I'm gonna be real with you, tumblr I dislike the trend I have seen for a while of a minority of people that do claim to do their research with stories regarding Greek mythology or ancient Greek stories and absolutely, without shame disregard the environmental aspects of it. Not just erasing some stuff like the importance of legumes, but also genuinely erasing normal flowers with exotic ones or making crap up with no reason that would be fixed with a normal googling. It makes me sad but, I prefer helping instead. This is not a post meant for people that write for writing which is A OK. No, this is for the people that claim to do their extensive research and end up painting the flat image they were trying to avoid or end up making more mistakes. Example peaches or lemons on Mykenaean Greece. I'm no authority whatsoever but a fellow research so If y'all need help here are some my tips: - iNaturalist is a really good tool for a general idea. Type location you want and a huge array of species will appear. Choose Native and it will clean your feed from exotic or invasive species. - Flora ionica is a German web in English that has the flora of the Ionian islands - My library (Ulises' library/la biblioteca de Ulises) will have stuff updated and if you really, really have a question do this. "topic you want to research" pdf. Most sources I use: Wikipedia, iNaturalist, Flora Ionica, Greek Forest Map, Köppen climate classification, It will send you to ResearchGate or any other paper you may need. Reiterating. This is not mandatory to anyone. but, if you are a writer that wants to understand a better image of our beloved stories, this aids so much in your path plus it makes a more lived on worldbuilding to: whoever says they did research without sources and passes rosemary as a strange plant or says oak is the same. (this also applies to any type of story btw, even outside Greek myth)
Exactly.
Not only just with Ancient Greek or Mediterranean areas but rather as a whole in many other takes and tales. An example would be Homer, who spends many lines describing the enviorment with direct words not like: the fragrant dark tree which's leaves look like...." no. Homer goes: this is an olk-helm, a cypress, and fragrant cedar tree. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter says the flowers Persephone was taking: rose, saffron, violets, iris, hyacinth and narcissus.
That's it.
it is unfortunately that I feel the climates of many period pieces have been shaped not by research but by the desire to achieve a specific aesthetic... This is specifically evident with classical pieces and as you mentioned including stuff like lemon trees and other fruits that were simply not present there? It's chasing a feeling for someone to read your book and experience rather than a setting for them to be immersed in.
but really, the Homeric Mediterranean WAS beautiful without these neoclassical inventions and people need to realise that.
The Homeric Mediterrean IS beautiful. I dislike the idea that the ancient Mediterranean is not alive, it is. Not as much but it really is. The trees have not been erased they still exist as before just younger not older. Heck the mediterranean forest is pyrophile and needs wildfires to turn back (natural ones, not human made ones) But we still have forests with the same tree composition as the Homeric ones, different? sure, but still the same core species. Anyways, back to topic. What I really start to see is something and is the subliminal reitaration that there is only one type of correct Mediterranean and that is the Thyrrenian and Aegean one when no, it is not. And even then is the type of Mediterranean that is only found in touristic areas such as Liguria, Sicilia, Aegean islands, Attika, etc. And more so, an specific one of the times of Northern European/American's elite areas for Summer. Because most details that they throw in their tales roughly correspond to the XIX-XX century ideal for tourist destination. Again homegenization and touristification of the area. Again, it is regurgating an already tired idea and making it look "ancient". Which is funny in itself for they always miss the mark and end up writing stories that only work in their narrative framework, example: kissing. Kissing in the mouth, cheeks or hands was not seen as purely romantic nor cheeks, hands are. A normal retelling author would write a king kissing a king in the lips with homoerotical subtones when in reality it was just protocol and nothing special (really rough example) The enviorment they paint is so off, and I will say it, there is this strange obsession with olive trees (Olea europea) that is so distasteful. It is emblematic, it is crucial for our area for it is a bioindicator of mediterranean climate and intrisic part of our stories but, it is not in the way I've seen it done. Not everywhere is just olive tree groves, there are many many other trees such oak-helm, oaks, beeches, cypress, pine trees (P. maritima, nigra, halepessensis you decide), etc... and we are not going to talk about flowers because only just with the Asteraceae (daisy family).
So the feeling or aesthetic they try to emulate or create is based on a misinterpretation of a really concrete time that it is not even close to the multitude of realities that existed, exist and will continue to exist.
The aspect of kissing in particular has me rolling myself. I am seriously sick and tired of people seeing a text with heroes let's say Odysseus and his men embrace and as they say "attack him with kisses" and I see commens like "ha! Gay"
Bro...why?
And yes the peck on the lips among kings in medieval times was yet another form of handshake or greeting because it signified the exchange of truthful words. And no it was not a full on mouth sucking lip-locking. Just a peck. Only a few people did that in their stories. One was RR Martin's series where we see the goodbye kiss of Myrcella (and even then of course they did that with women and not to other examples from the book. Unless my greek translation was bad, John Snow says goodbye to his unconscious brother before he goes to the Wall with a peck against his lips) and we do not see that in most retellings
Or sharing beds. Sharing beds historically could be about lovemaking but it was also done for diplomacy. Medieval kings would also share a bed together to indicate mutual trust etc
And you know what the worst part is? That we do many of these to this day so it is not like it is detached from us. Yes stuff like pecks on the lips were reserved for romance only but others like hugs kisses on cheeks and such or even sharing bed during sleepovers is very darn common so I am not sure why people have allergic reaction from admitting these or even genuinely knowledgeable writers who just do not wish to spend the rest of their lives explaining their intentions to their readers I still do not encourage that. Like...show these! If you care for the past show these!
As for nature is so interesting because Greece has over 3000 species of plants so I find it even kinda "insulting" that they do not think any of them are interesting enough to show and we need "enrichment" with "exotic" stuff because yeah surely Greek flora is not interesting enough...clearly not.
Exactly, is just ascribing certain forms of modern romance as universal and unmovable when it was never the case to begin with T T
I spent my childhood sleeping beside my friends, cousins and everything and many many sticky summers under a ceiling fan spending time playin' pokémon, cards and much more. People outside came and went and what were we supposed to do? Hug, kiss on the cheek, start talking and it didn't mattered if you liked or nor the person. Heck it was funny when you are forced to do this with your crush because the normal tactic was the handshake and shy gaze. But back to the post hahaha.
As for nature is so interesting because Greece has over 3000 species of plants so I find it even kinda "insulting" that they do not think any of them are interesting enough to show and we need "enrichment" with "exotic" stuff because yeah surely Greek flora is not interesting enough...clearly not.
It is something, that sadly happens to every country represented here. Not only is Greece alongside the Mediterranean a biological hotspot but that it also has many endemic species all worth of note and protection.
The standarization of Mediterranean enviorments and tbh everywhere is so sad, for us writers, displace everything into a norm that never was one at the start. It's sad and harrowing seeing the same regurgitated stuff over and over again.
