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suzannahnatters · 1 year

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So here's one of the coolest things that has happened to me as a Tolkien nut and an amateur medievalist. It's also impacted my view of the way Tolkien writes women. Here's Carl Stephenson in MEDIEVAL FEUDALISM, explaining the roots of the ceremony of knighthood: "In the second century after Christ the Roman historian Tacitus wrote an essay which he called Germania, and which has remained justly famous. He declares that the Germans, though divided into numerous tribes, constitute a single people characterised by common traits and a common mode of life. The typical German is a warrior. [...] Except when armed, they perform no business, either private or public. But it is not their custom that any one should assume arms without the formal approval of the tribe. Before the assembly the youth receives a shield and spear from his father, some other relative, or one of the chief men, and this gift corresponds to the toga virilis among the Romans--making him a citizen rather than a member of a household" (pp 2-3). Got it?

Remember how Tolkien was a medievalist who based his Rohirrim on Anglo-Saxon England, which came from those Germanic tribes Tacitus was talking about? Stephenson argues that the customs described by Tacitus continued into the early middle ages eventually giving rise to the medieval feudal system. One of these customs was the gift of arms, which transformed into the ceremony of knighthood: "Tacitus, it will be remembered, describes the ancient German custom by which a youth was presented with a shield and a spear to mark his attainment of man's estate. What seems to the be same ceremony reappears under the Carolingians. In 791, we are told, Charlemagne caused Prince Louis to be girded with a sword in celebration of his adolescence; and forty-seven years later Louis in turn decorated his fifteen-year-old son Charles "with the arms of manhood, i.e., a sword." Here, obviously, we may see the origin of the later adoubement, which long remained a formal investiture with arms, or with some one of them as a symbol. Thus the Bayeux Tapestry represents the knighting of Earl Harold by William of Normandy under the legend: Hic Willelmus dedit Haroldo arma (Here William gave arms to Harold). [...] Scores of other examples are to be found in the French chronicles and chansons de geste, which, despite much variation of detail, agree on the essentials. And whatever the derivation of the words, the English expression "dubbing to knighthood" must have been closely related to the French adoubement" (pp 47-48.)

In its simplest form, according to Stephenson, the ceremony of knighthood included "at most the presentation of a sword, a few words of admonition, and the accolade." OK. So what does this have to do with Tolkien and his women? AHAHAHAHA I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED. First of all, let's agree that Tolkien, a medievalist, undoubtedly was aware of all the above. Second, turn with me in your copy of The Lord of the Rings to chapter 6 of The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall", when Theoden and his councillors agree that Eowyn should lead the people while the men are away at war. (This, of course, was something that medieval noblewomen regularly did: one small example is an 1178 letter from a Hospitaller knight serving in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem which records that before marching out to the battle of Montgisard, "We put the defence of the Tower of David and the whole city in the hands of our women".) But in The Lord of the Rings, there's a little ceremony.

"'Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone.' 'It shall be so,' said Theoden. 'Let the heralds announce to the folk that the Lady Eowyn will lead them!' Then the king sat upon a seat before his doors and Eowyn knelt before him and received from him a sword and a fair corselet."

I YELLED when I realised what I was reading right there. You see, the king doesn't just have the heralds announce that Eowyn is in charge. He gives her weapons.

Theoden makes Eowyn a knight of the Riddermark.

Not only that, but I think this is a huge deal for several reasons. That is, Tolkien knew what he was doing here.

From my reading in medieval history, I'm aware of women choosing to fight and bear arms, as well as becoming military leaders while the men are away at some war or as prisoners. What I haven't seen is women actually receiving knighthood. Anyone could fight as a knight if they could afford the (very pricy) horse and armour, and anyone could lead a nation as long as they were accepted by the leaders. But you just don't see women getting knighted like this.

Tolkien therefore chose to write a medieval-coded society, Rohan, where women arguably had greater equality with men than they did in actual medieval societies.

I think that should tell us something about who Tolkien was as a person and how he viewed women - perhaps he didn't write them with equal parity to men (there are undeniably more prominent male characters in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, at least, than female) but compared to the medieval societies that were his life's work, and arguably even compared to the society he lived in, he was remarkably egalitarian.

I think it should also tell us something about the craft of writing fantasy.

No, you don't have to include gut wrenching misogyny and violence against women in order to write "realistic" medieval-inspired fantasy.

Tolkien's fantasy worlds are DEEPLY informed by medieval history to an extent most laypeople will never fully appreciate. The attitudes, the language, the ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS use of medieval military tactics...heck, even just the way that people travel long distances on foot...all of it is brilliantly medieval.

The fact that Theoden bestows arms on Eowyn is just one tiny detail that is deeply rooted in medieval history. Even though he's giving those arms to a woman in a fantasy land full of elves and hobbits and wizards, it's still a wonderfully historically accurate detail.

Of course, I've ranted before about how misogyny and sexism wasn't actually as bad in medieval times as a lot of people today think. But from the way SOME fantasy authors talk, you'd think that historical accuracy will disappear in a puff of smoke if every woman in the dragon-infested fantasy land isn't being traumatised on the regular.

Tolkien did better. Be like Tolkien.

#tolkien #middle earth #jrr tolkien #lord of the rings #lotr #the lord of the rings #eowyn #writing fantasy #fantasy #female characters #writing #historical fiction #medieval women #medieval history #medieval #history #womens history

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profamer · 2 years

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LATIN PHRASE OF THE DAY: TOGAM VIRILEM SUMERE - TO ASSUME THE TOGA VIRILIS. #latin

LATIN PHRASE OF THE DAY: TOGAM VIRILEM SUMERE – TO ASSUME THE TOGA VIRILIS. #latin

LATIN: togam virilem sumere ENGLISH: to assume the toga virilis. Source: Project Gutenberg EBook of Latin Phrase-Book, by Carl Meissner and Henry William Auden Thank you for visiting!

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#Latin #sumere #to assume the toga virilis.#togam #togam virilem sumere #virilem

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thefourteenflames · 7 months

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Valyrian Wedding Rituals & Its Parallels

“Among the people who came to inhabit Northumbria and the Lothians, as well as among other Germanic peoples, the nuptials were completed in two distinct phases. (…) The parties plighted their troth and the contract was sealed, like any other contract, by a hand-shake. This joining of hands was called handfæstung in Anglo-Saxon, and the same word is found in different forms in the German, Swedish and Danish languages. In each it means a pledge by the giving of the hand.” Handfasting' in Scotland - The Scottish Historical Review; Anton, A. E. (1958)

“In ancient Rome, a wedding was a sacred ritual involving many religious practices. (…) In a Roman wedding both sexes had to wear specific clothing. Men had to wear the toga virilis while the bride to wear a wreath, a veil, and a yellow hairnet.” Women's Costume and Feminine Civic Morality in Augustan Rome; Sebesta, Judith Lynn (1997)

“ When the terms of the ketubah were accepted a cup of wine was shared to seal the marriage covenant. (…) The bride and groom shared the same cup, symbolizing the shared life that would be theirs. (…) Wine in Judaism has always symbolized joy. (…) Wine also symbolized blood. The marriage covenant is a blood covenant in the eyes of God. Two lives become one in a lifelong commitment.” The Ancient Jewish Wedding; Lash, Jamie (2012)

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catilinas · 2 months

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is everyone excited for cassius’ son’s toga virilis ceremony tomorrow morning

#beeps

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uncleclaudius · 3 months

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Roman Sestercius bearing the image of Britannicus (with Mars on the reverse). The coin was struck in the provinces during the reign of his father Claudius. He was born Tiberius Claudius Germanicus on the 12 of February, 41 just weeks after Claudius became the Roman princeps and he was renamed Britannicus after the conquest of Britain. After Claudius married Agrippina the Younger, Britannicus was sidelined in favour of his adopted brother Nero and he didn't long outlive his father. He died on the 11th of February, 55, just a day before his fourteenth birthday when he was supposed to assume toga virilis and so officially become an adult under the Roman tradition. Nero allegedly had him poisoned after Agrippina implied that he may be easily replaced with Britannicus as emperor.

#britannicus #ancient rome #roman empire #ancient history #roman coin #ancient roman coins #ancient culture #julio claudian dynasty #I think a lot of people don't realize how young Britannicus was when he died #poor fella

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bebemoon · 9 months

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look for the name: RAMA

@ramadoodles

cult gaia "brinley" cropped bold-sleeved shirt in bright orange

comme des garçons by junya watanabe switching design combination trousers (w/ hip-level belt) in beige/blue plaid

toga virilis brown concealed gussets chelsea boot

bvla mini "kandy" diamond nose stud in black and silver

jean paul gaultier paris cowl design sunglasses in blue

d.s & durga "durga" eau de parfum: "palatial doses of the finest floral absolutes–tuberose, orris butter, orange blossom, sambac jasmine, chrysanthemum, and ylang. unimaginably narcotic."

hilfreich jewellery x on the nature of things "land i" irregular pearl and hand-carved sterling silver charm necklace

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mare-sanguis · 6 months

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Notes on "Ambidextrous Angle" here

Notes on "Lady Justice" here

Notes on the flowers in ep.8 here

Notes on the numbers on the car plate of No.3 and KMC here

The Colors in ep. 10

During the torture scene of LMS they went through multiple types of colors, which I found pretty interesting as someone whos studied colors and their meanings intensely over the years. And as a lot in TKV has meaning and thoughts put behind it, I wanted to make a post highlighting the scene- and the colors specifically. It will also including short historical informations about each color.

Its starts with a mix of red and orange on the tables- making it look like vermillion (a color that borders orange and red and is also often times used in skin color shading), specifically HEX color FFD400. The color will come up later again.

Interestingly enough, since ancient times the color vermillion was regarded as the color of blood- thus of life. In Ancient Rome, the color was widely used to paint frescos, to decorate statues and produce cosmetics. It was also used in the Byzantine Empire reserved for the use of the imperial family and their administrators (used in official letters and imperial decrees) the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, in the paintings of the Renaissance, as well as in the art and lacquerware of China. The color can also be found all over the murals in Villa dei Misteri (Villa of Mystery before 79 AD) in Pompeii.

As the color of blood and life, it fits perfectly as the starting color of the whole scene.

LMS in the meantime is illuminated by white light.

Ironically- or fitting?- its the color of innocence, purity, hope and clarity. It represents goodness, perfection and peace. Looking at the color, it purifies the mind and helps to find balance. But like every color, it also has negative aspects such as coldness, emptiness, nothingness and distance. A lot of times, its also the color of self-reflection (VERY fitting if you’d ask me). White was one of the first colors used in Prehistoric cave art (good example are those at Lascaux in France) which feature marks and images made used calcite and chalk. Ancient Greece saw white as a sacred color (representing light and motherhood), in Rome plain white togas (togas virilis) were worn by all citizens at ceremonial occasions. During early christian times, they adopted the romans use of white- priests wore the color during mass as for them, white was symbolic of purity, humility and virtue (reinforced by the “white lamb” which was symbolic of christ’s sacrifice for humanity). Later, throughout the middle ages, white was strongly associated with martyrdom. It was also the commonly worn color by widows in mourning up until the 16th century- giving the color an association with death and refelection.

Illuminating a criminal like him in white is truly a choice. It does fit the intentions of the whole torture tho: redeption, hope and clarity.

In the same frame, centering the vermillion color, we can also see yellow and orange.

Yellow is the color of happiness and optimism. It clarifies and inspires the mind and helps in creativity- it also gives warmth. The negative associations with the color are caution, egotism, deception and cowardice. Yellow is also one of the oldest colors to exist and is seen in cave paintings 17.000 years old. Painters in the Middle Ages and Renaissance used “Indian yellow” to show an outsider. Most notably Judas Iscariot (again, pretty fitting to the whole biblical references found throughout TKV). In ancient religions, yellow was a sacred color. Just like gold, it was seen as eternal, imperishable and indestructible. Many religions worshipped the sun, and the sun gods were depicted wearing yellow. The Ancient Egyptians believed the gods had gold skin and bones and used yellow for their skin tone in art. Yellow is also an important color in Buddhism, signifying humility. It can also be found in paintings from Ancient Rome.

Orange symbolizes youth, enthusiasm and optimism. It uplifts and stimulates the mind. Its the color of creativity, warmth and spontaneity. On the other hand, it shows domination and impatience. Up until the 16th century it was called “saffron” or “yellow-red”. When Portuguese merchants brought orange trees to Europe from Asia in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the citrus fruit’s name was adopted for the general color. In some cultures, orange is regard as a sacred color because it balances red’s power and yellow’s perfection. Monks and holy men in some Asian religions, like Buddhism, wear orange robes because that dye has been readily available historically. Buddhists also connect orange to the highest state of illumination. Its also the color of transformation in Confucianism. and a symbol of royalty.

Again, two colors highlighting the personalties of both LMS and KSJ in a well done way.

The color then changes to a dirty blue hue- with a slight turquoise shade.

Blue- the color of loyalty and trust. It gives the feeling of security, trust, confidence, peace, honesty and reliability. It calms and relaxes the brain. Negative feelings associated with blue are passiveness, depression and prediction. The history of the color blue is quite interesting: It was never a color to be found in nature (no, water isnt blue and the sky also changes colors and if there is indeed something blue found in nature its either with a violet or turquoise shade) thus, we humans previously were never able to even “see” the color (we perceived it, but we had no idea what it even was). The first society to have a word for the colour blue was the Egyptians, the only culture that could produce blue dyes at around 2.200 B.C: They loved the precious stones lapis and turquoise* so much that they invented the first synthetic blue pigment in order to affordably copy their unique color. “Egyptian blue” was made by mixing silica, lime, copper, and alkali, and it could be used on stone, wood, plaster, papyrus and canvas.

Turquoise on the other hand is the color of compassion, calmness and clarity. It balances and stabilizes the brain. It can help concentrate, to grow, and underline empathy. In contradiction it also symbolizes narcissism, stress and secrecy. The earliest evidence of turquoise* gemstones comes from Ancient Egyptian tombs: They contain elaborate turquoise jewelry dating back to 3000 BCE. Egyptians set turquoise in gold necklaces as well as in rings, used it as inlay, and carved it into scarabs. Most notably, King Tut’s iconic burial mask was extravagantly adorned with turquoise. The oldest turquoise mines are in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. One sat near an ancient temple dedicated to Hathor, the Greek goddess of love and joy who was worshiped as a protector in the desert and as the patron saint of mining. Egyptians called turquoise “mefkat”, which meant “joy” and “delight.” -> Ancient Persians also decorated extensively with turquoise, often engraving it with Arabic script. Turquoise covered palace domes: For them, its sky-blue color represented heaven. (This later inspired the use of turquoise in buildings like the Taj Mahal). They also adorned their daggers and horses’ bridles with it as they believed it granted protection. They would also wear turquoise gemstone jewelry around their necks and in their turbans. -> Meanwhile, pre-Columbian Native Americans mined the turquoise stone throughout the present-day southwestern United States. Shamans used it in sacred ceremonies to commune with the spirit of the sky. -> Apache Indians believed that attaching turquoise to bows (and later, firearms) improved a hunter’s accuracy. -> Turquoise became valuable in Native American trade, which carried North American material toward South America. -> Consequently, Aztecs cherished turquoise for its protective power and used it on ceremonial masks, knives, and shields.

Picking the color blue is again a really nice callback to the OST. PT3 (Blue by Aalia) and highlights the depression (or "death") KSJ went through.

Turquoise shining onto LMS face fits perfectly. The negative aspects highlight his persona.

After the blue, the color switches to green and here it is when it gets really interesting- this might be an even longer historical excurse than the turquoise one:

First we should start by looking at the positive associations to the color: It means harmony, safety, growth, health, hope, prosperity and luck. It helps the brain to revitalize, to relax and encourages. Negative aspects associated with the color are judgment, materialism and inexperience. And obviously the most famous ones: Envy and jealousy. We all know the famous saying “Green with envy” The history of the color green dates back to the Ancient Egyptians. To produce the color they used green earth and malachite, while the Ancient Greeks used verdigris. -> Malachite contains a high percentage of copper which makes it highly poisonous to humans when inhaling the dust or eaten. Once its polished its not poisonous anymore. -> Verdigirs is a common name for any variety of poisonous copper salts and acetic acids. Green had a resurgence in art during the Impressionist movement due to advancements in green pigments and paints.

The bold emerald green became popular in fashion in the 1800s, used for gloves and dresses- as well as wallpapers and furniture as well as found in candy, paper, toys, medicine and dye- it was also then it became an even more poisonous color. Its name varies from “Scheele's Green”, “Paris Green” to “Emerald Green” and “Schweinfurt Green”. And as it was probably already obvious, the color was loaded with copper arsenite which is one of the deadliest elements to have ever been found. Scheele’s green (invented around the 1775 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele) was an artificial colorant that was made by heating up sodium carbonate, adding arsenious oxide, and stirring until the mixture was dissolved. Copper sulfate was then added as the final ingredient which ends up giving it its vibrant green color ->(Arsenic is a highly toxic substance that causes skin lesions, vomiting, diarrhea, and in some cases, cancer) As said as it was quite popular in the 1800’s countries were riddled in this substance. ->(It has also been rumored to have killed the famous Napoleon Bonaparte.) Schweinfurt green is the product of combining copper acetate with arsenic trioxide, producing copper acetoarsenite. The toxic pigment was commercially developed in 1814 by the Wilhelm Dye and White Lead Company in Schweinfurt, Germany. It too was used everywhere, from clothing and wallpaper to colorant for fake flowers and paint.

By 1860 more than 700 tons of the pigment had been produced in the country alone.

There are stories of factory workers, mainly those who worked with fashion, suffering acid burning and losing their hair and limbs, specifically their hands, after they had been in contact with the color for way too long. “In 1871, a lady who purchased a box of green-colored gloves at a well-known and respectable house was horrified to find that her hands broke out in blisters after putting them on. Unless the dye was sealed, sweaty palms could cause the dye to run onto the wearer’s skin. Other accounts from this era tell of babies dying in their nurseries after playing on green carpets or rubbing up against green wallpaper. One foreign dignitary even told Queen Victoria that the green wallpaper in Buckingham Palace had made him ill.” On November 20, 1861, Matilda Scheurer, a 19-year-old artificial flower maker, died of “accidental” poisoning: The formerly healthy, “good-looking” young woman worked for Mr. Bergeron in central London, along with a hundred other employees. She “fluffed” artificial leaves, dusting them with an attractive green powder that she inhaled with every breath and ate off her hands at each meal. The brilliant hue of this green pigment, which was used to colour dresses and hair ornaments, was achieved by mixing copper and highly toxic arsenic trioxide or “white arsenic” as it was known. The press described her death in grisly detail, and by all accounts, Scheurer’s final illness was horrible. She vomited green waters; the whites of her eyes had turned green, and she told her doctor that “everything she looked at was green.” In her final hours, she had convulsions every few minutes until she died, with “an expression of great anxiety” and foaming at the mouth, nose and eyes. An autopsy confirmed that her fingernails had turned a very pronounced green and the arsenic had reached her stomach, liver, and lungs.

-> More on “Scheele’s Green” here

Green so not only fits the scene in relation to envy and jealousy, but also to its poisonous attributions. It again highlights KSJ previous personality (harmony) and LMS' (envy)- and the horrible deathly history behind the color makes it even more clear what type of person he is.

After the green, the room is then engulfed in yellow as well as vermillion (explained above) again-

Following this, the last change of color we see is red.

Associated with action, strength, energy and passion red helps to stimulate and motivate the mind, to pay attention and stay cautious. Its positive aspects are courage, desire, sexuality and confidence whereas its negative associations are anger, danger, revenge and aggression. Throughout history, the color red has represented many things: life force, the divine to love, lust, and anger. Throughout the Middle Ages, red was a color of privilege in the Western world. For many cultures, it was the only color worthy enough to be used for social purposes (“In some languages, the word for red was the same as the word for color”). One of the first color developed for painting and dying, red became associated with war, wealth, and power in antiquity. In the Middle Ages, red had a religious significance, as it was seen as the color of the blood of Christ and the fires of Hell. It also had a secular meaning: The symbolism of love, glory, and beauty. During the Protestant Reformation, red began to decline in status and fell out of favor: It was viewed as indecent and immoral as it was linked to luxury and the excesses of the Catholic Church. After the French Revolution, red gained new respect as the color of progressive movements, freedom, new liberties and radical left-wing politics.

Personally, I love how they not only picked red as the last color to highlight the anger and pain of KSJ but also how it illuminates both him and KMC in a different shade. While KSJ has the more darker red, underlining the more calmer anger, KMC is drowned in bright hot red- underlining his anger which he definitely does NOT have under control (hes holding back so much in that scene and if it wasnt for the death penalty awaiting KSJ if LMS would die, he would have killed him without hesitation). Also, the religious importance is another nice callback to all the religious imagery we have seen throughout the drama.

(might also add my delusions to the post: the red symbolizes the love they still feel for each other)

Intentionally or not, the way and order how they picked and presented the colors directly mirrors each character, their personal journey and the development of their anger. The fact it started with more calmer/friendlier colors and slowly turned into more agressive ones is done just beautifully.

#국민사형투표 #the killing vote #tkv #kdrama

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apersonwholikeslotus · 5 months

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i'm not going to talk about togas and what the symbolism is and the difference between toga praetexta and toga virilis and do it all while dumping hc about france & spain i'm not doing it.

#apersonwhotalks

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freshthoughts2020 · 1 year

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#Toga Virilis

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ovid-daily · 1 year

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Mar 17 | D • LIB • NP | XVI Kal.

In celebration of the Liberalia festival, Ovid briefly tells of Bacchus' exploits in the East, and of his discovery of honey. The festival, in addition to celebrating Bacchus (Liber), was the day boys received the toga virilis.

#ovid #ovid daily #fasti #fastorum libri sex #tagamemnon

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teamlarl · 1 year

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Renatus dresses up in a toga virilis when he’s alone in his house.

{ Send me a headcanon about my character and I can only reply with ❎ for wrong or ✅ for correct }

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❎

#;headcanon #;renatus #the man likes history but he's not a cosplayer or a reenactor #he's not obsessed

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jes606 · 1 year

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When i say I WOULD KILL FOR TOGA VIRILIS I simply would

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lesewut · 1 year

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"Resolutely despise wealth, consider yourself worthy a God, do not reject simplicity." [King Eunander to Hercules]

"The Aeneid" or also "Aenias" written by Vergil in 29-19 BC. My edition was published in 1983 and contains many fruitful footnotes.

As I got Dante's "Divinia Commedia" my first aim was to understand why Vergil was chosen as the guide through hell and purgatory, I wanted to understand the poetic value of Vergil to Dante. It was an up-lifting experience to deal with Roman poetry and compare with Ancient Greek systematics. After reading a collection of Vergil's juvenile work "Catalepton", and his invigorating "Georgica" (containing poetry about agriculture, cultivation of trees, stockbreeding and a whole canto for the highly valued bee; connecting aesthetic claim with usefull advices; cf. Bucolica], great aprreciation aroused from the depth of my weary heart <3 Felt why Dante owes a debt of gratitude <3

Vergil was born 70 BC near Mantua, due to health problems he could not realize the wish of his parents of becoming an advocate, so he found his comfort in poetry. Reading works of Homer (generated many myths from "Odysseus"), Hesiod, Ennius and deeply moved by Lukrez' poetic creation (there is a legend, that Vergil got the Toga virilis in the same year, Lukrez passed away), Maecenas became aware of Vergil and got in contact with his befriended compeer Horaz.

Caesar Augustus, aficianado of Vergil's "Georgica", supported his presentation of the Aeneid, a melange of epic poem in a pourquoi tale of Italian founding myth (in those days in Rome, it was a popular idea to stipulate the founding members as descendants of Troy; cf. gens Julia - Ancestors of the Julii]. It is known, that it was already common in the 6th century BC, to locate the roots of Latin populace in Trojan refugees, there are also archeological evidences of Etruscan handicrafts, showing Aeneas carrying his aged father on his back and holding his son by the hand <3 (Cf. Aeneas version of Stesichoros; Naevius & Ennius Version of Aeneas beeing the grandfather of Romulus; Cato's chronology of myths "Origenes"). By the way, till his death, Vergil was against the publication! Lucidly other well-known heroes and figures (like Odysseus, who is portrait hostile, Achilles, Hektor, ...) are appearing, presenting myths from other perspectives. The Dido-Scene, unparalled in its strenght and fragility, was read under tearful eyes. No wonder her fate inspired the opera world since the 17th century, inter alia by Haydn (1778), Jomelli (1747) and Scarletti (1724).

"My own misfortune taught me to give help to those in distress." [Dido, V. 630]

Reading "The Aeneid" was a gripping experience, a vivid insight into long past worlds, a travelling through time, where sacrificial rituals and ornithomancy were conventionally common. Praiseworthy are tone and manner of Vergil, uproarious hero saga and tremendous battle scenes (involving female warriors) with tension relieved contemplation of nature in context with human destiny: Look how earthly-borns can still gain hope in despairing situation! (Cf. Ancient Tragedy; Aeschylus "Learning through suffering.")

"But it is the brave man's duty to shine with diligence."

#Ancient literature #mythology #Roman-Greek-Culture #founding tales #Aenias #the aeneid #Vergil #world literature #cultural heritage #bookworm #Dido

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