#aasacomic

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 24

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Quick Ref:

Temple of Artemis: One of the seven wonders of the ancient world by its third phase, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos is at the time of this chapter in it’s second phase, sponsored by King Croesus of Lydia.

Comments:

I don’t actually know how long it would have taken them to get to Miletus, especially because ancient ships tended to hug the coastline rather than sail direct through open ocean. They would also typically beach their ships at nightfall. ORBIS suggests about 2.5 days.

The Greek reads “Come here, cursed creature!”, which is how it is translated in good ol’ Athenaze.

Poor bald man is like Why do you leave this guy in charge of your travel arrangements :(

I really want to know what was going through Athens’ head. Did he think Sparta was going to come to his niece’s house for dinner? I don’t know.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 16

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Quick Ref:

Heroon: A shrine dedicated to the cult worship of a hero, such as the Menelaion in Sparta dedicated to Menelaus. The concept of the ancient Greek ‘hero’ is rather different than the modern conception; a hero was a person of noble birth who lives and dies pursuing glory and not necessarily one who did ‘good’ deeds.

Zoroastrianism: One of the oldest continuously practiced religions in the world and the most popular religion in the Persian Empire at the time.

Comments:

There was no particular inspiration for the depiction of Agamemnon here because I wanted to get the composition right and depict him holding both his scepter and a spear, but the depiction of Menelaus and Helen is based off a black figure amphora by the Vatican Painter ca. 530 BCE. The story goes that after recovering Helen, Menelaus threatened to kill her for her infidelity at which she begged forgiveness.

I feel like even if Persia didn’t have a particular relationship with Troy and was far from being an empire at the time Bronze Age Troy was razed that he is taking personal interest into the contemporary use of Troy to represent Asia In General and Therefore Indirectly Referencing Him. 

We also get a very small peek into Persia’s opinions, which he usually is much more private about. This may be an oversimplification of Zoroastrian beliefs on my part, but I guess I’m also recognizing that Zoroastrianism did influence the Abrahmic religions in particular ways that may carry over to our own understanding.

I also think in modern cultural reception (and I have made this mistake myself back in my first year of uni!) we tend to understand Achilles as the “hero” and Agamemnon as the tyrant, the despot, the no fair bad antagonist man, and that’s not how the Greeks would have considered them.

That all said, there’s a cultural shift that will be starting to happen on the streets of 5th century Athens that reconsiders the morality of these stories... but who’d be talking about stuff like that...

[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. 21

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Quick Ref:

Io: Daughter of Inachus, a princess who was (according to Herodotus) abducted from Argos by the Phoenicians. (This is the same Io who was disguised as a cow by Zeus.

Europa: A Phoenician princess abducted by Greeks (prior to her abduction to Crete by Zeus... disguised as a cow. I’m sensing a theme here.) According to Herodotus’ Persian contacts, Europa’s abduction was the second incident that led up to the Persian Wars.

Comments:

I discussed the parallels between Ionia and Iphigenia last chapter, and since there are parallels between Helen and Iphigenia I thought I’d throw them all together in a salad of Greek Women Experiencing a Significant Lack of Agency. Mmm. Would you like some Death of the Maiden on that? (Tell me when...)

Anyway Persia called it and has confirmed that this is a sensitive subject for Ionia/Miletus. But he’s also (I think) trying to be a little less dismissive than Athens would be towards her feelings and coax her into continuing to express herself because... he’s not the Bad Guy, unless? :)

I just get the sense he likes messing with people.

But they’re having chammomile tea to relax :3

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 23

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Quick Ref:

Chamomile: Greek for ‘earth apple’, isn’t that funny? Anyway these flowers were used in Ancient Greece and elsewhere for their medicinal properties, and we still drink chamomile tea to soothe anxiety, sleeplessness, and stomach aches. I say we, but chamomile is actually one of the few teas i really don’t like the taste of.

Melissa: A given name that is derived from the Greek for honeybee. In the Attic dialect, Melissa becomes Melitta. I’ve used it in the past as Athens’ nickname for Ionia/Miletus (though the bee was actually the symbol of Ephesos).

Comments:

The Ancient Greek reads (hopefully) “To Honeybee” and “I drew Glaukon for you”. AΘΗ is an abbreviation for Athens as seen on its coinage.

It’s been well over a century but Sardis is still a bit self absorbed from inventing coinage and being Persia’s “favourite”. At least, he Thinks he’s Persia’s favourite. Right...?

Ionia was the one who confronted Persia in the first place so he probably had already eaten and just needed to upset her enough to distract her from whatever he was actually up to. He loves pancakes, really, it’s just he couldn’t eat another bite. Especially while playing psychological games.

As I said I think while they’re close friends that Sardis and Halicarnassus would probably still think twice about betraying Persia for Ionia.

[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.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 11

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Quick Ref:

Long Walls: These defense fortifications were built from Athens’ primary harbour at Piraeus to the city itself, six kilometres inland. During the 440s, the Middle Wall was also under construction. The walls would keep the city connected to the vital imports and navy that Athens relied on in case of a land invasion.

Comments:

I’m sorry that Athens is just Like That. He decided how to pose for this page, not me.

What charity, bozo, you lost your money just the other page...

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 15

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Quick Ref:

Deme: (or in Greek “demos”, the root word of “democracy”) referred to a municipality- at least, it referred to the body of people who were allowed to participate in political life. Athens alone had several demes and there were well over one hundred in Attica. Cf. “Polis” and “Asty”. Demos is also a personification of the body of citizens and could be worshipped as a deity (or might appear as a character in the satirical works of Aristophanes).

Spartan Lives and Sayings: A work by Plutarch written in the 1st century AD, centuries after the period described herein. This is a great source of sassy laconic phrases even if their accuracy is debatable, as we have no writing from the Spartans themselves during this period. Sparta’s line here is one of these.

Comments:

ok here is my grand reveal for Eugenios and Demon - YEARS ago I was thinking about them having human names and what kind of thing I could write that could cause them to be revealed and after ages of stewing on it Chapter 8 is the result. The working title of this chapter was “Demon and Eugene Adventures”, lol.

Athens will mention why he didn’t go with Athenaeus or Athenodorus this time around but the real answer is 1. they’re not as funny in english and 2. they take up more space in speech bubbles and make my life hard lol, I rewrite my dialogue 2-3 times as I’m doing the bubbles because the text doesn’t always look nice :’) It was the one thing that was easier in Photoshop (although I had less intuition and practice when I was using PS so it cancels out lol) (glares at the word ‘lacadaemonians’ and at athens for always making me write long dialogue I have to chop later)

[athensandspartaadventures]

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

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Quick Ref:

Achaemenid Languages: One of the major successes of the Persian Empire was adopting Aramaic as a common language to communicate across the vast territories under their control. Greek would also have had some significance in the empire as several Greek territories were under Persian control and Greek speaking people would have also have been employed in administrative roles. Herodotus also claims to have consulted Persian historians, so we can imagine there was some mutual interest in cultural exchange.

Comments:

Quatsch massively improved this page by suggesting to not completely forget about Hali and Sardis and have them come along :’ )

Persia: what failure? :) i like to think i successfully absorbed the good bits and actually it’s advantageous for me to ignore the rocky desolate annoying parts.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 6

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Quick Ref:

Ionic Greek: The dialect of Ancient Greek spoken in Ionia and also the umbrella under which Homeric Greek falls. Of course, I’ve only studied Attic Greek so that’s what I write all the Greek in :’ ) I’m not sure which dialect(s) Persia would know, but we do know the Persians often made an effort to make their declarations to their subjects in their own languages as well as in Aramaic so he’d have some reason for knowing a little.

Miletus’ Dark Age: During the Dark Age (between the Bronze and Iron age, so named because it is not illuminated for us by much text), Ionia was said to have been colonized by the son of the last king of Athens. Much like the Persians would later, the Athenians killed the men of the city (and then married the women).

Comments:

It’s Persia! He’s back to cause trouble! :)

I had to rewrite this page because it turns out Athens did colonize Ionia much in the same way that Persia did. Or, at least, it’s a long standing literary/historical trope that was used to describe both events. Still, it was so many generations ago and semi-mythical, so it might not be something that often surfaces in Ionia’s memories...? But Persia’s obviously been talking to certain fathers of history or something recently...

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships

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Updates whenever the hell I feel like it :)

I also haven’t studied Ancient Greek in a While so sorry about the mess

Comments:

A couple notes

This is the first chapter of AaSA that will be completed in Clip Studio Paint rather than Photoshop, so some of the style is going to be a little different. It’s also the first chapter that isn’t strictly governed by a particular historical event, we are going to take a little detour around the classical period, a little road trip... or rather, a cruise...

I got my Masters in Classics in 2017, so it has now been 5 years (or 3 years + 1 really really long year) since I’ve been out of formal study of the subject. While I do have my own personal collection back (yes!!) I’m tragically unable to use my alumni privileges at my university library due to the global panini. My research is going to be a little more... serendipitous than it has been in the past, certainly! (Side note: I do have online access to the university i currently work for, it’s just not as large as the collection of the old alma mater).

I have the “original” copy of AaSA from 2010 Somewhere in my boxes of paper to reference (I just have to find it)

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 8: Book of Ships pg. 2

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Quick Ref:

Delian League: Although not known as such to its contemporaries, the league was made up of the city-states and various islands bullied into paying tribute to the Athenian navy in exchange for military defence.

Miletus: A Greek city-state on the west coast of Anatolia (now Turkey) and one of the major centres of Ionia. I have retroactively associated my personification of Ionia with this city in particular.

Comments:

I do think Athens is self-aware enough to realize that he is in fact deeply disliked by his “allies” and his despotism is rooted in the knowledge that he is still a scrawny little rat man that would normally have his ass handed to him in a land-based battle...

And no we don’t know what exactly he’s running from, not yet :3

Ionia is currently free from Persian control, but I feel like she probably still has close ties with those who are still in the empire. Here she is talking to Lydia (Sardis) and introducing for the first time and representing the region of Caria: Halicarnassus! (who is also listed as a Delian League member because I can’t remember for the life of me when they joined). Halicarnassus’ design is inspired by a real ancient personification mosaic from the Late Roman period which you can see in the British Museum and provided to me by @en-theos hehe

They are gossiping about a Real Historical Figure :)