#mostly w fiction ^^ uh if i got. the art of war or read other books we have here tho like the nicomachean ethics i can read that tho | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ackackh · 7 years

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WIP Meme

Rules: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on.

This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets - anything at all!

I was tagged by my darling @spoondragon, thank you, my guy!

I really need to talk to you guys about some of these and make sure they make it to ao3! Turns out school and my job have taken up most of my valuable writing time, so these are all slow coming, but they’ll get there!

okay let me pick the biggest ones atm…

1. My PBB which is currently titled SPACE BOYS

okay so since I haven’t talked about this in a million years, here’s the gist. Sometime far in the future, Earth’s sun has died (the science behind this is closer to if the sun just disappeared, rather than totally obliterating the planet) and most humans left and found a new planet, but some stayed. Now, Eugene Sledge is a part of a crew of five (Andy, Eddie, Bill, and Sidney) tasked with going back to Earth to see wtf happened to it.

the story begins here, the crew comes to Earth expecting a barren wasteland and instead finds… Snafu. Well, they find a huge colony of people who live inside this protective structure and underground.

Eugene meets K co, Sidney meets H co, and Andy and Eddie meet something of a surprise (read to find out, ooooh). There is science (so much nerding, I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself), culture comparison, angst, falling in love with someone you thought was an ass, grief, heartache, found-families, and a decent dose of existentialism.

There is so much to this au guys, I think the hardest part is that I’ve thought of enough to fill a novel and that’s… a lot to write. I’ll also have a playlist for this for ultimate ~~vibes~~

2. My Baseball AU! (most likely to be titled Hartford Eagles)

okay okay, this au has been painstakingly outlined, chapter by chapter, it is seriously just down to writing it, but writing takes so much tiiiime! No matter what tho, I’m in love with this story.

So easy co is a (very fictional) MiLB team called the Hartford Eagles and they have just taken on the first lady to play with an all-male team in the minors, Renee Lemaire! She’s a pitcher and she kicks ass, I’m so proud of my daughter.

baseball teams are like 25 people deep so I was able to include basically the entire co. Dick is the Manager, Nix the pitching coach, Harry the hitting coach, and Ron the conditioning coach. Buck is team captain, pretty predictable stuff there. I have an excel sheet with all the boys and their positions and jersey numbers, even their walk-up songs.

okay so plot. The story takes place over one season and focuses on two main plots as well as five (5) romances, but not all of them are as in-depth as others. The first plot follows Renee during her first season with easy. Dick wanted her on the team not only because she’s stellar, but also because he knew his boys would treat her well. So she’s dealing with all the stress of paving the way for other women and having a successful season, but she’s also finding brothers in all the boys. I focus on a lot of different friendships in this, here she has the medic crew (mostly Gene and Spina) and she becomes really close with Toye and also Nix to a lesser extent.

The other plot follows Joe Toye, their closer, who is gearing up to get into the majors. Lots of different teams are scouting him but nothing is set in stone when the story begins and, because Joe is Joe, he works his ass off to prove he’s worth it. He’s very close with Bill, becomes a big brother to Renee, and has a growing friendship with Luz, which may turn into something more, hmmm, read to find out!

there is lots of SPORTS! brotherhood, the ot5, slow burn that might kill me, love confessions, (so many) boys who don’t know how to express their feelings, CHUCK GRANT CONTENT, winning, losing, crying, singing, tragedy, and recovery.

bonus: references to Undrafted

3. Wintergaard

so I made a post about this a long time ago, but it’s developed a lot since then so let’s go. I basically accidentally outlined half a novel and there’s so many OCs I might die, but it’s a fantasy au.

I made an entire lore but we’ll skip that and check into the present. Dick is a Prince in a Kingdom (Wintergaard) that has four lines of kings. So four rulers share power equally among each other and Dick’s mother happens to be one of those rulers. He’s the youngest, birth order doesn’t matter as far as assuming the throne is concerned, but Dick is pretty unlikely to take the throne anyway b/c his brother is like the perfect candidate. besides, Dick doesn’t want it.

So he’s got a wonderful mother, a brother who’s kind of perfect tbh, and a sister who’s super kickass, like she became a captain and later becomes a commander in the royal army just because she wants to.

And then there’s Dick. Who is great, obviously, but when he’s 18 he gets crowned (as is custom in this universe) with a crown meant to symbolize the soul, and his is really…soft. Feminine and sort of sweet. He was given the title The Gentle as a child and all of this adds up to lots of whispers and rumors. because like “uh…he could be in charge one day and he’s nOT MannLY??” but it’s w/e to Dick. He likes his crown a lot.

Lots of time goes by, lots of OC drama, and turns out, whoops! there’s a civil war between the Kingdom and the citizens who live in its borderlands. (I’m not saying I put in heavy references to the Confederacy in here but.,,yah I absolutely did). In the very first battle Dick gets seriously injured and becomes MIA, later assumed dead.

But guess who’s not dead! Guess who gets found by some farmers who are looking for their brother! That’s right, Prince Richard the Gentle. So, Speirs’ father owned a farm and passed it to him and his brother (an OC) and Nix is Ron’s half-brother, a bastard son. Carwood worked for Speirs’ father and now works for Speirs. They’re super in love, don’t worry they’ll figure it out.

So, Dick gets rescued by these strangers who know who he is b/c like,,, he’s royalty. He heals under their care, they all become very close, and eventually they all journey back to the capital so Dick can go home.

Well, a lot has changed since he’s been gone and shit’s only gonna get crazier. I’ll stop there, but I will say that soon after this, the gang runs into Shifty who is very important for… reasons. Not to worry, all will be revealed.

Okay, so we got way to in-depth lore and history, royalty that’s actually kind of great, a civil war, lots of love, pain and injury, healing, angst, a journey, lots of magic, SHIFTY HAS A DAUGHTER, Winnix, Speirton, and Luztoye, familial bonding, important life-altering choices, and a meeting with the big man himself: Death.

Sorry, I know this got way too long, I’m just excited to be writing these! Please let me know if you’d be interested in reading the first chapter of any of these, or some other kind of teaser! I’m starting to realize that I need feedback to write, lol

Uh, like everyone’s been tagged I think, lol. But I’ll go with @hoosiersblanket and @gingerwerk because I always love hearing about what they have cookin

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miniwolfsbane · 6 years

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Copied from @andalite-angel post. Edited slightly.

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, etc. are allowed.

Biospecialist, Marco/Rachel, Sam/Rahne, all cannon Disney Princess pairings, the two young kids Pacific Rim Uprising, Lancitty, Evo Kurt/ Amanda, Jott in Evo. Skyward??

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or ***** that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Fanfic writers and Evo romy, adult Jubilee x Gambit, others.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Never gonna be big on Evo Romy ever again, will forever hate Rahne x Roberto, Sam and Rahne with anyone but each other!!

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Evo Romy...somtimes. Because it does sorta make sense IN FANNON, but not in cannon. And Jean x Scott, because it’s so iconic, but I only like them in Evo, so...yah.

E - Have you added anything cracky crazy/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

See my fan fiction.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

The Little Mermaid and Star Trek have been there for 95% of my life.

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, Sam/Rahne, Ariel and Eric (first when I was 5, even though I wanted to be Ariel), Rachel Tobias (first when I was actually gettin into fandom), Jake/Cassie (Animorphs), Clark/Lana, Clark/Lois (I think??) and Chloe/Ollie, Romy (even in Evo at a point!), and now Eliza and Goliath in Gargoyles. I keep saying I’m not a shipper, but I think I’m just a subtle one that pines and doesn’t read a lot of fanfic, but my heart swells over seeing my OTP on screen

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

TV Shows and Western (superhero) Animation mostly, but also a few animes.

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

I was annoyed by the Agents Of Shield fandoms behavior for a while, but I’ve never stopped liking any fandoms because of Tumblr.

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

SuperWhoLock, Riverdale...some other popular teen shows.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Tie between Sailor Moon and Gambit I guess, but I’m sure there are lots of others. Sailor Jupiter has a good arc as well, even though she doesn’t have a lot of character development TBH.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Roberto Dacosta’s super strength power is pretty cool and he’s a chill guy. And rich. (I just realized that a lot of X-Men characters are rich, actually. Gambit, Xavier, Warren and him. Holy crap.)

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Moon. TAS Rogue too, because she seems fun to hang with, and who wouldn’t like to be called “Sugah” all the time?

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

MORE GAMBIT (and comic Nightcrawler) IMAGINES!! And just more love and less fan wars across all fandoms, really.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Hero by Chad Kroger. Ship: Romy or Mollyx Remy. Character: Gambit or Angel.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

For any fandom? A mad scientist and a famous baker get together after the scientist contacts aliens, resulting in a warring invasion on earth.

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

To be perfectly honest, The Smurfs because we’re a Christain household and we found it had stuff in it we didn’t agree with. I was three. Other than that, I’ve only given up one other fandom permenantly that wasn’t what I thought it was and chosen at a bad time.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Kurt and Kitty in Evo, and Logan and Kurt is cool, but I don’t actually pay much attention to it.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

Hmmm. One that isn’t too boring? Remy isn’t (wasn’t? He is married now) particular about a woman’s height and is comfortable enough with himself to date a woman much taller or shorter than he is. (Remember, Frenzy was freaking 6′7 before she got rebooted to a normal height and it was implied they had history.) For a while it was a wish of mine they’d pair him with a short gal, because all X-women are physically clones of each other, minus Rahne, Kitty and Jubilee. Blargh. Oooh, just had an idea for a new art project to make the girls look individual! ^_^

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

Besides the above? Uh...headcannon that Remy smells good and his hair is silky to the touch and yes I’m a sick, weird little person, I know. Haha, not really. I’m not much of a headcannon person.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

* Gambit: Hot, suave, lit, accent, good cook, romantic, my fictional ideal man (told you, I’m sick and weird). * Sailor Jupiter: Sweet, loyal, living on her own at bloody 14 years old, strong physically and emotionally, had trouble believing/finding her feminity like me, tall (not like me!), brunette character, thunder powers. * Tuvok (Star Trek): My second crush ever, calm, reflective, hot grandpa, sarcasm galore, strong, suffers emotionally and physically, POC and like the only black vulcan that I know of, cute little boy chest, that butt (XD), frakin’ hot.

V - Which character do you relate to most?

Surprisingly, one I haven’t talked about yet and that I’m not really fandom-y about. Rapunzel from Tangled. When I saw the movie, I was attached to her immediately. I’d grown up homeschooled and at that point I’d been caregiving for one of my parents for six years at that point, unable to move out and get married and have much of a life, so I was always metaphorically in a tower too. I have childish interests, am artistic and creative, have done LOTS of self-insert art like her, and am a generally happy person (even if I don’t always show it and don’t smile enough). So, out of every character in my many fandoms, I relate to Rapunzel the most. Also, I have only 2 things of Tangled merch-the movie, the soundtrack, and a gorgeous bedspread that’s actually based on the show, but doesn’t look like it. (I don’t like it’s animation/character designs, so it’s been hard to get into it.)

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

OMG, do we have to go here? Anything over-sexualized or kinky or just plain gross/weird. (v***, gore, ect.) There’s this one X-Men:Evo artist on DA that would be brilliant, but I can’t stomach their gallery because they feel the need to do a few v*** and bondage pics amongst otherwise G-rated pictures. *throws up* IT’S A SHOW FOR 7-YEAR OLDS!!

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Huge guy, Tiny girl! (but it looks...weird...in live action. *Good Luck Charlie flashbacks*.) Also age differences. Some people are put off by Usagi and Mamo’s age difference in Classic, but I think it’s cute and they were really chaste about it. Specifically, I liked the part where he told her to do well in school for some reason.

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)? Holy crap, Pride and Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables. No one on my dash is into them though, it’s a real life thing. Long story.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

I have written more self-inserts than is probably healthy, but at least I’ve mostly gotten past my teenage phase of thinking anime guys are hot and it’s extended to Gambit as well. I’d much rather see him be portrayed by a living, breathing actor semi-bringing my fantasies to life than as a drawn character. Well, not that I’m not happy seeing him animated and his voice in Evo is still super hot, but that’s another thing. Anyway, on that note, I wish XM:E weren’t a dead fandom and I could get more reviews instead of just faves/follows. I get so frustrated, because I’m not writing my fics for myself, I’m writing them to finish the story and for the fans. I know OCs/SI aren’t everyones bread and butter, but when you work hard on something, you want people to enjoy and appreciate it on it’s own merits. My regulars dropped off the planet and the fandom is just not that active online. (It’s still kind of active though, otherwise the Gambit and other prints on Steven Gordon’s online store wouldn’t have sold out so fast.) I wish it had been as creative as the MLP fandom, but even that wouldn’t have saved it. Thankfully, there are a few people “keeping the faith”, like Coldfusion180 and some others. They haven’t abandoned it and people have made AMVs for it in recent years, long after the shows cancellation. I know we’ve all moved on in one way or another, but it’s still nice to see the love for the show and it’s characters going strong, even if we’re now a niche fandom, tiny, but there. And even if I don’t get another single review up until the last in the series, at least I can say I finished it, if nothing else. Even if your fandom is dead, keep supporting it. If we don’t keep the characters alive, they die and are forgotten. They need us.

https://fanfiction.net/~miniwolfsbane

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clodiuspulcher · 8 years

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WOW! You guys really don’t want me to do my work. Time to answer ALL of these questions 1. ancient Greece or ancient Rome? Ya’ll.... yall should know.... this ... my URL is a Roman politician and I exclusively post about late Roman Republic political drama I’m just so much more FOND of Ancient Rome. I’m not really sure why but I got Into it earlier since I took Latin in high school and I was always fascinated by the Roman history and culture I learned in Latin which I was able to indulge once I got to college... (also Greek scares me and i’m a coward) 2. who is your favourite Roman emperor? Absolutely Augustus and this might be where I get... dissent but he truly did a lot of necessary good for Rome not the least of which was establishing an era of political peace after almost 100 years of near-constant civil war, and I don’t think the importance of the stability of his rule can be overstated. He aimed to stabilize and rebuild Rome on every level and mostly succeeded; I doubt it would’ve recovered after the especially violent last few decades otherwise. Augustus himself actually emphasized stability and continuity in his own propaganda because he knew how important that was to the people of Rome, of all classes. Speaking of, Augustus adopted measures to curry popular favor that were straight out of Clodius’s book in ways that legitimately helped + also rebuilt and revamped Rome’s infrastructure and physically improved the city along with creating a stable political environment and functional governmental system (let’s be honest the Republic was fucking dead). I’m just gonna like. Answer this question by copying and pasting the Res Gestae here lol I also think pre-Augustus Octavian is an interesting political figure which biases me somewhat and I love Augustan art and iconography, not just that of the regime but what was created during his rule in general as art and literature flourished (no but really he was... honestly the best possible outcome after Caesar’s assassination in my opinion and he actively improved / revitalized Rome in some Important ways) 3. which is your favourite Greek city-state? I uh REALLY dont know enough to choose but seeing as I’ve been reading and enjoying works by Athenian playwrights all semester... how bout athens 4. tell me about the classical ladies you love the most OH BOY. Rome has a History of important politically active women and I love all of them so let me go in chronological order with my ABSOLUTE favorites. - Tanaquil: Etruscan wife of the semi-mythical king of Rome Tarquinius Priscus, she was intelligent and skilled in interpreting omens / divining (which were considered Etruscan disciplines) and she was ambitious too. She encouraged her husband to make his fortune in Rome and helped him attain political power, recognized the destiny of their adopted son Servius Tullius through ANOTHER omen, etc. She advised and helped him throughout his rule and aided the peaceful transfer of power to Servius Tullius following his death I love her i LOVE HER. - Cornelia Africana: Daughter of Scipio Africanus and mother of two of my favorite Roman politicians, the brothers Gracchi, she remained a widow after her first husband’s death despite having people like king Ptolemy ask for her hand. She educated her children rigorously and was active in their political careers especially that of Gaius Gracchus and her reputation as chaste, noble, and austere established her as a role model for Roman women for centuries to come. - Clodia Metelli: She’s the Lesbia of Catullus’s poetry but she was also really politically involved, endorsing her brother’s wild populism and aiding and abetting him whenever she could, notably changing her name when he changed his to reflect his populist desires. She was married to Metellus Celer and tried to strongarm this conservative consul into supporting the radical Clodius whenever she could- and sometimes it worked. Clodius brags about the benefits of being brother in law to a consul and Cicero was irritated by the fact that she was so involved in her brother’s career but it makes me love her even more. - Fulvia: Yall KNOW how I feel about Fulvia but I just have to talk about her whenever I can. As Clodius’s wife she was never far from his side, to the point that it was something Cicero commented on after his death. Following his murder, Fulvia established herself as the heir to Clodius’s political role and through her marriages to Clodius’s allies, Curio and later Antony, she was able to promulgate populist legislation and continue Clodius’s work / establish his legacy so that his death wasn’t in vain (both of their laws have a more populist streak after their marriages to Fulvia). As Antony’s wife she was especially powerful after Caesar’s assassination and she fought Octavian personally when Antony’s interests were being threatened (while he fucked around in Egypt). - Porcia Catonis: I may not like Brutus but I love Porcia who proved she was strong enough for Brutus to confide in by stabbing herself in the thigh and not revealing her pain for a significant amount of time. She was steadfastly loyal and was supposedly the only woman who knew about the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar, and her suicide, in line with that of her father Cato, - Livia Drusilla: LIVIA did NOTHING WRONG and I legitimately love her so much. First the story of how she ended up married to Octavian is so... much lol but despite their scandalous whirlwind marriage they were married for 51 years, and she was one of Augustus’s closest advisors (the senate criticized him for being too under her control but you know what). Roman wives didn’t normally go on military campaigns w/ their husbands but Livia did, and she also had very public religious and political roles, she was devoted to Augustus and he “loved and esteemed her to the end without a rival”. There’s so much more I can say about her but she was as ambitious and driven and intelligent as her husband and after Augustus’s death she worked to maintain his legacy and was eventually deified alongside him - Octavia: Octavian/ Augustus’s sister, Octavia was like. truly and genuinely good she was loyal to both Octavian and Antony after she married him and she was essentially the glue that held the second triumvirate together for a time. She was directly involved in Octavian’s politics through this marriage and there’s a record of her begging the two of them not to go to war, at least for her sake; she’s the reason this tenuous alliance lasted as long as it did. She was also incredibly generous and kind, upon marrying Antony she took in and raised his kids by Fulvia and after Antony’s death she raised also his children by Cleopatra, working to provide them with good lives and advantageous marriages ... how wholesome... - Agrippina (both of them): If you really want to write about conniving devious plotting murderous women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.... the Agrippinas EXIST. Agrippina the elder also went on her husband Germanicus’s military campaigns and campaigned herself tirelessly for the political advancement of her sons, and Agrippina the younger... oh boy ... she schemed her way into the position of empress and then absolutely annihilated any potential rival for her son even though one he became emperor their relationship was ... fraught to say the least. Anyway the point is I love women who are openly ruthless ambitious and power-hungry and they’re great. 5. what is your favourite story from Herodotus's Histories? The one where he talks about how the Etruscan nation was founded / how the Etruscans came to live in Italy- even though he was wrong about Etruscan origins and they probably /were/ native to Italy I’m really fond of and interested in Etruscan culture so I like hearing any historical accounts about them. 6. who is your favourite character from the Iliad or Odyssey? Aeneas was TECHNICALLY there during the Trojan war DO NOT QUESTION OR COMMENT ABOUT THIS I WOULD DIE FOR HIM 7. who is your favourite ancient historian? Has to be Plutarch- I know he writes history for a moralizing purpose but all the subjects of his biographies are written with a certain level of complexity and nuance and something about his writing style really resonates with me like I’ve read both his and Appian’s accounts of the Gracchi brothers’ lives and both were good but Plutarch’s brought me to tears. The first ~classics thing~ I ever read that truly engaged me and captured me was his Life of Antony which is probably my favorite in that even though he condemns Antony’s actions he gives him redeeming qualities, he portrays him and even Cleopatra really sympathetically and his description of Antony’s death... is so pathetic and upsetting it wounds me I love Plutarch s o much. 8. what are your five favourite myths? Anything that Propertius or Catullus references in their poetry is my favorite :) 9. what are your top five otps? 1. Augustus and Livia married for 51 years loved each other with All their hearts 2. Antony and Cleopatra: I love this melodramatic garbage fire of a relationship 3. Clodius Pulcher and Fulvia: PERFECTLY matched politically-minded partners who had similar goals and balanced out each other and loved each other DEEPLY HE WAS ALWAYS BY HER SIDE?! 4. Cicero and Atticus - romantically OR platonically however you want to interpret this they loved each other so much and every letter from Cicero where he talks about how badly he wants to see Atticus again, that implores Atticus to write more.... it’s really sweet and wholesome 5. I can’t believe Antony gets to be on this list twice but his relationship with Gaius Curio is so... much and like he climbed into Curio’s house through the CEILING because he was banned from the house by Antony’s dad (because he was in debt lol), and the fact that someone hasn’t made a movie or a sitcom about this yet is so... disappointing. 10. recommend a piece of fiction about the classical world I haven’t read any ancient Rome historical fiction!!! Yet!!!! But both the Roma Sub Rosa and the Robert Harris Cicero Novels come very highly recommended to me and I have to buy both of them so 11. recommend a piece of non-fiction about the classical world I really really need everyone here to read TWO biographies: 1. The patrician tribune, it’s The Clodius Biography I keep talking about it provides a really balanced and detail picture of Clodius Pulcher’s political career AND his life plus this author writes a lot fo academic papers about Clodius 2. The tribune’s sister, it’s a Clodia biography and MY PROFESSOR WROTE IT and she loves Clodia so much and she wrote so much incredible content about Clodia and this is like a Collection and Combination of all of this... yall should all read it ANd 3. if you haven’t read plutarch’s Life of Antony I think you should really read it bc you can’t UNderstand Me or My Blog without this essential piece of literature and also it has THE FULVIA LINE 12. who is your favourite poet? why? I’m going to be honest...... I did not consider myself a poetry person for the longest time. I was always way more into the politicians than the writers of ancient Rome because I’ve always felt like I didn’t quite GET poetry? But then I actually read more Latin poetry and also .... I fell in love... for real... and at that point all at once the poetry of like, Catullus, really struck me for the first time and I REALIZED. I hope that doesn’t sound too ridiculous lmao but.. I’m a romantic at heart. SO in general I really love Roman love poetry and I do like Catullus - I especially like that he was involved with Clodius and co through Clodia and was part of that circle. He references Caesar and Caelius and Clodius in his poetry, which is fun but.... my favorite poet, that I have read so far is.... Propertius for a few reasons I REALLY like Roman love elegy as a genre and Propertius is my favorite of the elegists. I like how gentle his poetry is and even though it might seem overwrought I think it’s passionate and genuine and sweet - he has big feelings?! he wants to Express them? Propertius also really likes to do the reversal of gender roles thing which is like common in Roman elegy but Propertius Especially does it wrt romantic / sexual contexts and although he does write tender and romantic love poetry it’s definitely not wholly apolitical like Propertius not only emphasizes that he’s devoting his life to love and presents this in contrast to the expectations of how Young Roman Noblemen should live / act / what they should pursue, which is an especially brave statement at the time he’s writing since he’s going against Augustus’s moral reforms, the strict societal roles promulgated by Augustus to rebuild and restore the roman senatorial class. He even goes so far as to say he refuses to have sons because they’ll just be sent out to die in Rome’s wars which is.... a pretty powerful and cynical statement and I love how bold he is about it. So Propertius combines 3 things I Really like, gentle love poetry, femdom, and political commentary on Augustan Rome 13. if you could time-travel to the classical world for a day, where would you go and why? The responsible answer is I would bring antibiotics to the Augustan court in 23 BC and save Marcellus from typhoid fever but. I just want to be able to experience in real time ONE argument between Cicero and Clodius in the senate in real time that would be so much fun and so I think that’s where’d I go and also I could potentially make out with Clodius or one of his friends after I mean I’m there for the whole day right 14. which Greek tragedy is your favourite? I’m actually in a Greek drama class right now, so I can give a legitimate answer to this question.

I would have to say, of the ones I’ve read, Ajax resonated the most with me and is probably my favorite. Aristotle said tragedy should be able to evoke pity and fear and if that’s the mark of a good tragedy Ajax is the best one of all to me. One of its central themes at least when I read it is that Ajax, having defined himself by the respect he commanded based on his military ability, by his role as an honored soldier, has nothing left when he loses this, and he absolutely falls apart. His entire identity is tied up with this single skill he cultivated and the honor he possesses because of said skill, seeing his reaction to this loss, his realization that the only thing that mattered, the one thing he had, has been destroyed and it’s /his/ fault- this hit me far too close to home. once he’s no longer known as a great warrior, to himself he’s nothing, and no one, in Ajax’s mind that’s all he has and all he was. If tragedy is meant to inspire pity and fear, holy shit is Ajax effective because I felt both instantly since his fate - not so much the death but realizing what he defined himself by is lost forever because of his failures and that there’s nothing left of him now- is what I fear most in the world. 15. Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar? CAESAR. I mean, I appreciate Alexander the Great (without whom the Ptolemies and Cleopatra wouldn’t have come into power) but I’ve read a lot more about Caesar, I know more about him as a person. I’m making this decision mostly on like their politics / what I know about them because I REALLY don’t give a s hit about individual battles / wars in general, this isn’t me comparing military scoreboards or anything lol. I just know more about Caesar, approve of his Vaguely populist policies, and he /was/ trying to fix some very broken systems in rome / was constantly frustrated by senatorial factionalists etc... and IM relatively sympathetic towards him although I like the minor more radical less famous populares more ... obviously. So I like Caesar but he’s not that important to me I’m not like passionately devoted to Caesar

16. Cicero - love him or loathe him? LOVE CICERO. I honestly love him so much and even though politically I disagree with the view he had or choices he made... I understand why he made them and it must have been incredibly hard to be a moderate politician, or any kind of politician at all coming from a non senatorial background, and as much as I joke about it he DID save Rome from the Very real threat of Catiline (and honestly at this point his self-aggrandizing behavior is just as endearing as it is aggravating to me.... god). I believe he genuinely tried to do what was right and to be moral and upstanding in a time when that was definitely not the norm- see his governorships of Sicily and Cilicia especially compared to his corrupt contemporaries. He stood by his principles even when that wasn’t politically expedient - whenever he does have to go against them, he agonizes to Atticus and feels guilty about it- and I’m... impressed by that. He was obviously a great statesman/orator/lawyer - all of his speeches are incredibly wild and fun to read and I can only imagine what hearing them live would’ve been like. His name and background means he didn’t have the luxury of being radically populist like Clodius, he didn’t have his family to fall back on in general, he had to work twice as hard and was scorned by the optimates anyway and i FEEL FOR HIM. He was nervous, though, and timid sometimes, and I ... relate to that.

I think if you hate Cicero... you should read his letters to Atticus because they’re so humanizing and genuine and his emotional turmoil over the political circumstances he finds himself in can be heartbreaking. He cares so much about Atticus and about his family and his despair and elation and anxiety really hit me hard when I read them. Plus they can be genuinely funny when he’s, like, talking about Clodius or making fun of someone he hates which is often, Cicero’s sense of humor is one of the many things I love and appreciate about him... some of his letters are legitimately hilarious? please. he’s so petty sometimes, I love that too, okay im done. 17. if you could recover one lost work, which one would it be? This is a tough one... I feel like it would be greedy to ask for more Cicero since we already have so much of his work but his Consolation he wrote to himself after the death of Tullia would be incredible. I also wish we had the entirety of Cicero’s Against Clodius and Curio speech because what we do have is... absolutely amazing and the rest would be a treasure to read. Conversely, because we have so much of Cicero, and only of Cicero, our view of late Roman Republic politics is inevitably warped. I wish we had just one of the speeches Clodius gave in response to Cicero, so we could have his side of the story, so to speak. We have to piece together this picture of his politics based on what his greatest enemy said about him so there’s inevitably going to be a bias- and Cicero DOES say in his letters that Clodius spoke against him too, they had witty exchanges, etc, but we don’t have Clodius’s speeches at all! If we had just one of his speeches he gave to the people as tribune, or the one he gave to defend himself at the Bona Dea trial, or the one that prompted Cicero’s De Haruspicum in response- just one. I just want to hear what Clodius said in his own words.... 18. what is your favourite movie or TV show set in ancient Greece or Rome? The Better Call Saul Roman Law AU I have in my head next question :) 19. tell me about an obscure classical figure who needs more love My URL is Clodius Pulcher and I wish more people legitimately studied and thought about Clodius with some nuance so that the exaggerated picture we see of him from Cicero isn’t taken as Absolute fact. I love him so much with my life... I also wish there was more love for Caelius and Curio since they’re really interesting historical figures who navigated a world of ever-changing alliances pretty cannily -until they died. Caelius just from his letters to Cicero seems like such a witty and sardonic person I wish more people cared about this entire circle. Finally i’ve gotta say Fulvia needs so much more love than she gets like people HERE know about her but like. She was so vitally important and uniquely powerful as a woman during the late Roman Republic and to be honest I don’t think you can talk about the aftermath of Clodius’s death or Antony’s role after Caesar’s assassination without mentioning Fulvia, she’s so essential to the political careers of ALL her husbands. And yet, she’s really underrepresented in historical fiction and nonfiction about this time. 20. what do you love most about studying classics? I’m an incredibly anxious person I don’t take any risks or have many friends. When I read / learn about history I can... vicariously experience what taking a risk must feel like when I read about like Clodius Pulcher’s wild lifestyle, and sometimes learning a lot about a historical figure makes me feel like they’re my friend. so. probably the most pathetic possible answer to this question but thats me.

#ask meme #my stuff #IM SO... THIS IS A LOT SORRY

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