#aasa sparta

[athensandspartaadventures]

Hi Hapo, would you mind play the OC Askbox with Aasa characters? If so I would like 10 for everyone and 15 for Sparta.

[anon is probably referring to this meme on my main blog]

10. Free Space #1: Which of your OCs would be most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse? Which would die immediately?

I'll do a handful of the major characters, I don't know offhand what the more minor characters would do and I'd have to think about that longer, haha.

I mean, [spoilers] given how the great plague of Athens really instilled this sense of hopelessness and "every man for himself" and "dont care about other people because thats how you get infected", Athens would gain a handful of points on being self sufficient (but very quickly succumb anyway and get himself in some avoidable situation)

Sparta would refuse to acknowledge it was happening but wouldn't actually have any defenses against either the zombies or the hordes of people fleeing the situation to come take his resources, and of course he would no doubt have a helot uprising to deal with on top of that so he's already single-handedly fighting a losing battle just to look cool.

Corinth geographically would be in a secure position so long as the epidemic stayed local, and if things got dicey she would probably fuck off to Sicily or something.

Persia is a great shot and so long as he has the high ground or fast wheels he'd cut right through the zombies. His tendency to keep everyone at arms length but still rely on others for support would mostly serve him well (until he went in for a kiss or a hand hold with one of his chosen few elites who are Too Brave to admit they've been infected and omnomnom)

Ionia would be like, so busy trying to find a philosophical answer to who gets infected and why and she would get bit while arguing with some guy in the agora talking about how if we are just more righteous the whole thing will pass. (and maybe it wasn't even a zombie bite, i mean, you know how cynics are).

15. Is your character's first instinct fight or flight? Is there something that could force them to do the opposite?

Sparta's first instinct is "stand there and do nothing and stare" or "don't get involved in the first place", but I guess if say, we set him up on a road trip and he gets ambushed by a wolf or bandits or something, obviously he's going to fight because he does have a rep to uphold, even if he's going to lose.

Unless he sees them from a great enough distance that he chooses a stupid long route or turns around and goes back home, of course.

[acetechne]

Sparta A for the pose thing! >:D

no i don’t know what is happening with the colours. I WAS going to draw something more revealing but my brain went for the hoplite armour because i havent drawn it in a long time

[attichoney4u]

Welcome to another blog of "what I'm doing with my life?!". In this one, I'm presenting my own biases regarding the differences between Athens's former and ancient rival, Sparta, and Athens's current rival, Thessaloniki.

The idea came to me, since Hapo tends to do this with her characters (like between Athens and Calgary and Athens and Persia) and I wanted to give it a try.

Before we get further into this, I would like to point out that this post is created for fun and all information here is based from the work of the lovely Hapo and from stereotypes that we Greeks have about Modern Thessaloniki (and it's mostly my headcanon about the personification of the co-capital).

Note: The drawings were not made by me. They were made by @allbeendonebefore and you can check both her blogs, @athensandspartaadventures (if you want a silly comic about ancient greek city-states) and @battle-of-alberta (if you want a silly comic about canadian cities).

Now, we're talking about this, I tried to find a canadian city that matched Thessaloniki, either in personality or in vibes. I ended up settling for Grand Prairie, aka Josephine. I'm not that sure about this decision, since Josephine doesn't appear that much in the comic and Hapo, unfortunately, doesn't talk about her often, so take this with a grain of salt.

Here are some similarities between these two cities (or rather, personifications of these cities).

That's all I've got to offer! Hope you enjoyed my post and have a lovely day or night! Bye! 😚

[allbeendonebefore]

If you feel down for it, I would love to see a small crossover between your Canadian and Ancient Greek characters

since you asked so nicely p:

occasionally i think about how they're actually contemporaries today, but it's hard for me to say anything significant about Canada-Greece relations from here because most of them are based in Eastern Canada (Montreal and Athens are the only sister cities between the two nations, which certainly would make an interesting dynamic! but one may have to ask @randomoranges)

so the primary connection I know is from the University of Alberta; we have a dig site near the modern village of Kallithea (in Thessaly, south of Larissa). I do regret not going to field school when I had the opportunity; I did hear secondhand that the post-dig ice cream was excellent. Since Edith is the representative for the university, she's standing in for Ed here. If I remember correctly, which nationalities can dig where is strictly controlled by the Greek government, so I think Canadians typically work on sites in northern Greece.

The only other connection I can think of off the top of my head would be the torch lighting ceremony for Calgary's Winter Olympics...

[athensandspartaadventures]

Yes that meme's what im referring to many thx! Oh I love your answer Corinth running to Syracuse (i guess) for help is so cute and Persia's reaction is definitely the coolest (cooler than all Greeks) but watch out for your beloved subjects Persia :-D Also love the awkward way Sparta reacts to whatever immediate crisis lol. Would you mind also do 17 for Athens and 18 for major characters in aasa as well? I'm curious for your characters and really find your headcanons lovely.

for sure! and thank you :) i'm glad you enjoy them!

17. Is your character holding any grudges? Are they likely to stop?

I guess in a way the plot of AaSA is Athens's grudges, haha, he will remember something minor from the bronze age that doesn't really matter, but then he's also kind of flippant and forgets a lot of things, both his own actions and those of others. I think he's more likely to make up a grievance almost on the spot by chapter 5, though he doesn't really keep track of them (as opposed to Persia, who had to remind Darius at every meal not to forget his grudge against Athens, lol)

18. If your character were trapped on a deserted island, what three things would they want to have with them? Which person would they absolutely hate to be trapped there with? Which person would they enjoy being trapped there with?

Athens, salesman that he is, would want tons and tons of olive oil (multi purpose! long term storage! shiny skin and hair!), which of course comes with pottery, so a stylus to scribble on any potsherds (accidents and ostracisms would of course happen!) would probably come in handy, and the delian league members are kind of like objects rather than people right? and...

Sparta would want his comb (and begrudgingly borrow some of Athens' oil), probably the thicker of his two cloaks (you never know), and a musical instrument of some kind (likely his pipes).

Corinth would probably want a weighing scale (someone is going to have to set up a currency on this island), her hair dye or at least her bleaching hat (hours and hours of sunlight on a desert island? she couldn't waste All of them), and she'd probably take some expensive bauble in her collection to barter for passage off that rock.

Ionia would probably want something to read (not practical, but at least no one can enforce what she can or can't do on a desert island), maybe some kind of navigation device antikythera mechanism?, and maybe some seeds or something? idk if she actually knows how to plant things but I think she'd have like, Too Much confidence.

Persia would probably want like, a nice drinking cup or bowl (hes not going to be humiliating himself drinking with his hands), uh, does his bow and arrows count as an object? at least the bow, what if there's wild game on this island etc. Much as he loves his cats, i don't think he'd want them there to end up as food, so he'd probably want something practical like a pot to make stew or tea with for his little bowl, haha. I think despite his reputation he was quite self sufficient in his youth.

Everyone would hate being stuck with Athens, but I think he wouldn't mind being stuck with the others because he thinks of most of them as "friends"...(though with Persia it's like "if you die, i'm going to eat you!"). Sparta and Corinth would initially not mind each other, but then they'd get into such big arguments about whether to wait for help or to try to do something that they'd be at each other's throats in no time. Persia would probably like someone like Sardis or Ionia there to talk to (the others would be too busy arguing or being petty to work with him).

[athensandspartaadventures]

Sparta C6 and Athens A7 please ;w;

i am LOVING the chaotic energy of this one, thank you :D

pick your preference:

Athens imagining Sparta doing this because his mind is a bit detached from reality

Sparta imagining this because it's the inner self he can't express or he'll die

Corinth imagining this because she needs to entertain herself somehow

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 18

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Quick Ref:

Eureka: Lit. in Greek “I have found it!”, this exclamation was made famous by Archimedes (who this chapter predates). I drew an oil lamp because I think I’m hilarious.

Rhapsode: A professional performer of epic poetry. An example is the titular character in Plato’s Ion, who has his victory crown verbally trampled by Socrates who claims his “talent” is being used as a mouthpiece by the gods and little more.

Comments:

Athens is definitely helping! He’s helpfully giving Sparta something other to concentrate on than sea sickness! We should all applaud his altruism.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 25

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Quick Ref:

Croesus: Former King of Lydia. According to Herodotus, the king escaped the pyre he was to be burned on after the Persians captured Lydia and became the advisor to Cyrus the Great, who seemed to keep him around because he was amused by his advice. Likewise, Persia named a cat after him out of amusement.

Susa: One of the four capital cities of the Persian Empire and the terminus of the Persian Royal Road from Sardis as well as one of the most important cities in the ancient Near East. 

Comments:

We’re finally at the end! I’ve had this plot point in my head for years and I finally put it to “paper”, so to speak. It turns out Persia was doodling around Miletus waiting for someone :)

Persia wasn’t born into opulence, in fact he was a bit of a rough and tumble kid who grew up in the mountains. I think unlike Sparta he used that background to develop an appreciation for the finer things - where Sparta grew up in one of the more lush and fertile areas of Greece and still makes excuses to deny himself luxury (apart from doing absolutely no work or skill to support himself and depending on the labour of others).

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 22

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Quick Ref:

Despotism: Absolute rule by one individual. From the word despotes, which is Greek for “master” and what Athens is referring to here. This term would later refer to an official title in the Byzantine Empire.

Comments:

Athens is kind of exaggerating here, he’s describing the practices the Spartan agoge uses to educate youth and not necessarily how graduated Spartiates lived. Still, Spartiates were barred from having any profession whatsoever and according to Pausanias they actually prized idleness.

He’s also reminiscing about the good old days prior to the Persian War when Sparta could be called on to show up and make a contribution (as he had with Aegina, for example).

SPARTANS! WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?

Sparta:

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 20

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Comments:

Something something [hits you over the head with the Athens and Sparta vs Agamemnon and Menelaus parallels i’ve only briefly thought through]

Likewise what I said about the Spartan mirage the other page- I think one of the central thesis statements of AaSA from the beginning has been disputing the pop culture image of Sparta as the militaristic warrior and Athens as the quiet patron of the arts. I try to turn that on its head wherever I see it.

Oh, and this is from Book 6 of the Iliad and not actually the Book of Ships but... clearly. they’re on a ship towards asia minor so. hehe.

Since I used Pope’s translation for the final draft, here’s another version with Lattimore’s as with the prior page.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 19

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Quick Ref:

Kleos: The Greek concept of “glory” literally means “loud” referring to what is heard about a person. You see bits of it in a lot of famous Greek names such as Heracles, Cleopatra, and Patroclus. Like family curses, kleos is somewhat hereditary. 

Menelaus: The brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen, and mythical king of Sparta. Menelaus is often depicted as somewhat more hesitant and possibly more compassionate than Agamemnon.

Comments:

The flowers in these panels are oleander, which I just drew because I thought it was pretty and gegographically appropriate, but it does retain some spicy meanings in retrospect. It features in the story of Leander, who was found holding the flower by his lover after being dashed against the rocks crossing the Hellespont to see her. It’s also Extremely Deadly, every bit of the plant is poisonous, so it retains that “beware” vibe in floriography.

I think it’s really interesting to consider what Cartledge calls “The Spartan Mirage”, that is, all the collective “information” or lack thereof that makes up our concept of what Sparta is and what it was like. Pieces of that mirage are formed by Sparta’s role in epic literature such as the Iliad, and Sparta’s image as a military state is somewhat tempered with this scene of Menelaus being supplicated and ready to show mercy. It forms an interesting parallel with Sparta’s reputation in modern pop culture and Sparta’s actual reported foreign policy, which seemed to primarily be “stay home and don’t do anything until literally the last minute”.

I ended up using Pope’s translation here for the lyrical quality, but here is an alternate version of this page with Lattimore’s translation which is a more... direct translation?

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 17

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Quick Ref:

Kalos kagathos: Lit. ‘the beautiful and the good’, referring to an idealized sense of gentlemanly conduct. There was considered to be a connection between personal virtue or character and beauty in some Greek philosophy. In Plato’s Republic, Socrates grapples with this idea of “kalon”...

Erastes: In Ancient Greek pederasty, the older “active” partner. Cf. ‘eromenos’, the younger “passive” partner. These are roles outlined by Dover in his 1978 publication Greek Homosexuality but are coming under further scrutiny in modern scholarship.

Comments:

Can you guess why Athens has skipped town yet? p:

Athens’ reaction to ‘wouldn’t you suppose’ is channelling my feelings of translating words and phrases like ουν (so), ωσπερ (just as, as it were), λεγε γαρ μοι (for tell me), αρα σοι δοκει (would you expect), ου τοινυν δοκει (wouldn’t you expect such...), etc etc over and over and over again in Greek class. I wonder who speaks like that...

Sparta is not so infallible after all, maybe there’s a reason he didn’t want to pursue more naval warfare.

[attichoney4u]

Note: the series was inspired by @athensandspartaadventures by Hapo (@allbeendonebefore ) and has no intention to insult you, rather to entertain you. Without further ado, enjoy!

Big inspiration from @allbeendonebefore . The design for Sparta was based from her work.

After a long, LONG time, I finally figured a way to present Modern Sparta. To be honest, I had such a hard time, mainly because Modern Sparta is such an obscure town in Greece. No kidding! For a town that had such an influence on Ancient Greece, almost no body talks about its modern incarnation and it's ALWAYS about the ancient city.

Ok, maybe I'm wrong. There was a time that Modern Sparta was indeed talked, but that was because of all the weird shits that happened in its City Councils and it was popular to make fun of the Spartans because of that (one thing that you should understand about as Greeks is that we don't uplift each other and whenever we have the chance, we will make fun of each other). Not helped by the fact that for many Greeks outside of the Peloponnese, this was the first time they heard about Sparta after the Peloponnesian War and… it didn't have a good image on their heads. Then, the City Counsils stopped being interesting and Sparta faded into obscurity once again. So, in few words, that's the image that the majority of Greeks have about this town.

Then, I became friends with a girl from Laconia and she told me some things about Sparta. Here are some notes:

The Spartans are extremely tall [ironically, she's short (for their standards, for our standards, she's considered of average height)]

They're also extremely laconic (ironically, her twin brother is extremely talkative and he feels out of place there for that reason)

They're just introverts who need an extrovert to do all the talking for them

Now, that we've got that covered, let's move on some notes of this comic.

The upper image depicts Sparta hitting an olive tree to make the olives fall. Mani, which is in Laconia, is famous for its olive oil production. He says "I'm working like a helot".

"I'm working like a helot" is a phrase that we Greeks use when we overwork ourselves ("wHaT?!" a Northern European might wonder. "GrEEks oVeRWorkInG thEmSElves To DeaTh?! tHaT's ImPOssibLe! ThEy'rE lAzY!"). It's derived (if what I know is correct) from the slaves of Ancient Sparta, the Helots, who were said to work on harsh and brutal conditions. I was torn between having either Messene (Mr. Helot, in the original comic) or Sparta to say that, but I decided with the latter, since it would be funnier because… irony.

The American tourists in the middle image are, of course, refering to "This! Is! Sparta!" meme from 300.

That's all I have to offer. Have a good day (or night depending on what time exactly you're reading this post) 😘

[acetechne]

"Fabric" - Opus Daily Practice 15

of course fabric reminds me to draw some draped classical fashion hohoho. And what better subject than a happy Corinth, who I never draw happy...

[attichoney4u]

Big inspiration from @allbeendonebefore. The designs for Athens and Thessaloniki were based from her work!

Recently, I came across a post from the talented @margaretartstuff, which inspired me to do my own take of the "myth of the mermaid".

The human is Thessalonikia (that's how Thessaloniki was called in ancient times) and she converses with the person whom she was named after, Thessaloniki.

I don't know how popular this myth is outside of Greece, but I still wanna share it due to how tragic it is. It goes that when Princess Thessaloniki, Alexander the Great's half-sister, learnt about her brother's death, she jumped from a cliff to drown. She didn't die, but instead, she turned into a mermaid. Ever since that day, she stops every ship passing by and asks "Is Alexander the Great alive?". The captain must answer "He lives, and he reigns, and he conquers the world" if he wants to keep sailing safely, or else, the mermaid will send a fierce storm to crash his ship. This dialogue is depicted above. So, if you ever find yourself in Greece and a mermaid asks you about Alexander the Great, you know what you should answer. ;)

[acetechne]

World Watercolour Month: 20. Olive

i thought I'd challenge myself and try to draw an ancient olive press and I got frustrated, haha. Here is the horrible man himself who has also just collapsed in defeat having dropped his sun hat and lost all his helpers?