Age of Bronze is definitely the business - Eric Shanower has done a terrific amount of reading up of all the ancient to medieval sources on the Troy story and dug up plenty of stories I'd never heard before. He also supplies a bibliography which helped me find lesser known ancient works such as The Argonautica (two versions), Quintus' "The fall of troy", the various Greek tragedies and Dictys and Dares. None are as good as the Iliad, but they are still useful sources.
Oh - and for info on Patroklos' childhood, Appollodorus' "Library of Greek Mythology" has good info; another Shanower recommendation!
The artwork in AOB is also beautiful and the Achilles - Patroklos love affair is realistically handled. And I like the sensitivity of it - there is a family resemblence between relatives, such as Helen and Clytemnestra and Ajax and Teukros. As far as I know you can still buy the books through Shanower's site (I think it's age-of-bronze-com? not quite sure!) or amazon or abe. I bought the first two; I also still subscribe to the comic. Progress has been slow of late but I stick with it!
Wasn't Troy horrible? What a disaster! How can they manage to wreck such a good story? Patroklos is my favourite character of the Trojan War (Achilles isn't high on the list, actually - my next favourites are actually Teukros and Ajax!) The only good film I've seen recently around this theme is a version of the Odyssey which stuck very close to the original plot.
Manfredi is bottom of my list too! I managed to pick the books up for free somewhere but I didn't bother to do anything but skim them; I tend to judge a book by its Hephaestion and Manfredi's was a total dork - or a complete git, to put it the British way... and Alexander was far too gung-ho for my liking. If you hate Manfredi avoid Michael Messmore - he's a lot worse and his books are badly written to add insult to injury.
Stephen Pressfield (Virtues of War) could also be accused of a little homophobia, but I defend him - granted he sidesteps the physical aspects of Alexander and Hephaestion's relationship but Alexander clearly loves Hephaestion (and admires his good looks on more than one occasion.) If Pressfield chooses to portray a platonic love affair, I don't think it deserves the death penalty! His rejection of the sacred band as an army of lovers is pretty silly though. Reminds me a bit of "300", the bonkers film about Leonidas and the Spartans, which has the Spartans mocking the Athenians as "boy-lovers" when in reality homosexuality was a big part of Spartan life.
I read about half of Virtues of War. Alexander seemed just this side of whacko to me in that one, but I thought it was cool how the difference between Hephaestion and Craterus was portrayed. So I could go either way with him, I suppose.
I have both versions of the Argonautica, although Gaius Valerius Flaccus went and put at the end that Medea and Achilles were married in the afterlife, and I have The Fall of Troy. I was recently subscribed to Classical World (academic journal) for my birthday, which is cool cause it basically analyzes myths and is just generally cool. (ex: the importance on Achilles' speed in the Iliad)
Patroklos has always been my favourite, too. He's a lot of the reason I like Achilles, actually.
Sorry - I have no idea what's going on with this site; so far as I know I haven't received any emails recently letting me know there were comments on this journal!
I agree Pressfield's Alexander is a little bonkers - but I do think his emphasis on war and warfare was realistic. Renault's Alexander seemed too holy to go around ordering massacres, and I couldn't help but note that by telling the story from Bagoas' POV she neatly avoided Thebes, Tyre, Persepolis and some other of Alexander's less "great" moments. But that's another story! It was Pressfield's Hephaestion I really loved - by contrast, Alexander came across at the end as a bit tragic!
They've just published another installment of AOB by the way - great stuff!
They say "write what you know", and from what I've read Pressfield has actual experience with warfare; it probably adds to interest in military history, and he'd certainly know the emotions attached.
As for Mary Renault. Well now...I've read several articles saying that Bagoas is actually dangerously close to a self-insertion. It's a little frustrating to read a book in which ninety percent of the comments about one of your favourite historical figures--even those not said outright--demonize him. Because as much as Alexander loved Hephaestion in her books, it was really only Bagoas that made him happy. (I promised myself before writing this I would complain not too much >.<)
There's something very frustrating, though, about realizing how little you know about a topic you like so much. I wonder if it makes me take writing a little too seriously...
Oh - and for info on Patroklos' childhood, Appollodorus' "Library of Greek Mythology" has good info; another Shanower recommendation!
The artwork in AOB is also beautiful and the Achilles - Patroklos love affair is realistically handled. And I like the sensitivity of it - there is a family resemblence between relatives, such as Helen and Clytemnestra and Ajax and Teukros. As far as I know you can still buy the books through Shanower's site (I think it's age-of-bronze-com? not quite sure!) or amazon or abe. I bought the first two; I also still subscribe to the comic. Progress has been slow of late but I stick with it!
Wasn't Troy horrible? What a disaster! How can they manage to wreck such a good story? Patroklos is my favourite character of the Trojan War (Achilles isn't high on the list, actually - my next favourites are actually Teukros and Ajax!) The only good film I've seen recently around this theme is a version of the Odyssey which stuck very close to the original plot.
Manfredi is bottom of my list too! I managed to pick the books up for free somewhere but I didn't bother to do anything but skim them; I tend to judge a book by its Hephaestion and Manfredi's was a total dork - or a complete git, to put it the British way... and Alexander was far too gung-ho for my liking. If you hate Manfredi avoid Michael Messmore - he's a lot worse and his books are badly written to add insult to injury.
Stephen Pressfield (Virtues of War) could also be accused of a little homophobia, but I defend him - granted he sidesteps the physical aspects of Alexander and Hephaestion's relationship but Alexander clearly loves Hephaestion (and admires his good looks on more than one occasion.) If Pressfield chooses to portray a platonic love affair, I don't think it deserves the death penalty! His rejection of the sacred band as an army of lovers is pretty silly though. Reminds me a bit of "300", the bonkers film about Leonidas and the Spartans, which has the Spartans mocking the Athenians as "boy-lovers" when in reality homosexuality was a big part of Spartan life.
Sorry - I do bang on! Hope this is useful!
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I have both versions of the Argonautica, although Gaius Valerius Flaccus went and put at the end that Medea and Achilles were married in the afterlife, and I have The Fall of Troy. I was recently subscribed to Classical World (academic journal) for my birthday, which is cool cause it basically analyzes myths and is just generally cool. (ex: the importance on Achilles' speed in the Iliad)
Patroklos has always been my favourite, too. He's a lot of the reason I like Achilles, actually.
I tend to go on, too, so don't worry about it.
Reply
I agree Pressfield's Alexander is a little bonkers - but I do think his emphasis on war and warfare was realistic. Renault's Alexander seemed too holy to go around ordering massacres, and I couldn't help but note that by telling the story from Bagoas' POV she neatly avoided Thebes, Tyre, Persepolis and some other of Alexander's less "great" moments. But that's another story! It was Pressfield's Hephaestion I really loved - by contrast, Alexander came across at the end as a bit tragic!
They've just published another installment of AOB by the way - great stuff!
Reply
They say "write what you know", and from what I've read Pressfield has actual experience with warfare; it probably adds to interest in military history, and he'd certainly know the emotions attached.
As for Mary Renault. Well now...I've read several articles saying that Bagoas is actually dangerously close to a self-insertion. It's a little frustrating to read a book in which ninety percent of the comments about one of your favourite historical figures--even those not said outright--demonize him. Because as much as Alexander loved Hephaestion in her books, it was really only Bagoas that made him happy. (I promised myself before writing this I would complain not too much >.<)
There's something very frustrating, though, about realizing how little you know about a topic you like so much. I wonder if it makes me take writing a little too seriously...
Reply
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