Comments | naamah_darling: Literary help.

naamah_darling

Literary help.

Jan 09, 2011 04:08

This is eating my brain.

Could someone who has Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint-Germain series look up the name of the Roman horse race in (I THINK it was) Blood Games? The horse race that was conducted through the city and not in an arena. I'm trying to find more information about that sort of race historically, but I borrowed those books to read ( Read more... )

burning questions

Comments 15

liminalia January 9 2011, 12:12:29 UTC

Was it the Palio in Siena?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena

naamah_darling January 9 2011, 12:59:09 UTC

It very well might have been! Thank you! That's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for and couldn't find!

tlatoani January 9 2011, 13:54:16 UTC

That was my first reaction, but that race isn't Roman-era. It's 17th-century (with predecessor events back to the 15th). (Which means I may have screwed up in my 1635 Flashing Blades campaign by referencing it when they were in Siena, damn.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena

naamah_darling January 10 2011, 00:38:15 UTC

That works just as well if not better for me, though, so thanks!

diatryma January 9 2011, 15:17:23 UTC

I looked at those books once in the library because people seem to like them, but I couldn't find a starting point and that *bothers* me. Where do you recommend starting?

naamah_darling January 9 2011, 20:17:46 UTC

The same way I do with any series that's long, and spans a long time, and wasn't written in chronological order:

Find a spot and jump in. You can choose to start at the first one written or the first one chronologically, but really, the best thing might be to look into which ones are the "good" ones, and start with a couple of those, which is what I did.

nolawitch January 9 2011, 16:51:03 UTC

I've got my hardcover copy. In what part of the book did the race occur? I'm busy prepping a frankensystem computer for its new home and don't have time to reread it. Give me a ballpark and I'll find it for you.

mythicalgirl January 9 2011, 17:34:37 UTC

Are you thinking of the October Horse? It was a chariot race at the Campus Martius. The right-hand horse of the winning chariot would be sacrificed to Mars and then the citizens of the Via Sacra and the Suburra would fight for the the head.

naamah_darling January 9 2011, 20:19:24 UTC

Unfortunately, no, this wasn't a chariot race, although that sounds . . . colorful. *lol*

tripleransom January 9 2011, 18:13:44 UTC

Sounds charming, if a bit rough on the winning horse...