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jeannereames · 9 months

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Hi Dr Reames!

Would you say that Macedon shared the same "political culture" with its Thracian and Illyrian neighbours, like how most Greeks shared the polis structure and the concept of citizenship?

I don't really know anything about Macedonian history before Philip II's time, but you've often brought up how the Macedonians shared some elements of elite culture (e.g. mound burials) with their Thracian neighbours, as well religious beliefs and practices.

I've only ever heard these people generically described as "a collection of tribes (that confederated into a kingdom)", which also seems to be the common description for nearby "Greek" polities like Thessaly and Epiros. So did these societies have a lot in common, structurally speaking, with Macedon? Or were they just completely different types of polities altogether?

First, in the interest of some good bibliography on the Thracians:

Z. H. Archibald, The Odrysian Kingdom of Thrace. Orpheus Unmasked. Oxford UP, 1998. (Too expensive outside libraries, but highly recommended if you can get it by interlibrary loan. Part of the exorbitant cost [almost $400, but used for less] owes to images, as it’s archaeology heavy. Archibald is also an expert on trade and economy in north Greece and the Black Sea region, and has edited several collections on the topic.

Alexander Fol, Valeria Fol. Thracians. Coronet Books, 2005. Also expensive, if not as bad, and meant for the general public. Fol’s 1977 Thrace and the Thracians, with Ivan Marazov, was a classic. Fol and Marazov are fathers of modern Thracian studies.

R. F. Hodinott, The Thracians. Thames and Hudson, 1981. Somewhat dated now but has pictures and can be found used for a decent price if you search around. But, yeah…dated.

For Illyria, John Wilkes’ The Illyrians, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, is a good place to start, but there’s even less about them in book form (or articles).

—————

Now, to the question.

BOTH the Thracians and Illyrians were made up of politically independent tribes bound by language and religion who, sometimes, also united behind a strong ruler (the Odrysians in Thrace for several generations, and Bardylis briefly in Illyria). One can probably make parallels to Germanic tribes, but it’s easier for me to point to American indigenous nations. The Odrysians might be compared to the Iroquois federation. The Illyrians to the Great Lakes people, united for a while behind Tecumseh, but not entirely, and disunified again after. These aren’t perfect, but you get the idea. For that matter, the Greeks themselves weren’t a nation, but a group of poleis bonded by language, culture, and religion. They fought as often as they cooperated. The Persian invasion forced cooperation, which then dissolved into the Peloponnesian War.

Beyond linguistic and religious parallels, sometimes we also have GEOGRAPHIC ones. So, let me divide the north into lowlands and highlands. It’s much more visible on the ground than from a map, but Epiros, Upper Macedonia, and Illyria are all more alike, landscape-wise, than Lower Macedonia and the Thracian valleys. South of all that, and different yet again, lay Thessaly, like a bridge between Southern Greece and these northern regions.

If language (and religion) are markers of shared culture, culture can also be shaped by ethnically distinct neighbors. Thracians and Macedonians weren’t ethnically related, yet certainly shared cultural features. Without falling into colonialist geographical/environmental determinism, geography does affect how early cultures develop because of what resources are available, difficulties of travel, weather, lay of the land itself, etc.

For instance, the Pindus Range, while not especially high, is rocky and made a formidable barrier to easy east-west travel. Until recently, sailing was always more efficient in Greece than travel by land (especially over mountain ranges).* Ergo, city-states/towns on the western coast tended to be western-facing for trade, and city-states/towns on the eastern side were, predictably, eastern-facing. This is why both Epiros and Ainai (Elimeia) did more trade with Corinth than Athens, and one reason Alexandros of Epiros went west to Italy while Alexander of Macedon looked east to Persia. It’s also why Corinth, Sparta, etc., in the Peloponnese colonized Sicily and S. Italy, while Athens, Euboia, etc., colonized the Asia Minor and Black Sea coasts. (It’s not an absolute, but one certainly sees trends.)

So, looking at their land, we can see why Macedonians and Thracians were both horse people with their wide valleys. They also practiced agriculture, had rich forests for logging, and significant metal (and mineral) deposits—including silver and gold—that made mining a source of wealth. They shared some burial customs but maintained acute differences. Both had lower status for women compared to Illyria/Epiros/Paionia. Yet that’s true only of some Thracian tribes, such as the Odrysians. Others had stronger roles for women. Thracians and Macedonians shared a few deities (The Rider/Zis, Dionysos/Zagreus, Bendis/Artemis/Earth Mother), although Macedonian religion maintained a Greek cast. We also shouldn’t underestimate the impact of Greek colonies along the Black Sea coast on inland Thrace, especially the Odrysians. Many an Athenian or Milesian (et al.) explorer/merchant/colonist married into the local Thracian elite.

Let’s look at burial customs, how they’re alike and different, for a concrete example of this shared regional culture.

First, while both Thracians and Macedonians had shrines, neither had temples on the Greek model until late, and then largely in Macedonia. Their money went into the ground with burials.

Temples represent a shit-ton of city/community money plowed into a building for public use/display. In southern Greece, they rise (pun intended) at the end of the Archaic Age as city-state sumptuary laws sought to eliminate personal display at funerals, weddings, etc. That never happened in Macedonia/much of the northern areas. So, temples were slow to creep up there until the Hellenistic period. Even then, gargantuan funerals and the Macedonian Tomb remained de rigueur for Macedonian elite. (The date of the arrival of the true Macedonian Tomb is debated, but I side with those who count it as a post-Alexander development.)

A “Macedonian Tomb” (above: Tomb of Judgement, photo mine) is a faux-shrine embedded in the ground. Elite families committed wealth to it in a huge potlatch to honor the dead. Earlier cyst tombs show the same proclivities, but without the accompanying shrine-like architecture. As early as 650 BCE at Archontiko (= ancient Pella), we find absurd amounts of wealth in burials (below: Archontiko burial goods, Pella Museum, photos mine). Same thing at Sindos, and Aigai, in roughly the same period. Also in a few places in Upper Macedonia, in the Archaic Age: Aiani, Achlada, Trebenište, etc.. This is just the tip of the iceberg. If Greece had more money for digs, I think we’d find additional sites.

Vivi Saripanidi has some great articles (conveniently in English) about these finds: “Constructing Necropoleis in the Archaic Period,” “Vases, Funerary Practices, and Political Power in the Macedonian Kingdom During the Classical Period Before the Rise of Philip II,” and “Constructing Continuities with a Heroic Past.” They’re long, but thorough. I recommend them.

What we observe here are “Princely Burials” across lingo-ethnic boundaries that reflect a larger, shared regional culture. But one big difference between elite tombs in Macedonia and Thrace is the presence of a BODY, and whether the tomb was new or repurposed.

In Thrace, at least royal tombs are repurposed shrines (above: diagram and model of repurposed shrine-tombs). Macedonian Tombs were new construction meant to look like a shrine (faux-fronts, etc.). Also, Thracian kings’ bodies weren’t buried in their "tombs." Following the Dionysic/ Orphaic cult, the bodies were cut up into seven pieces and buried in unmarked spots. Ergo, their tombs are cenotaphs (below: Kosmatka Tomb/Tomb of Seuthes III, photos mine).

What they shared was putting absurd amounts of wealth into the ground in the way of grave goods, including some common/shared items such as armor, golden crowns, jewelry for women, etc. All this in place of community-reflective temples, as seen in the South. (Below: grave goods from Seuthes’ Tomb; grave goods from Royal Tomb II at Vergina, for comparison).

So, if some things are shared, others (connected to beliefs about the afterlife) are distinct, such as the repurposed shrine vs. new construction built like a shine, and the presence or absence of a body (below: tomb ceiling décor depicting Thracian deity Zalmoxis).

Aside from graves, we also find differences between highlands and lowlands in the roles of at least elite women. The highlands were tough areas to live, where herding (and raiding) dominated, and what agriculture there was required “all hands on deck” for survival. While that isn’t necessary for women to enjoy higher status (just look at Minoan Crete, Etruria, and even Egypt), it may have contributed to it in these circumstances.

Illyrian women fought. And not just with bows on horseback as Scythian women did. If we can believe Polyaenus, Philip’s daughter Kyanne (daughter of his Illyrian wife Audata) opposed an Illyrian queen on foot with spears—and won. Philip’s mother Eurydike involved herself in politics to keep her sons alive, but perhaps also as a result of cultural assumption: her mother was royal Lynkestian but her father was (perhaps) Illyrian. Epirote Olympias came to Pella expecting a certain amount of political influence that she, apparently, wasn’t given until Philip died. Alexander later observed that his mother had wisely traded places with Kleopatra, his sister, to rule in Epiros, because the Macedonians would never accept rule by a woman (implying the Epirotes would).

I’ve noted before that the political structure in northern Greece was more of a continuum: Thessaly had an oligarchic tetrarchy of four main clans, expunged by Jason in favor of tyranny, then restored by Philip. Epiros was ruled by a council who chose the “king” from the Aiakid clan until Alexandros I, Olympias’s brother, established a real monarchy. Last, we have Macedon, a true monarchy (apparently) from the beginning, but also centered on a clan (Argeads), with agreement/support from the elite Hetairoi class of kingmakers. Upper Macedonian cantons (formerly kingdoms) had similar clan rule, especially Lynkestis, Elimeia, and Orestis. Alas, we don’t know enough to say how absolute their monarchies were before Philip II absorbed them as new Macedonian districts, demoting their basileis (kings/princes) to mere governors.

I think continued highland resistance to that absorption is too often overlooked/minimized in modern histories of Philip’s reign, excepting a few like Ed Anson’s. In Dancing with the Lion: Rise, I touch on the possibility of highland rebellion bubbling up late in Philip’s reign but can’t say more without spoilers for the novel.

In antiquity, Thessaly was always considered Greek, as was (mostly) Epiros. But Macedonia’s Greek bona-fides were not universally accepted, resulting in the tale of Alexandros I’s entry into the Olympics—almost surely a fiction with no historical basis, fed to Herodotos after the Persian Wars. The tale’s goal, however, was to establish the Greekness of the ruling family, not of the Macedonian people, who were still considered barbaroi into the late Classical period. Recent linguistic studies suggest they did, indeed, speak a form of northern Greek, but the fact they were regarded as barbaroi in the ancient world is, I think instructive, even if not necessarily accurate.

It tells us they were different enough to be counted “not Greek” by some southern Greek poleis and politicians such as Demosthenes. Much of that was certainly opportunistic. But not all. The bias suggests Macedonian culture had enough overflow from their northern neighbors to appear sufficiently alien. Few Greek writers suggested the Thessalians or Epirotes weren’t Greek, but nobody argued the Thracians, Paiones, or Illyrians were. Macedonia occupied a liminal status.

We need to stop seeing these areas with hard borders and, instead, recognize permeable boundaries with the expected cultural overflow: out and in. Contra a lot of messaging in the late 1800s and early/mid-1900s, lifted from ancient narratives (and still visible today in ultra-national Greek narratives), the ancient Greeks did not go out to “civilize” their Eastern “Oriental” (and northern barbaroi) neighbors, exporting True Culture and Philosophy. (For more on these views, see my earlier post on “Alexander suffering from Conqueror’s Disease.”)

In fact, Greeks of the Late Iron Age (LIA)/Archaic Age absorbed a great deal of culture and ideas from those very “Oriental barbarians,” such as Lydia and Assyria. In art history, the LIA/Early Archaic Era is referred to as the “Orientalizing Period,” but it’s not just art. Take Greek medicine. It’s essentially Mesopotamian medicine with their religion buffed off. Greek philosophy developed on the islands along the Asia Minor coast, where Greeks regularly interacted with Lydians, Phoenicians, and eventually Persians; and also in Sicily and Southern Italy, where they were talking to Carthaginians and native Italic peoples, including Etruscans. Egypt also had an influence.

Philosophy and other cultural advances didn’t develop in the Greek heartland. The Greek COLONIES were the happenin’ places in the LIA/Archaic Era. Here we find the all-important ebb and flow of ideas with non-Greek peoples.

Artistic styles, foodstuffs, technology, even ideas and myths…all were shared (intentionally or not) via TRADE—especially at important emporia. Among the most significant of these LIA emporia was Methone, a Greek foundation on the Macedonian coast off the Thermaic Gulf (see map below). It provided contact between Phoenician/Euboian-Greek traders and the inland peoples, including what would have been the early Macedonian kingdom. Perhaps it was those very trade contacts that helped the Argeads expand their rule in the lowlands at the expense of Bottiaians, Almopes, Paionians, et al., who they ran out in order to subsume their lands.

My main point is that the northern Greek mainland/southern Balkans were neither isolated nor culturally stunted. Not when you look at all that gold and other fine craftwork coming out of the ground in Archaic burials in the region. We’ve simply got to rethink prior notions of “primitive” peoples and cultures up there—notions based on southern Greek narratives that were both political and culturally hidebound, but that have, for too long, been taken as gospel truth.

Ancient Macedon did not “rise” with Philip II and Alexander the Great. If anything, the 40 years between the murder of Archelaos (399) and the start of Philip’s reign (359/8) represents a 2-3 generation eclipse. Alexandros I, Perdikkas II, and Archelaos were extremely capable kings. Philip represented a return to that savvy rule.

(If you can read German, let me highly recommend Sabine Müller’s, Perdikkas II and Die Argeaden; she also has one on Alexander, but those two talk about earlier periods, and especially her take on Perdikkas shows how clever he was. For those who can’t read German, the Lexicon of Argead Macedonia’s entry on Perdikkas is a boiled-down summary, by Sabine, of the main points in her book.)

Anyway…I got away a bit from Thracian-Macedonian cultural parallels, but I needed to mount my soapbox about the cultural vitality of pre-Philip Macedonia, some of which came from Greek cultural imports, but also from Thrace, Illyria, etc.

Ancient Macedonia was a crossroads. It would continue to be so into Roman imperial, Byzantine, and later periods with the arrival of subsequent populations (Gauls, Romans, Slavs, etc.) into the region.

That fruit salad with Cool Whip, or Jello and marshmallows, or chopped up veggies and mayo, that populate many a family reunion or church potluck spread? One name for it is a “Macedonian Salad”—but not because it’s from Macedonia. It’s called that because it’s made up of many [very different] things. Also, because French macedoine means cut-up vegetables, but the reference to Macedonia as a cultural mishmash is embedded in that.

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* I’ve seen this personally between my first trip to Greece in 1997, and the new modern highway. Instead of winding around mountains, the A2 just blasts through them with tunnels. The A1 (from Thessaloniki to Athens) was there in ’97, and parts of the A2 east, but the new highway west through the Pindus makes a huge difference. It takes less than half the time now to drive from the area around Thessaloniki/Pella out to Ioannina (near ancient Dodona) in Epiros. Having seen the landscape, I can imagine the difficulties of such a trip in antiquity with unpaved roads (albeit perhaps at least graded). Taking carts over those hills would be daunting. See images below.

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mutant-distraction · 8 months

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Drakolimni (Dragon Lake)

on the AlpinebMountain of Tymfi, Epiros, North Western Mainland, Greece

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theancientwayoflife · 1 year

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~ Tetradrachm of Lokroi Epizephyriori with head of Zeus, struck under Pyrrhos of Epiros.

Culture: Greek

Period: Early Hellenistic

Date: 280–277 B.C.

Medium: Silver

#ancient #ancient art #history #museum #archeology #ancient greek #greece #greek #ancient currency #coin #archaeology #tetradrachm #Lokroi Epizephyriori #Hellenistic #silver #280 b.c.#277 b.c.

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jartitameteneis · 1 year

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La armadura de Filipo II de Macedonia, en griego, Φίλιππος ὁ Μακεδών.

Fue padre de Alejandro Magno y esposo de Olimpia de Epiro, madre de Alejandro. Vivió entre 382~336 a.C.

Museo Arqueológico nacional de Vergina, Macedonia.

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grandes-santuarios-griegos · 1 year

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ADIVINACIÓN EN DODONA

Efectivamente, el santuario de Dodona, situado en el Epiro, una región al noroeste de la Grecia continental, es el oráculo más antiguo del mundo griego, pues sus orígenes se retrotraen al Heládico Antiguo I (ca. 3000-2600 a.C.). El santuario estaba consagrado a Zeus Naios, que compartía el templo con su forma femenina, Dione Naia, y ambos aparecen representados en monedas de esta región. Además, se han conservado tablillas en distintos dialectos griegos que contienen las preguntas que se le hacían al oráculo y las respuestas que este daba, lo que refleja que acudían a Dodona personas procedentes de todo el mundo griego. Pero, ¿cómo se llevaba a cabo la adivinación oracular?

Homero, en la Ilíada (XVI, 233-249), hace referencia a Dodona y dice que está “lejos”, pues el Epiro era, en efecto, una zona periférica y alejada de las grandes polis griegas. Además, menciona a los “selos”, los intérpretes de Zeus Dodoneo, que “no se lavan los pies y duermen en el suelo”, lo cual se entiende teniendo en cuenta la importancia que se concede en estos ámbitos al contacto directo con la tierra, de donde brotan los poderes oraculares. Sin embargo, estos misteriosos sacerdotes masculinos desaparecen en época arcaica y ya a mediados del s. V a.C. el oráculo de Dodona está dirigido por tres sacerdotisas que eran llamadas “palomas”.Tradicionalmente, las respuestas oraculares se daban a través de la interpretación del sonido que producían las hojas de la encina sagrada cuando soplaba el viento, aunque estas respuestas también podían emanar de las palomas que estaban posadas en este árbol, como recoge Heródoto (II, 55). Otro procedimiento de adivinación documentado, que tenía también relación con la interpretación de sonidos, se hacía a partir de unos calderos de bronce que se colocaban en alto sobre unos trípodes y que chocaban entre sí produciendo distintas reverberaciones. Normalmente, como reflejan las tablillas mencionadas, las consultas las hacían particulares y el oráculo contestaba de manera simple con formulaciones de “sí” o “no”.

Así pues, Dodona contó con un gran prestigio dentro del mundo griego, aunque su relativo aislamiento hizo que fuese eclipsado en gran medida por el santuario de Delfos. A pesar de esto, el santuario conservó su importancia y, durante el reinado de Pirro (s. IV-III a.C.), se convirtió en el centro religioso del reino constituyéndose la festividad de Naia.

¿Serías ahora capaz de responder estas preguntas? ¡Mira nuestra siguiente publicación a través de las etiquetas o del enlace en comentarios!

Bibliografía

-Parke, H. W. (2015). Dodona. Oxford Classical Dictionary. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2264

#adivinación #dodona #santuarios #grecia

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camgarciadominguez · 1 year

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La mirada de Alejandro Magno

Uno de los rasgos físicos de Alejandro Magno más llamativos, con más quórum entre sus biógrafos y más característicos es la heterocromía ocular que al parecer padeció, es decir, presentar ambos ojos de distinto color.

"La mirada es el reflejo del alma"

Se dice que el rey macedonio tenía el ojo izquierdo de color marrón y el derecho de color gris, aunque se desconoce si desde nacimiento o fue fruto de una lesión. Este tipo de color de los iris se relacionaba con una parte femenina y sobretodo con una parte psíquica, mágica incluso, considerándose en algunas culturas "ojos de fantasma" dado a que se creía que conferían a la persona que los poseyese la capacidad de ver tanto en el cielo como en la tierra, o que en el momento del nacimiento uno de los ojos del niño había sido cambiado con el de una bruja.

De Alejandro Magno se decía que su personalidad era una mezcla de la naturaleza temperamental y ocultista de su madre, Olimpia de Epiro, una gran seguidora del Dios Dionisio, y de su lado racional y diplomático, por parte de su padre, Filipo II de Macedonia. Es por ello que este rasgo podría, como en cualquier descripción de una persona de tal magnitud, contribuir al mito y a la leyenda de esta dualidad de su alma, tan bien reflejada a nivel físico.

¿Qué pudo causarle este rasgo?

La heterocromía es un rasgo muy poco frecuente en seres humanos y normalmente es de consideración benigna, aunque puede estar detrás de varios síndromes y causas. Por varias referencias, tiendo a considerar las causas más probables la heterocromía familiar (el traslado de un gen autosómico dominante por parte de uno de los progenitores), el síndrome de Waadenburg, el síndrome de Horner y sobretodo una posible lesión o traumatismo.

El síndrome de Waardenburg con frecuencia se hereda como un rasgo autosómico dominante. Esto significa que sólo uno de los padres tiene que transmitirle el gen defectuoso para que su hijo resulte afectado. Los múltiples tipos de este síndrome resultan de defectos en diferentes genes. La mayoría de las personas con esta enfermedad tiene uno de los padres que la padece, pero los síntomas en el padre pueden ser muy diferentes de los del hijo.

Los síntomas pueden abarcar labio leporino (de carácter infrecuente), estreñimiento, sordera, ojos azules extremadamente pálidos o heterocromía, piel y cabello claros, dificultad de enderezamiento total de las articulaciones y probable disminución leve de la capacidad intelectual.

En este caso la descripción física de Alejandro El Grande (se le consideraba un niño de tez clara, pelo castaño y ondulado y ojos heterocrómos) parece relacionada con este síndrome, aunque puede tratarse únicamente del cánon de belleza de la época (asociándose estos rasgos con las divinidades olímpicas). Así mismo, la dificultad de enderezamiento de las articulaciones (se sabe que tuvo algunos problemas, como Filipo II, aunque muchos expertos lo atribuyen a la gota), aunque el punto que haría tambalear más esta teoría es la disminución de la capacidad intelectual, puesto a que se le considera uno de los grandes estrategas y expansionistas de la historia, algo no apto para cualquiera.

En cuánto al síndrome de Horner, ese se basa en una diferencia muy visible del tamaño de las pupilas, dilatándose una mucho menos que la otra, siendo también distinta la posición de los párpados en el ojo afectado (el inferior es más alto y el superior más bajo, lo que hace el ojo más pequeño). Si el síndrome de Horner se desarrolla durante el primer año de vida, el iris del ojo afectado puede parecer más claro en comparación con el ojo normal (Heterocromía).

Este síndrome puede ser congénito o adquirido. El congénito resulta de un traumatismo en el cuello durante el parto, asociándose con una lesión llamada Parálisis de Klumpke (parálisis parcial de la extremidad superior, concretamente la mano y el antebrazo). Los adquiridos ocurren así mismo por un trauma en el cuello o una anormalidad en el tórax, cuello o espalda (posible causa en este caso).

Una lesión, la causa más probable

Finalmente la teoría de la lesión, la más posible. Según el Doctor Basilio A. Kotsias del Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Alfredo Lanari,Alejandro Magno podía haber sufrido de síndrome de Brown (estrabismo en uno de los ojos al realizar la mirada patética, es decir, hacia abajo y hacia adentro) o una lesión en el cuarto par craneal, afectándose en ambos casos el músculo oblicuo menor de la cabeza. Éste actúa en la articulación atlanto-occipital, extendiendo y flexionando la cabeza hacia el mismo lado de la ubicación del músculo. Uno de los síntomas más claros de esta lesión es que la persona suele inclinar la cabeza hacia el lado donde se halla la lesión. Así se puede apreciar en algunos de los bustos y referencias que de él se han hecho, comentando Plutarco "la mirada enternecedora" o "la flexibilidad" de su mirada,e indicándose normalmente que esta tendencia era hacia la derecha.

Sin embargo, en el caso de que fuese el oblicuo mayor el afectado, el perjudicado tendería la cabeza al lado opuesto para compensar este tipo de visión, por lo que dependiendo del busto al que nos refiriéramos (por ejemplo, Lisipo, escultor personal, lo representaba con una inclinación a la izquierda) la lesión podría estar en un lado u otro de la cabeza. Esta lesión, a mi entender, podría conllevar siderosis o ciclitis. La primera se trata de depósitos de hierro sobre el iris que alteran su coloración normal. Generalmente ocurre como consecuencia de un traumatismo. La ciclitis, por otro lado, se trata de una inflamación de la cámara anterior del ojo y es una de las causas que con mayor frecuencia provoca heterocromía en el iris.

En resumen, a pesar de que la causa puede ser tanto una lesión en el oblicuo mayor o menor, derecho o izquierdo, la lesión en el músculo oblicuo menor derecho de la cabeza la más cercana, ya que podría provocarle, no únicamente la tendencia viciosa de inclinar la cabeza hacia la derecha, si no también el hecho de que ese ojo fuese el de color claro.

#alejandromagno #alexander the great #historia

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kalopyrgos1 · 2 years

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An almost lost pastoral world. The archaic shepherds’ song and the shepherds’ flute, the clarino, in the heart of the Balkan, over the mountains and into the valleys of Epiros, Albania and Makedonia, here sung and played by Vlachs, shepherds who speak a Romanian dialect. Wonderful sounds. They let us glide into a soft sleep .. and dreaming....

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askmalal · 2 years

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INCOMING TRANSMISSION

CODE CYPHER?

>Salutant

ACCEPTED. DOWNLOADING

….

From: Sergeant-Relictor Viktaeon, Forge-Adjutant

To: Captain-Pezhetairos Argaed, IV Syntagma

Re: Re: Archive M, Assessment

>…ly.” As such, I am requesting further information >regarding inventory of Archive ‘M.’ I acknowledge >this will be a very long undertaking, and I neither >demand nor realistically expect a full inventory >within a short period of time. But because of these >orders, and the recent reports of another King in >Yellow siting, I think you’ll agree we’ve got no >choice but to sift the contents.

Anaxander,

I agree (of course.) This has to be increased in priority. Even He acknowledges the potentially excessive backload here, but that’s what happens when a five thousand year gap passes before an archive is rediscovered. I’ll begin sending over reports as we decrypt and sort them. These files are a mess, putting it mildly, but they will be prioritized as of now.

- Caius

MESSAGE ENDS

REPLY NOW?

>No.

END TRANSMISSION

Thought of the Day: “We leave, in this theatre, a playground for Rome and Carthage.” - Pyrrhus of Epiros, M-3x

….

#askmalal #malice #malal #archive m #warhammer roleplay #warhammer 40k

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tindomielthings · 2 years

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angelosdanalis

Bridge of Kokori, Epiro, Greece

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armatofu · 2 days

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Conoce la vida de Amílcar Barca, el brillante padre de Aníbal

Nació en Cartago en el seno de una familia de Cirene que pertenecía a la aristocracia local. Fue el líder de los bárcidas y padre de Asdrúbal, Aníbal y Magón. Su nombre significa hermano de Melkart.

A sus 28 años mandó a las tropas cartaginesas durante la Primera Guerra Púnica entre el 247-241 a.C. Se le puso al mando de un reducido ejército de mercenarios a los que entrenó a la manera de las tropas de Alejandro Magno y Pirro de Epiro. Por entonces Cartago solo poseía dos ciudades en Sicilia. Amílcar fue capaz de mantener a raya a las tropas romanas e incluso les conquistó Érice en el 249 a.C.

La superioridad romana en el mar dejó a las tropas de Amílcar aisladas y con carencias de suministros. Cartago, debilitado, firmó la paz con Roma y el general volvió a África y se retiró de la vida pública.

Cartago quedó arruinado tras la guerra contra Roma y fue incapaz de pagar los sueldos atrasados de los mercenarios. El descontento social desembocó en la Guerra de los Mercenarios (241–238 a.C.), que asoló las tierras del Imperio cartaginés e incluso puso en riesgo la existencia del estado. El gobierno le dio a Amílcar el mando de las tropas para sofocar a los rebeldes, lo que hizo de forma exitosa.

La victoria le dio una gran fama y popularidad en Cartago. Amílcar decidió expandir el control cartaginés a Iberia para compensar las pérdidas económicas y territoriales que sufrió durante el conflicto con Roma. En el 236 a.C. desembarcó en la península Ibérica con un ejército bien entrenado.

Durante ocho años combatió, avasalló o se alió con los pueblos ibéricos y consolidó el control de Cartago sobre el territorio, beneficiándose de su abundancia de recursos. En el invierno del 229 a.C. cayó de su caballo y se ahogó, cuando perseguía a los rebeldes oretanos, después de derrotarlos, tenía 47 años. Su legado fueron sus hijos, a los que llamaba “cachorros de león, uno de los cuales, Aníbal, estaba destinado a convertirse en uno de los generales más importantes de la historia.

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ignacionovo · 4 months

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¡Hola, buenos días, humanidad! 🌍 ¡Feliz miércoles! 💪🌟🚀🏆🌈📈🌱🌞🎯🌺 Hoy os dejo la foto de Parga, una pintoresca ciudad costera en la región de Epiro, Grecia, que cautiva con su belleza natural y su encanto histórico. Anidada entre colinas cubiertas de olivos y bañada por aguas cristalinas del mar Jónico, Parga ofrece una mezcla única de playas impresionantes y callejuelas empedradas llenas de boutiques y tabernas. El Castillo de Parga, coronando una colina sobre la ciudad, cuenta con una rica historia que abarca desde el Imperio Bizantino hasta la ocupación veneciana. Una curiosidad fascinante es que la isla de Panagia, frente a la costa de Parga, alberga una capilla pintoresca construida en la roca y accesible solo por barco. Esta ciudad griega logra fusionar su rica herencia con la serenidad del mar, creando un destino verdaderamente encantador.

Para tener en cuenta...

Un día te darás cuenta de que la felicidad nunca se trató de tu trabajo, tu título o estar en una relación. La felicidad nunca fue seguir los pasos de quienes vinieron antes que tú; nunca fue ser como los demás. Un día, lo verás: la felicidad siempre fue sobre el descubrimiento, la esperanza, escuchar a tu corazón y seguirlo a donde quisiera ir. Siempre se trató de ser amable contigo mismo; siempre fue abrazar a la persona que estabas llegando a ser. Un día entenderás que la felicidad siempre fue aprender a vivir contigo mismo, que tu felicidad nunca estuvo en manos de los demás. Siempre fue acerca de ti. Siempre fue…

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jeannereames · 3 months

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Conversely, if you and Alexander talked only once, what do you think he’d ask you? I guess he wouldn’t be surprised to find out there are professors studying his life and reign more than two thousand years after his death - but what do you think he would ask you about the history of, well, himself?

Interesting question. I think it would be difficult for him to know what TO ask. While it’s possible to forecast a little way into the future (science-fiction authors do it all the time), the further into the future we look, the further off-base we get. Unsurprisingly. Things come out of left field that even the most foresighted can’t anticipate.

For Alexander, I do think he realized that he died too soon, and his empire wasn’t established enough yet. Ergo, one of his first questions would likely be, “So, how fast did it all fall apart and who came out on top?”

He might even be weirdly happy to hear the answer. (Not long.) Why? It proved they couldn’t hold it together without him—which underscores his own uniqueness. I realize that’s self-centered on his part, but don’t all of us, deep down, kinda wanna know we’re irreplaceable? How much more for somebody raised in a society where kleos (glory) and timē (public recognition) were so important? An older king might have been more concerned with his “legacy” after ruling for decades. But Alexander was still young. He didn’t have much of a legacy yet to protect, other than his remarkable success. That nobody else could match it would, I think, have pleased him.

Would he have asked about his family? Probably. But I think it’d be part of the larger question of what happened next and who came out on top.

He’d LOVE that Rome named him “the Great.” In his own day, he was known as “the invincible” anikētos; “the Great” is Roman.

Yet I don’t think he’d have seen Rome coming. I expect he’d predict Carthage as the dominant Western power. Remember that, in his day, Rome wasn’t especially notable. This was still the Early Republic. Plebians were relatively new into the Senate, Rome was nowhere near in control of all the peninsula and just starting the shift from a Greek- and Etruscan-style phalanx to what would become the legion.

Reputedly, Alexander of Epiros (before his death in 331) resented Alexander of Macedon’s early successes, claiming he (Alexander of Epiros) was fighting real men in Italy while his nephew “waged a war against women” (e.g, barbarians). That’s a typical Western-centric view.* At the time, however, Persia had the most powerful army in the world. Whatever Livy claimed, had Alexander brought the Macedonian military machine west instead of east, he’d have mowed through Italy, just like in Greece, Thrace, and Illyria. It took another hundred-plus years of Roman military development to result in the wins at Magnesia or Cenoscephalae. Italy/Rome at that point was just no match for Macedon, much less Macedon under Alexander’s command.

But hoo-boy, he’d want to know about the legion, even if he wouldn’t know enough to ask directly. He might ask about future military innovations.

Also…he’d be PISSED that more people in the West today recognize the name of Julius Caesar than Alexander of Macedon. 😉 “Why didn’t Shakespeare write a play about ME???” But he’d be tickled there are more stories about him in more varied world cultures than there are about Caesar (true fact). IOW, Caesar may be more famous in the West, but Alexander is more famous in the larger world (thanks to the Alexander Romance).

Last, he might ask me about my world. If we assume he knew I was 2300+ years in his future, I think he’d naturally want to know what life is like in my time. I mean, wouldn’t we ask what life would be like 2300 years in our future? He’d probably be fascinated by the changes, although perhaps not the ones we’d anticipate.

Long ago, on a drive from Kentucky back to Nebraska, my son and I had a fun conversation about a fictional interview between Alexander and Stephen Colbert (Ian’s favorite talking-head person at the time). Stephen Colbert would ask Alexander what were the three most surprising things he’d found about the future? Would it be medical breakthroughs? Computers? The rise of democratic states? Flying through the air (and into space)? Etc.

Nope. The three things I think would surprise him the most are:

1. Near-instantaneous speed of communication 2. Easy availability of information (even if it may be wrong) 3. Changes in the importance of religion (at least in some places)

It was such an interesting conversation, I turned it into what’s now the opening Power-point in my World History I class! Ha.

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* This supposed claim of Alexander of Epiros may not even be real. It’s recorded by Roman Cheerleader Livy, where of course the West is more powerful than the weak, decadent Oriental East.

#asks #Alexander the Great #what would Alexander the Great want to know about the future?#Classics #Alexander the Great and Rome #alternate history #Successor Wars

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