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mask131 · 1 year

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Roman sources 1 : Roman myths

I was asked by @subjects-of-the-king if I knew of some actual ancient Roman sources about the Roman gods in their specificity. Note that I am NOT an expert on Roman religion, and that I mostly rely on books written by experts and people that studied the Roman religion and culture - but I do know of a few “direct” sources, and I will split them down briefly in two.

The first part here being entirely focused around myths. All the texts below are about Roman authors writing the myths and legends of their mythology - and... if you are interested in the pre-Hellenized Roman gods, it won’t be of any real big use, because as I said, almost all of Roman mythology is just a copy-paste or remake of the Greek one. BUT these texts are without a doubt much needed to understand how the Romans received the Greek legends and how they re-adapted them to their own religion and culture (plus if you want to compare the Greek and Roman versions of the legend, you’ll need them)

The same way the Greeks myth have two huge literary monuments at their base (Homer and Hesiod’s works), the Roman mythology relies on two big authors that made a bridge between Roman and Greek culture by importing the Greek legends into the Roman world, or creating the first literary Roman legends. These authors are Ovid and Virgil.

Ovid is of course most famed for his “Metamorphoses”, (Transformations), a collection of tales of transformation from the Greek legends, re-adapted for the Roman religion (plus with some purely unique Roman legends). “Metamorphoses” is especially famous due to the reverse-influence it had on the reception of the Greek myths - as I said before, Ovid invented a LOT of rapes of “Classical mythology”, and turned a lot of consensual or un-ambiguous Greek mythological relationships into rapes and sexual abuses. Ovid however wrote many other works that are of relevance to the Roman mythology - two I can quote of the top of my head at “Fasti” (The Festivals) which details the Roman calendar, its various festivals and celebrations and the legends tied to them (so we do have here some additional info about Roman religion itself), and the Heroides (Heroines), which is basically a set of invented letters presenting mythological heroines in a confessional mode.

The other big behemoth of Roman mythology is without a doubt Virgil, thanks to his most famous work: Aeneid. THE Roman epic poem, conceived as a direct sequel to Homer’s “Iliad”, and inventing a cultural/legendary/historical link tying the Greek mythology to the Roman one, with the founding hero of the Roman civilization, Aeneas. Just like with Ovid, while the Aeneid is his most famous works, Virgil wrote many other pieces very informative about the Roman gods - such as the Georgics, which is... a poem about agriculture basically. But when you remember that originally the pre-Hellenized Roman gods were agricultural and nature gods, centered around a farmer-religion, it makes sense a poem about agricultural chores turns out to contain a lot of info about myths, legends, rites and gods.

Beyond those two main guys, there are several other authors that made their mark and influence over Roman myths.

# Statius, who wrote two Roman epics; the Thebaid and the Achilleid (two Roman rewrites of Greek myths, respectively the fight of Eteocles and Polynices for the throne of Thebes, and the life of Achilles). Another big Roman epic we know about (but unfinished) is the Argonautica, by Valerius Flaccus - which as the title says is a Roman retelling of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts.

# Seneca, who was one of the most famous play-writers of Ancient Rome, and left us numerous famous Roman theater plays presenting Roman versions of Greek myths: Medea, Phaedra, Thyestes, Troades, a Roman Oedipus, etc...

# Another BIG author when it comes to Roman myths is without a doubt Hyginus, who produced two works entirely about collecting myths. The first is “Fabulae”, which is one of the biggest myth compilations ever produced by a Roman authors, around three hundred different stories compiled together - though, due to the huge number of stories, Hyginus sacrificed the poetic complexity of Ovid and Virgil, and so he often tells the myths in very short, simplified forms so he could cram as much as he could. His second work is basically the same thing - but this time with a theme, “De Astronomica”, a compilation of myths entirely centered around astronomy and the constellations.

# Not a Roman author, but a Greek one tackling the Roman stories: I will briefly mention here Plutach’s famous “Parallel Lives”, of their full title “Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans”. As the name says, Plutarch decided to present biographies of famous, noble and legendary Greek and Roman figures, placed together in parallels - and I include the text here because it covers the mythical first rulers of Rome, such as Romulus and Numa Pompilius.

# I will finish this first list with a very... unusual work. Apuleius “The Golden Ass”, also known as The Metamorphoses of Apuleius. It is a late Roman novel (written somewhere on the second century) and... it is a very strange, unusual weird story. It is an humoristic, bawdy, almost erotic story of a man ending up turned into a donkey by mistake and following the adventures of various people, but it also sometimes turns into grotesque and nightmarish horror (mostly thanks to the constant involvment of terrifying witches), and it ends up as a mystical quest under the Roman cult of the goddess Isis (it shows here the “late” part of the “late Roman era”, since Apuleius’ text depicts a Roman religion stuffed with “foreign gods”). And it contains numerous very influential tales of Greco-Roman legends - most notably, it is in this story that you will find THE most famous and complete version of the myth of Psyche and Cupid, so famous that during European Renaissance it was THIS version of the myth that was known, and no other.

(A second part of this post will arrive one of these days, centered about texts talking of religion and rites, rather than myths)

#roman mythology #roman myths #roman gods #roman texts #literary sources #ovid #virgil #roman epics #the golden ass

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adifferenttime · 3 years

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Caesar’s Legion and Christianity

Been thinking a lot about how incompetent Edward Sallow is in any way that matters, and how the Legion’s strange relationship with Christianity is emblematic of his failures.

The Legion are primarily oriented around the veneration of Mars, the Roman god of war. The first clue we get that this particular cult of Mars is heavily influenced by Christianity is that according to Arcade, various members of the Legion, and the Game Guide, Sallow is marketing himself as the literal son of God.

True, Caesar is the perfect man. But he is not just a man: he is the Son of Mars, ordained by the god of war to conquer all Earth.

The historical Julius Caesar also claimed descent from Mars, but never pretended to be his son. According to him, his ancestors included both the mythical hero Aeneas, a son of Venus, and Ancius Marcus, the legendary fourth king of Rome and a descendant of Mars. His links to the gods were present enough to support his deification, but stretched back generations to legendary figures. “Divi filius,” the way emperors were sometimes described, is distinct from “dei filius,” the descriptor applied to Jesus. The former implies you're descended from someone with divine qualities or heritage; the latter, that you’re the direct and literal son of the only god around.

And claiming patrimony from the divine isn’t the only way Sallow draws from Christianity rather than Rome if it suits him. Roman society has a hedonistic, socially progressive reputation, and while that’s variable based on time period and exaggerated depending on the source, it’s not wholly inaccurate. While built on patriarchal foundations, it was a sexually permissive environment for men, allowed a variety of smaller cults to flourish, and reserved some religious and social roles exclusively for women. Sallow preserves none of this: the values he’s imposed upon the Legion hold women as inherently lesser in all respects, homosexuality as degenerate, and the use of intoxicants as a sin punishable by death. Hmmm, where might he have gotten those ideas?

The ban on drugs and alcohol is the most specific link here because that’s not something that exists in most religious mainstreams. Many faiths ban intoxicants, but most of their popular, contemporary versions take a laxer approach because it’s hard to get an entire people not to drink. A notable exception is Mormonism, the faith in which Joshua Graham was raised. Not only does Sallow adopt the Mormon perspective on intoxicants, but his government takes an equally dim view of homosexuality and women - the LDS, particularly its earlier incarnations, viewed women as naturally subject to male dominion, and it still paints homosexuality as a “struggle” to be “overcome”.

Not that Sallow actually believes any of that stuff. What’s important to him is that his society has an ideal, a culture that’s strong enough to hold together hundreds of people with different origins, outlooks, and prior loyalties. The specifics are irrelevant so long as they serve his ideal state, outlined here:

It dedicated its citizens to something higher than themselves - to the idea of Rome itself... It means a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, homogeneous culture that obliterates the identity of every group it conquers.

Because of that myopic focus on the immediate utility of details over the broader meaning of entire worldviews, he’s placed himself in a bizarre situation where he’s adopted bits and pieces of Christian doctrine but is LARPing as a man who contributed to the death of Christ, the leader of a state that was morally incompatible with his teachings. Caesar Augustus and Caesar Tiberius appear in the Bible specifically as a way to criticize rulers who attempt to paint themselves as gods. Which is exactly what Edward Sallow is doing.

But they cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him.” Pilate saith unto them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” John 19:15

The most durable, historically significant elements of Christianity are the parts that deal with resilience in the face of hardship, the yearning for freedom, love for your fellow man, struggle against tyrants, etc. Those bits were born in the crucibles of Babylon, Egypt, and Rome. They formed the basis of many later strains of radical resistance here in the U.S. Caesar wants the symbolic power of Christ without embodying any of what made him important, instead aping the behavior of the men who ordered his crucifixion - all while crucifying his own political opponents with such frequency and abandon that he’s basically begging for a Jesus 2.0.

The Legion is doomed to fail for a variety of reasons, and its religious orientation underlines the flaws that are tearing it apart. Sallow is peddling a gutted, twisted perversion of Christian doctrine, historical Roman values, and Hegelian philosophy that preserves none of the things that make them attractive or meaningful in exclusion. What he ends up with is a nonsensical, cynical corruption of these disparate influences, a distillation of their worst bits, wholly devoid of hope or spiritual value, and that’s a running theme of his reign: when you get right down to it, Sallow has no vision. He’s ostensibly created the Legion as “a society that could and would survive,” one that’s devoted to “long-term stability at all costs,” but it offers no future. Christianity tries to build symbols that endure after death, but Sallow’s symbols die with him.

#fnv #fallout meta #fallout new vegas #caesar's legion #edward sallow #long post #Again: I'm not Christian so this is an outsider's perspective #I'm trying to be charitable here because I do respect the value of faith but this isn't intended to be a defense of the doctrines/histories #of ‘Christendom.’ Which obv have been and are disastrous for many peoples

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xebecatt2002 · 3 years

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Historical Background Details in 'When in Rome'

Season 3’s ‘When In Rome’ is packed full of historical references. The story itself revolves around several key historical events and people like Julius Caesar, Pompey and the conquest of Gaul so much in fact that I’ll cover those in another post. What I want to discuss here is the few ‘Blink and you’ll miss it’ references featured in the background of the episode.

One set piece that appears a few times in this episode is the wolf statue in Caesar’s Palace. It sits in the main hall of Caesar’s place and can be seen in background of a couple of key scenes.

The statue is modelled closely on the famous bronze statue known as the ‘Capitoline Wolf’ which you can still in Rome today. The statue is of the two legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and his brother Remus, being suckled by a She-Wolf. The origin of the statue is unknown and there is some debate as to its age, but it is generally believed that the wolf is early Etruscan and dates to the 5th century BC while the statues of the twins are believed to be a much later addition.

Comparing the Xena prop with the original from Rome you can see the Xena one closely copies the overall shape of the wolf and the poses of the babies. Sadly, we don’t get any close ups of the Xena statue though from the lighting it appears they didn’t include any of the engraved details. As it is a background piece not intended for close ups it is understandable that they would save time by not over embellishing it.

As briefly mentioned above the statue is of the founders of Rome. According to myth, Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus who were the sons of a Vestal Virgin called Rhea Silvia. She was the daughter of Numitor, the rightful king of Alba Longa who was deposed by his brother Amulius. After seizing his brother’s throne, Amulius feared opposition to his rule. Once source of contention could come from a future child of his niece, the former princess. Any grandchild of his brother would be a rival to the throne. To prevent this, and to ensure the death of his brother’s bloodline, he forced her to become a Vestal Virgin. As a priestess to the goddess Vesta, she would have been sworn to celibacy. As in many myths, however, the gods intervened and she was impregnated by the god of War, Mars.

When Rhea gave birth to the twins, the king ordered that they be thrown into the River Tiber. Accounts differ here as to whether they were swept downstream or if the unwilling servant just left them on the riverbank but what they do agree is that they were found by a she wolf who suckled them until a shepherd found them and adopted the children. Later as, adults they would discover the truth about their heritage and return to depose the king who had usurped their grandfather’s throne. Once they returned the kingdom back to Numitor they left the kingdom to found their own city. However, during the foundation of their new city the two brothers quarrelled, and Romulus killed his brother Remus thus becoming the first leader of the settlement that would become Rome.

This image of the brothers and the wolf would be used throughout Roman history as a symbol for the city of Rome. As well as statues the wolf and twins would be engraved in stone and even found on some of the earliest coins. As a Roman politician it is understandable that Caesar would image in such a prominent place in his palace on full display to his guests. Yet there is another, more personal reason why and that is it that because the statue is of his ancestors.

The Julii family claimed decent from the goddess of love, Venus. Venus was the mother of another legendary founder of the Roman people, the hero Aeneas. Aeneas was a prince of Troy who fled the city when it fell to the Greek’s during the Trojan war and lead the refugees to settle in Italy. His descendants would become the ruling Alba Longa dynasty that the future founder of Rome, Romulus, would belong to.

The story is famously described in the work of the poet Virgil who weaves history and legend into an epic poem written in the style of the great works of Homer. Virgil wrote his work during the time of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, the Great-Nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. After a period of civil war, the work was a celebration of Augustus, the greatness of Rome and its destiny to become a dominant empire. (Might sound a bit familiar to Xena fans lol)

Aeneas suffers several trials on his journey to a new homeland. In these dark times he is given glimpses into the future to give him encouragement and remind him he is working towards a greater future, the future that is Rome. One such moment is when he finds his father Anchises in the underworld who shared with him that his son is destined to found the dynasty of Alba Longa. He points out to Aeneas the spirits of his future descendants and tells him of their achievements including Romulus

‘Look at him, my son. Under his auspices will be founded Rome in all her glory, whose empire shall cover the earth and whose spirit shall rise to the heights of Olympus’ Aeneid, 6.781-783

Straight after this introduces him to Augustus Caesar and the ‘sons of Iulus’, connecting the emperor and his family with these legends. Iulus would be a name adopted by Aeneas’ son from his first wife, Ascanius. Ascanius Iulus would become the founder of Alba Longa and give his name to the Julii family.

Virgil creates this connection again later Aeneas is presented by Venus a shield made my Hephaestus which is decorated with scenes of his descendants and Rome’s past.

‘He had made too, a mother wolf stretched out in the green cave of Mars with twin boys playing round her udders, hanging there unafraid and suckling at her as she bent her neck back to lick each of them in turn and mould their bodies into shape with her tongue.’ Aeneid 630-4

The procession starts again with Romulus, featuring the exact image of him and his brother being reared by the wolf. Though it is unlikely that the two are connected, Virgil’s description does invoke the image of the statue in the way the wolf is almost turning its head. As before the scene ends with an image of Augustus Caesar, Caesar’s heir, in prominent centre of the shield firmly placing the Emperor within Rome’s historic and mythic past.

From the work of Virgil we get the idea of how Julius Caesar could claim he was related to Romulus. I tried to recreate the Julian genealogical tree to help demonstrate the link.

To have this statue of his prestigious ancestors on display in his public rooms of his palace he is clearly demonstrating his authority in Rome and impress others with his status. On a more subtle note, it’s also symbolic of his desire to rule Rome, to become it’s sole leader just like Romulus was and just like Romulus fought with his brother, Caesar is fighting with his allies for control of Rome as shown in the scene of Caesar and Pompey competing for control of Rome’s resources. Funnily enough this takes place in front of the statue of Romulus and Remus.

Caesar could claim to be related to both the founder of the Roman people, Aeneas, and the founder of the city, Romulus, would certainly have added to his sense of ‘destiny’ and entitlement to rule Rome.

Another little historical detail worth mentioning is featured on the standards used to decorate the same great hall the wolf stands.

The standards feature the historic inscription S.P.Q.R. This stands for Senātus Populusque Rōmānus which translates to The Senate and the People of Rome. It’s a phrase that appears in historical literature and in inscriptions as a signature to the power of the Roman Government.

Roman standards a banner which identified a particular military unit. As well as decorative they had a more practical use as rallying points or for sending signals on the battle field. These would be decorated with a number of different images but the most well known is the Aquila or Eagle. The eagle appears to be the insignia used on the standards found in Caesar's palace.

#xena warrior princess #xena #xena fan #xena gabrielle #xenite #xenites #lucy lawless #renee o'connor #ancient history #ancient rome #julius caesar

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stirringwinds · 4 years

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I know that this probably has been asked before but, how do you think is England's relationship with the Italy brothers? Do you think that he resents them because they have the blood of Rome? or do you think that he doesn't care?

I don’t see him as resenting them. But he does care—in a different sort of way. It’s a point of pride, later on, that he— the former “backwater province” of Rome (as he perceives himself to be)—is the one to surpass their father. I have to admit I like leaning on the theme of lineage and (il)legitimacy a lot in hetalia—not just with Alfred being perceived as the bastard son of an English lord—but with Rome, Arthur and Antonio. So, here I’m gonna go more into Arthur’s perception of Rome, rather than the Italy bros.

For Arthur, I think Rome exists as a sort of conflicting idea for him. Rome is the villain when he identifies with indigenous heroes like Boudica, who led a revolt and burned Roman London to the ground. And Rome as a villain is rather more abstract too—he wasn’t born yet to remember it in a deeply resentful manner. Further, when he starts making himself into an empire, Rome is the one to emulate. And I see Arthur as relishing his ostensibly self-made nature, in contrast to the Italy bros having a more illustrious lineage. After all, that’s what Rome was himself, in the beginning: an ordinary city-state—amongst many in the Italian peninsular.

So; on one hand the Italy bros are Rome’s ‘legitimate’ heirs. His blood might run strongest in their veins. On the other, Rome sure has a lot of bastards. To be clear, I see it as being complicated—a lot of them don’t necessarily conceive of Rome as their father. But they are Rome’s ‘bastards’ from the perspective of how they were to some degree, shaped by that Roman legacy; Rome’s actions had a hand in bringing them into existence. I construct the emerging imperial rivalries in the medieval-early modern period as being very strongly influenced by classical antiquity. Rome may be long-dead, but he is still the one many measure themselves up to when they start thinking of greatness and empire. A long-dead patriarch’s legacy that overshadows the present? Yep. There’s the cultural legacy: Britannia and Hispania—the Roman provinces that would morph into the British and Spanish (and Portuguese) empires. Think of all that neoclassical architecture that got built in the heyday of those empires.

In the Aeneid, (which is basically Roman fanfiction centred around the Trojan prince Aeneas from Homer’s Iliad, but which expands the story to cast him as the ancestor of the Romans), Jupiter promises that Rome will be an “empire without end” (imperium sine fine). The Spanish Empire had a motto of ‘further beyond’ (in Latin: plus ultra, which was inscribed on Charles V’s chair because well, we need to be extra about this). And the British Empire—much like the Spanish—of course cast itself as empire on which the sun never set. Rome achieved dominance over the Mediterranean sea—they, over the Atlantic ocean. So, Arthur and Antonio? So what if there are others who can claim to be Rome’s ‘legitimate’ heirs by blood? I think there’s some sort of pride in being the ‘true’ heirs to the Roman Empire by virtue of being the ones to surpass Rome’s imperial ambitions.

#hetalia #aph england #aph italy #aph romano #aph rome #aph spain #snow-that-is-in-colour-red

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squirrelwrangler · 4 years

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Roman Empire Superman? It’s an interesting idea, but I really can’t imagine how it would work. What do you have in mind for it?

I can’t find the brainstorming post(s) it was when Batman Ninja was announced, but the plot would be more like Gotham by Gaslight, in that we have Batman allowed to do historical fantasy AUs but not Superman (because they are more willing to experiment and play with Batman but for Superman we only really get variations on Modern AU and Evil!). And Arthurian Medieval is boring, but Ancient Roman is underused and I want MOAR.

So, Superman can still be Kryptonian but he’s going to be mistaken as demigod- and let’s talk about how the Herculean strength/concept that the pre-Homeric heroes were bigger and better, so it will be understandable and how you have the raised by wolves Romolus and Remus adoption myth and the Aeneas fleeing the destruction of his home to a new one - Superman as a story won’t feel weirdly out of place in the thematic pool of Rome. Disney reworked their Hercales to have a lot of Superman for a reason. And Rome itself is a metropolitan city that had a LOT of seemingly modern things (look, one of my favorite series is the Marco Falco Mysteries and spin-off). Clark is found by small farmers in the agricultural region outside Rome or maybe even up in the Po Valley - but I think for story ease it makes sense to have the Kents as one of the few small non-patrician landowner farms right outside Rome supplying the daily fresh greens and beans, and Clark moves to Metropolis Roma to be an investigator or scribe and maybe even helping to draft notices for the Acta Diurna daily postings. Not an actual Roman historian here but pretty confident there was an close equivalent to Daily Planet reporter. Alexander ‘Lex’ L--- is the wealthiest and most corrupt Roman senator. Bald Caesar jokes abound. Lois Lane either works with Clark or maybe is something like one of the Vestal Virgins (her dad, legion general, can show up too) and wrecks Lex’s political plans constantly. Jimmy Olsen is the plucky Gaullic sidekick. Red cloak and toga resigns for everyone. Wonder Woman crossover sequel.

#replies #superman #Anonymous

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sui-senka · 6 years

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DMC Sparda HC

I dunno about you guys, but don’t you ever wonder what Sparda did after the Temen-ni-gru stuff and before he had kids? He’s probably had many lives right?

Not that historically accurate - sorry!

Like in the early days; he wasn’t that used to resembling a human, so maybe his skin on occasion could turn green or blue, maybe purple or red. This isn’t so good when he decides to see the pyramids and the locals in egypt; whom totally freak out because to them he looks like Osiris in the flesh. Afraid of being worshipped again, after the incidents on Fortuna and Dumary Island, he flees to end up in....

...Greece. He got the whole human form sitch under control. Living as a local that sought out education, he received information from the mouth from people like Hippocrates, Plato and other great minds at the time. He even took part in one of their Olympic games; acting to represent and honour Poseidon. He was offered Spartan training; but declined as he had enough of the warfaring lifestyle he once lived.

He takes that knowledge to Rome, and rises up the societal ranks to become one of Emperor Augustus’ advisors. It is here he meets a quiet but admired poet and scholar named Vergil; who has been given the laborious task of creating a work to honour the Emperor Augustus. Vergil gives him a copy of the work to read; and he was absolutely enthralled by reading about a hero called Aeneas. He loves the work and gives it to Augustus as Vergil requested - but also asks if it’s okay to name a spawn after him. Vergil soon felt immense pride after that day.

Soon after the fall of the Roman Empire; he goes eastwards to bear witness to the Rise of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. As a scribe; he takes up various pen names when he records what happened. He is interested to see that the Ottoman relics and culture came from a religion that he has never heard of before, so he travels again to study in.....

The Middle East, where he gets education in medicine, and science from Arabian Scholars. He gets so excited with how far humans have come since he first encountered them; and the funny looking contraptions they’ve invented to see the stars. He even meets the people who would become ancestors to the great many Assassins that will gladly give up their life to keep their land safe from European and Templar rule during the Crusades.

He travels to India and China - interested to learn about the empires and cultures that exists there and the rise of Buddhism too. He lives as a monk for a while.

His travels take him further east to Japan; which is currently in crisis after the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which means the clans are at odds with each other. Appaled by the injustice, ruin and chaos that his fellow humans have become enraptures in; he begrudgingly takes up his sword again to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. He taught his skills to young children from any family who needed to survive. Rumour spread of his terrifying strength, speed and his Katana that could cut through anything. That nameless wanderer Sparda soon became known as Raiden.

He soon migrates to Russia; intrigued to find what the lavish lifestyle of the Tsars has to offer.

Not much so he ventures West again; into Europe to find that the Renaissance has started.

As he’s so fond of Italy; he comes back as a merchant to find it’s changed dramatically. He hears rumours of the powerful Medici family, and a family that’s under threat due to the murders that have happened; the Auditore family in Firenze.

He was lucky enough to witness one of the Auditore fall from a rooftop into a cart of spices that he was intending to sell. Interested in who this man was; Sparda is led to visit one of the man’s friends, none other than Leonardo Da Vinci himself. He got to know them well, became Da Vinci’s muse for a short period of time too. During his time in Italy; he meets Boticelli, Donatello (the architect), Raphael and Michaelangelo.

He even comes across a politician who moonlights as a poet, and when reading his work, starts to bond with him. Sparda thinks he’s sort of sweet in a way; that he’s such a romantic, especially when listening to this man talk about the girl that got away, Beatrice Portinari. Sparda sometimes asks him what romance, and love is like. The man; known as Durante deghli Alighieri tells him it’s sometimes not worth it, but that he does have feelings for another woman named Gemma. When this man tells Sparda about this new work he’s currently writing about the people that have scorned him and how they deserve to rot in hell, and also what it means for him to be a Christian; Sparda sometimes fills him in on the details of what hell is really like and how there is different sorts of demons for every section of hell for every sin comitted. Durante soon publishes his work, known as the Divine Comedy and goes into exile, and soon passes away. Sparda; was one of his closest friends that was allowed to call him Dante - and made a promise to the man to honour his legacy by naming one of his spawn after him.

He moves to France; to find that tensions were rising between the rich few and the numerous poor. He bears witness to the revolution and tries to help civilians by providing medical care, food, blankets and shelter when needed.

He moves to Africa; but further south this time. He’s interested to see how the royalty live; and how it is a longstanding tradition for african princes to be sent to live in different places to learn the ways of other people; then to return to pass knowledge to their people. Sparda wonders what he’s going go do with all this knowledge that he has about humans now.

He travels to Scotland to hear news of Bonnie Prince Charlie in exile, many dead after the battle of Culloden. He hears that the survivors fled to a place called New Zealand.

He goes there to find how the Scots live now and also to find out that the island exists due to a demigod fishing the island out of the sea. (You’re welcome~) He really likes the fact that some of them greet each other by placing their foreheads together - to exchange the ‘breath of life’

He goes back to India; horrified by how the people have been persecuted and how some are deciding to rebel against the empire ruling over them.

He goes to the United Kingdom (England); interested and equally saddened by how the Victorians are benefitting from the exploitation of others. Sparda starts to learn that this sort of thing has happened before; that history keeps repeating itself because humans keep making the same mistakes

He serves as a medic for the Allied forces in WW1 and WW2 whilst living in the UK. The people are simultaneously impolite and extremely polite; seem to like queuing a lot and also like their tea. The weather and food are a bit meh; but everything else in that country makes up for it in his opinion.

At some point after the war is over - he travels to the United States.

He’s involved in the protests in the Civil Rights movement. He’s saddened by the lack of brotherhood some humans show for each other; because of something so trivial as skin colour.

At this point; he’s tired. He’s tired of getting involved in other people’s mess but he feels he also needs that knowledge to fully know if rebelling against his race was the right thing to do. He’s tired of seeing history repeat itself. Sparda wishes for something more; to fully reach out and bond with someone, to feel that feeling that his long-gone friends told him about. He wants to settle down. He wants to feel love.

He finds what he’s looking for when he watches Jimi Hendrix play a set in the Woodstock festival. Through the mud, the deafening music, the drugs, the hot sun and bright colours he notices a fair slender young woman; with long blonde hair that goes just below her waist. She has ocean blue eyes; much more vibrant than Sparda’s paler grey ones. Her hair is adorned with colouful flowers picked from nearby fields. She’s barefoot; and she’s wearing a tie-dyed lime green halterneck sundress. She looks content, happy, lost in the moment. In that moment Sparda thinks that she looks like a nymph or a fairy that’s lost her wings - enchanting, really.

After the set ends - he bumps into this beautiful woman; who’s called Eva. They start talking about everything, really.

Sparda wonders if this is really what the great poets went on about when they wrote verses about love.

I think you guys know the rest ;)

#devil may cry #devil may cry headcanon #dmc #dmc headcanon #sparda #dante dmc #dante sparda #vergil dmc #vergil sparda #legendary dark knight sparda #sparda headcanon #eva headcanon

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arisefairsun · 7 years

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What books and/or other works of Shakespeare do you recommend for someone who is undeniably obsessed with Romeo and Juliet and fascinated with Macbeth?

Ah, these are my two favorite plays! Let’s see now.

You might enjoy the following Shakespearean plays if you are undeniably obsessed with Romeo and Juliet (it’s a beautiful feeling that, isn’t it?):

Antony and Cleopatra. It is no coincidence that Juliet’s mother is dressed up as Cleopatra in Luhrmann’s movie. The play is filled with unrestrained sensuality, with a very strong-minded woman as one of its leading roles. (Cleopatra is also the female character with most lines in all of Shakespeare’s plays.) It also offers an interesting insight into gender roles, which are to an extent subverted again. Moreover, the deaths of the protagonists resemble those of Romeo and Juliet in that they die partly as a consequence of misleading circumstances: Romeo and Antony believe their lovers to be dead, so they lamentably commit suicide. Coleridge himself thought that Antony and Cleopatra should be ‘perused in mental contrast with Romeo and Juliet’, so do give it a try!

Othello. It is similar to Romeo and Juliet in that Desdemona and Juliet both defy the conventions of their world in marrying a man who is not socially acceptable for them. Though their love stories evolve differently, both couples are very affectionate, inherently good to each other—but they are lamentably destroyed by social oppression. Othello is one of the most sorrowful and sublime stories I have ever read, so I truly recommend it!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’m not that into the comedies, but I believe it would also be a good read. Both were written around the same time and share numerous themes. For instance, the story of Pyramus and Thisbe is considerably relevant in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, something that clearly echoes the love of Romeo and Juliet. The play presents, again, patriarchs refusing to acknowledge their daughters’s liberty; but it’s a comedy, so nobody dies for once! ;)

Richard II. Yet another play that’s especially preoccupied with language.

The sonnets. They are a must read if you wish to read more about love.

“The Phoenix and the Turtle”. It is a beautiful poem about ideal, perennial love, capable of merging the lovers so profoundly that they become a single entity. It is quite obscure, though, but you will find a lot of analyses on the Internet.

As for non-Shakespearean stories, it can be interesting to have a look at the various versions of the Romeo and Juliet story through the centuries:

La Divina Commedia (Purgatorio VI, vv.106-108) by Dante. He mentions the feud between the Montagues (Montecchi) and the Capulets (Cappelletti).

Novellino (33rd story) by Masuccio Salernitano.

Hystoria novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti by Luigi da Porto.

La sfortunata morte di dui infelicissimi amanti by Matteo Bandello.

Histoire troisième de deux Amants by Pierre Boaistuau (translated from Bandello).

The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke. This one is particularly interesting, given that Shakespeare’s play is mainly based on it. Knowing which aspects of Brooke’s poem Shakespeare decided to keep and which he decided to alter can enrich your reading of Romeo and Juliet. It is available as a PDF here.

The Palace of Pleasure by William Painter. Shakespeare is also thought to have consulted this version.

If you are interested in reading the Italian sources, I suggest that you buy Romeo and Juliet: Original Text of Masuccio, da Porto, Bandello and Shakespeare (all the texts are translated into English).

Here are some interesting rewritings which were very influential over the centuries and are therefore worth considering:

Castelvines y Monteses (so Capulets and Montagues) by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. Written a few decades after the Bard’s play, his ending might not be so tragic ;)

The History and Fall of Caius Marius by Restoration writer Thomas Otway. Combining Shakespeare’s plot and characters with one of Plutarch’s stories, it is extremely similar to Romeo and Juliet (to the point that it keeps many of the Bard’s words, namely the ‘wherefore art thou’ line). Set in ancient Rome and especially preoccupied with politics, it displaced Shakespeare’s version from the stage from 1680 to 1735. Although Otway’s play is rather unknown nowadays, our perception of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is still influenced by it. He is the reason we still believe there is a balcony scene in the play even if it is undeniably a window in Shakespeare. Such was the success of his retelling that its influence still lives nowadays. It’s interesting to consider that Romeo and Juliet was constantly subject to rewritings and revisions over the centuries, so its current status as one of the most iconic stories of Western culture partly comes from these adapted texts as well as Shakespeare’s original play. While it is indeed fascinating to read these rewritings and discover how the story was perceived by each generation, they are not particularly interesting from a feminist point of view. Otway’s version, among many others that followed, manages to contain Juliet’s boldness and also deprive Romeo of his ‘unmanly’ behavior, which I think is an important ingredient of his character. Their relationship is far less subversive and they do not transcend the social conventions of their world as intensely as Shakespeare’s lovers. But this conception of Romeo and Juliet is still present nowadays to some extent. In paintings and other portrayals of the scene, why is Juliet usually represented as a timid, still woman up on the balcony, with an ardent Romeo wooing her underneath? That reminds me of Otway’s characters rather than those of the Bard. In Shakespeare, Juliet takes control of the scene: not only is she equally passionate, but she is also far more straightforward than Romeo, encouraging him to express himself earnestly and actively making wedding plans on her own. Food for thought.

David Garrick’s rewriting of Romeo and Juliet. Adjusting the play to the preferences of his time, he revised Shakespeare’s text, adding new dialogue and altering that which did not please him. For instance, he made Juliet wake in time to share one last dialogue with Romeo (something that can be found in Otway’s play as well as in some of the Italian sources). This was the preferred ending in performances of the play until the 19th century, and is still quite recurrent nowadays, perhaps most famously in Luhrmann’s movie.

Other stories similar to Romeo and Juliet which come to my mind are the following:

“Pyramus and Thisbe” by Ovid. These star-crossed lovers attempt to escape together when their parents oppose to their love. Pyramus, believing Thisbe to be dead, takes his own life; after finding his lifeless body, she takes his sword and joins him in death. The tragic deaths of the lovers as a consequence of mischance inspired Italian writers to frame the deaths of Romeo and Juliet in a similar fashion. Perhaps you will also enjoy other stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. These may not be straightforwardly reminiscent of Shakespeare’s lovers, but they are all splendid and therefore worth a read. My favorites are Orpheus and Eurydice, Pygmalion and Galatea, Psyche and Cupid, and Echo and Narcissus—Juliet actually mentions Echo in the orchard scene, so it can enrich your understanding of Romeo and Juliet. (Other classical characters mentioned in the play are Cupid, Aurora, Phaeton, Venus, Diana, Jove, Danae, Dido, Hero, Helen of Troy… I hope I don’t forget any.) I truly recommend that you get your hands on a copy of the Metamorphoses, not only because it is a magnificent book but because Shakespeare’s plays are all replete with references to Ovid. Other classical lovers worth mentioning are Dido and Aeneas, and Hero and Leander. (Kit Marlowe wrote a poem about the latter.)

The Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes by Xenophon. This is where the idea of Juliet’s faked death comes from.

Have With You To Saffron-Walden by Thomas Nashe. Many of Mercutio’s and the Nurse’s lines, among others, might have been inspired by this pamphlet—including the allusion to Tybalt as the Prince of Cats.

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford. This is one of the wildest plays I’ve read and also one of my favorites. It is full of trigger warnings, though, so proceed with caution. The plot follows the love affair between two siblings, and it is similar to Romeo and Juliet in that there is a friar who functions as the counselor of the male lead, while the female protagonist has a nurse as her confidant.

“To a Lady Who Presented to the Author a Lock of Hair Braded With His Own, and Appointed a Night in December to Meet Him in the Garden” by Lord Byron. This is probably the most hilarious poem I know. Byron basically declines the lady’s proposal arguing that if Shakespeare had written Romeo and Juliet at Christmas, or if he had set the story in England, surely he wouldn’t have chosen a garden for the passionate scene between Romeo and Juliet. It’s. Just. Pure. Sass.

Tristan and Iseult by Béroul. Although there are various versions of this tale, that of Béroul is most likely the most famous one. This is a story about star-crossed, tragic love, its force capable of transcending the confines of death itself. Interestingly, Wagner’s Liebestod, originally composed for Isolde’s bereavement after Tristan’s death and a tribute to the consummation of love in death, starts playing after Juliet’s suicide in Luhrmann’s movie. What a beautiful and symbolic choice by Luhrmann!

Il canzioniere by Petrarch, of course. Romeo is an ardent diehard fan of that book and probably has a poster of Petrarch in his room. Shakespeare’s play is full of Petrarchan motifs, so it’s worth a try! Romeo will be offended if you don’t read it (but Mercutio will give you a high five).

La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas. This Spanish tragicomedy has been compared to Romeo and Juliet, not only because both plays tell the story of ill-starred lovers, but because the protagonist of La Celestina is similar to Juliet’s Nurse. Do read it if you are interested in this archetype and tragic love, combined with comic undertones.

Galician-Portuguese poetry. For me, the poems written in Galicia and Portugal in the Middle Ages are some of the most beautiful expressions of love ever created. The soul of these poems is very close to that of Romeo and Juliet; you’ll find that many of the themes appear also in the dialogues between Shakespeare’s famous lovers. For instance, there are many examples of an aubade in Galician-Portuguese literature, so if you enjoy Romeo and Juliet’s morning song, you should give it a try. I especially recommend the compositions known as cantigas de amigo because they are generally spoken by a woman. (Amigo means ‘friend’ in modern Galician and Portuguese, but back then it could also be used to refer to a lover—much like Juliet’s use of the word when she says: ‘Love, lord, ay husband, friend.’) Those known as cantigas de amor usually express a man’s grief over his unrequited love for a woman who is either married, sworn to chastity, or simply uninterested—much like Romeo in the first act of the play. If you enjoy the silly jokes of Romeo and Juliet, i.e. Mercutio’s constant use of double entendres, then do read some cantigas de escarnio e maldicir, which are basically satirical and witty compositions written to insult someone.

As for Macbeth, some Shakespearean plays worth reading are his other major tragedies:

Hamlet.

Othello.

King Lear.

Do read Richard III and Julius Caesar for more exploration of tyranny and the destructiveness of power.

As for other writings relevant to Shakespeare’s play, I should mention Holinshed’s Chronicles, which supplied the Bard with the main plot of the Scottish play. (He also might have consulted George Buchanan’s Rerum Scoticarum Historia and John Leslie’s De Origine, Moribus, te Rebus Gesties Scotorum.)

These are other stories that you may enjoy, some of which could have also inspired Shakespeare while writing Macbeth:

Medea. She is the true queen of my heart: an indomitable and unstoppable woman whose insatiable need for vengeance incites her to cruelty. She is a wonderful character, her course of thought and action forming one the most compelling fictional masterpieces I have ever read. There are several writings dealing with this character, namely Euripides’s tragedy Medea, or Ovid’s narration of her deeds in Book 7 of his Metamorphoses. However, perhaps the most relevant version here is Seneca’s play, also titled Medea: his heroine and Lady Macbeth share, among other things, their rejection of female nature in order to achieve the boldness necessary for their sinister plans. Lady Macbeth’s speech at 1.5 may echo that of Medea in Act 4.

Seneca’s work. Apart from his Medea, other plays reminiscent of Shakespeare’s play are Hercules Furens and Agamemnon. Other classical references in Macbeth include Hecate, Neptune, Bellona, Tarquin (also present in Shakespeare’s wonderful poem The Rape of Lucrece) and one of my favorite characters of all time, Medusa. (I hope I don’t forget any again?)

Montaigne’s Essays. Macbeth’s destructive need to control the future and the baleful force of imagination can be found in some of Montaigne’s writings, especially ‘Of the force of imagination’ and ‘Our affections are transported beyond our selves’.

As for witchcraft, I’m sure there are multiple writings about this matter in the early modern period, but these are the ones that I either have read or look forward to doing so eventually:

Newes from Scotland.

Daemonologie by James VI and I. Quite a few themes present in this work are echoed in Macbeth.

The Witch by Thomas Middleton.

The Late Lancashire Witches by Thomas Heywood and Richard Brome. It is based on the real-life events of some women who were accused of witchcraft.

Enjoy!

#answered #thoughts #Shakespeare #Romeo and Juliet #Macbeth #long post #thanks for the ask!#for Macbeth I would recommend my *future* book if it were finished #it's some kind of Gothic mixture of Macbeth and Jane Eyre

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ialanjohnson · 7 years

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JULIUS CAESAR 48BC Ancient Roman Coin VENUS TROY Rome HERO AENEAS NGC i58231 #ancientcoins

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