(click to navigate to the full size image)
I find all this mater with the (in)famous cartoons and the violence that's been raised very disturbing and all too familiar. Historical novelling has this effect: you find the same patterns over and over.
Maybe we are in need of a new Mahattma Ghandi, or a new brain surgery... Surely the last is easier.
Kallisti!
4 comments:
Yep, the only thing we learn out of history seems to be that we don't learn anything. And that we believe it will be different because we have better weapons.
Napoleon got stuck in Russian snow and mud, but did that keep Hitler from invading the place? No. In the end, the crusades were lost, but did that keep Bush from invading Iraq? No. Though I have some doubts he has ever heard about the crusades to begin with. ;-)
Whats happenning is really sad. I guess people want excuses to behave offensively, (TRhis applies to the Danes doing the cartoons and the rioters).
On another note I hope you are doing well.
How is the book cominmg and did you get my last comment I posted a link to a really great Sumerian literature site.
Pierre
Pierre, thanks for your thoughts. I agree, freedom of speach also means responsibility of what you say, and respect should be over other agendas, but this goes for all parties involved...
As for myself, I'm doing okay. I'm planning the Battle of Memphis, I'll surely post the Grand Plan one of these days, for my readers comments, and will try to get to writing it ASAP. In the meantime I've been slowly writing the Spartan part, but I'm starting to think it's better if I don't tell everything up to the Battle of Tanagra, and leave it as a hanger and end of Part II. Then on Part III we have all the (Persian) Empire Strikes Back, which, incidentally, is probably the best Star Wars movie ever.
What do you think?
Hope your doing okay, best regards! (reply also emailed)
What do I think!!
What do I think!!
Well on a more serious level, given that you are writing a novel I think you should follow what your creative instincts are telling you are useful for the plot.
However since you are endeavouring to be historically accurate, (despite the extreme paucity of information), I think it would be a good idea somewhere in the Novel to very briefly sumarize whats going on in Greece. I.E., Sparta's partial paralysis due to trouble with her allies and the Helot revolt, Athens involvement in whats called the First Peloponnesian War. Certainly I do hope you had something about Persian interference, like Megabazus's visit. (Which I believe you wrote up). Frankly I think that when Athens intervened in Egypt it committed an act of folly, quite needlessly provoking the Persians, When to put it bluntly Athens was in no real position to make it stick. After all their disasters in the invasion of Greece and later conflict (The Athenian victory of Eurymedon etc.) I frankly suspect the Persians wewrn't interested in much beside a holding operation against the Greeks. Like many empires border conflicts with "barbarians" were almost always tagential, "nuisance" issues. Certainly I don't think the Persians were obssessing about Greece in 461 B.C.E. Then the Athenians massively intervere in Egypt a very important Persian Satrapy, and of course they were basically unable to deal with the predictably massive Persian response. What I see is that Athenian eyes were much bigger than their stomachs. It is in my opinion very fortunate for Athens that apparently for much of the 450's, 440's and 430's B.C.E., the Persians were apparently dealing with massive internal problems, (its theorized a drought in certain key provinces, along with serious wars against Central Asian nomads perhjaps some revolts) Its important to realize that to the Persians the Greeks were not ussually that important and that the Greek focus of surviving histories massively magnifies Greek importance in relation to Persia.
To but it simply certain Athenian politicians, and their supporters fell victim to hubrius with predicatable consequences. What amazes me is the apparent ease with which this was decided. I suspect, (and hope) someone at least warned that this was likely a bad idea. (Do you have a "Cassandra" in your book?)
Just some thoughts.
Pierre
Post a Comment