#xanthiasonadonkey

[theancientgeekoroman]

For the classics ask meme: 4, 9, 10, 20

Ooooh, yay! Thank you for asking :D

4. Hell is reading [………] forever

I’m going to have to say Lucretius. 

9. Which Enemy of Rome do you cheer for?

Queen Boudicca, without a doubt!

10. Which lyric poet, not including Sappho, is best?

If I can’t pick Sappho, it’s going to be Catullus(I can relate to someone that attached to their napkins)

20. What’s your epithet?

I did a quiz for this! I believe it was delighting in thunder

[enemyofrome]

Top 5 antiquity-related things that make you happy?

thank you!! :D

Hannibal beating up the Romans (+ corollary: historians gushing about Hannibal beating up the Romans)

those silver shekels from Punic Spain that may or may not be of the Barcids–even if they’re not, they’re sexy

literally anything Mark Antony did in his entire life

the fact that there are so many paintings of Romans pooping in a circle in their public latrines idfk

when my Latin textbook makes me translate sentences like, “There will have to be a dying by you”

[ask me my top 5 anything!]

[athensandspartaadventures]

xanthiasonadonkey replied to your post: “judiejodia replied to your photo: “Athens and Sparta Adventures:...”:

I am an Athens stan forever and always, but... HOMER!! This spinoff would be a blast.

i always feel the need to put a Do Not Stan the Athens It Ruins His Appetite disclaimer on everything and yet xDD

haha.. well... when i get my copy of the Iliad back we will see what happens xD 

[enemyofrome]

For the ask: 2, 8, 15, 20

2. Best thing about antiquity.

how it’s so ancient and faraway as to feel like another world altogether, but at the same time so relatable–you read Cicero’s letters telling Atticus about his life and kids and the people he’s annoyed with, or see vase art of sad Greeks wrapped in blankets, and you’re like oh, yeah, that’s me, because people have always been people and that’s amazing

as a writer, i also love (and hate) how the answer to so many classics-related questions is “we just don’t know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯” because that gives me so much leeway to read between the lines and come up with headcanons for Why They Do Dat. it’s just so much fun

8. Best “Homeric” hymn.

the one about Dionysus and the pirates, that’s badass

15. Most badass epithet.

Hecate’s epithet Nyktipolos / night-wandering

20. Answer a classics-related question you wish you were asked (more) often.

HELL YEAH BLESS YOU LET ME TALK ABOUT MY FAVOURITE UNDERAPPRECIATED THINGS THE BARCIDS DID

during the First Punic War Hamilcar asked the Roman consul Fundanius for a truce to bury his dead but was refused; later, when Fundanius himself took heavy losses and had to make the same request, Hamilcar agreed, saying that his “quarrel was with the living and not with the dead”

the stories of Hamilcar’s death: he allegedly drowned riding headlong into a river to draw pursuit away from his two teenage sons when their party fell into an ambush

Mago pouring out three measures’ worth of Roman senators’ rings in front of the Senate House in Carthage

the time the Romans deadass sold the piece of land on which Hannibal’s army was encamped “with no diminution in its price”, and he was so Offended he “immediately summoned an auctioneer and ordered the bankers’ shops around the Forum to be put up for sale”–thank you Livy for this classic piece of saltiness

the time in Spain when Hasdrubal got cornered in the mountains by C. Claudius Nero and managed to extricate his entire army with a lot of fast talking

Hasdrubal giving Scipio the slip, crossing the Alps in a fraction of the time it took Hannibal & with a fraction of the losses, and showing up in Italy 10 years late with reinforcements (only to GET DECAPITATED I will never stop being upset about that)

when Hannibal was recognised by some Phoenician sailors while he was in exile, he invited them to a feast on the beach, told them to take down their ships’ sails and use them as awnings bc it was hot, got them all drunk, and sailed away while they were hungover and their ships were dismantled

Hannibal inviting Scipio to stay with him in Ephesus

[send me classics questions!]

[athensandspartaadventures]

xanthiasonadonkey replied to your post: “xanthiasonadonkey replied to your post: “judiejodia replied to your...”:

Sorry, can't help it. You made Athens too charismatic for me not to stan him! Which is very accurate, because in reality for all it's failings the city of Pallas still had so much to admire. Especially when compared to the other cultures of that time, instead of our modern sensibilities. So... please take the illegal stanning as a sign that your portrayal of him is faithful, even if you dislike it and prefer Sparta-san =^_^=

hahaha when you put it that way xDD;; tbh I wouldn’t say I necessarily prefer Sparta since he’s not particularly dependable and in his own way is also obsessed with maintaining his reputation at whatever cost... and in all honesty Athens is farrr easier to write because he taps into something visceral somehow xD; But I’m glad I’ve been able to produce characters that people latch onto regardless -u-

[acetechne]

xanthiasonadonkey replied to your photo: “i know i keep getting these little boosts where im like YEAH im gonna...”:

Your Athens is such a treasure. Just the right mix of ridiculous and charismatic.

always a pleasure to hear :’) just dont tell him that lest it go to his head

[enemyofrome]

A historical figure you remind me of? Silenos of Kaleakte, probs. Not difficult to guess why :-D

a disseminator of barcid propaganda? DEFINITELY ME

[dapurinthos]

for the questions, questions ask meme: 5, 9,19, 20

5. Best lyric poet.

I mean, we all love Sappho and Sappho should definitely be the answer to this, but other than that, it’s Pindar because of the dithyrambs. 

9. Your man/woman in the Iliad.

Helen, who is anyone and no one at the same time.

19. Would you vote Hannibal Barca for president? 

For pure ability at pissing off oligarchs, yes.

20. Answer a classics-related question you wish you were asked (more) often.

I just want to know why people insist on accepting folk etymologies as fact.