Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)

White text over a black and white photo of the ruins at Sparta, which reads: "Well ahead of the war-cars they reached the brink, closed ranks as drivers backed them yards behind. But Zeus drove a swirl of panic deep in their lines and down from the vaulting skies released a shower raining blood, for Zeus was bent on hurling down to the House of Death a rout of sturdy fighters." Homer, Iliad, X.58, Fagles translation.

#poetry #Classics #myth

3/3
Translated by Robert Fagles, Book X, line 333

The art is an illustration by Edy-Legrand for the 1960 edition of "La Mythologie" a French book published by Club Du Livre.

2/3
He left his armored men along the Asopus banks
and carried a peaceful word to Theban cohorts
crowded in their halls. But turning back he bent
to some grand and grisly work with you, Goddess,
and you stood by him then, a steadfast ally.
So come, stand by me now, protect me now!”

An illustration of Athena by Edy-Legrand for the 1960 edition of "La Mythologie" a French book published by Club Du Livre. The illustration shows an Athena towering over the battlefield of Troy with spear raised and shield emblazoned with an owl. Blues and grays dominant the colors.

1/3
Diomedes calls on Athena in Book 10 of the Iliad:

Next Diomedes lord of the war cry prayed aloud,
"Hear me too, daughter of Zeus, tireless goddess!
Be with me now, just as you went with father,
veteran Tydeus, into Thebes that day
he ran ahead of the Argives with his message.
#Classics #Myth 📚💙

So there is a direct precedent for your idea, which I support.

My caselaw book for the required Professional Responsibility class in law school (15-20 years ago) started off with the anecdote that the requirement for an ethics class and ethics exam for lawyers was a direct consequence of unethical legal conduct by Nixon's lawyers during Watergate.

Image of a stack of books with the following text: "You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper is in flames." Lloyd Jones

📚💙 #Readers

and how that human approach limits our ability to recognize life and consciousness that fit outside of our reasoning. The afterward confirmed some of that for me and I kind of wish, if it were possible in a non-spoiler way, to have had an intro that prepared the reader more.

I wish that it had an introduction that set me up for the right way to approach the text. I read the first 2/3s with the impression is was some type of psychological thriller set in space based on how the novel starts.

Finally realized Lem was offering a critique of how humans approach knowledge

6/6
the subsequent narrative of Odysseus and Diomedes, are obvious signs that the Trojans had free movement in and out of their city.

5/6
This quote from Agamemnon illustrates the point. This is the night when Odysseus and Diomedes will go on a stealth mission into the Trojan camp. Both this description by Homer of Agamemnon seeing the campfires of the Trojans outside of the Troy, and

4/6
In late antiquity and later in the medieval period, writers added a lot to the original Trojan War myth. It's possible that one of those later writers introduced more siege lack elements in their retelling, but I don't find them in Homer's poem).

3/6
never actually surrounded and besieged Troy. This is one of the reasons the war lasted 10 years. There was no pressure put on the food supply of the Trojans. (I should be clear here that this paragraph applies to Homer's version of the Trojan War.

2/6
And now as he glanced back at Achaea’s troops and ships
he tore out his hair by the roots.”

I see the phrase "Siege of Troy" used sometimes instead of the "Trojan War", but in Homer's Iliad, there really is no siege of Troy by the Greeks. The invaders stay camped at the beach by their ships and

1/66
From Book 10 of Fagles's translation of The Iliad:
“Now as he scanned across the Trojan plain
Agamemnon marveled in horror at those fires,
a thousand fires blazing against the walls of Troy,
and the shrill of pipes and flutes and low roar of men.
#Classics #Myth

Imagine of a Facebook post by user "The 42 Collective" White text over a black background: "Have you tried turning your existential dread off and on again?"

All of my money goes to fancy books now. It's a horrible addiction. Send help.

Photo shows the front and back covers as well as the spine of a clothbound edition of the novel Solaris. The design on the cover stars dark at the bottom and then slowly shifts to a pink, finally shifting to blue to show the sky.

Newest addition to the pretty book collection: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, translated by Bill Johnston and published by Conversation Tree Press in Canada

🪐📚💙

#SmallPress

Confession time for fellow Oxford Comma enthusiasts.

If you're quoting another writer's work, and that heretical writer does not use the Oxford Comma, do you add it in?

Any devilish person drop a [sic] after a blank space?

Brown tortoiseshell Maine Coon cat sits in front of bookshelf.

Zora and books.
🐈‍⬛📷 📚💙
#Cats

White text over black and white photo: “Feel no fear before the multitude of men, do not run in panic, but let each man bear his shield straight toward the fore-fighters, regarding his own life as hateful and holding the dark spirits of death as dear as the radiance of the sun. For you know how destructive are the deeds of Ares, extorter of tears, and you have learned well the temper of grievous war.” Translated by Andrew M. Miller. Fragment 11

If you like the close combat of tightly packed ranks of hoplites, the poetry of Tyrtaeus brilliantly evokes the scene.

#Classics
#Poetry
#War

This made me cackle.

Social media post by "your friend myk" twittter/X alias @mykola: "Unpopular fantasy opinion: dragons shit gold. That's why the lairs are filled with it, etc., they don't collect it they create it. Think about it--do you ever see dragons bringing sacks of gold home? No, it's whole cows. Then time passes, then there's gold. Not rocket science."

I'm enough of a historical nerd that sometimes when reading Fantasy, I find myself asking, 'what economy supports an army this large? How are they feeding all of these people?"

As that type of person, I absolutely love this as an explanation.
🪐📚💙 #fantasy

Disability Pride Month Book Bonanza Part One by DiannaGunn and 20 others Disability Pride Month Book Bonanza Part One: 20 items for $30.00

Check out the #disability #pride bundle! I have a queer sci fi book in this bundle! Brought to you by @diannalgunn.bsky.social

Perfect ending for a Friday.

Even more adorable. 🐈‍⬛📷

Brown tortoiseshell Maine Coon cat lies curled up in the picture taker’s lap

My snuggle buddy today.
🐈‍⬛📷 #Cats #CatsOfBlueSky
#MaineCoon

Going to call that episode "Strange New Walking Dead". 😉

#StarTrek