more picky are you really gonna be?

I also think that generally speaking, Felix probably isn’t all that interested in sexual relationships with humans unless under very specific circumstances. 

This all means two things: Felix’s dating pool is incredibly small and incredibly hot. 

Why he really flirts with Bella 

If I’m being honest, I think the reason Felix flirts with Bella is likely the same reason he winks at the secretary – because he can. 

It’s probably particularly gratifying to goad Edward by doing this. 

He’s the biggest, strongest person in the room and has a very high status in polite vampire society – what’s Edward really gonna do if he flirts with Bella? 

I think also with SMeyer it’s entirely possible that she was like “hot evil Italian vampires? Gotta make them flirty.”

The Volturi and sex on the job

This also brings me to one more point I wanna make: I don’t think the guard actually sleeps around as much as many others do, so Felix talks a big game for fun but doesn’t typically act on it. So who he’s flirting with isn’t a precise indication of who he’s attracted to.

There’s a few reasons for this but this post is already getting incredibly long. So to make it quick: Aro likes to maintain a professional standard, which means nothing that can be construed as coercive or an abuse of power is allowed – a standard which Felix has clearly maintained for over two millennia

TLDR; While examining the evolution of his preferences is fascinating, I don’t think Felix has many body type preferences and mostly flirts with Bella to be an ass. At the end of the day he’s a professional so sleeping around with secretaries and other vampires without rhyme and reason, potentially risking the wrath of the kings, probably isn’t something he’s doing. 

PS. In looking at it again, it seems like when he calls dibs on her it’s to kill her. Nonetheless, he does get to flirting with her — mostly after she’s turned tho.

[ocrpfinder]

twenty1+. 🏺i will start off by saying i will be a bit selective with this, and i apologize in advance. this will include 🕊️ & 🍪/🍭.

i am looking for a mxm pairing set in ancient greece! i am particularly looking to write a relationship between a noble boy and a slave boy, and to sort of explore their lives and how they grow up together yet so differently (very coming of age.) very much song of achilles vibes, so if that is your thing i think we could get along! i am not necessarily looking for history buffs, however if you have an interest or enjoyment for history, it would be a bonus. <3

as for my requirements, if you are semi lit to lit, this is not for you – i am strictly looking for novella level writing, with enough prose and embellishments to get us going. moreover, i would very much appreciate if you were rather active, or to only interact if you know you would be able to make time for this. i am a very chatty and active partner in terms of ooc discussion, and i would prefer if my partner was comfortable/able to keep up with that. finally, i get very involved in terms of plotting – i will write paragraphs upon paragraphs on my character’s thoughts, feelings, ideas, experiences, before we even begin our thread. i would appreciate a partner that can reciprocate the same enthusiasm and time and energy.

i have no preference in terms of which character i would like to write, as i have an idea for both! so if you are interested, feel free to like / interact with this ad, and i will reach out! 🏛️

.

[the-lunar-library]

TO THE RAVENS

Akantha, the novel's protagonist, a young lunarian woman who's been rejected by her clan and lives in a tense relationship with her midwife mother. She's the prophet Alexandros' first real point of contact on the Moon, and it's the two of them who largely mastermind the miracles and scandals they visit upon her hometown.

Read more to learn how I developed the character, how she changed the tone of the novel, and how I accidentally almost named her Boob.

The novel is loosely (so loosely) based on real events. Akantha doesn't have much historical basis (though there is a little, see the Author's Note at the back of the book), but there was never any doubt she was going to be the protagonist. I wanted the perspective of a young woman to tell the story. Originally, she was a somewhat different character – still something of an outsider, still in conflict with her mother, but she was much more of a trickster, a bit of a deviant whose own choices had led to her bad reputation, someone who was getting back at the world by laughing at it.

This was very early in the brainstorming, and I wasn't too eager to do much research about second-century Greeks living under the Roman empire. My concept for the setting was going to be “Greco-Roman-flavored”, sort of an ahistorical “Disney” take on antiquity where there are some aesthetic and cultural references, but most of the characters would have very twenty-first century attitudes. The tone was going to be very fun, very breezy, very comedic.

But then I did go and do some research, and looking into the lives of women in ancient Greece and Rome really sobered me. I'd known general things, that they didn't have as many rights as men, but seeing the details, the laws, the customs, the writings that just constantly framed women as so inferior to men, it all really got to me. I no longer was interested in my fast-living twenty-first-century-heroine-with-an-Ancient-Roman-aesthetic. I wanted to get more into the reality of things.

And I'm glad I did. While Akantha still shows flashes of that trickster irreverence, I think her story is much better now. I hope it gives people some understanding of what life was like for women back then. And the theme of living under such endless misogyny wound up being one of the central elements of the book.

On to Akantha's design. Physically, she always pretty much looked like this. Sometimes early on she had longer hair, but then I decided Kynthians (her race) preferred short hair. It's hard to get a historically accurate short-haired look, because women didn't typically have short hair. (Unless they were slaves.) So she just has a messy bob. The freckles and the golden eyes were there early on.

Many Kynthian traits (which I'll leave for you to discover in the book) came directly from my source, Lucian of Samosata. But one element that's my doing is the bat wings. I just thought it would be really fun to write a protagonist with wings and figure out how that would change things for her – both in her culture, and also her day to day life. As I wrote, I kept constantly reminding myself, “She has wings, don't forget to talk about the wings”, in the same way you mention a character moving around their arms or hands as they go about their business. I don't know when the wings first showed up, but it would have been pretty early.

One thing that changed was her name. Her original name was Kassiane, which I like, but I wanted to keep the major characters' names fairly simple. Which Kassiane, all four syllables of it, isn't. Still, it hung on for a long time, and a big chunk of my notes talk about my heroine Kass doing this and Kass doing that.

I also liked the idea of taking names from Lucian's writings. In one of his essays, I ran across the name Mazaia, which I thought was so pretty, so I went with that for a while... until I looked things up in my Greek lexicon and abruptly suspected that Lucian was making a joke that would have been obvious to any native Greek speaker. The essay in question features two female characters named Mazaia and Mastira. The Greek words mazos and mastos? They're essentially the same word and they mean “breast”, just one, a singular boob. Am I a learned Greek linguist who is a hundred percent sure the names and the words are related? No. Do I think Lucian is above making a seventh-grade joke of this caliber? Absolutely not. I still thought Mazaia was really pretty and briefly wondered if I could make it work, but in my note-taking she quickly reverted to Kass.

And then I landed on the name Akantha. I'm not sure why it popped into my head. When I was a child, I loved reading through name books, and if a name book was sufficiently thorough Acantha (the more typical form for English-speakers) was near the front, so it probably stood out in my memory for that reason.

And I'm really glad it did. For one thing, I like how it sounds. It's unusual, but unlike so many Ancient Greek names, it's simple and easy to pronounce. For another, acanthus is a type of plant, which is sometimes called “bear's breech”, and bears have some importance in the story, a connection I wasn't aware of until much later.

In Ancient Greek, the word akantha means “thistle”, but it breaks down into two words that mean “thorn flower” or “sharp flower”, a contrast I think is intriguing. And as a metaphor, akantha means also “backbone” and “a thorny or difficult question”. Heading down into related words, there's also akanthologos, “picking out thorny questions” or “wrangling” as if in a debate. I feel like all of these have bearing on my heroine, and I couldn't be happier to discover them hiding in the name I landed on out of nowhere. I'm not a big believer in writing being mystical or supernatural, so I'm not saying there was anything special about it; but I do think it's very cool how these coincidences can happen.

One way Akantha's given me trouble over the years is in drawing her. I said her look didn't change much, and that's true. But there have been so many times drawing her that I've ended up with a short-haired freckled brunette but still feel I haven't quite captured her personality. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Here I did, and I'm happy with how she's turned out.

Like I said, To the Ravens is my favorite thing I've ever written, and Akantha's definitely part of that. I'm so happy it's finally published.

[oz-posts]

Hera nickname possibilities part 2

Still focusing on Aimsey sorry, I have decided to delay the Guqqie one until we know what the hell is going on with A! Guqqie.

So... Some stuff happened, and it caused me to rethink several of the names and the importance of some themes, so here are a few I think things have changed for.

Required traits

Knowledge(curiosity as a fatal flaw preferably)- this is difficult, because it's actually surprisingly rare in myths, and often in different contexts as to what we're after.

Violence- this is self explanatory and fortunately very common in myths (in fact in even gcse level Greek and Latin there are at least 7 words for kill/die)

Space association- preferably with the moon, but that's a bit specific, and as most nicknames for Aimsey variants are masculine a bit difficult with Artemis/Diana's whole mainly female hunter group

Asterion

I still quite like this one, though for different reasons.

As I mentioned last time, Asterion is the Minotaur's birth name giving him an obvious link to violence, and as the stepson of king Minos he would have been a prince. There is also perhaps a knowledge connection with the labyrinth, although that one is perhaps a bit of a stretch. Also as the most popular translation of Asterion is literally " little star we have a convenient space connection as well.

Similarly, many people ( even in ancient Greece) felt that the Minotaur may have started off innocent but was warped by his father's rage and his imprisonment in the labyrinth. Which could perhaps mirror how little control A! Aimsey seems to have even in their own curiosity, which instead of reclaiming their own past and fate appears to be amounting to little more than a desperate grab for understanding and control.

Penthius

I hate Penthius.

He is such a a fucking perverted tyrannical foolish asshole and he deserved every bit of what he got " slave to my slaves" (δουλεύοντα δουλείαις ἐμαῖς) Penthius dear those are your people, as king caring for them is your duty you little shit.

But anyways

Firstly, as the main - mortal- character in the bachea he is part of a literal tragedy and we all know these idiots are doomed in every universe so unless they feel like being nice to us for once that's perfect.

If you don't know the story of the bachea I shall leave a summary of the plot at the bottom.

Despite Penthius's overall shittyness the themes fit perfectly. Firstly, as the cousin of Acteon he has a lovely little link with the moon - a very negative one, Artemis killed him, but so what- and with his constant war-mongering with violence as well. He is also royalty, and if you reinterpret his all around pervyness as curiosity that fits too.

He sought knowledge, and it killed him

Narcissus

This is a bit of a stretch here and I know it, but doesn't it just seem like the perfect, very derisive nickname for an alternate universe version of your ex who stabbed you?

Firstly, oh my God the knowledge association, Narcissus was cursed to die when he truly " knew himself" (A! Aimsey's urge to find out what happened to them?) and let's be honest that's probably the best case scenario for our lovely prince. He was literally killed by knowing too much, in this case about himself. Also, as much as we go on and on about the whole " narcissus rejected echo and she died because of his selfishness boo hoo!" Their deaths were very similar, if anything being simply an extension of the cycle of suffering cause by Zeus fucking around and someone else finding out. Oooh cycles... Could be parallel with A!Aimsey following in Tud's footsteps perhaps.

Again a bit of a stretch but I still kinda like it.

Bachea summary

First Dionysus arrives in Thebes and asks everybody to accept and worship him. Nearly everybody is fine with this but the king- Penthius- objects and refuses to believe in his godly power. In response, Dionysus mind controls all of the women of Thebes and they run off to the mountains and literally just sit there, not being a problem or anything.

Dionysus comes to talk to Penthius who tries repeatedly to threaten and insult the completely calm Dionysus. And reveals his preoccupation with sex and completely unfounded belief that the women are having a giant orgy on the mountain.

Penthius decides to attack the women but Dionysus "convinces" him otherwise ( oh look it's our good friend mind control again ) using his desire to be a voyeur to the non-existent mountain orgy. Dionysus then dresses Penthius for slaughter and parades him to the mountain where he is torn apart by his family.

Yay! I love happy endings.

[jeannereames]

What was Alexander's relationship, if there was enough interaction that he would remember, with Lanike like (I don't know if that's how her name was spelled)? Would it be different or similar, or nothing at all, to what someone feels for their mother? Was Alexander the type to form lasting bonds with people? Mary Renault wrote him as affectionate and loving with people, but I honestly don't really know what to believe when I read about him. Things are usually conflicting, or as I've come to realize, made up entirely.

Thanks!

There are really two questions here, so let me deal with the larger one first: Alexander’s ability to feel real affection.

I don’t think his reputation for forming intense bonds with people is false, or even much exaggerated. Nor is his tendency to fly off the handle in a rage. These are, really, two sides of one coin.*

In general, the Greeks were (and still are) more emotionally expressive than most Anglophone societies. Furthermore, in ancient Greece, to help one’s friends and hurt one’s enemies was considered model ethical behavior. Both Alexander and his father Philip were actively competitive in displays of generosity. The times they act uncharacteristically like a bull in a China shop are part of constructed narratives meant to make them conform to ideas about barbarian tyrants, particularly in the hands of later Roman authors such as Curtius, but also Plutarch of the Second Sophistic. Or with Philip, Demosthenes’ and Theopompos’ need to portray Philip as a despot who Tyche (Fortune) allowed to beat the Truly Hellenic Athens/South Greece. So, when they seem to act weirdly against their own diplomatic interests, perhaps consider the source. (Literally. Consider the source, and when he was writing.)

Macedonia, in contrast to (some of) the cities to the south such as Athens who had sumptuary laws, was a gift-exchange society. For that matter, so was earlier (Archaic and prior) Greece, as well as other city-states (not-Athens). One achieved more honor and fame for how much one gave away, not necessarily how much one had.

Generosity made the Man. It also made the Woman. An important social function of the wives of Macedonian kings, as well as of other wealthy citizens in Macedonia and elsewhere (including into the Hellenistic and later Roman eras), was to give donations to this or that city project, temple, building, etc.

Eurgetism.

By all accounts, Alexander took real joy in giving things away. Sometimes lavishly. This cemented his status as The Bestest King in the Whole Wide World. Certainly the richest. Near the end of his life, he spent ridiculous amounts of money every evening just on royal suppers.

ALL of this is about Display as Status. As well as rules of hospitality.

I explain all that to help give some cultural context to Alexander’s fabled generosity. Yes, I think it was very real. It was also absolutely culturally expected of him.

So his reputation for honoring friends and allies in lavish ways shouldn’t be unexpected. He also appears to have been affectionate and even thoughtful towards those he considered friends and allies. Ergo, I think his affection for his childhood nurse would be quite genuine.

Now to the second question, which involves the role a nurse had in an infant’s life…. In cultures that strongly emphasize the nuclear family, and for those of us who didn’t grow up wealthy enough to have “house staff,” it may feel unclear how to understand the role of a wetnurse. So let’s quickly frame that role in traditional Greek (and Macedonian) society.

Wetnurses were typically either slave women or from poor families who needed to supplement income. That Alexander had a noblewoman as a wetnurse was extraordinary. (Just as it was to have a prince [of Epiros] as a lesson-master.)

Ancient Greece had two “house-slave” categories devoted to the caretaking of children: the wet-nurse and the paidogogos (pedagogue). The former was, for wealthier families, the caretaker of children of both genders while the mother saw to the business of running an estate (or at least a larger farm). The paidogogos, however, was exclusively for male children old enough to leave the home (go to school, to the gymnasion, etc.), largely as a baby-sitter, to keep the kid out of trouble. There appears to have been genuine affection between some children and their slave caretakers. But also examples of wetnurses and paidogogoi who just didn’t give two figs. No doubt this reflected how they were, themselves, treated by their owners. (And that could devolve into a complicated discussion about slavery in antiquity, but… go and read my friend and colleague, Peter Hunt’s book, Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery.)

In Alexander’s case, these individuals weren’t slaves, which simplified (and complicated) his relationships with them. On the one hand, it removed the utter dependence/lack of autonomy any slave (however well-treated) would have experienced. But—as with the institution of the Pages, who were nobility doing slave work as body-servants to the king—it involved the “reduction” of elites to unfree occupations. That hovered between honor and humiliation. It’s an honor because he's royalty, but….

For most of us, who, again, didn’t grow up wealthy, having “house staff” is unfamiliar. Ergo, the complicated dynamics of such is equally unfamiliar. That said, I think seeing the wetnurse as another mother may not be the best analogy (except in cases where the mother might really have been distant/absent).

I’d compare it to AUNTIES. A lot of societies have aunties (both literal and honorary) who play super-important roles in children’s lives. Those aunties may even have children of their own (cousins, again literal and honorary), but that doesn’t lessen their impact on their nieces and nephews. Or how they can be loved in a way similar to, but different than a mother. (Or how they can be exasperating in a way similar to, but different than a mother!)

So, for many of us, probably the best analogy for Lanike’s role in Alexander’s life would be a beloved auntie.

* This is also why I find attempts to paint him as a psychopath/sociopath or megalomaniac (e.g., narcissistic personality disorder) unfounded. A characteristic of both is inability to empathize or have strong emotions for people outside the self (and occasionally a very few select others). If he were any of those, he’d manipulate the hell out of people, but not feel much himself. His affections and rages seem far too spontaneous for that.

[marine-indie-gal]

I have wanted to give out my very own Ancestry of the Main SpongeBob Characters since we've seen some BC, Medieval, and Western Counterparts. This time, these are Ancient Greco-Roman Ancestors of SpongeBob and his Friends as you can tell by the Similar characters wearing some Greek/Roman Clothing that I gave them. So let's meet our Main Characters that will soon have their Families' Future of their Current Descendants in the Present Time Earwyn (Parody of Pegasus, Ancestor of Gary) Earwyn is a Winged Snail, born from Winged Snails. He was once one of King Poseidon's slaves until Neptune nursed the Poor Snail into his Palace where he took Earwyn for Shelter for awhile. But when Earwyn chases a small urchin throughout the Hall and then outside, he becomes lost again as Earwyn was then later found by Spongeus and now became his current pet towards the Heroic Sponge. Plus, he even learns to fly and loves to eat food like his Descendant, Gary. Spongeus (Parody of Perseus, Ancestor of SpongeBob) One of the Most Famous Ancient Heroes, the Son the Sponge Princess, Danae. After when Danae met with One Random Fling, Spongeus and his Mother were once drifted off through the ocean and on to the shore of the Island of the Land, "Káto Méros" as they were rescued by a Fisherman and his Wife. Spongeus grew up in the City as the Sponge had many adventures involving around Heroic Training and even his Wild Bizzare Adventures involved around mostly the Roman Gods that is Neptune and his Family. Much like his Descendant, his very over the top Fun-Loving, Kind, Joyful, and Optimistic but also has a little deep mature side despite his silly behavior. Patcarus (Parody of Icarus, Ancestor of Patrick) A Dimiwitted Starfish that always runs through the Family. Patcarus is the most closest Best Friend of Spongeus and is the Son of a Glorius Craftsman Inventor who had to build up a Labyrinth for the Minotaur. Patcarus even dreams to one day have Wings so that way he'll be able to fly, fortunately that always gets ruined since he doesn't proberbly know how to fly in a proper way. Like his Descendant, he's very Lazy with a sense of Humor as he would end up serving himself as one of the Prisets of Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine. Squidymede (Parody of Ganymede, Ancestor of Squidward) Tenderly Handsome Squid fellow who moved from Troy to Káto Méros around Greece when he was a Child. Squidymede is often very grumpy with a dry sense of humor of his own but has his own beliefs of Music and Art. Sadly, runs in the Squid Family, Squidymede always gets the Shit throughout the Years for No Reason whatsoever for he wishes a life where he can have all the happiness and love that he deserves. Spongeus usually loves Squidymede but Squidymede, much like his Future Descendant, gets repeatedly annoyed by Spongeus' surroundings, especially if he's sometimes with Patcarus (Another Annoying Person that Squidymede can't stand). King Krabas (Parody of King Midas, Ancestor of Eugene Krabs) Greedy, Cheap, Hypocritical, Selfish but rather Kind and Friendly King he is, Spongeus and Squidymede are the King's servants. King Krabas is really obessessed with Gold since Childhood, in fact, he wanted everything around in his Kingdom to turn into Gold as his Servants would sell some Krabby Patties to the Customers in exechange for Gold. Krabas has a huge obessession with Gold, he cares less about his Servants, his People, and even his own Family. However, the only thing that he does truly love his Daughter, Pearlen. Krabas has even gone through many journies and adventures digging for Gold with his Old and New Serveants throughout his years. Plankthon (Parody of Erysichthon, Ancestor of Plankton) The Most Envious with Cruel and Malicious Jealousy of Tricks who's also the Arch-Enemy of King Krabas. Plankthon wanted to be the Main Ruler of King around Káto Méros but the Citizens of Káto Méros thought that Plankthon wouldn't work mainly because he was too small so that's why they chose Krabas instead. Long-time arch-rivals between Plankton and Crabs throughout Plankton and Krabs' Families, Plankthon kept on sworing for revenge as he even once tried to have all the food and the gold he could have but Ceres cursed him with replacements of Gold and Food into nothing but Chum. Sandlanta (Parody of Atalanta, Ancestor of Sandy) An Extreme Tough and Tomboyish Squirrel Girl who happens to be a Warrior around from Land to Sea. Sandlanta knew the Greek Gods, especially Zeus, in her Childhood back then as Animals around the Forest and even Humans upon Surface land would worship Greek Gods similar to how most of the Bikini Bottom Mortals would worship Roman Gods around their own religous beliefs. Sandlanta moved into the Sea where she discovered and learn the boundaries of the Ocean which made it into her Brand New Home. Sandlanta is one of Spongeus' Heroic Friends as she would go down hunting down Wild Beasts with Other Hunters as well as being one of the major allies of Diana. Kardea (Parody of Medea, Ancestor of Karen) The Mirror Wife of Plankthon who is his only company to keep him. After when Ceres cursed Plankton's life, Trivia once made a Magic Mirror for Good to teach each of the Fish Mortals how to be good with education. However, as it turns out, Kardea is not what she truly seems as she would often brainwashed Fish people into maing them do Bad Things. Trivia didn't know what might this come, so the Roman Goddess of Witchcraft decided to lock up the Mirror behind an Abandoned Kingdom where Plankthon currently lives now. Kardea helpd on Plankthon to get his own revenge on Krabas with Smart and Clever ideas. But...Much like towards Karen and Plankton's Marriage, they love/hate each other. Princess Pearlen (Parody of Helen of Troy, Ancestor of Pearl Krabs) The One and Only Daughter of King Krabas and Daddy's Little Girl. Pearlen is a very Naive, Dreamy, Sweet, and Free-Spirited Princess. Despite her Spoiled Behavior of a Typical Teenage Girl, she's often excited to taken her Father's Place one day when she becomes the Next Ruler of Káto Méros. Krabas even lets his own Daughter be with a Group of Girls around her own Age but she's also very Popular because she's the Daughter of a King. Sometimes, she gets tired of being Princess and would dream of nothing more but becoming more than just a Royal-Blood. Mrs. Puffpis ((Her Last Name is a reference to an Ancient Greek Poet by the name, "Thespis"), Ancestor of Mrs. Puff) Spongeus' Main Teacher in the School that he goes to, "Neptune Academy". Mrs. Puffpis teaches Spongeus the eductional learning ways behind History but also Math and Science as well as learning to how to write things. She becomes very paranoid when Spongeus does at least done mistakes in his own ways around School, which is quite similar is to how their descendants have that sort of kind of Relationships. Mrs. Puffpis would often suffer from stress and anxiety, especially if it's from too much work. Krabas even wanted to marry her to have her as his own Queen and even Stepmom to Pearlen but Puffpis is already married to her own Husband. Larseus (Parody of Theseus, Ancestor of Larry) Possibly one of the most popular heroes of all, Larseus seems to be a Nice Guy but he's also arrogant and inconsiderate. He's considered to be like a Jock who loves to play Sports as well as fighting down some Monsters and Beasts. He was mostly famous for slaying down the Minotaur with the help of Spongeus. Pretty much, he's a real famous guy as all the ladies around Greece in Káto Méros adored him very well. Though he's not really the Demigod Son of Neptune cause he's not really a demigod as some people assume but he is willingly to take down the hearts of Monsters with the help of his own cunning strength. Sorry if Spongeus looks kinda derpy in this Pic, usually I'm more focused on MS Paint than just Paper (though Paper is sometimes more easier than drawing in MS Paint XP SpongeBob SquarePants (c) Stephen Hillenburg

[maladaptedreader-writes]

Mal's ramblings/sources for TGOE Ch 4

PRAYING TO HERMES

Supplication

I bumped this one from the very last note to the very first, because it was my MOST heavily used source. I mentioned it back in chapter 1, and subsequently read all of it, but it turns out The Nature of the Act of Supplication is only Chapter 1 of Gaye McSweeney's masters thesis Acts of Supplication in Ancient Greece, which I will find the time to read, because holy cow it's fantastic!

I used so much from it, I can't even list it all. It's the backbone of the whole chapter. That said, all of this focuses on what's seen in the epics unless otherwise stated. I wanted to focus on Mycenaean traditions, but there's very little information available.

Suppliants bough

I mentioned in chapter 1 about an olive branch being used as a suppliants bough, but hair may be used in its place in certain circumstances. Supplication to a chthonic deity is one. (See Acts of Supplication in Ancient Greece.)

Self-abasement and mutilation

Self-abasement means to lower oneself, and there are various things you can do to achieve this depending on your need. In this chapter, it's done three times. Once when Patroclus dons the only thing he owns; again when he kneels before the hearth; and lastly when he tears the tunic, lacerates his chest, and laments.

During the prothesis (lying in state) part of a funeral, mourners cry, prostrate over the body, tear their clothing, lacerate their flesh, tear out their hair, and cover themselves with dirt or ash.

During supplication, the supplicant must abandon their dignity and honor, and behave in the "manner of a slave."

For both, the goal is to achieve pity, but funereal self-abasement has special meaning on top of this; McSweeney mentions theories on these acts mimicking violence used to protect the living. And since you can no longer protect the dead, the mourners turn the acts on themselves. (I took this a step further in the narrative.)

I did look for specific words for the different acts, or for the practice as a whole, but couldn't find any. Self-abasement, self-effacement, self-mutilation, disfigurement, etc. are the closest words, it seems, and these first three are the words used by McSweeney. For all I know, there are words, only I can't read them, but I've chosen to imagine there are no words for it in the old language because they didn't think of it like we do. I'd love to be corrected if someone does know!

All About Hermes

The chapter is named after the two forms of Hermes, his Ouranic (Olympic) form and his Chthonic (Underworld) form.

Hermes is called Cyllenius because he was born on Mt. Cyllene in the most common story. In his Chthonic form, the story goes that he was born of Dionysis and Aphrodite. But I am sticking with Zeus/Maia, since that seems to be what Hades (game) did.

Again I use Theoi (Hermes section) a LOT for this, and use Neokoroi for the offerings.

For both prayers, the Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes and Hymn 57 to Chthonian Hermes were models, especially the last line of 28, but all 5 hymns on Theoi were inspirational in some way. So was Aeschylus' Libation Bearers.

I also looked into how current Hellenic worshipers structure their prayers. Interestingly, it seemed to mostly align with the Orphic hymns. Still, it was more inspirational than a guide.

Statue of Hermes

It's just called the Statue of Hermes. I really tried to find something more significant for the scene, but gentle Hermes with his hand on a tortoise (which he used to create a lyre so "gentle" might be a stretch) seemed appropriate.

Fumigation

The Orphic hymn mentions which herbs to fumigate with. The why I made up. Maybe it's in my head from somewhere (pagan practices or something), so if I did steal it from somewhere specific, sorry?

Barley

I legitimately wondered "what about barley meal?? Should they just throw flour?" (Do not throw flour at a fire! It turns into a cloud of flame!) While, yes, you can use alternatives when you don't have barley meal, Odysseus did, it's really only necessary for animal sacrifices, I guess.

GRIEF AND MOURNING

I cribbed heavily from Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, which takes place not long after the Iliad, so the funerary practices would align, even if Aeschylus wasn't a peer of Homer. (They both lived long after the Bronze Age anyway!)

As for research, Portraits of Grief: Death, Mourning and the Expression of Sorrow on White-Ground Lêkythoi [PDF] by Molly Evangeline Allen was the biggest help, though I only read the section on Male Mourning.

Gendered behaviors

Men and women had specific roles when it came to funerals, and specific behaviors tended to be more feminine or more masculine, though there were shifts throughout the centuries.

That said, similar to how we used to (or maybe still do) view crying as a womanly thing to do, men were not unknown to express themselves in ways that weren't particularly manly. There are examples of male laments, hair cutting, and skin lacerating (at least in the epics and plays).

McSweeney and Allen (authors of Acts of Supplication in Ancient Greece and Portraits of Grief... respectively) both discuss gendered differences in the varied acts of mourning (and supplication). I also found a paper discussing Male Lament, but only the abstract. Link below in the section on lamentation.

Tearing the breast/chest/cheeks/hair

From my 21st century, American perspective, this is a significant act of grief. Either it's just dramatic enough to find its way into many stories, or it was more common than I would expect. Though, it was significant enough for Solon to make a law about it, so I guess it could be both.

Still, it is a prescribed act, as McSweeney references in The Nature of the Act of Supplication. Meaning it's expected, and there are rules around it. It's not, necessarily, a spontaneous act of grief.

Cutting the hair

When I read that a character cuts their hair for the dead, I read it as them going full Mulan.

However, there is precedent for using locks rather than chopping off all of a mourner's hair. I direct you to Aeschylus' tragedy, Libation Bearers. As it opens, Orestes, son of Agamemnon, cuts 2 locks from his hair, and sets them on his father's tumulus (grave mound).

Lamentations

Briseis, Helen, Achilles, and so many other characters lament within the Iliad, but it's not in a way I would think of as lyrical, probably because I have trouble reading lyrics in song. (It was annoying whenever there was singing in LOTR, ngl.)

But, I made an effort to express grief in song, since it's a huge part of funeral rites. Even men sing.

Men and women (according to the above source) do lament differently, though. So I did a fair amount of looking into lamentations.

First, I read and re-read many of the lamentations within the Iliad. External sources include An Ancient Greek Lament Form by Charles H. Cosgrove (though I could only read that first page), Athenaeus' The Learned Banqueters, Drowning Sorrows: Archilochus fr.13 W. in its Performance Context [PDF] by Deborah Steiner, Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, the previously mentioned abstract from Male Lament and the Symposium by Gregory Jones, Portraits of Grief... [PDF] by Molly Evangeline Allen (which had a small quote from Euripides' Alcestis), and one actual recorded lament I couldn't find in my YouTube history, but was definitely in one of these documents… I didn't use it to compose anything though.

I felt awkward writing a song when I'm a terrible songwriter, especially when it's supposedly coming from a culture where songs and singing are so important. Or at least seems to be important. But I pushed through and came up with something, even if there's only 1 ½ lines in the actual narrative.

Nico's chant

This is straight up pulled from Greek Orthodox funeral rites. It's really just the Trisagion (a specific chant).

OTHER THINGS!

Hippodameia Briseis

I've thought a lot about whether to use the name Hippodameia or Briseis. It's easy to say "Briseis means Daughter of Brises" and that her first name, Hippodameia, is found in Homer's scholia (notes, basically), and call it a day. But it's not nearly that clean.

While I've read this information all over the place, I'd like to direct you to the book Homeric Variations on the Lament by Briseis by Casey Dué. It's intensely fascinating, but I'm using it for the only source here because the content and footnotes aggregate the information I'd read elsewhere. And it has an argument to make on compressed stories within the epic that I like.

Long-story-short, we have 3 origin stories for Briseis, which Dué illustrates are all intertwined in the narrative of the Iliad. Only one of the origins calls her Hippodameia, daughter of Brises, King of Pedasos.

There are arguments to be made that Briseis may be her given name, and that Briseus doesn't exist. Or that she and her father both are named for their home town of Brisa, a town on Lesbos, which pairs poetically with Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, both from the town of Chryse.

As for me, I chose my route. It'll have nice poetry itself later. Though, I must admit, it's a knee-jerk reaction that I don't want to call a woman exclusively by her father's name, like she has no existence outside a man (very Western of me, I know), and that definitely played into my decision to even look into this. But I digress.

PS Hippodameia means "horse tamer" (Briseis means "martial strength") and Deidameia (Achilles' first wife) means "she who is patient in battle." The word "dameia" in both names means "tamer", so I'm curious to know how "Deidameia" reached such a non-literal meaning, unlike Hippodameia, which is extremely literal.

Patroclus "related" to the gods

t/w: incest (Should this be a t/w? It's mythology, I just assume there's incest.)

All this came from hunting through Wikipedia. There are variations on who got with who and who had which baby, so where there was disagreement I went with either the more popular, the one that was the least confusing, and/or the one I liked better.

We're going to skip the 5 potential mothers of Patroclus and only look at his paternal lineage.

Patroclus' grandmother was the naiad Aegina, daughter of the river god Asopus and the naiad Metope, herself daughter of the river god Landon. And according to Hesiod's Theogony, rivers were all born of Oceanus and Tethys, so both Asopus and Landon would be their get. That puts Patroclus 4 generations removed from titans (and Zeus on his grandfather's side), and 2 from gods (nymphs are minor deities, after all).

So, yeah. Godly relations.

Nyx not Persephone

In the chthonian prayer, I explicitly name Nyx as the empress of the underworld, not Persephone. This comes from Hades, the game.

(Mild spoilers? It's all set-up info.) At the start of the game, Persephone is not known to be the Queen of the Underworld. Instead, Nyx is known as the other half of the partnership, though her relationship with Hades himself is ambiguous. The gods are told, at some point, that she and Hades had a son together, but I don't assume the mortals know about Zagreus.

Polytheism Banned in Greece

The spread of Christianity killed polytheism in the Roman empire. In Greece, it was made legal again in 2006.

Cutting condoms

They still teach this in sex ed, right? You can cut the tip and bottom off a condom, and cut it up the side to create a dental dam.

[aroaessidhe]

2022 reads // twitter thread    

Wrath Goddess Sing

adult fantasy

reimagining of the trojan war where achilles is a trans woman, living on an island safe for trans people until she is recruited for the war.

greek & egyptian gods

monstrous gods!!

[mst3kproject]

Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon

So the last few entries have been, for various reasons, pretty depressing.  I was determined to find something a little bit lighter, so I thought I'd offer you a nice colourful slab of My Cheese Steak. Our Hercules of the Week is a man named Peter Lupus, who looks a lot like Sylvester Stallone and uses the ridiculously David Ryder screen name of Rock Stevens.

The Babylonians used to take slaves from Greece all the time, but it's getting harder and harder now that Hercules is in town. Apparently on one of their raids, the slavers captured his girlfriend Queen Asperia, and now he's pissed.  King Vaneek of Assyria has also learned that Asperia is among the slaves, and has decided to buy her and marry her in order to be king of Greece, too.  Queen Taneal of Babylon drugs him and wheedles the secret out of him, and her two brothers, King Salmanazar and King Azul, agree with her that Asperia has to die... but secretly each is plotting to marry Asperia himself and murder his siblings to claim the throne!  Meanwhile, Hercules and King Vaneek find themselves in an 'enemy of my enemy' sort of situation, but that doesn't mean they like each other, either. We all know that the only ones leaving this movie alive are Hercules and Asperia, we're only watching to find out how they get there.

As Hercules and Maciste movies go, Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon is pretty entertaining, honestly.  Costumes and sets never look real but they're very pretty and do their job of placing us in an ancient, semi-mythical past.  There's not a lot of subtlety to the characterizations – Hercules is heroic, Asperia is willing to suffer to save her people, Salmanazar is belligerent, Azul is shrewd, and Taneal is ambitious.  I might complain about this, but it's about as much characterization as people in mythology usually get and so it works.  There's lots of backstabbing (some of it literal) and machinating going on, but never so much that we can lose track of it all.

Both the plot and the visuals are full of wonderful b-movie bullshit.  We've got Hercules throwing around sytrofoam rocks and trees – the people these hit know they're supposed to act as if they're very heavy, but sadly nobody was able to tell the horses. There's a bit where a guy in the Babylonian marketplace puts a snake on his head for no particular reason, which is the clear front-runner for episode stinger.  Plot points hinge on people rasping out messages to Hercules as they're dying, always expiring before they can finish.  Characters stand around arguing about who betrayed who first.  Hercules arrives in Babylon in disguise and then immediately blows his own cover when he sees some injustice he can interfere in.

My very favourite of all these bits of nonsense is the completely inexplicable fact that Babylon has a self-destruct button. This takes the form of a giant wheel in a cave beneath the city.  It has all these chains attached to it, and when the wheel is turned they will wind up and tear down all the buildings!  Taneal tells us that it was built by Daedalus, who created the Labyrinth, but she never tells us why it exists.  I guess it's supposed to destroy the city so that an enemy can't capture it?  But in the last moments of a siege, who the hell has time to get a hundred slaves down there to very slowly tear the place apart?  It makes no sense!  I love it!

Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon also stands apart from the crowd of such films in a number of ways – specifically, Herc never bends prison bars or drinks a love potion!  Going into the movie I was sure we were going to get the usual thing where Taneal, having fallen for Herc's rippling pecs and rock-hard ass, would feed him a tincture and then be all smug about having stolen him from Asperia.  To my surprise, the movie never even entertained the idea!  Taneal is not above using her looks to manipulate men, but she has a lover and never even considers dumping him, not even for King Vaneek.  Movies like this are so fond of using promiscuity as a shorthand for evil in female characters that it's kind of shocking.

(On a considerably less shocking note... do I even need to mention that all these Mesopotamians are played by white actors? Didn't think so.)

There's even a couple of really nice moments here.  King Vaneek brings gifts to the rulers of Babylon, praising Salmanazar for his skills in war and Azul for his in politics... and then tells Taneal how beautiful she is and basically propositions her in front of the entire court.  He, a sexist jerk, doesn't see anything wrong with this behaviour, but Taneal, already annoyed with her brothers for going behind her back, definitely does and you can see it on her face.  This scene isn't referenced openly again but it lurks in the back of your mind throughout the rest of the film, as Taneal seeks to be rid of these foolish men who think they're above her.  Her boyfriend is subservient to her as his queen and while the movie wants us to consider this a form of weakness on his part, Taneal clearly considers it appropriate and even sexy.  This makes her the only one of the four royal villains who comes near to being sympathetic, and made it even more surprising that she never develops a crush on Hercules.

The other is in Salmanazar's attempt to find Asperia among the captive Greek women.  He ties them all to poles in the middle of the desert and says the first to tell him who the queen is will be rewarded.  After a couple of days Asperia decides to reveal herself in order to end everybody else's suffering, but the other women take a page from Spartacus and all join in declaring that they are the Queen of Greece!  In a way this succeeds, as Salmanazar gives up on this tactic in disgust and has them all released, but it's also a moment of tragedy, as Asperia despairingly realizes the people she's trying to protect are too loyal for their own good.

The only thing that kind of ruined the movie for me was that the climax seemed to come on way too fast.  The rising action is fairly sedate, and so when everything suddenly comes to a head, it feels like it's just not time yet.  This sorts itself out pretty fast, though.  Once you realize that the dominoes are falling, it only takes a moment to get back into the rhythm of it.

There are several things I find myself thinking about while watching this movie, but the main one is that the Hercules and Maciste films are basically superhero movies with a coat of ancient Greek paint, and it's interesting to compare them to their modern counterparts. The general formula of a lone hero versus odds that would be insurmountable to anybody else is intact.  Multiple villains and a woman in need of rescue are standard.  One of the things superhero stories have become somewhat infamous for in recent years, though, is the 'twist' ending, to the point of writers altering the story if they think the fans are close to figuring it out.

A lot of keys have been tapped about why this is poor storytelling and how it grew out of the 'no spoilers' culture online.  My own main complaint about it is that a story isn't even about its end. Stories are about their middles – the beginning and the end are just that, but the part we enjoy is the journey from the one to the other.  Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon is a perfect example.  There's never a moment when we're not absolutely sure that Salmanazar, Azul, and Taneal are all doomed and probably Vaneek too, and that Hercules and Asperia will save the Greek slaves and walk off into the sunset.  The movie's job is not to subvert these expectations, but to fulfill them in an entertaining fashion.

This doesn't even mean the movie can't surprise us.  We're not at all surprised that the three co-rulers are plotting against each other.  Taneal tells us that their father wanted his three children to rule in concert – anybody who's even tried to order a pizza with siblings could have predicted how that would turn out!  Nor are we particularly shocked that Vaneek orders his followers to kill Hercules once they've secured Asperia.  The surprises come in the form these various plots take and how they're thwarted.  We certainly didn't expect Taneal to try to murder her brothers by pulling the whole city down on top of them!  Then the ending, when everything turns out exactly the way we expected it to, is not disappointing at all.  It's satisfying and reassuring to see good triumph over evil.

Although, it must be said that in a lot of these films, evil ends up destroying itself – this is one of those, as the siblings all end up killing each other before Hercules can bring the city down on their heads.  Rather than defeating the three tyrants, Hercules defeats thousands of ordinary Babylonians who were just going about their day and probably didn't know what kind of shit their rulers were up to.  Nor, despite the title, does the movie bother to establish whether the three are particularly tyrannical... although they can be cruel to their slaves, so maybe we're supposed to assume they're not much nicer to the free citizens.

We're not supposed to think about any of that, of course, and one of the movie's successes is that for the most part, we don't.  Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon isn't a good movie, but it never pissed me off, its badness made me laugh, and I enjoyed it for as long as it lasted.

[nevermindirah]

I've been drafting and redrafting this meta post for weeks now. It's about to be 5781 and my country that was founded on settler colonial genocide and slavery and a deeply flawed but fierce attachment to democracy might go full dictatorship in about 6 weeks and it's time for me to post this thing.

All our immortals are warriors, all have been traumatized by war. But only three of them died their first deaths as soldiers in imperial armies. This fandom has already produced gallons of meta on Nicky dealing with his shit, because Joe would not fuck with an unapologetic Crusader. But there's very rich stuff in Booker and Nile's experiences and the parallels and distinctions between them.

Nile was 11 when her dad was killed in action - that was 2005, meaning she and her dad both died in the same war that George W Bush started in very tenuous response to 9/11. Sure, Nile's dad could have died in either Iraq or Afghanistan, or in a training accident or in an off-the-books mission we won't know about for a hundred more years, but he died in the War on Terror all the same. I had to look it up to be sure because Obama "drew down" the Afghanistan war in his second term, but nope, we're still in this fucking thing that never should've happened in the first place. The US war in Afghanistan just turned 19 years old. A lot of real-life Americans have experiences like the Freemans, parents and children both dying in the same war we shouldn't be in.

I know a lot of people like Nile who join the US military not just because it's the only realistic way for them to pay for college or afford decent healthcare, but also because they have a family history of military service that's a genuine source of pride. Military service has been a way for Americans of color to be accepted by white Americans as "true Americans" - from today's Dreamers who Obama promised would earn protection from deportation by enlisting, to Filipino veterans of WW2 earning US citizenship that Congress then denied them for several decades, to slaves "earning" their freedom through service in the Union Army and in the Continental Army before it. As if freedom is a thing one should have to earn. Lots of Black Americans have the last name Freeman for lots of different escaping-slavery reasons, but it's possible that this specific reason is how Nile got her last name.

Dying in a war you know your country chose to instigate unnecessarily and that maybe you believe it shouldn't be waging is a very particular kind of trauma. It is a much deeper trauma when your military service, and your father's, and maybe generations of your ancestors', is a source of pride and access to resources for you but your sacrifice is nearly meaningless to the white supremacist system that deploys you. That kind of cognitive dissonance encourages a person to ignore their own feelings just so they can function. How do you wake up in the morning, how do you risk your life every day, how do you *kill other people* in a war that shouldn't be happening and that you shouldn't have to serve in just so that your country sees you as human?

We see Nile do her best to be a kind and well-mannered invader. Depending on your experience with US imperialism, Nile giving candy to kids and reminding her squad to be respectful is either heartwarming or very disturbing propaganda. We also see Nile clutching her cross necklace and praying. From the second Christianity arrived on this land it's been a tool of white supremacist assimilation and control, but like military service, it's a fucked-up but genuine source of pride and access to resources for many Americans whose pre-Columbian ancestors were not Christian, and it's a powerful source of comfort and resilience. This Jew who's had a lot of Spanish Inquisition nightmares would like to say for the record that it's not Jesus's fault that his big name fans are such shitty people.

Nile is a good person trying to do her best in a fucked-up world. "Her best" just radically changed. Her access to information on just how fucked up the world is has also just radically changed, because everything's so fucked up a person needs a lot of time to learn about it all and not only does she have centuries but she won't have to spend that time worrying about rent and healthcare and taxes, and because she now has Joe and Nicky and Andy's stories, and because she now has Copley's inside scoop on just what the fuck the CIA has been up to. Like, I want a fic where Copley tells Nile what was really behind the brass's decisions that led to her experiences on the ground in Afghanistan, that led to her father's death, but also I Do Not Want That.

Nile was 19 when Alicia Garza posted on Facebook that Black Lives Matter. She grew up in Chicago well before white people on Twitter were saying maybe police violence against Black people is a problem. She knows this is a deeply fucked up country, and she put on her Marine uniform and deployed with her team of mostly fellow women of color, and maybe she and Dizzy and Jay marched in the streets between deployments, maybe they texted each other when a white manarchist at a protest sneered at one of them for being a Marine. Nile's been busy surviving, and she knows some shit and she's seen some shit but she hasn't had much time to think about what it all means. Now she's got time. And Joe, Nicky, and Andy are willing to listen. (Is Copley willing to listen? I could see that going either way.)

Booker might also be willing to listen. The brilliant idea of cleaning up the rat Frenchman so that Nile can have millennia of emotional support and orgasms sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and holy shit do Booker and Nile have a lot of shared life experience as pawns of imperial wars. Obviously Booker is white and a man and that makes a very big difference. (Though G-d help me, Booker could be Jewish and France was knocking its Jews around like ping-pong balls in the 18th-19th centuries. Jewish Booker wouldn't make him any less white but it does add a shit ton of depth of common experience: military service as a way for your country to see you as a full member of society who matters, because who you are means that's not guaranteed.)

Booker was hanged for desertion from the army Napoleon sent to invade Russia as part of his quest to control all of Europe. We learn in the comics / this YouTube video that Booker was on his way to prison for forgery when he was offered military service instead of jail time. While we don't know how he felt about the choice beyond that he did choose soldier over inmate, it's unlikely he thought invading Russia was a great idea, given he tried to desert because Napoleon like a true imperialist dumbass didn't plan for how he was going to feed his army or keep them from freezing to death in fucking Russian winter.

I find it very interesting that the French Empire was at its largest right before invading Russia and fell apart completely within a few years. My country has been falling the fuck apart for a while now - see aforementioned War on Terror, growing extremes of economic stratification in the richest country in the world, abject refusal to meaningfully deal with climate change that US-based corporations hold the lion's share of blame for - but between Trump's abject refusal to meaningfully deal with the coronavirus and strong likelihood that he'll refuse to leave office even if a certain pathetic moderate I will hold my nose and vote for does manage to earn a majority of votes, ~y~i~k~e~s.

Our only immortals who have never known a world before modernity and nationalism happen to have been born of wars that were the beginning of the end for the imperialist democracies that raised them, and I think in the centuries to come that's going to give them some very interesting shit to talk about.

Nile's a Young Millennial, a digital native born in the United States after the collapse of the USSR left her country as the world's only superpower. She's used to a pace of technological change that human brains are not evolved to handle.

Napoleon trying to make all of Europe into the French Empire was a leading cause of the growth of European nationalism and the establishment of liberal democracies both in Europe and in many places that Europeans had colonized. Booker's first war produced the only geopolitical world order Nile has ever known and I just have so many feelings ok. Nile the art history nerd is probably not aware of this, and why would she be? This humble meta author is, like Nile, a product of US public schools, and all they taught me about world history was Ancient Greece/Rome/Egypt/Mesopotamia and then World War 2. Being raised in The World's Only Superpower is WEIRD.

Nile the Young Millennial is used to the devastating volume of bad news the internet makes possible. But she has absolutely no concept of a world where the United States of America is not The World's Only Superpower. In order to get up in the morning and put on her gear and point guns at civilians in Afghanistan, she can only let herself think so much about whether that American exceptionalism thing is a good idea.

She's about to spend many, many years where the only people who she can truly trust are people who are older than not only her country but the IDEA of countries.

She's got time, and she's got a lot of new information at her disposal. But there comes a point where my obsession with her friendship and eventual very hot sex life with Booker just isn't about sex at all. Nile needs someone to talk to about the United States who Gets It. Booker the rat Frenchman coerced into Napoleon's army, and Copley the Black dual citizen of the US and UK who's retired from a CIA career that he half understands as deeply problematic but half still believes in hence his mind-bogglingly stupid partnership with Merrick, are the only people on the planet Nile can talk to honestly about, and really be understood in, all the thoughts and feelings and fears and hopes of her experience as a US Marine.

And one more thing before I go get ready for Rosh Hashanah: Orientalism was a defining element of the Crusades and that legacy is painfully clear in current US-led Western military activity in Afghanistan, Syria, Israel/Palestine, you name it. Turns out memoirs by French veterans of the Napoleonic Wars are full of Orientalist language about Russia as well. I am maybe/definitely writing a fic where Booker spends his exile reading critical race theory and decolonial feminism and trauma studies monographs because he can't be honest with a therapist but maybe he can heal this way and become the team therapist his own damn self. I just really need him to read Edward Said and Gloria Anzaldúa and then go down on Nile, ok?

[hildorien]

Mercy and Pity are important themes to tolkien but I think it’s important to think about aboyt what groups tolkien writes are deserving of pity and mercy and who are not.

Especially in regards to humanity, especially non-dunedain humanity. Orcs are more pitable than the Haradrim and Easterlings. Half the time the dunedain are the ones brutalizing them when they aren’t directly fighting under Sauron’s orders, through imperialism and colonialism. Numenor took them as slaves, the faithful settle comfortably into colonies numenoreans made to set up their new empire in midddle earth, and the Gondorians repeated would expand into their lands and take them (a habit that DOES NOT STOP WITH ARAGORN, he does it too. He goes pass the sea of rhun and sets up shop with Eomer). So many humans don’t get second chances like other characters do, kinslayers in the first age get a chance for forgiveness but the bulk of humanity is just left out to dry, no Valar come and “help them” (though help in terms of the dunedain is the Valar changing their entire philology and going “I can’t understand it so I’m gonna make it more like me” with dissterous results), Morgoth and Sauron are the ONLY ones who ever reach out to them from the ainur (we know nothing about what the blue wizards did). Their “crimes” are basically “some Easterlings in the first age betrayed the elves so all humans expect the edain are bad now” and how is that even fair? How can you even blamed for that? It feels like an in universe excuse to brutalize the Easterlings and Haradrim and all other men (really sus how Rohan goes from treasured friend to SPAWNS OF SATAN when they are suspected to not be on Gondor’s side anymore Huh?) by the dunedain at the council of elrond, they aren’t deserving of pity and mercy because that would mean viewing them as a fellow and equal human, on the same level of you (a good noble dunedian, a king among other men), which cannot be when you need to find an excuse to take their things but don’t wanna seem like the bad guy and it feels really explicit to me that is the case.

The dunedian are just a small group of elites in one small part of middle earth, what they call the middle-men and men of darkness make up 80-97 percent of MOST of middle earth’s population. It would make almost all of humanity evil expect this elfy group and the special cases of men they happen to like, it’s a pretty selective and small club to be in and everyone else is not worthy to be in. Hell there are probably places in middle earth full of humans who don’t know what a morgoth, sauron, or elf is, middle earth is a big place even bigger once eru reshaped the world (some drafts say he made new land masses and oceans to fill the new rounded earth) are they guilty too? How is that fair?

It feels reductive and infuriating to have it this way sometimes, to act as if these easterling and Haradrim soldiers don’t have families, people’s, kin, langues beliefs, and value and are worthy of slaughter just because they didn’t get what the edain got so many years ago. There is a very sad and real narrative of sauron galavanizing and using the Haradrim and Easterlings righteous anger aganist Gondor at what they did to them to his evil schemes. All we get is ONE line from Sam of all people, pondering the humanity of Haradrim man who dies. That’s all the nuance we get. Homer in the iliad managed to humanize the Trojans better despite being the enemies in Ancient Greece than tolkien managed to do. I always felt it was intresting that in all his talks about Gondor has become to currupted, Faramair never once brings up Gondor own very xenophobic history (the biggest civil war in gondorian history was because a gondorian king had a non dunedian mother and people were so mad about they went and tried to depose him murdering that king’s son in cold blood and it dissolved into a bloody civil war!) and their shared humanity with the people they fighting never comes up.

I think personally a intresting way to view the fourth age is less of a “golden age” sorta speak and more of a very long complex series of gondorians kings following Aragorn trying to fix and make relationships with other mannish kingdoms that fucking HATE Gondor, for actually pretty valid reasons. If this is gonna be the age of men, like go for it, commit, they are gonna finally have to forge some kind relationship with other men. Also to think about it a lot of these Haradrim and Easterlings have probably been probably built up, sorta speak, by sauron, and probably much richer and more militarized than Gondor since Gondor has been in a state of constant war and decline for the better half of century and probably realistically gonna have to do a lot of politicking to stay alive? Frankly. Since I can’t imagine many of their non vassal neighbors like them much. I think the fourth age is a really good opprunity to go death to the author and just create your own mannish kingdoms or empires, go nuts, the world is your sandbox, tolkien can’t stop you. The age of men is upon us, so many OCs could be created. Speaking of that, mannish history is such a blank slate we should be thinking more about the wacky hildorien acentures early men got up too. I think it’s a little boring to imagine the only kingdoms of men belonged to Gondor and Rohan, like Dale is an example of a (to my knowledge) non edian mannish kingdoms who is just vibing? Who is to say there is not more? If I know anything about history humans will see a river valley and go free real estate and set up shop for centuries.

I wanna conclude with a qoute by someone much more eluquent and smarter than me @warrioreowynofrohan “The Kinslayers recieved mercy. The Easterlings recieved annihilation,” and that really is one sentence that explains the sadness of it all. The non-edain and non-dunedian deserve so much better (and Im the biggest edain fan) than what tolkien gave them.

(Seriously, read their meta on Easterlings in the silm, it’s really good.)

[the-lunar-library]

TO THE RAVENS

Brixia, a musician, a sex worker, and – ultimately in the eyes of society – a slave. To one degree or another, all women are property under Roman law, but Brixia bears that weight in a heavier measure. An introspective woman with little need for conversation, she only says a small fraction of what she thinks about the wild things happening around her – and to her – and she says even less when it comes to her own convictions.

Click through to see her alternate portrait.

Like Kokkonas, Brixia was originally a meaner and more selfish foil to the heroine Akantha. (A running theme is that these characters grew subtler and more likable over time. Definitely a good thing. Broad strokes work for place-holders, but not for interesting characters.) Ultimately she was an intriguingly challenging character to write. She's very important to the story, but we're never in her pov and she's not very close to Akantha. Add to that that she almost never talks about herself, and it can be hard to know what she's thinking, what she's feeling, where she's coming from. We do see her reacting though, and hopefully by these indirect hints – the way she responds, the few things she does say, the things she clearly chooses not to say – the reader will get an idea of who she is.

Brixia is very loosely based on a figure in Lucian's essay “Alexander the False Prophet”, in which Lucian briefly mentions a woman named Rutilia who became romantically involved with Alexander. We don't know much about her, but she participated directly in Alexander's bogus mystic rites, on a stage kissing and embracing him in front of her actual husband, who apparently just took it.

You remember I mentioned Lord Buca was based on a statesman named Rutilianus? Because of the names' similarity, Rutilia and Rutilianus, the two characters became linked in my mind. (I see no reason to assume they were in real life.) And so Buca, along with Rutilianus, also was partially inspired by Rutilia's easily-dismissed husband. Brixia was created as a love interest for both Buca and my character Alexandros, a tension which becomes increasingly significant in the second half of the book.

Unlike Rutilia (presumably), Brixia is a slave, and that necessarily plays a big role in her arc. Similarly, she's a sex worker; it wasn't her choice, but she's been careful and prudent and, through Buca, she's managed to find some stability for herself. When it comes to ancient Rome and Greece, sex work, like midwifery, is an area of women's lives we know a bit about because men wrote about it. (Lucian in fact has a famous essay called “The Courtesans” where a bunch of sex workers dialogue together.) However, I would guess a lot of such writing by male authors is caricature; even when we have writings purported to be by sex workers themselves, historians theorize that these were still written by men in the guise of famous women. So I didn't have a wealth of historical firsthand material to draw from when trying to understand what Brixia's life might be like.

Broadly speaking, there were three types of sex workers – elite courtesans who had a small pool of clients, concubines who lived with a single partner in a sort-of-like-a-wife-but-not-exactly gray area, and (I'm using this term neutrally, just to differentiate) prostitutes, who had no official or exclusive ties to any clients. Brixia is a prostitute, so when she enters the story, she has little legal or social protection. She's not elite. She's not regarded as valuable. But she's an extremely talented musician and she's very beautiful, and she catches the eye of Lord Buca just in time to get tangled up in this strange new cult he's involved in. Brixia knows how to keep her head down and play along, but it might not be enough to keep her safe as things around her grow stranger and stranger.

Here she is with her makeup. We don't have a lot of info about (or I didn't find many examples of) how exactly cosmetics looked during this period, though we know they were used. (In one of his essays, Lucian whines about women wearing too much of it.) White (sometimes lead-based) powder was popular, reminding me of geisha as well as the court aesthetics of the Elizabethans. I don't know if they used it this heavily, so it was something of a creative choice. Once she's brought into Buca's household, Brixia scales back the makeup and prefers (and is allowed) to go bare-faced.

As for her natural features, I wanted her to be very beautiful. Blond hair was absolutely coveted at the time, and her long hair distinguishes her from the native Kynthian women. She's supposed to give an impression of gently flowing curves and soft colors, rather dove-like.

Like Genesius, Brixia was one of the hardest characters to name. In a lot of my notes, she's just labeled as Rutilia, but I never had any intention of naming her that. There are other sex workers in the novel and they have names pulled directly from Lucian's own courtesan characters, but I wanted Brixia to stand out. I wanted something romantic, even fanciful, and early ideas included Altana (“a southwestern wind”), Laeta (“joyful”), Fauna, Adria, and Laelia. For a long time, she went by Cithara; slaves sometimes had names relating to their occupations, and she plays the kithara (a stringed instrument), the Latin form being cithara. She was Cithara for quite a while, but I ended up leaning away from it.

And then, among my list of names, I also added Brixia, and at some point it stuck. Brixia is the Latin name for the city of Brescia, which in the past was part of Gaul.

Why Brixia? My roundabout answer is that in addition to reading through Lucian and lots of nonfiction, I also read some historical fiction set during the Roman empire, in an effort to absorb more of the flavor of the period. And a lot of it was from the 1800s; excavations into the ruins of Pompeii and the catacombs of Rome whipped up audiences' interest, and so you had lots of authors diving head-first into this period. And one trend I noticed was that they often named enslaved characters after geographical regions, implying that many slave owners, acquiring a new slave, simply called them by the area they'd come from. Nothing I saw in my nonfiction research confirmed this, but I saw it often enough to figure there's some basis.

I liked the sound of Brixia, and now I had a reason for it: She was born and captured in Gaul, her birthname a secret that no one thinks to ask for. Possibly Brixiana (“woman from Brixia”) would have been more correct, but I like Brixia better.