#women in ancient Macedonia

[jeannereames]

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.

---------------

* 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.

#asks #ancient Macedonia #ancient Thrace #ancient Epiros #ancient Thessaly #Argead Macedonia #pre-Philip Macedonia #Late Iron Age Greece #Archaic Age Greece #Thracian tombs #Macedonian tombs #Classics #tagamemnon #Alexander the Great #Philip II of Macedon #Philip of Macedon #women in ancient Macedonia #ancient Illyria #women in Illyria #Macedonian-Thracian similarities #religion in ancient Thrace #religion in ancient Macedonia

[lotoumpas]

King Perseus Tetradrachm Coin Macedonia Greek Macedonian Kingdom Reproduction Replica Coin - Lotoumpas.

https://lotoumpas.ecrater.com/

#perseus #tetradrachm #ancient #coin #eagle #greece #greek #macedonia #macedonian #kingdom #king #collector #collectibles #collectible #ancient greece #men gift #women gift

[the-phoenix-heart]

Please do spill some of your Mama Greece hcs sometime if you feel comfortable because I love your thoughts on her

You have unleashed a beast Grammy. Here's a brief life history of my Mama Greece. (I can say so much more)

Human Name: Helene (also Lavinia, we'll get to it)

Her father was Mycenae (Mycenaean Greece). She looked up to him greatly as a child.

I headcanon that the City-States of Greece were also personified, and that Helene represented the Greek World as a whole, the one that followed after Mycenae Greece. The City-States aren't really related to her, I kind of characterize them as a cousins.

The City-States don't have much personality that I've decided, but Sparta was a women and a badass, and Athens was a philosophizing misogynist.

For a long time, because Helene represented the Greek World as a whole and the City-States were in charge of themselves she mostly got to spend her time doing whatever the hell she wanted. Disguising herself as a man often, and becoming a genius in mathematics and philosophy. She wasn't so much bothered with war and work for a long time, though she was was a skilled sword woman. She spent much of her time in this period in a hedonistic lifestyle (and I like to think she was involved with the Cult of Dionysus)

And then there was Persia. Their relationship was one you could call enemies with benefits. Vitriolic, Helene didn't much like him, but he was a good fuck. Their relationship got worse overtime, though there was a mutual respect between the two. Basically the France and England of the Ancient times.

When Macedonia began to conquer Greece, I characterize this as him killing off the City-States. Now obviously these places lived on, but it was still a turning point in Greek history, and I think eventually Macedonia would go after Helene - to become the "true" Greek World - and Helene would kill him in turn.

This is when Helene takes on a lot more responsibility. She becomes more a warrior and get into politics. This is also around the time where she and Persia have their final match and she kills him.

Greece is born around this time. Either he pops out of the ground and she finds him, or she actually gives birth to him. I headcanon he comes out of the ground. Either way, he is her and Persia's son and is born during the Hellenistic Period. (What will eventually become Iran is also born of this union and Idk if Helene had any contact with her at this time)

Gonna skip forward a bit to her relationship with Rome. Rome is a complex relationship. They did deeply love each other, Rome more so. He would call her the Venus to his Mars. That said, he still cheated on her frequently, and she could never truly forgive him for taking over her. Still, they were married. They were a devoted, loving couple. She was a vital part of him and his muse in many respects. And she helped raise his children. Romano was her son with Rome, and she was one of Veneziano's mothers (Vene has two mothers, her and Gaul, and Rome is obviously his father.)

(Rome tried to bring Gaul back home once and Helene shut that shit down quickly.)

She lived off and on between her house in her homelands and Rome's villa. I don't know where Greece was at the time, although a part of me wants to say Greece was not allowed to be raised in Rome's home with his sons. So possibly Greece spent most of his time when he and his Mama would visit Rome living with the servants and Helene would be sure to visit him throughout the day and make sure he was doing alright. When they would return to her home she would make sure she could be as openly affectionate with him as possible.

The "Divorce" happens when she becomes the Eastern Roman Empire, which Rome wasn't exactly a fan of. She moved to Constantinople with Greece, though she and Rome may have sometimes had secret trysts.

I have this imagine in my head that when he died she found his body and slipped his bloody helmet off of his head and placed it on her own. She renamed herself the Byzantine Empire and took on a new human name, Lavinia. The ancient of wife of Aeneas.

Also, as Byzantine she marries Kievan Rus (Olga) or at least they become a couple for a while, which makes her technically Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus's other mother. There was some love there, but their relationship was strained. She was not much of a mother to Rus's kids as well, though Ukraine has memories of Mama Byzantine and how powerful and glorious she was.

As for Romano and Veneziano, both were territories for her at a time, but I think she would have left them in their respective territories to be educated/raised by their people in charge. They are just a reminder of their father and what he did to her, though she does miss them and sometimes visit them. I think losing Romano would've been harder on her than losing Veneziano. Romano was always her favorite of the two, plus the loss of Southern Italy was different than the loss of Venice. She willingly gave Veneziano indepdence. Romano she held onto for a long time but eventually lost.

...Plus little Veneziano would eventually take the attitude of "Fuck You This Is Mine Now" and played a part in her weakening when he not only funded a trip to reinstate a deposed Byzantine prince but then looted and pillaged Constantinople when he didn't get his money back and took some more of her lands. Bad Veneziano. Sit in your corner and think about what you've done (I genuinely don't know how this works with his canon personality but this did all happen irl) (also yes I see Veneziano as Venice because I find that to make the most sense and be coolest for his character)

And then we fast forward to her eventual death at the hands of Turkey. Do I think he loved her? ...I think he was in awe of her. I think he loved the idea of her. I think he looked at her history and I think he wished that he could be like her or wished that he could be with her. But also, he did kill her. In my imagery laden mind he finds her under an olive tree and killed her there. Maybe there was a fight. Maybe she finally accepted it.

tl;dr: Helene starts as the heir to a power vacuum after the death of her father, but instead of taking charge and responsibility she spends her time doing as she pleases and learning while the city-states handle things. Until Macedonia roles up and she kills him before he can kill her and she takes charge, she kills her rival and sometimes lover Persia and he gives her her greatest treasure Herakles, her son. And also has a daughter that she doesn't interact with much. She marries Rome to survive and forms a loving, if dysfunctional marriage and has another son Romano, and there's also Veneziano who is her son with Rome but also Gaul. When Rome is killed she takes her place as the Byzantine empire and spends years just trying to survive and adapt and persevere until finally she accepts her death at the hands of Turkey.

For personality headcanons: I characterize her being motivated by a fear of death to collect as many skills as possible and adapt to her surroundings. The Greeks HATED talking about death and I think that would bleed over into her actual beliefs. I think she rarely, if ever, let herself die, because she was always afraid that she would die for the final time.

By the end of her life she is a full on genius. Math, language, astronomy, art, philosophy, even music and theatre. She had this insatiable curiosity and need to learn that sometimes overtook her best instincts of survival.

Physical Headcanons: 6'0'' because I can. Her body fluctuates between incredibly muscular, on the thicker side, and thin from weakness over her many years of life. For some basic ages: By the the she kills Persia she is physically in her early twenties. Late twenties when she marries Rome. Early thirties when she takes over as Byzanties. Early-Mid forties at her death (Turkey is into Milfs).

This is what I think she would have looked like probably around the time she married Rome. It is missing a few details. She's not as tanned as I imagine her, she doesn't have the moles I imagine her having, and I couldn't get her nose right-I imagine she has a hooked nose.

#did you not ask for a brief (IN WHAT WORLD IS THIS BRIEF?) history of mama greece's entire lifestory? #historical hetalia #hetalia #hws #hws mama greece #aph mama greece #hws ancient greece #aph ancient greece #hws romano #aph romano #hws greece #aph greece #hws ancient rome #aph ancient rome #i have so many thoughts on veneziano and romano's childhood #and i'm SO MAD that 1100 years after rome's death IN CANON they are STILL CHIBIS #ask me about my beloved misunderstood genius romano with adhd and autism #technically i headcanon mama greece's name to be helen but helene works just the same #her entire history and personality is defined by a desire to survive and keep going #turkey being into milfs is my favorite thing ever #oh god I hope this post goes over well

[wishesofeternity]

... Ancient sources tell us nothing directly about the personality, character, world view or even the appearance of the daughter of Neoptolemus (Olympias) as her wedding entourage set off over the Pindus Mountains in the direction of her new kingdom. However, based on what is known about her life and background, we can speculate about her views and circumstance as she began her public career.

Though only in her mid- to late teens, this young woman had already experienced a great deal. While still a young child, she had seen her father lose sole control of his kingdom. A possibly tense period of uncertain duration followed in which he and his brother shared rule. Then her father Neoptolemus died, leaving his children in what may well have seemed the sinister guardianship of their uncle. Probably soon after that, her uncle married her sister. Shortly before Olympias’ betrothal, the Illyrians invaded her country. Frontinus (2.5.19) reports that Arybbas sent the non-combatants as refugees into Aetolia, while he and whatever army he could gather withdrew to the mountains in order to utilize guerrilla tactics against the much larger invading force. Presumably Olympias and her sister would have endured the danger of the invasion and the uncertainty of evacuation. More recently yet, Olympias had made the long journey to Samothrace. Even before her entry into Macedonia, Olympias had dealt with political intrigue, physical danger, and the loss of her most powerful protector, and had traveled to two different foreign territories. Her life began, much as it would end, in uncertainty and danger.

Despite her early entry into the world of power politics and violence, as my comparison and contrast of the two kingdoms should have implied, the society Olympias would encounter in Macedonia, though likely much less alien to her than that of Thebes or Athens, would have been different from her previous experience. Philip’s court was certainly richer and more cosmopolitan than that of Arybbas, or at least it became so soon after her arrival. Military activity and success mattered more in the Macedonian court. The climate and terrain around Pella and Aegae, the Macedonian capitals, was much milder than that of Olympias’ homeland. Philip had more power over the Macedonians than her uncle did over the Molossians. As we shall see, Philip already had several wives and children (and may have had concubines in residence, as well). Despite the fact that Olympias had grown up in a court that was itself not without intrigue, the level of complexity that she would encounter in the court of Philip would be far greater than that of Arybbas (although Olympias would surely have been warned to expect the presence of the other wives).

It is particularly difficult to assess Olympias’ probable attitude toward her coming marriage. Literature written by Greek women stresses the pain and loss of identity the break between the world (family and friends) of a young unmarried girl and a bride occasioned. Olympias’ distance from the land of her birth could have exacerbated this feeling. However, since her father was dead, her mother may have been, and we do not know how well she got on with her uncle and how comfortable she was at his court, we cannot tell whether she would have been glad to leave.

What we do know is that she brought her pride in her lineage with her. Hers was a more prestigious marriage than that of any previous Aeacid woman and, if her wedding were indeed held at a major Macedonian festival, her nuptials were more elaborate and public than those of previous Molossian royal women. Olympias’ Aeacid descent would continue to be a support and source of identity to herself and both her children.

In her subsequent career, Olympias consistently pursued her son’s and then her grandson’s political interests, tending to regard any check on their power, the prominence of any other figure, as a threat to them. Herself the product of a relatively weak monarchic system, she regularly attempted to create a situation which enabled both her male kin and herself to act more absolutely. This response was probably instinctive, certainly not at first a conscious plan or policy, though it would become one. Olympias was, like Philip, a person with a knack for seeing the possibilities for exploitation in a situation. Even early on in her Macedonian career, she demonstrated that. If Olympias the young girl was anything like Olympias the mature woman, then she would have been aware of many of the dangers and complications awaiting her, but she would not have been fearful and she would not have been timid.

- Elizabeth Carney, “Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great” /

#historicwomendaily #history #olympias #macedonian history #ancient greece #mine #queue #ancient history

[sometimecatsometimenot]

An Aegean Bollywood Dream

—

👀 Had anyone seen me post about Greece and Bollywood before? I hid that post because I misunderstand something about Turkish songs. (I said I find less hit Turkish songs that sound like Bollywood. Turned out it’s my mistake that I didn’t find much of hit Turkish song that sound similar to Bollywood song. In fact there’s many of them but I have to search in Turkish, not English, in order to find them)

Anyway, back to Greece and Bollywood, I was wonder why do many greek songs give a strong Bollywood vibe? After I read more about this topic, I think there’s no certain answer for this question. One of my assumption is Greece is where the East meet the West, therefore there was the cultural integration back and forth from South Asia through Persia to Anatolia and EastMed where Greeks belong, then from the Greeks and EastMed along the way through Persia to South Asia since the time of ancient greek or at least Kingdom of Macedonia, and somehow this integration still continue in the Byzantine era, which may be the answer why the musics from these places has some relatable sound. Then the Turks came there later and adopt the local music into there culture, and as the Ottoman Empire consisted of people from both east and west, the music from both side may somehow influenced each other styles.

Another assumption of mine is - This - I read many thing about Greece and this is what I was unexpected to find, but it is also the fact I like. Yes, Greece had been in love with Bollywood films at a point in his life!

I love Indian films! And knowing that Herakles the best boi love a similar thing with me is very nice!

From English source that I found, it’s about the age of cold war, 50’s, that Bollywood films were very popular among working classes in Greece, especially whose family cane from Asia minor after the end of Greco-Turkish war, due to their story about the struggling of poor people and women in their harsh life where classist and social problem rained on them, which was relatable to the working classes life. Indian film became a solace for people. More than hundred of Bollywood songs were recreated in Greek version, and there even was a Greek song inspired by the beauty of an Indian actress, Madhubala. Some of the greek folk music Rebetika then also being integrated with some Bollywood music inspiration.

Unfortunately, the Bollywood films and music with Eastern vibe were seen as a low-class art and being despite by some people who side with the western culture, and sometime there were even the rebetika being banned during some era of military dictatorship because the kind of music “sound” Turkish. Anyway, about 70’s the popularity of Bollywood in Greece was shrinking as the western and greek own media become more favorable.

However, since modern India and Greece become allies in the field of culture, tourism and business, Greece again has been open for Indian culture and also wish to be a major shooting location of Bollywood movies. That is another nice thing to here!

Indian filmmakers are already very skillful in extracting beautiful scene out of any crappy place, then imagine them shooting film in an already magnificent place like Greek island. Yes. It certainly turn out very beautiful! And I am looking forward to seeing any future Indian film that take place in Greece. It must be coooool!!!

—

For the picture - I was thinking about Herakles in the 50’s - 60’s. Maybe, … m someday he was very tired because of a hard day, and he thought of some Bollywood films he’d watched which made him felt better during the unstable time of life, then he grabbed his bouzuki and tried playing a song from a film he remembered, and fell asleep, dreaming of a sweet dance with the filmmaker he liked, an old friend and rival of his mother, who was the maker behind the films that gave the solace he got along the days.

#hetalia #aph hetalia #aph greece #hws greece #aph india #hws india

[brookston]

Holidays 8.28

Holidays

Bow Tie Day

Crackers Over the Keyboard Day

Criminal Appreciation Day

Crumbs Between the Keys Day

Dream Day Quest and Jubilee

828 Day

Emerati Women’s Day (UAE)

Emmett Till Day

End of the Fairy Tale Day

Giving Black Day (a.k.a. Give 828)

Gone-ta-Pott Day [every 28th]

Green Shirt Guy Day

I Have a Dream Day

International Read Comics in Public Day

Manifest 828 Day

Mariamoba (Republic of Georgia)

National Bow Tie Day

National Grandparents Day (Mexico)

National Over It Day

National Power Rangers Day

National Thoughtful Day

Nativity of Nephthys (Egyptian Goddess of Love)

Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day

Radio Commercial Day

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day

Russian Germans Day (Germany)

Scientific American Day

Significant Historical Events Day

Tan Suit Day

Watermelon Day (French Republic)

World Day of Turners Syndrome

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Cheese Sacrifice Day

National Cherry Turnover Day

National Red Wine Day

Stuffed Green Bell Peppers Day

Subway Sandwich Day

4th & Last Monday in August

Araw ng mga Bayani (National Heroes’ Day; Philippines) [Last Monday]

August/Summer Bank Holiday (UK) [Last Monday]

International Day of Cyber Attack Ceasefire [Last Monday]

Liberation Day (Hong Kong) [Last Monday]

Motorist Consideration Monday [Monday of Be Kind to Humankind Week]

Notting Hill Carnival (UK) [Last Monday & day before]

Social Justice Day (Antarctica) [4th Monday]

Independence Days

Holy Empire of Reunion (Declared; 1997) [unrecognized]

Luana (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Moldova (from USSR; 1991)

Ohio Empire (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Alexander of Constantinople (Christian; Saint)

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Abkhazia)

Augustine of Hippo (Christian; Saint) [brewers] *

Ayyankali Jayanti (Kerala, India)

Constant Troyon (Artology)

Edmund Arrowsmith (Christian; Saint)

Edward Burne-Jones (Artology)

Feast of the Mother of God (Georgia, Macedonia, Serbia)

Festival for Luna (Ancient Rome)

Festival for Sol (Ancient Rome)

Festival of the Neon Revolution

First Onam (Rice Harvest Festival; Kerala, India)

Frank Gorshin Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Hermes of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Julian (Christian; Saint)

Junipero Serra (Christian; Saint)

Marimba (Virgin’s Assumption; Georgia)

Mariotte (Positivist; Saint)

Media Aestas III (Pagan)

More Rum Day (Pastafarian)

Moses the Black (Christian; Saint)

Uncle Norton the Elephant (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 40 of 60)

Premieres

Animal Crackers (Film; 1930)

Cain's Jawbone, by E. Powys Mathers (Novel/Puzzle; 1934)

Come Clean, by Puddle of Mudd (Album; 2001)

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (Novel; 1844)

Do the Evolution, by Pearl Jam (Animated Music Video; 1998)

54 (Film; 1998)

Flying Leathernecks (Film; 1951)

Gallipoli (Film; 1981)

Get Rich Quick Porky (WB LT Cartoon; 1937)

Honeymoon in Vegas (Film; 1992)

I Have a Dream, by Martin Luther King Jr. (Speech; 1963)

Let’s Get It On, by Marvin Gaye (Album; 1973)

Lohengrin, by Richard Wagner (Opera; 1850)

Mary of Scotland (Film; 1936)

Mickey’s Follies (Disney Cartoon; 1929)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (TV Series; 1993)

Narcos (TV Series; 2015)

The New Mutants (Film; 2020)

Perri (Disney Film; 1957)

Personal, 19th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2014)

Phineas and Verb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (Animated Film; 2020)

Private Lessons (Film; 1981)

Q. Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, by Devo (Album; 1978)

Rope (Film; 1948)

Smile, by Katy Perry (Album; 2020)

Song of the Thin Man (Film; 1947)

Studio 54 (Film; 1998)

Tease for Two (WB LT Cartoon; 1965)

Travelling Without Moving, by Jamiroquai (Album; 1996)

The Truth About Mother Goose (Disney Cartoon; 1957)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (Film; 1992)

Victoria (TV Series; 2016)

Walk This Way by Aerosmith (Song; 1975)

Yankee Doodle Bugs (WB LT Cartoon; 1954)

Today’s Name Days

Adelinde, Aline, Augustin (Austria)

Augustin, Tin (Croatia)

Augustýn (Czech Republic)

Augustinus (Denmark)

August, Gustav, Kustas, Kustav, Kusti, Kusto (Estonia)

Tauno (Finland)

Augustin, Elouan (France)

Adelinde, Aline, Augustin, Vivian (Germany)

Damon (Greece)

Ágoston (Hungary)

Agostino, Ermete (Italy)

Auguste, Guste, Ranna (Latvia)

Augustinas, Patricija, Steigvilė, Tarvilas (Lithuania)

Artur, August (Norway)

Adelina, Aleksander, Aleksy, Augustyn, Patrycja, Sobiesław, Stronisław (Poland)

Augustín (Slovakia)

Agustín (Spain)

Fatima, Leila (Sweden)

Agustin, August, Augusta, Augustina, Austen, Austin, Austina, Austyn, Gus, Gustava, Gustavo (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 240 of 2024; 125 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 35 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 21 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Geng-Shen), Day 13 (Wu-Wu)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 11 Elul 5783

Islamic: 11 Safar 1445

J Cal: 30 Hasa; Nineday [30 of 30]

Julian: 15 August 2023

Moon: 92%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 16 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Mariotte]

Runic Half Month: Rad (Motion) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 68 of 94)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 7 of 32)

Calendar Changes

Rad (Motion) [Half-Month 17 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 9.9)

#calendar #Holidays

[submissivegayfrenchboy]

20 / 05 / 2022

🇬🇧🇺🇲 ENGLISH / ANGLAIS 🇬🇧🇺🇲

CHARACTER OF THE DAY #1 : ACHILLES

Today I would like to create a new series of publications that I would do on my blog, in order to renew myself and to speak, no longer of celebrities, but of fictitious characters embodied in cinema or on television. In the "CHARACTER OF THE DAY" series of posts, I will therefore be dealing with a male character embodied by a celebrity that I have already covered in a "MAN OF THE DAY" post or someone who is too famous for me to mention of him for a simple "MAN OF THE DAY".

To be simpler, I only have to speak directly about the first character. The first character I chose is ACHILLES, played by BRAD PITT in TROY. The film Troy (2004) at for attempt to tell as many events as possible of the Trojan War, one of the most famous episodes of the ancient Greek polytheistic religion that has been retained under the name of "Greek mythology". Achilles is therefore a mythical hero, son of a human king and a divinity, the Naiad Thetis. Of great strength, he is somewhat the equivalent of Herakles (Hercules in ancient Roman mythology). King of the Myrmidons, he is a respected leader, a brave warrior and a skilled fighter.

However, despite the fact that Achilles is very famous and has had very many adaptations in the arts (literature, theater, painting, sculpture, cinema, television, ...), the most memorable incarnation of the character is that of Brad Pitt in Troy (2004). The success and success of the interpretation of the character lies in the fact that this is how people imagine Achilles.

However, the film offers a vision of Achilles that is more American than that of the contemporaries of the myths. Indeed, in the myths, Achilles disguises himself as a woman to try to escape the war, but is recognized by Ulysses who sees him buying a sword (while Achilles is in his female disguise). Also, Achilles already has a son when the War begins, which is not the case in the film. Above all, the biggest difference is the fact that the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is not a romantic relationship in the film. Patroclus is shown here as a young man who admires Achilles, he is protected by him.

If it is difficult today to know if in mythology Achilles is the erast (which means the dominant man in the relationship between two men in Greek antiquity) or the eromen (the youngest, the one who is submissive), he and Patroclus were in any case a couple. As proof, King Alexander III of Macedonia, better known as "Alexander the Great", gathered at the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus in the company of Hephaistion, his lover (and incidentally my favorite male historical character 😊). You should know that, in Antiquity, sexuality was not as codified as it is now. Men and women do not consider themselves straight or gay or bi,... However, the interpretation of Achilles in Troy (2004) is very heteronormative.

If there are of course innuendoes on the possible homosexuality of Achilles or a romantic link with Patroclus, the film Troy shows above all a relationship between Achilles and Briseis, a Trojan princess (played by Rose Byrne in one of her first film roles) captured by King Agamemnon. Achilles will therefore recover the princess who has become a sexual slave and gradually fall in love with her. If the couple is beautiful (but forgettable, especially in comparison to Helene and Pâris or Andromache and Hector), Achilles is nonetheless shown as a seducer. Several scenes show him naked. And I come to the main point of this post.

What for me made the success of Achilles in the film Troy (there were even derivative products when the film was released, and since) is the beauty of actor Brad Pitt! Let's not hide it: Brad Pitt is one of the most handsome men in the world! A tall, muscular white male with soft blond hair, he seemed born for the role. Achilles is a brave warrior, but the film also gave him flaws, such as debauchery and arrogance (although he can afford it given his title as king, his divine origins, and his skill in battle). Nevertheless, I will forever be excited by the sight of Achilles' divine body because Brad Pitt does not hesitate to show off his sublime muscles.

The gif of Achilles shirtless and sweating is from the scene of his encounter with Princess Briseis, who has been installed captive in his tent. Well, even if the situation is delicate for Briseis who is a princess from the enemy camp, I am sure that many have dreamed of exchanging their places for hers. After all, who hasn't had a strong urge to wipe Achilles' divine body with his tongue, serve him and be his slave?! Many boys had to question their sexuality when watching this scene. Anyway, when we know that he was 41 years old at the time of the filming of the film, we can only admire the look and the charisma of the actor.

Of course Brad Pritt is handsome, but he is also self-confident, dominates the room with his presence (which, for Briseis as much as for the viewer, is both reassuring and intimidating), he is wise ( when he says that Briseis brought him peace during a time of war, it's really a sublime phrase from the film), and has a way of being obeyed by inferiors who are in his service. In short, Brad Pitt made an impression because he corresponds to the vision that the film wanted to give of Achille: that of a superior alpha straight white male.

If there is a fictional character (or an historical figure that appears in a historical movie or TV series), from a books, movie, TV series or whatever and you would like me to talk about, please feel free to offer me ideas.

By the way, if the characters in I would talk about in the "CHARACTER OF THE DAY" posts make you want me to write a fictional erotic story about them, don't hesitate to ask me or suggest it to me in the comments. 😁

And here is my story about Brad Pitt as a dominant alpha master. I hope you'll enjoy 😍

⚔️🗡️🏺🏹⚔️🗡️🏺🏹⚔️🗡️🏺🏹⚔️🗡️🏺🏹

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🇫🇷 FRANÇAIS / FRENCH 🇫🇷

PERSONNAGE DU JOUR #1 : ACHILLES

Aujourd'hui je voudrais créer une nouvelle série de publications que je ferais sur mon blog, afin de me renouveller et de parler, non plus de célébrités, mais de personnages fictifs incarnés au cinéma ou à la télévision. Dans la série de publications "PERSONNAGE DU JOUR", je traiterai donc d'un personnage masculin incarné par une célébrité que j'ai déjà traité dans un post "HOMME DU JOUR" ou de quelqu'un qui est trop célèbre pour que je parle de lui pour un simple "HOMME DU JOUR". Pour être plus simple, je n'ai qu'à parler directement du premier personnage. Le premier personnage que j'ai choisi est ACHILLES, joué par BRAD PITT dans TROIE.

Le film Troie (2004) a pour tentative de raconter le plus d'événements possible de la Guerre de Troie, l'un des épisodes les plus célèbres de la religion polythéiste antique grecque que l'on a retenue sous le nom de "mythologie grecque". Achilles est donc un héros mythique, fils d'un roi humain et d'une divinité, la Naïade Thétis. D'une grande force, il est un peu l'équivalent d'Hérakles (Hercules dans la mythologie romaine antique). Roi des Myrmidons, il est un chef respecté, un valeureux guerrier et un combattant habile.

Pourtant, malgré le fait que Achilles est très célèbre et a eu de très nombreuses adaptations dans les arts (littérature, théâtre, peinture, sculpture, cinéma, télévision,...), l'incarnation du personnage la plus mémorable est celle de Brad Pitt dans Troie. Le succès et la réussite de l'interprétation du personnage résident dans le fait que c'est comme cela que les gens imaginent Achilles. Pourtant, le film propose une vision d'Achille qui est davantage américaine que celle qu'en ont eu les contemporains des mythes.

En effet, dans les mythes, Achilles se travestit en femme pour tenter d'échapper à la guerre, mais est reconnu par Ulysses qui le voit acheter une épée (alors qu'Achilles est sous son déguisement de femme). De plus, Achilles a déjà un fils quand commence la Guerre, ce qui n'est pas le cas dans le film. Surtout, la plus grande différence est le fait que la relation entre Achilles et Patrocles n'est pas une relation amoureuse dans le film. Patrocles est ici montré comme un jeune homme admiratif d'Achille et protégé par lui.

S'il est aujourd'hui difficile de savoir si dans la mythologie Achilles est l'eraste (ce qui veut dire l'homme dominant dans la relation entre deux hommes dans l'antiquité grecque) ou l'eromen (le plus jeune, celui qui est soumis), lui et Patrocles étaient dans tous les cas en couple. Pour preuve, le Roi Alexandre III de Macédoine, plus connu comme "Alexandre le Grand", s'est recueilli sur les tombes d'Achille et Patrocles en compagnie d'Hephaïstion, son amant (et accessoirement mon personage historique masculin préféré 😊). Il faut savoir que, dans l'Antiquité, la sexualité n'est pas aussi codifié que maintenant. Les hommes et les femmes ne se considèrent pas hétérosexuels ou homosexuels ou bi,....

Pourtant, l'interprétation d'Achilles dans Troie (2004) est très hétéronormée. S'il y a bien sûr des sous-entendus sur la possible homosexualité d'Achilles ou de lien amoureux avec Patrocles, le film Troie montre surtout une relation entre Achilles et Briseis, une princesse troyenne (incarnée par Rose Byrne dans l'un de ses premiers rôles au cinéma) capturée par le Roi Agamemnon. Achilles va donc récupérer la princesse devenue esclave sexuelle et peu à peu tomber amoureux d'elle. Si le couple est beau (mais oubliable, surtout en comparaison à Hélène et Pâris ou Andromaque et Hector), Achilles n'en est pas moins montré comme un séducteur. Plusieurs scènes le montrent dénudé. Et j'arrive au point principal de cette publication.

Ce qui pour moi a fait le succès d'Achilles dans le film Troie (il y a même eu des produits dérivés à la sortie du film, et depuis) c'est la beauté de l'acteur Brad Pitt ! Ne nous le cachons pas : Brad Pitt est l'un des hommes les plus beaux du Monde ! Grand mâle blanc musclé aux doux cheveux blonds, il semblait être né pour incarner ce rôle. Achilles est un guerrier courageux, mais le film lui a donné aussi des défauts, tels que la débauche et l'arrogance (même s'il peut se le permettre étant donné son titre de roi, ses origines divines, et son talent au combat). Il n'empêche, je resterai à jamais excité par la vue du corps divin d'Achille car Brad Pitt n'hésite pas à montrer ses muscles sublimes.

Le gif de Achilles torse nu et suant provient de la scène de sa rencontre avec la Princesse Briseis, qui a été installé captive dans sa tente. Bon, même si la situation est délicate pour Briseis qui est une princesse issue du camp ennemie, je suis sûr que beaucoup ont rêvé d'échanger leur place contre la sienne. Après tout, qui n'a pas eu une forte envie d'essuyer le corps divin d'Achille avec sa langue, de le servir et d'être son esclave ?! De nombreux garçons ont dû questionner leur sexualité lors du visionnage de cette scène.

Quoi qu'il en soit, lorsque l'on sait qu'il avait 41 ans au moment du tournage du film, on ne peut qu'admirer l'allure et le charisme de l'acteur. Évidement que Brad Pritt est beau, mais il est aussi confiant en lui-même, domine la pièce par sa présence (ce qui, pour Briseis autant que pour le spectateur, est à la fois rassurant et intimidant), il fait preuve de sagesse (lorsqu'il dit que Briseis lui a amené de la paix pendant une période de guerre, c'est vraiment une phrase sublime du film), et a une façon de se faire obéir des inférieurs qui sont à son service. Bref, Brad Pitt a marqué les esprits car il correspond à la vison que le film a voulu donné d'Achille : celle d'un mâle alpha blanc hétéro supérieur.

S'il y a un personnage de fiction dans vous voudriez que je parle, n'hésitez pas à me proposer des idées. D'ailleurs, si les personnages dans je parlerais dans les posts "PERSONNAGE DU JOUR" vous donnent envie que j'écrive une histoire érotique fictive sur eux, n'hésitez pas à me le demander ou à me le proposer dans les commentaires. 😁

Et voici mon histoire sur Brad Pitt

⚔️🗡️🏺🏹⚔️🗡️🏺🏹⚔️🗡️🏺🏹⚔️🗡️🏺🏹

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@bradpitttossingbeers-blog @bradpittonline @bradpittstop @bradpittblog174-blog @bradpittchewing @bradpittdailysnaps @bradpittfansitebylsgbylsg-blog @bradpittfansitebylsg-blog @bradpitthollywood @bradpittisgorgeous @bradpittmylove @bradpittts-blog @bradpittxchrispratt-blog @fgsidekick @hotfamousmen @celebritymasters @awesomecrowdcontrol1 @torinya @fartfagoutlet @lovefanfiction01 @fgsidekick @rainykpoptravelcreator @bat-woodfeet-us @alpha-promotion @soumispourdomi @chrisevansxmalereader @chrishemsworthservant @innerpiratefun

#Character Of The Day #Personnage Du Jour #Achilles #Achille #Roi #Prince #Dieu #Mythologie #Mythology #Hercules #Film #Movie #Brad Pitt #Alpha white male #Célébrité #alpha celebs

[abaykrishna]

7 Benefits of Shilajit and other Ayurvedic Ingredients to Enhance your Sex Stamina

If you are wondering how Ayurvedic medicine helps to improve sex stamina, you have landed in the right place to find answers to all your questions. Numerous stamina tablets and other treatments are available, but Shilajit has gained immense popularity in boosting stamina. Understanding how to build stamina can be challenging, but the appropriate combination of Ayurvedic medicines can help you improve stamina with sexual benefits. Numerous men underestimate themselves when it comes to their sexual performance. Perhaps, Ayurvedic medicines for sex stamina can also help you energize and rejuvenate your body with a specially curated formula.

Shilajit is a tar-like substance that is found in the upper Himalayan Mountains. It is used in numerous Ayurvedic medicines and is known as the best Ayurvedic medicine for stamina and revitalizing your body. The effectiveness of Shilajit can be understood from the ancient references of Greece. The ancient philosopher Aristotle introduced the elixir to the former king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, who fed this medicine to his armies for a promising victory. Middle ages have numerous references to Shilajit and its benefits.

Best Ayurvedic medicine for stamina

How to improve stamina has been a common question for most men than women. A study has been conducted at the Creighton University Medical Center in Nebraska, which states that the daily consumption of Shilajit can boost testosterone levels by up to 20 percent in healthy men. It is the most effective Ayurvedic medicine for sex stamina. Testosterone is the hormone responsible for your sexual desires and vigor. It helps increase libido (enlargement of the penis) with enhanced semen production, which may exceed the duration of the sexual activity.

When Shilajit is combined with other natural ingredients like Gokshur, Kaunch, Bala, and Ashwagandha extracts, it improves stamina and enhances your energy levels and strength besides your weak vitality. Together, all these ingredients make the best Ayurvedic medicine for stamina and rejuvenate your body’s power. Regular consumption in optimum amounts of this combination is safe as a daily supplement or a stamina booster. Understanding sexual wellness products can be tricky as you must know what you are consuming, but when you trust natural ingredients for your physical being, you can expect better and long-lasting results.

Why should you trust Ayurvedic medicines for sex stamina?

While Gokshur helps increase libido, Bala helps treat erectile dysfunction and provides other benefits to improve sexual performance. Kaunch works on your sexual desire, Ashwagandha improves fertility and testosterone levels, and Shilajit tops it up by improving the overall sexual performance of an individual. As a natural ingredient, this combination is safe for oral consumption.

According to a study by the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, consuming Shilajit regularly can increase ovulation. It also boosts the sexual performance of an individual as it includes powerful minerals and antioxidants which ensure proper blood flow in the male genitals.

Erotican by Sunova comprises all the above-discussed ingredients and has proven to be a safe Ayurvedic medicine to improve sex stamina. With no known side effects, it is a 100% natural ingredients formulation which supports your hormonal balance and helps with improving your performance.

Erotican Ingredients and their benefits

Shilajit: Not only improves stamina but also increases libido and treats low sperm count in men. It improves sexual desire by reducing stress.

Ashwagandha: Since ages, Ashwagandha is known to lower stress which improves the sexual performance of an individual. It is trusted by many for its numerous health benefits and helps with premature ejaculation.

Kaunch: Kaunch is known for helping with premature ejaculation. It improves the semen viscosity and the lifespan of the sperm. If consumed as directed by the physician regularly, it can enhance your performance in bed with numerous other health benefits.

Gokshur: Ideal for enhancing sexual desire and drive, it contributes by treating erectile dysfunction in men and strengthening penile tissues. It improves male erection enhancing their performance in bed.

Bala: Bala extracts are great for people with weak vitality as it improves the overall sexual performance of an individual.

The Bottom Line

If you are experiencing challenges in treating erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, or other sexual issues, Erotican can be the solution. Ayurvedic medicine, Shilajit, has been known to improve sexual performance for years. Combined with Bala, Gokshur, Ashwagandha, and Kaunch, it greatly benefits your overall health and sexual desire. In addition, it treats you with no side effects and gives you better results than other medicines with the least or no information available.

[aboutanancientenquiry]

A critical review by an Iranian-British scholar of the book of L. Llewellyn-Jones on the Persian Empire

“Historical decadence — The Persians: The Age of the Great Kings by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

                                                  review

Ali Ansari

This is an expansive account of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. But has Llewellyn-Jones allowed his enthusiasm to cloud historical judgment?

Sunset view of relief sculpture of the subject peoples of the Achaemenian Empire climb the stairway, Persepolis, Iran. Credit: Keren Su/China Span / Alamy Stock Photo.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones has long been an enthusiastic proponent of all things Persian, engaging the public and students alike with his infectious energy. A similar vibe can be gleaned from this popular study of the ancient Achaemenid Empire, the first of Persia’s empires which dominated the Middle East from the middle of the sixth to the fourth centuries BC, when the dynasty, if perhaps not the empire, was overthrown by an adventurer from Macedonia, known to posterity as Alexander the Great. The problem with this study, however, is that the author appears to have absorbed rather too much of his subject, confusing myth with history and frequently letting his enthusiasm get the better of his judgment.

The book presents a narrative chronology of the dynasty, interrupted by an extensive thematic section – probably the strongest part of the book – looking at particular aspects of ‘Being Persian’. There are illuminating explorations here of the role of women, court etiquette, the nature of kingship and the role of slavery in the Persian Empire. The chapter titles are at times laboured in a somewhat too obvious attempt to be accessible: it is not at all clear to me that ‘Bureaucrats’ really did ‘rule the world’ at this stage and it is regrettable that much of the text is generously festooned with allusions and analogies that sit awkwardly with the subject. Llewellyn-Jones is not averse to being critical of the Persian Empire – notably on slavery – but the clear thrust of the book is to depict it as a ‘good thing’ – a multicultural empire – from which the West could learn, contrasting it favourably with both the Roman and, for apparent reasons of contemporary relevance, British empires. This exercise in ahistoricism even extends to comparing Darius’ fifth-century invasion of Scythia with Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and Operation Barbarossa in 1941.

Underpinning this argument is the view that the Persian Empire has been misrepresented in the available sources, much of which are in Greek and thus represent the view from the erstwhile enemies of the Empire. Drawing generously on Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism, Llewellyn-Jones argues that subsequent European scholars drew on these sources to paint an unsparing picture of the Persian Empire. Yet, in truth, of all the Persian empires, it was the Achaemenid Empire of Cyrus and Darius that enjoyed a more nuanced appreciation in the Western imagination. Cyrus was, after all, the Lord’s Anointed in the Bible (Cyrus remains a popular name among certain protestant communities, especially in North America), while Hegel famously pronounced that: ‘In Persia first arises that light which shines itself and illuminates what is around… The principle of development begins with the history of Persia; this constitutes therefore the beginning of history.’ This was a good deal more positive than the Iranians themselves, for whom the Achaemenids had receded so far into myth that they had been largely forgotten until modern (European) archaeology got to work in the nineteenth century.

It is with no little irony, therefore, that in order to redress the imbalance of the Greek sources, Llewellyn-Jones argues that he will turn to these archaeological sources to provide a distinctly Persian counter-narrative. The Greek sources, as scholars have been all too aware, are difficult to ignore. And the fact is, like all textual analysis, the key lies in how one interrogates them. Llewellyn-Jones clearly recognises this and, despite himself, returns to the Greek sources all too frequently, including his declared bête noire, Herodotus. Indeed, there are sections that are almost wholly reliant on the Herodotean account — for example, the depiction of the rebellion of Intaphrenes, though it is difficult to ascertain how much because, in a nod to apparent accessibility, the text eschews textual citations altogether. So, while we are told that ‘Herodotus says’, we aren’t told where he said it and how much detail he included. The reader is, by contrast, offered periodic references to archaeological inscriptions, though these are not much help if you are unfamiliar (as I suspect most readers will be) with their content.

Among other writers usefully drawn upon are the Greek doctor Ctesias, who as a doctor at the court of Artaxerxes II provides a helpful alternative account of the revolt of Cyrus the Younger, who is largely known to posterity through his eulogist Xenophon. Xenophon is given curiously short shrift, despite or perhaps because of the fact that he is a Greek author who can barely disguise his admiration for the Persians. His Cyropaedia — the education of Cyrus — is, as Llewellyn-Jones notes, one of the great works of literature that has survived from the period and was a great favourite among Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers. The text is generally viewed as a paean to Cyrus the Younger (as a reflection of Cyrus the Great), though some recent scholars have suggested that Xenophon was, in fact, reflecting contemporary Persian views – indeed the emerging mythology – of the founder of the empire.

Although Llewellyn-Jones touches on oral traditions of Iranian historical memory, he doesn’t interrogate them and, indeed, the real ‘Persian version’, the mythical and legendary history recounted in poetic form by Ferdowsi in the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), isn’t addressed until the epilogue. In the Shahnameh, the Achaemenids are barely mentioned at all, although Llewellyn-Jones initially claims they were a source of inspiration to Iranians from ‘the early middle ages’ before contradicting (and correcting) himself a few pages later. Here, Llewellyn-Jones indulges in speculations which are all too characteristic of the wider text. He appears to suggest that Ferdowsi deliberately blurred the lines between myth and history to disguise the Achaemenid inheritance, while the inclusion of traditions from the Alexander Romance, in which the Macedonian conqueror becomes a Persian prince, is presented as Ferdowsi’s attempt to limit the villain of his piece to the Arabs. This is, of course, pure conjecture.

An unfortunate error of articulation occurs in the introduction, when Llewellyn-Jones suggests that Reza Shah thought the name Iran ‘was a fitting title for his country’, without making clear that all the Iranian government was doing was insisting that foreigners use the name for the country that the Iranians themselves used. There are many such oddities throughout the text, from the anachronistic application of central Asian Turkic tribal customs to the Achaemenids, complete with the use of the term ‘Khan’ to describe tribal chiefs, to colourful – and somewhat expansive – narratives of Cyrus’ upbringing, where we are told, for example, that ‘perhaps he cried as clinging onto Mandane’s veil with his soft little hands, he was passed into the arms of his father’. Later, we discover — much to the delight of this reviewer — that Cyrus was ‘lean and good looking in that way that Persian men are uniquely handsome’. This is lyrical stuff.

Gibbon, in seeking to categorise the Persians, decided that they did not slot easily into either ‘Barbarians’ (reserved for the various Germanic tribes) or ‘Civilised’, in the sense that they were not heirs of Greco-Roman culture. He finally settled on the notion that they had become ‘over-civilised’, ruining themselves through excess. This might be the best description of this book. One might even call it decadent.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, The Persians: The Age of the Great Kings. Wildfire, pp 432, Hardback £25

July 1, 2022

Ali Ansari

Ali Ansari is professor of Iranian History and director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews; Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute; and Honorary Vice President of the British Institute for Persian Studies.”

Source: https://engelsbergideas.com/books/historical-decadence-the-persians-the-age-of-the-great-kings-by-lloyd-llewellyn-jones-review/

Proferssor Ali Ansari

#persian empire #ancient greek classics #herodotus #lloyd llewellyn-jones #ali ansari

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 1.13

Holidays

Accordion Day

All in the Family Day

Blame Someone Else Day

Change of Style Day

Children’s Day (Thailand)

Copper Day (French Republic)

Cuckoo Dancing Day

Day of Freedom Defenders (Lithuania)

Delta Sigma Theta Day

Democracy Day (Cape Verde)

Door-to-Door Salespeople Day

Eugenio Maria de Hostos’ Day (Puerto Rico)

Festival of the Body of Habits

Frisbee Day

J’Accuse Day

James Joyce Day

Kayin New Year (Myanmar)

Korean-American Day

Liberation Day (Togo)

Make Your Dreams Come True Day

Malanka (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine)

National AMBER Alert Awareness Day

National Aviation Day (Thailand)

National Dhaka Day (Nepal)

National Catherine Day

National French Bulldog Day

National Kathleen Day

National Shower Together Day

National Sticker Day

National Tip-Toe Day

Poetry Break Day

Public Radio Broadcasting Day

Radio Day

Redemption Day (Ghana)

Rubber Duckie Day

Russian Press Day (Russia)

Sidereal Winter Solstice Eve (SE Asia)

Silvesterklausen (Switzerland)

Stephen Foster Memorial Day

St. Knut’s Day (Finland)

Strive and Succeed Day

Swiftie Day

Trog Day

Turn On Your Radio Day

Universal Basic Income (UBI) Day

Uruka (Assam, India)

World Day to Combat Depression (WHO)

Yennayaer (Berbers)

Zero Birth Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Go Out To Dinner Day

Peach Melba Day

2nd Saturday in January

Children’s Day (Thailand) [2nd Saturday]

Eagle Day [2nd Saturday]

Miss America Pageant [2nd Saturday]

National Skate Day for Alzheimer’s (Canada) [2nd Saturday]

National Vision Board Day [2nd Saturday]

Vinegrower's Day (Bulgaria)

Independence & Related Days

Constitution Day (Mongolia)

Theria (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

New Year’s Days

Calennig (Wales)

Old New Year’s Eve (Belarus, Macedonia, Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine)

Festivals Beginning January 13, 2024

Apalachicola Oyster Cook-Off (Apalachicola, Florida)

Asian American Expo (La Verne, California) [thru 1.14]

Blythe Bluegrass Jam Festival (Blythe, California) [thru 1.14]

Carnival of Vevčani (Macedonia) [thru 1.14]

Florida Keys Seafood Festival (Key West, Florida) [thru 1.14]

Mankato Craft Beer Expo (Mankato, Minnesota)

Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival (Morro Bay, California) [thru 1.16]

Quaker Oatmeal Festival (Lafayette, Colorado) [

Social in the City (London, UK) [thru 1.14]

Wintersköl Beer Festival (Aspen, Colorado)

Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival (Roswell, Virginia) [thru 1.14]

Feast Days

Bhogi (Tamil; 1st Day of Pongol)

Blessed Veronica of Milan (Christian; Saint)

Compitalia Mania: Day of the Mother of Ghosts (Pagan)

The Druids (Positivist; Saint)

Elian (Christian; Saint)

Feast of St. Kentigern (a.k.a. St. Mungo; Scotland)

George Fox (Lutheran; Saint)

Hilary of Poitiers (a.k.a. Hilarius; Christian; Saint)

Ides of January (Ancient Rome)

Jan Van Goyen (Artology)

Kentigern (Christian; Saint)

Knut's Day or Tjugondag Knut, the last day of Christmas. (Finland, Sweden)

Lohri (India)

Maghi (Sikh)

Mawlid al-Nabi (Birthday of the prophet Mohammed, North American date; Muslim)

Midvintersblot (a.k.a. Mid Winter Blot or Midvetr, Midvetrarblot, Jordblot, Thorrablot, Freyrblot; Ancient Norse mid-winter feast)

Mungo (Christian; Saint)

Paul Gavarni (Artology)

Pongol begins (India)

Recuperation Fortnight begins (Shamanism)

Rubber Duckie (Muppetism)

Scalloway Fire Festival (Scotland)

Skeptics Day (Pastafarian)

Theogamia (Celebration of Zeus & Hera’s marriage; Ancient Greece)

Tiugunde Day (Old England)

Tjugondag (a.k.a. Tjugondagen Knut or the Last Day of Christmas or St. Knut's Day; Finland, Sweden)

Trumpeters Promenade the City in the Habits of Women (Ancient Rome)

Tyvendedagen (a.k.a. Twentieth Day of Knut; Norway)

Veronica (Christian; Saint)

Werner Van Braun (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Yvette (Christian; Blessed)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 13 [6 of 72]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Uncyclopedia Bad to Be Born Today (because it’s the13th day of the year, never a good thing and never will be for you.)

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [4 of 57]

Premieres

The Big Sky, by A.B. Guthrie Jr. (Novel; 1947)

A Bit of Fry & Laurie (UK TV Series; 1989)

A Boy, a Gun and Birds (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1940)

All Together (SS Disney Cartoon; 1942)

The China Shop (Disney Cartoon; 1934)

Darling in the Franxx (Anime TV Series; 2018)

Davy Jones Locker, featuring Willie Whopper (Ub Iwerks Cartoon; 1934)

Donald’s Lucky Day (Disney Cartoon; 1939)

The Donkey Serenade, recorded by Allan Jones (Song; 1938)

Dr. Sax, by Jack Kerouac (Novel; 1959)

Duke Of Earl, by Gene Chandler (Song; 1962)

Flowers, by Miley Cyrus (Song; 2023)

At Folsom Prison, by Johnny Cash (Concert recorded; 1968)

Glory Road (Film; 2006)

Hanna-Barbera’s All-Star Comedy Ice Revue (Animated TV Special; 1978)

Hill-billing and Cooing (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1956)

Hocus Pocus Pow Wow (WB LT Cartoon; 1968)

Hoodwinked! (Film; 2006)

Hook, Line and Stinker (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1969)

The Iron Lady (Film; 2012)

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, recorded by Johnny Cash (Live Concert Album; 1968)

Kraven the Hunter (Film; 2023)

Last Exit to Brooklyn, by Hubert Selby Jr. (Novel; 1963)

Legends of the Fall (Film; 1995)

My Hero, Zero (Schoolhouse Rock Cartoon; 1973)

Night and Day, by Cole Porter (Song; 1932)

The Owl and the Pussycat featuring Sourpuss (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1939)

Peacemaker (TV Series; 2022)

Plexus, by Henry Miller (Novel; 1953) [Rosy Crucifixion #2]

Real Women Have Curves (Film; 2002)

Ruby Tuesday, by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1967)

The Sands of Mars, by Arthur C. Clarke (Novel; 1951)

The Screwy Truant, featuring Screwy Squirrel (Tex Avery MGM Cartoon; 1945)

A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV Series; 2017)

Schitt’s Creek (TV Series; 2015)

Shanghaied (Disney Cartoon; 1934)

Stitch & the Samurai (Manga; 2020)

Tangled Ever After (Disney Cartoon; 2012)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TV Series; 2008)

The Times They Are a-Changin’, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1964)

Toxic, by Britney Spears (Song; 2004)

U Can’t Touch This, by MC Hammer (Song; 1990)

Wolf Like Me (TV Series; 2022)

Yellow Submarine, by The Beatles (Album; 1969)

Today’s Name Days

Hilarius, Hilmar, Jutta, Remigius (Austria)

Hilarije, Juta, Radovan, Veronika (Croatia)

Edita (Czech Republic)

Hilarius (Denmark)

Hillar, Hillo, Illar, Illart, Illo (Estonia)

Nuutti (Finland)

Hilaire, Yvette (France)

Hilarius, Hilmar, Jutta (Germany)

Emilos (Greece)

Veronika (Hungary)

Ilario, Leonzio (Italy)

Aira, Ārijs, Āris, Harijs (Latvia)

Dargaudas, Gilvydė, Iveta, Veronika (Lithuania)

Gislaug, Gisle (Norway)

Bogumił, Bogusąd, Bogusława, Godfryd, Gotfryd, Leoncjusz, Melania, Weronika (Poland)

Ermil (Romania)

Rastislav (Slovakia)

Hilario (Spain)

Knut (Sweden)

Ivette, Veronica, Vonnie, Vonny, Yvette, Yvonne (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 13 of 2024; 353 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 2 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Beth (Birch) [Day 19 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Yi-Chou), Day 3 (Bing-Zi)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 3 Shevat 5784

Islamic: 2 Rajab 1445

J Cal: 13 White; Sixday [13 of 30]

Julian: 31 December 2023

Moon: 7%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 13 Moses (1st Month) [The Druids]

Runic Half Month: Peorth (Womb, Dice Cup) [Day 4 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 24 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 23 of 31)

#Holidays

[jeannereames]

I read DWTL, both Becoming & Rise. Loved it! You've brought Alexander's world to life in such a relatable manner that it doesn't seem it's based on an era dating back more than 2,000 years ago. I really wish you continued the series, telling the story of Alexander after he became King. Is there any account of Alexander's relationship with, or treatment of commoners? I'm a big fan of Alexander. Crush on him! And here's my next question. Would he fall in love with, or marry a commoner?

First, thank you. 😊 I’m glad you both enjoyed the novels and felt they brought that world to life. I do hope to continue the story but Riptide is not (at least at present) interested in publishing the rest, as they aren’t even remotely Romance. (They took the first two, which is really one novel, because it did have a love story even if it’s really a coming-of-age historical.) I’m currently working on a monograph about Hephaistion and Krateros (non-fiction), so that’s eating up a lot of my time.

As for your question…. First, let’s separate “love” from “marriage,” as those two things did not necessarily go (in fact, very rarely went) together. The notion of marrying for love is really quite recent, (almost) all over the world. Marriage was, for Macedonian kings, a deeply political act. So, he wouldn’t marry a woman who didn’t serve a political purpose; 99% of the time, that would be a “royal” or other high-born woman.

Sorry there’s not a more romantic answer to that, but it’s honest.

Love it something different, although there, recall the Greeks recognized different sorts of love, and separated eros (desire) from philia (true love/deep friendship). Eros was assumed not to last, whereas philia of the best sort was long-standing, even lifelong. Greek men generally didn’t assume they’d feel philia for the women for whom they felt eros; that’s typical Greek misogyny of the time. Alexander was somewhat different from other men, in that he did seem to value the opinion of the women around him (certainly the older women from his mother to Ada to Barsine to Sisygambus)…but he still wouldn’t necessarily put them on a level with the men in his life.

Could he learn to? Perhaps. He might be better positioned than most, so I wouldn’t necessarily put it beyond the scope of possibility. Yet it would take a radical realignment of his world, one where he’d be around a woman long enough to learn to respect her enough to feel philia for her, not merely eros.

A time-travel situation is most likely, although the one example of that I’ve seen wasn’t (to me) at all convincing—in part because it put the (modern) woman in the past. Pull Alexander into the present, with Hephaistion already dead, and you might get something more believable ... because that removes two of the biggest problems. First, a world where men interacted very little with women, especially men on military campaign. And second…

Hephaistion.

Whether or not they remained physical lovers, Hephaistion was the dearest person in Alexander’s personal orbit. While certainly Alexander had flings with both women and teens/young men, Hephaistion remained central. I find it unlikely that would change while he was alive.

There have been a few attempts in novels to do an opposite-sex romance with Alexander, and all had to deal with the Hephaistion Problem. 😉 One could argue that even Mary Renault’s The Persian Boy grappled with this, and also had a Hephaistion Problem.

So, the first more recent one, and arguably the most successful, was a trilogy by (Alison) Spedding from the mid/late-80s (The Road and the Hills, A Cloud over Water, and The Streets of the City), wherein Ailixond (Alexander) meets Aleizon Ailix Ayndra (an Alexander-Hephaistion mix). They fall in love and conquer the world, then she takes over after he dies. Despite the way it sounds, it’s a fun read. It’s also not an historical, so she can play with the facts as she wishes.

Another by Jennifer Macaire (Time for Alexander Series) has Ashley, a professional journalist (and essentially a self-insert), time travel from the present into the past to interview Alexander. She falls in love with him, and with Hephaistion too (who’s inexplicably not called Hephaistion, but Plexis). The research is slap-dash with multiple problems from odd spelling choices (what is Seleucos? Seleukos or Seleucus—pick Greek or Latinized, please), to confusion on details. The one plus is more time to some of the women surrounding Alexander.

A late ‘60s trilogy by Helene Moreau (penname), reprinted as one long novel in the early ‘70s (by Playboy, no less), was called Roxana. Although, quite shockingly for the time, she did depict Alexander and Hephaistion as lovers, it's kinda-sorta a Roxana-Alexander love story. Except Roxana doesn’t love Alexander, who’s not a good guy; her true love is a Jewish fellow called Mordechai. Hephaistion, although a “rival” for Alexander, isn’t especially negative even thought he's a problem for Roxana’s plans to bind Alexander to her via desire.

Last, Stephanie Thornton flipped the script in her The Conqueror’s Wife, with the romance being Drypetis and Hephaistion. Alexander is a Bad Guy (as is Roxana, btw). While Thornton also makes ATG and Hephaistion lovers, she inadvertently paints same-sex relationships as negative by framing. (Or at least, I will hope it was inadvertent.) It’s a traditional m/f Romance, so Drypetis will win--and as Alexander is bad/evil, the message is that opposite-sex love “saves” Hephaistion from Alexander. Not sure she actually meant that, but it’s not queer-friendly. (There are no other positive gay people; Roxana's brother is a minx.) I think she used the same-sex affair to appear edgy and hip, but just wound up seeming homophobic.

Anyway, all of these try to foreground a female in Alexander’s life, or in Hephaistion’s—but must then deal with the problem of the Other. Spedding simply makes her main (female) character a Hephaistion analog. Macaire turns it into Threesome; Ashley falls for both men. Moreau and Thronton adopt more traditional love triangles, although Moreau’s is really a quadrilateral with Mordechai; Roxana is only using Alexander. And Thronton has her lead (Drypetis) “win” by making Alexander evil.

I will note that in all the novels I’ve read about Alexander, I have yet to see a woman author portray Hephaistion as evil/the bad guy, even when Alexander is evil/the bad guy. Even Moreau’s Hephaistion is neutral/nice to Roxana. It’s only male writers who depict him negatively. Make of that what you will. 😉

Of these four books, Spedding might be the only one to succeed because it’s epic (quasi-historical) fantasy; she’s not trying to be historical. After that, Thornton’s is perhaps the least inaccurate historically, but that doesn’t make it particularly good.

So, the biggest issue with giving Alexander a true (female) love is … Hephaistion.

I'll add that I don't like love triangles when they involve Alexander and Hephaistion, but not because I ship the two. I just don't like love triangles period. Too often in fiction, they become a quick way to inject drama because the author can't think of something more realistic. *roll of eyes* There are PLENTY of real-life problems that couples face that have nothing to do with a third (human) party. A love triangle can be interesting in a long-standing relationship like a marriage on the rocks (which is where they're most likely to occur in real life). But generally, I find love triangles in Romance (as opposed to lit fic) trite in execution, tbh.

(For the curious, my article on presentations of Alexander and Hephaistion in novels, “Alexander the Great and Hephaistion in Fiction after Stonewall,” is available on academia.edu; I go into more detail there, breaking down how different authors treat the relationship according to when it was published, gender of the author, and genre of the novel. But two of the novels mentioned above are not in that chapter because they fall outside the parameters I set for examination.)

#asks #Alexander the Great #marriage #Alexander and women #Alexander and marriage #Fiction that depicts a love story between Alexander and a woman #love triangles in Alexander the Great fiction #Hephaistion #Hephaestion #Roxana #Drypetis #Macedonian marriage #historical fiction #ancient macedonia

[littlerosette]

Sadly my specific knowledge on women’s freedom in Ancient Greece is very limited. I vaguely recall that in Sparta and maybe Macedonia (?) they had more liberty and rights than in Athens. Sadly both Greece and Rome fail miserably in this regard

However, as I was thinking about it, I stumbled upon the mental imagery of Vestal Virgin Mikasa and very very horny, very very troubled Roman patrician general Eren

i know😭 i’m gonna try to do more of my own research to figure everything out. i will tell you that my interest in ancient athens suffered as i grew up and learned about the extent of the misogyny. like. i’m a woman interested in history. i’m not so naive as to not expect a horrendous level of misogyny in any ancient (or modern) society , and yet the athenians really take the cake on how fucking dehumanizing they were. it’s amazing, almost.

there is a fic that features mikasa as a vestal virgin!! eren is a gladiator in it, not a patrician, but it’s very good. this is the link! idk if i would want to write mikasa as a vestal virgin, myself, because idk if my eren has the religious conviction to make it angsty but i do love the idea of it being a forbidden love story.

#asks #eremika #ancient rome

[basilthefolf]

The Unknown Story of Queen Cleopatra Who Actually Wasn't Egyptian

Cleopatra. Hearing the name conjures up a fantasy image of a woman with a straight nose and drawn eyes. While describing beauty, it is often said to be 'beautiful like Cleopatra'. Cleopatra is called the beauty queen. Ancient Egyptian civilization occupies a special place in the history of the world. And there are two aspects of Egyptian civilization that have become synonymous with the entire civilization.

Cleopatra, like the pyramid and mummy, has become a signature of this civilization over the years. Cleopatra was the last queen of the pharaoh dynasty.

There is no end to the controversies and mysteries surrounding her history. Just as mysterious is her life and rule of the kingdom, so is her love. There have been many stories in the history of the world about the love of Cleopatra.

Films have also been produced along with stories, poems and novels. Even the great literary Shakespeare immortalized the love story of Queen Cleopatra in his plays. He wrote 'Antony and Cleopatra'.

History and literature have called her The Best Beauty, The Blue Eyed Beauty etc. From Shakespeare to George Bernard Shaw, who didn't write about her! Cleopatra, the famous queen of Egypt, was distinguished by her beauty, her love, her death. Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was the last pharaoh of Egypt. The name Cleopatra is derived from the Greek words 'Kleos' and 'Pater', meaning 'Glory of Father'. She was born in 69 BC and died in 30 BC at the age of 39.

Although Cleopatra was born in Egypt, her family's ancestor was Ptolemy I of Macedonia, Greece, who was one of King Alexander's chief generals. Ptolemy took over Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC, and a Greek speaking dynasty ruled Egypt for nearly three hundred years. Although not ethnically Egyptian, Cleopatra adopted many of Egypt's ancient customs and was the first of the Ptolemaic dynasty to speak Egyptian.

Roman propaganda portrayed Cleopatra as a controversial figure who used her sexual appeal as a political weapon. But she may be more famous for her intelligence than her beauty. She knew about 12 languages, as well as excelled in mathematics, philosophy and astronomy. According to Egyptian history, she was a ruler who enjoyed the company of scholars and gave them a place in her royal court.

Cleopatra visited Rome in 46 BC and her presence is believed to have caused quite a stir. Cleopatra made no secret of the fact that she was Caesar's mistress. Even Cleopatra, her and Caesar's son Caesarion, came to town. Many Roman nobles were upset when Caesar placed a golden statue of Cleopatra in the temple of Venus Genitrix. After Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate in 44 BC, Cleopatra was forced to flee Rome. But by then Rome was enthralled with its new forms of decoration. Her unusual hairstyle and pearl jewelry became a fashion trend, and Roman women began to imitate her.

Cleopatra began her legendary love affair with the Roman general Mark Antony in 41 BC. Their relationship had a political stance. Cleopatra needed Antony to protect her crown and Egypt's independence, while Antony needed Egypt's wealth. But they also enjoyed each other's company. According to an ancient source, they vacationed in Egypt during the winter of 41 to 40 BC in incredible luxury, even creating their own drinking club. One of Antony and Cleopatra's favorite pastimes were to roam the streets of Alexandria in disguise and have fun.

Cleopatra visited Rome in 46 BC and her presence is believed to have caused quite a stir. Cleopatra made no secret of the fact that she was Caesar's mistress. Even Cleopatra, her and Caesar's son Caesarion, came to town. Many Roman nobles were upset when Caesar placed a golden statue of Cleopatra in the temple of Venus Genitrix. After Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate in 44 BC, Cleopatra was forced to flee Rome. But by then Rome was enthralled with its new forms of decoration. Her unusual hairstyle and pearl jewelry became a fashion trend, and Roman women began to imitate her.

Cleopatra began her legendary love affair with the Roman general Mark Antony in 41 BC. Their relationship had a political stance. Cleopatra needed Antony to protect her crown and Egypt's independence, while Antony needed Egypt's wealth. But they also enjoyed each other's company. According to an ancient source, they vacationed in Egypt during the winter of 41 to 40 BC in incredible luxury, even creating their own drinking club. One of Antony and Cleopatra's favorite pastimes were to roam the streets of Alexandria in disguise and have fun.

Cleopatra visited Rome in 46 BC and her presence is believed to have caused quite a stir. Cleopatra made no secret of the fact that she was Caesar's mistress. Even Cleopatra, her and Caesar's son Caesarion, came to town. Many Roman nobles were upset when Caesar placed a golden statue of Cleopatra in the temple of Venus Genitrix. After Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate in 44 BC, Cleopatra was forced to flee Rome. But by then Rome was enthralled with its new forms of decoration. Her unusual hairstyle and pearl jewelry became a fashion trend, and Roman women began to imitate her.

Cleopatra and Antony are said to have committed suicide in 30 BC when Octavia's forces pursued them. Antony is said to have fatally stabbed himself in the stomach. But Cleopatra's method of suicide is still uncertain. According to legend, he was probably bitten by an Egyptian bull snake. But according to the ancient historian Plutarch, "no one knows what happened''. He also said, "Cleopatra used to hide a deadly poison in her comb".

The historian Strabo speculates that Cleopatra used some deadly ointment. With this in mind, many scholars now suspect that Cleopatra ingested some deadly poison like snake venom on the tip of a pin. But the truth remains unknown.

#queen cleopatra #cleopatra #egyptian #greek #history

[indo-europeans]

dards - war-like north westernmost “indo” aryans & asvas

- Strabo and Pliny mentioned war-like people Dardae.

- The term "Dardic" is only a geographic convention used to denote the northwesternmost group of Indo-Aryan languages (spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan)

- Usage of the term is curiously parallel to the Sanskrit usage, where it connoted nonspecific ferocious outsiders living in the mountains beyond the borders of the region.

- Dardic languages contain absolutely no features which cannot be derived from old [Indo-Aryan language]. They have simply retained a number of striking archasisms, which had already disappeared in most Prakrit dialects... There is not a single common feature distinguishing Dardic, as a whole, from the rest of the [Indo-Aryan] languages... Dardic is simply a convenient term to denote a bundle of aberrant [Indo-Aryan] hill-languages which, in their relative isolation, accented in many cases by the invasion of Pathan tribes, have been in varying degrees sheltered against the expand influence of [Indo-Aryan] Midland (Madhyadesha) innovations, being left free to develop on their own

- Due to their geographic isolation, many Dardic languages have preserved archaisms and other features of Old Indo-Aryan. These features include three sibilants, several types of clusters of consonants, and archaic or antiquated vocabulary lost in other modern Indo-Aryan languages.

- Kalasha and Khowar are the most archaic of all modern Indo-Aryan languages, retaining a great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in a nearly Sanskritic form.[29][30] For example at’hi "bone" in Kalasha is nearly identical to asthi in Sanskrit[31] and ašrú "tear" in Khowar is identical to the Sanskrit word

- The Sanskrit term aśva, Avestan aspa, and Prakrit assa means horse. The name Aśvaka/Aśvakan or Assaka is derived from the Sanskrit Aśva or Prakrit Assa and it denotes someone connected with the horses, hence a horseman, or a cavalryman or horse breeder. The Aśvakas were especially engaged in the occupation of breeding, raising and training war horses, as also in providing expert cavalry services.[citation needed]

- The name of the Aśvakan or Assakan has been preserved in that of the modern Afghān.

- According to philologist J.W. McCrindle, the name Aśvaka is also "distinctly preserved" in the name of the Esapzai (or Yusufzai) tribe of Pashtuns. McCrindle noted: "The name of the Aśvaka indicates that their country was renowned in primitive times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses.

- The fact that the Greeks translated their name into "Hippasioi" (from ἵππος, a horse) shows that they must have been aware of its etymological signification."

- Ancient Greek historians who documented the exploits of Alexander the Great refer to the Aspasioi and Assakenoi (Ἀσσακηνοί) tribes among his opponents. The Assakenoi fielded 2,000 cavalry, 30 elephants and 30,000 infantry against Alexander during his campaign in India, which began in 327 BCE, but they eventually had to surrender after losses at places such as Beira, Massaga and Ora

-  Diodorus recorded the strength of the Aśvaka opposition, noting that the women took up arms along with the men, preferring "a glorious death to a life of dishonour".[21]Queen Cleophis was the main leader of Ashvaka during their war against Alexander.

- The Asvayanas have been attested to be good cattle breeders and agriculturists by classical writers. Arrian said that, during the time of Alexander, there were a large number of bullocks - 230,000 - of a size and shape superior to what the Macedonians had known, which Alexander captured from them and decided to send to Macedonia for agriculture

#Karakoram #kashmir #hindukush #himalayas #everest #india #pakistan #jammu #afghanistan #mountains #history #dard #dardistan #indoeuropean #hindi #sanskrit #aryan invasian #south asia #greek #strabo #pliny #ancient history #dardic #north india #vadakkan #vadakku #aryan #indo aryan #hind #hindu

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[isogreys]

Cauldrons of war stalingrad

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