classicsdiditbetter

[classicsdiditbetter]

Handel's Messiah

My inspiration for the last post was a vinyl I picked up - and believe it or not, it's the same for this one. My local store has a $1 classical records section that I'm pretty sure myself and one other person frequent, and while I was looking through it, I found a record of the first recording done for Handel's Messiah. I've heard it performed several times and cry nonstop every. single. time. I'm sure anyone reading this has probably heard it, but you really should listen to the full performance - never mind that it's over 2 hours long. As a Christian myself, it's very impactful, but I think it's a beautiful piece of music for anyone to listen to. It's a masterwork.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Pathetique

This is my favorite of Tchaikovsky's works. I'd forgotten how much I loved it until I picked up a vinyl of it the other day and fell in love all over again. It's French for melancholic, NOT pathetic, but it's funny how that works out in English. He died only a few months after finishing this symphony, so there's quite a bit of conjecture about it - hence why it's so famous-, but I learned about it from TwoSet violin several years ago and have been obsessed ever since. I love melancholy pieces - I think the idea of being melancholy is sort of overlooked in media today. Maybe that's why I love Pathetique so much, because I can't find anything like it elsewhere. You should all listen to it. It's truly incredible.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Arrian

Arrian is one of the 3 primary sources we have about Alexander the Great, and the closest we get to Ptolemy, one of Alexander's closest Friends (capital F necessary). It would be sick if we had Ptolemy's writings, but we're left to Arrian's interpretation. Arrian comes at Alexander the Great from a militaristic standpoint, so many of the things he does that don't seem to make sense coming from Diodorus, Plutarch, or Curtius seem clearer. Someone in my class describes Arrian as being an Alexander fanboy. He criticizes Alexander maybe once or twice by book 5. If you need any kind of source for Alexander's military history, look at Arrian, but if you want something for fun... read Plutarch.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Carthago Delenda Est.

Cato the Elder ended every statement with 'Carthago delenda est' - Latin for 'Carthage must be destroyed.' As a Latin minor, remembering this phrase has been an actual question on quizzes, and personally one of the funnier things we learn about. I just love the image, true or not, that Cato would go up to people, introduce himself, and end a friendly conversation with Carthago delenda est. Realistically, it was that he, an orator in Athens, ended every speech given with the phrase because he truly believed that Carthage - a city in North Africa and the birthplace of Hannibal - was too dangerous to be left standing. He eventually gets his way, of course. Carthage is obliterated, and he no longer has to end every statement with 'carthago delenda est.' If you're even considering taking up Latin, you absolutely should; there's so many gems like this.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Plato's Protagoras

I read part of this for my paper on Sparta, and absolutely love this particular section about the philosophy of the Lacedaemonians (the Spartans) - Plato says that they are great philosophers because of their brevity. They pretend not to be philosophical, but they hold what he calls a "philosophical seance," managing it by keeping their men from leaving the Laconian cities. Everything they say is short but apparently highly meaningful, and it's not just the men who are philosophical - it's also the women. Now, Plato does say that the style of this philosophy is somewhat primitive, but in a lot of ways he might be right. The Spartan laws aren't exactly accurate to what we see anecdotally, so I would really encourage anyone looking for information to look at Plato, Plutarch, Aristotle, and Xenophon, then compare those anecdotes to the Spartan constitution. What the Spartans say is so often the opposite of what they do.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Queen Gorgo of Sparta

As I'm working on a term paper for a 4th century class, I've been studying the Spartans pretty extensively, and what's most interesting to me is how often Spartan women are mentioned. Plato's Protagoras, Aristotle's Politics - women are set up as being very important to the Spartan system. Contrary to popular belief, we actually don't have any physical evidence to suggest that infanticide was common amongst the Spartans, but we do have evidence to suggest the power women held. Gorgo is the daughter of a Spartan king and later the wife of another, and she's documented repeatedly for speaking during meetings. Most famously, though, she's known for an Athenian woman marveling at the power of Spartan women over the men (meaning Gorgo had enough freedom to travel, as foreigners were usually not allowed into Sparta) and responding with: "Because we are the only ones who birth [real] men!" It's fascinating that she's actually recorded; we know that at one point early in life she advises her father and is heeded. Spartan society is so interesting because of the Spartan mirage - the ideals versus what's actually happening.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility is my favorite story of Jane Austen's. I love Pride and Prejudice, and of course Emma, but there's something about Sense and Sensibility that I just love. It's all the yearning that romance really should be, and in keeping with Jane Austen's tendency to name the book after the primary complication, it really is all about having sense and sensibility. I can't exactly pin down what it is about it that I love so much; it might very well be I saw Alan Rickman in the film and the story itself has been in my mind ever since. But maybe it's that, despite being published in 1811, the base concepts of romance and interaction really do feel as they do today. A book that underscores what it means to be human is a book that must be read. If you haven't watched it, you should see the 1995 film version; it does a wonderful job of bringing the story to life and I cried, which I haven't done after a movie in a long time. If nothing else, watch it for Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Xenophon's Constitution of the Lacedaemonians

I'm reading through Xenophon's minor works for a term paper, and Lycurgus - accredited with the creation of the Spartan constitution and system of government - was really insane. I thought it would be somewhat dry, but I was laughing the entire time. According to Xenophon, Lycurgus believed that husbands should be ashamed to be seen leaving their wives' bedrooms, as being together infrequently would cause more passion, which in turn would produce stronger, more vigorous children. Reading this, there's really no wonder why the Spartans suffered such a manpower issue; this on top of the agoge and eugenics set them up for failure.

He also talks about modesty for several paragraphs before then explaining that, if a man does not want to live with a wife - what a drag - he can approach a woman's husband and ask to beget children with her. I've always been a bit confused by this considering that the Greeks are technically considered to be monogamous, but it's quite interesting to see how the Spartans define virtue and strength, then witness the application of it. I'd really encourage anyone interested to read the Constitution of the Lacedaemonians; it's full of things like that, and I really have to wonder how and if they managed to convince couples to be ashamed of each other.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is so fascinating in part because Sir Gawain is sort of a terrible knight. He's mentioned quite frequently in other stories from this time period - most of said mentions being somewhat disparaging - and he's not complimentary of himself, either. When the Green Knight rides into the hall, Sir Gawain offers to participate in his game, as he believes this to be below King Arthur and the other knights of the round table. At the very end of the tale, all of the others receive him well for having survived, but Gawain knows the truth - that he was harmed because he failed to complete the game with total honesty.

I also think part of the reason it's so interesting is because I adore Lord of the Rings. My final paper for a literature course was actually about Fellowship of the Ring and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It makes sense that Tolkien would have been so influenced: he's responsible for a translation of the tale, and has written that Lord of the Rings is a Christian text - as is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, given its place in twelfth century Europe. It's a really fascinating tale that is so fundamental to a series which changed the fantasy genre forever (ex. the stereotype of a wizard was created by Gandalf), and so I think if you love LotR, you should really read Sir Gawain! It's such a fun read and I personally adored it.

[classicsdiditbetter]

Tristan and Iseult

There are so many versions of this tale from its original period in the 12th century, and the spelling of Iseult changes throughout different versions, but the basic story remains the same. There's some debate as to the nature of their romance - in some stories, they fall in love before Iseult is promised to Marke, but in the translation I've read, Iseult's mother gives her a love potion meant for the king. One of Iseult's servants accidentally serves this to Tristan and Iseult as he brings her to the wedding, forcing them to fall in love and beginning a series of tragedies until Tristan passes. The recent film version, though I personally enjoyed it, actually misses several important points - at the end of the tale, two trees grow entwined together, an embodiment of Tristan and Iseult's love. Marke cuts these trees down over and over, but it never works; the trees keep growing. For this to work, both Tristan and Iseult must be dead - but in the film, Iseult lives. For whatever reason, a lot of films depicting medieval tales seem to miss the point. I would really encourage everyone watching one of these films to go out and find the text it's based on; there's no harm in reading the story, and it's a wonderful story I think more people should read - and Wagner's three act opera, which I would do just about anything to see in person.

[classicsdiditbetter]

The Lady of Shalott

My favorite painting is The Lady of Shallot by John William Waterhouse in 1888, based on the poem written some years before by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (one of the most popular poets in the Victorian era). I've linked it here through the poetry foundation. The fifth line of each stanza in ends with 'Camelot', and the last ends in Shalott; only twice does this change. It's a beautiful but melancholy poem that I really believe everyone should read, if only because it makes the painting all the more real. The Lady of Shalott is confined to a tower and can look at the rest of the world through only a mirror as the result of a curse. The nature of curse, though she knows she bears one, is a mystery to her, and she spends her days at a loom, which depicts that which she views through the mirror. She sees Sir Lancelot riding out of Camelot one day and, finding him striking, turns to look. The mirror cracks and, having limited time, she hurries out of her tower and floats down the river by boat singing her swansong before dying. Waterhouse painted two other depictions of the Lady of Shalott, both of which are lovely, but my personal favorite remains the one linked above. Though influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, it is very much a romantic piece, and anything belonging to the romantic style from art to music is simply the best.

[classicsdiditbetter]

A History of My Times

A History of My Times is the translation of Xenophon's Hellenica. I picked it up this year for a course in the age surrounding Alexander the Great, and anyone really interested in the ancient period has probably read it or should do so. As far as history goes, it's not technically the most accurate - refer to Diodorus Seculus for dates, generally speaking - but it's quite helpful for some insight into Spartan ideals versus what was actually happening to them, if you read between the lines. Xenophon won't mention any of the Theban generals until the very end, and leaves out their involvement in various scenarios frequently, but once the initial confusion is out of the way, ridiculously funny. Once you know that Epaminondas was present at a battle, and you know that he had a considerable amount of influence as to how it went, it's so funny that Xenophon ignores him entirely. Sparta always seems to win (even if they were routed) and when they do lose, it's not really a loss because it worked out for them in the end. He writes the Hellenica at the end of his life, after he's witnessed the fall of Spartan hegemony, so it's this bitter outlook that tries to explain away why it all happened.