#sim: bileseton of the tartessi

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As Far As Dawn, 1.3

Excerpt from a letter of an unknown Roman in the campaign of P. Cornelius Scipio.

"...King Bileseton was unhealthy. I think it was that illness known in Greek as 'thalassemia.' He was not quite thirty, but already he walked haltingly even with a cane, his face lined like a man of fifty or sixty...

“...His illness manifested itself in frequent attacks of pain, such that his half-brother, Tarbantu (some by-blow of the late King Laurbeles by a Celt), had to lead the troops in the field, and his wife, a woman of the Sedanti, often ruled in his stead… 

"...When he died, it was while having his tonsor trim his hair. He collapsed and fell, knocking over the chair he sat in. The tonsor had cut his scalp as he fell, but no more than to be a bald spot had he lived...”

“...Still, the man (quite reasonably) assumed he would be blamed–and he too collapsed. It’s like something out of an Oscan play…”

Author’s Notes

Bileseton is only appearing in flashbacks, because he’s very dead, I’m afraid. Laurbeles will not appear at all unless I really feel the need to recreate some past events.

The Celtic and Tartessian territories overlapped, according to some maps of Pre-Roman Iberia. I also created Tarbantu as a Celt for @schokokokatze (readers of Schoko’s stories may recognize him as Kuneris King’s Hound) and felt he might be a nice foil for Ultia.

His illness is supposed to be something in the sickle-cell family; I took inspiration for his sudden death from the way Gaius Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar’s namesake father) supposedly died very suddenly while lacing his boots one morning. In modern terms, Gaius Julius (and our Bileseton) probably suffered an aneurysm or a stroke. Unfortunately, even today, people can and do die from conditions related to the sickle-cell trait.

A tonsor (plural tonsores) is the Latin term for a slave that does barbering. Women’s hairdressing slaves are called ornatrices (ornatrix singular).

Oscan plays had a reputation for crude slapstick. I think that even the Oscans might have groaned and rolled their eyes at this turn of events.

While Iberian men tended to wear shorter tunics, I chose to give Bileseton a long tunic because he’s the king and deserves to be fancy.

Tarbantu’s outfit, surprisingly, is actually very close to an Iberian man’s outfit as described in Boucher’s “20,000 Years of Fashion.”

I’m still working on Ultia’s improved clothing (mostly adjusting her skirts and creating a good-looking chiton).

Credits

@danjaley​, @greenplumbboblover​, and Spladoum for the poses

Anubis360, EA, IfcaSims, and VenusPrincess for the hairs

All-About-Style, Danjaley, EA, Littlecat/Editsim, NaiyasFury, Pixicat, Rusty Nail, and Simlicious for the clothes

@simlicious​ and Sionelle for the patterns

EA, @murfeelee​ and Simalia for the buy mode items

Mammut for the wall and floor