#what would pliny think

[maniculum]

Medieval Scorpions Effortpost

So yesterday I reblogged this post featuring an 11th-century depiction of the Apocalypse Locusts from Revelations, noting the following incongruity as another medieval scorpion issue:

The artist, as you can see, has interpreted "tails like scorpions" as meaning "glue cheerful-looking snakes to their butts".

Anyway, it occurred to me that the medieval scorpion thing might not be as widely known as I think it is, and that Tumblr would probably enjoy knowing about it if it isn't known already. So, finding myself unable to focus on the research I'm supposed to be doing, I decided to write about this instead. I'll just go ahead and put a cut here.

As we can see in the image above, at least one artist out there thought a "scorpion" was a type of snake. Which makes it difficult to draw "tails like scorpions", because a snake's tail is not that distinctive or menacing (maybe rattlesnakes, but they don't have those outside the Americas). So they interpreted "tails like scorpions" as "the tail looks like a whole snake complete with head".

Let me tell you. This is not a problem unique to this illustration.

See, people throughout medieval Europe were aware of scorpions. As just alluded to, they are mentioned in the Bible, and if the people producing manuscripts in medieval Europe knew one thing, it was Stuff In Bible. They're also in the Zodiac, which medieval Europe had inherited through classical sources. However, let's take a look at this map:

That's Wikipedia's map of the native range of the Scorpiones order, i.e., all scorpion species. You may notice something -- the range just stops at a certain northern latitude. Pretty much all of northern Europe is scorpion-free. If you lived in the north half of Europe, odds were good you had never seen a scorpion in your life. But if you were literate or educated at all, or you knew they were a thing, because you'd almost certainly run across them being mentioned in texts from farther south. And those texts wouldn't bother to explain what a scorpion was, of course -- everyone knows scorpions, right? When was the last time you stopped to explain What Is Spiders?

So medieval writers and artists in northern Europe were kind of stuck. There was all this scorpion imagery and metaphor in the texts they liked to work from, but they didn't really know what a scorpion was. Writers could kind of work around it (there's a lot of "oh, it's a venomous creature, moving on"), but sometimes they felt the need to break it down better. For this, of course, they'd have to refer to a bestiary -- but due to Bestiary Telephone and the persistent need of bestiary authors to turn animals into allegories, one of the only visual details you got on scorpions was that they... had a beautiful face, which they used to distract people in order to sting them.

And look. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but I would say that a scorpion's face has significant aesthetic appeal only for a fairly small segment of the population. I'm sure you could get an entomologist to rhapsodize about it a bit, but your average person on the street will not be entranced by the face of a scorpion. So this did not help the medieval Europeans in figuring out how to depict scorpions. There was also some semantic confusion -- see, in some languages (such as Old and Middle English), "worm" could be a general term for very small animals of any kind. But it also could mean "serpent".* So there were some, like our artist at the top of the post, who were pretty sure a scorpion was a snake. This was probably helped along by the fact that "venomous" was one of the only things everyone knew about them, and hey, snakes are venomous. Also, Pliny the Elder had floated the idea that there were scorpions in Africa that could fly, and at least one author (13th-century monk Bartholomaeus Anglicus) therefore suggested that they had feathers. I don't see that last one coming up much, I just share it because it's funny to me.

*English eventually resolved this by borrowing the Latin vermin for very small animals, using the specialized spelling wyrm for big impressive mythical-type serpents, and sticking with the more specific snake for normal serpents.

Some authors, like the anonymous author of the Ancrene Wisse, therefore suggested that a scorpion was a snake with a woman's face and a stinging tail. (Everyone seemed to be on the same page with regards to the fact that the sting was in the tail, which is in fact probably the most recognizable aspect of scorpions, so good job there.) However, while authors could avoid this problem, visual artists could not. And if you were illustrating a bestiary or a calendar, including a scorpion was not optional. So they had to take a shot at what this thing looked like.

And so, after this way-too-long explanation, the thing you're probably here for: inaccurate medieval drawings of scorpions. (There are of course accurate medieval drawings of scorpions, from artists who lived in the southern part of Europe and/or visited places where scorpions lived; I'm just not showing you those.) And if you find yourself wondering, "how sure are you that that's meant to be a scorpion?" -- all of these are either from bestiaries or from calendars that include zodiac illustrations.

11th-century England, MS Arundel 60. (Be honest, without the rest of this post, if I had asked you to guess what animal this was supposed to be, would you have ever guessed “scorpion”?)

12th-century Germany, "Psalter of Henry the Lion". (Looks a bit undercooked. Kind of fetal.)

12th-century France, Peter Lombard's Sententiae. (Very colorful, itsy bitsy claws, what is happening with that tail?)

12th-century England, "The Shaftesbury Psalter". (So a scorpion is some sort of wyvern with a face like a duck, correct?)

13th-century France, Thomas de Cantimpré's Liber de natura rerum. (I’d give them credit for the silhouette not being that far off, but there’s a certain bestiary style where all the animals kind of look like that. Also note how few of these have claws.)

13th-century England, "The Bodley Bestiary". (Mischievous flying squirrel impales local man’s hand, local man fails to notice.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (A scorpion is definitely either a mouse or a fish. Either way it has six legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Wait, no, it’s a baby theropod, and it has two legs. (Yes, this is the same manuscript, that’s not an error, this artist did four scorpions and no two are the same.))

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Actually it’s a lizard with tiny ears and it has four legs.)

13th-century England, Harley MS 3244. (Now that we’re at the big fancy illustration, I think I’ve got it — it’s like that last one, but two legs, longer ears, and a less goofy face. Also I’ve decided it’s not pink anymore, I think that was the main problem.)

13th-century England, MS Kk.4.25. (A scorpion is a flat crocodile with a bear’s head.)

13th-century England, "The Huth Psalter". (Wyvern but baby! Does not seem to be enjoying biting its own tail.)

13th-century England, MS Royal 1 D X. (This triangular-headed gentlecreature gets the award for “closest guess at correct limb configuration”. If two of those were claws, I might actually believe this artist had seen a scorpion before, or at least a picture of one.)

13th-century England, "The Westminster Psalter". (A scorpion is the offspring of a wyvern and a fawn.)

13th-century England, "The Rutland Psalter". (Too many legs! Pull back! Pull back!)

13th or 14th-century France, Bestiaire d'amour rimé. (This is very similar to the fawn-wyvern, but putting it in an actual Scene makes it even more obvious that you’re just guessing.)

14th-century Netherlands, Jacob van Maerlant's Der Naturen Bloeme. (More top-down six-legged guys that look too furry to be arthropods.)

14th-century Germany, MS Additional 22413. (That is clearly a turtle.)

14th-century France, Matfres Eymengau de Beziers's Breviari d'amor. (Who came up with that head shape and what was their deal?)

15th-century England, "Bestiary of Ann Walsh". (Screw it, a scorpion is a big lizard that glares at you for trying to make me draw things I don’t know about.)

I've spent way too much time on this now. End of post, thank you to anyone who got all the way down here.

[thoodleoo]

do you guys ever think about what sort of insane shit pliny the elder would be saying if he lived in the pokemon world. like we know he thought that asbestos was good protection against magic and that basilisk venom could travel up a spear and kill the man who stabbed the basilisk that way. i want to know what he'd think about a slug made of magma that's as hot as the sun. i want to see his protections against electric type attacks made of rhydon horns. i want to see how many remedies he could concoct for every day maladies from sitrus berries and mudbray pee

[sebastianswallows]

The English Client — Five

— PAIRING: Tom Riddle x F!Reader

— SYNOPSIS: The year is 1952. Tom is working for Borgin and Burkes. He is sent to Rome to acquire three ancient books of magic by any means necessary. One in particular proves challenging to reach, and the only path forward is through a pretty, young bookseller. A foreigner like him, she lives alone, obsessed with her work... until Tom comes into her life.

— WARNINGS: Tom hurts himself like an idiot and tries to hurt reader like an idiot

— WORDCOUNT: 2.6k

I

When she returned the next morning, she didn’t have the sense that anything was wrong, even when she found the ledgers placed in the wrong order underneath her desk. It wouldn’t be the first time… So she followed her routine and spent the chill hours of the morning making coffee in the little kitchen in the back and finished a review of Pliny the Younger she’d begun two days ago.

It wasn’t until later, after lunch, when she went into the back rooms to put Pliny in his place that she realised something was definitely wrong. The carpet, usually so carefully smoothed over the trapdoor, was creased in a light wave, its yellow tassels ruffled. The table in the centre of the room was quite askew as well, the items on it shifted to the right. She froze, then rushed to check the hidden door.

But the door was safe. There wasn’t even a scratch on it… She placed her signet ring into the keyhole and it popped open with a click, just as it always did. She lifted it and stepped inside, down the steps that led into the tunnel. It was dark and quiet… Nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe she was the one who made that mess the last time she was there. She did tend to be a bit clumsy sometimes…

With a sigh of relief, she climbed back up, and as her face reached the level of the floor, something shiny underneath the table caught her eye. She got up and closed the door behind her, then crawled on her knees underneath the table to grab the foreign thing.

It was one of those fancy pocket knives with all sorts of uses… Red handle, stainless steel blade. Her heartbeat turned frantic and sweat cloyed at her hairline, and she felt her stomach drop — someone else had been there. And she’d have to report this. With brisque and heavy steps, she went back to her desk and picked the phone up.

“Hello?” she whispered once the Curator picked up. “It’s me, upstairs. Erm, has anything gone missing? What? Oh, n-no reason, just, I think we had a break-in and — No, it’s fine! Just — I don’t think so. Erm, did I call him? Not yet. I —”

She listened to the frustrated cursing of the man downstairs as she stared at the Swiss knife, turning it in her hands, her whole body tense and weak, when suddenly her frown melted away and lips parted. There were two letters inscribed into the blade: C. M.

“It’s someone with the initials C and M,” she said quickly. “Know anyone? No, I don’t either… Alright. Alright, I’ll call him now. Thank you.”

II

“Yes, it’s not much to go on, but —”

“There is no need,” scraped the voice from the other end of the line.

“What?”

“You said nothing was taken?”

“A-as far as I can tell… Downstairs is safe too.”

“Hm. Possibly something forgotten by a customer.”

“H-how can you be sure?”

“If it had been an intruder, you would not have found a knife,” he said. “You would have found a corpse.”

She frowned, not really understanding him but ready to accept this resolution.

“S-so, what would you like me to do?”

Silence on the other end. Perhaps he expected her to increase security, or just carry on as normal since he seemed so calm about it…

“Put a copy of Torchia on display.”

“What?!”

“If it really was a break-in, and it has to do with the auction, we will test the resolve of our thief.”

“Do you want that book or…”

“Yes. Ask Ambrogio,” he said, and in the background, she could hear the scratching sound of him writing something down.

“Alright, sir…”

The scratching persisted until he hung up on her.

III

Tom smiled against the receiver. He so hated telephones with their smooth plastic in unnatural colours, but they were faster than an Owl… Besides, muggles seemed to love them.

“Yes, if you could manage it, I’d be ever so grateful,” he drawled silkily, putting on the same boyish airs he did when meeting with another of Burke’s clients. “No no, not right now. I’ll tell you when. Is that alright? It is? Oh, wonderful. You know, I keep thinking of that hotel you mentioned. You were right about this one, it’s awful. Yes. Yes, I’ll consider it.”

He hissed a few more pleasantries and said goodbye. When it was over, he reached to the bedside table to hang up, but not without some difficulty. He sighed and rested his cheek against his long cold palm cushioned by the pillow. Tom was lying on his front on the narrow hotel bed, a pack of ice on his hip — just a few cubes tied up in a handkerchief. It did little to reduce the bruise that bloomed there, but at least it kept the swelling down. He could think of a dozen potions that would do much better than this, but he had none of the ingredients on hand. His own fault for leaving London without buying some supplies first…

He held the pack to him and got up gingerly, growling all the while. He should have been happy, he’d made a great deal of progress in finding where they held the book, even if the way was closed to him. And with a bit of luck, he might yet find a way to gain their trust.

Tom limped over to the window, a drop of water sliding down his naked leg. The sun was setting and the streets were filling up, frothing with white dresses and silk scarves. How he hated being around muggles…

He let the curtains close again and waved his wand to brew him a cup of tea. Fire spells were so useful even if you didn’t have your mind on arson. He was at least glad he’d brought some tea leaves with him, and could brew them at just the right temperature. The milk they served around these parts was also not so bad, and worked wonderfully with the brew. It soothed his nerves if nothing else.

He sat down in the armchair, legs askew, loose shirt covering him to his thighs, and picked up his notebook. At least he knew they had the Trevisan that he was after... It would make the perfect excuse to visit again — in a more overt manner.

Absentmindedly, he placed the ice pack on his lap, and immediately jumped up in his seat.

“Oh fuck! Cold!”

He growled and with a sharp flick of his wand transformed the pack into a pillow, and settled down again.

IV

It should have delighted her that Frederico found the freedom to ask her out for lunch again. She sometimes thought she worked too many hours, but that impression faded when she heard from him. All Fred ever talked about was work. His shop was two streets away — not his of course, just as Casa Ur wasn’t hers — but he behaved as if it was his child sometimes, so dutifully he tended to it. She put it down to the speed with which she worked, as she was younger than most of the other book dealers in the city and less worn down by its pressures. But even she could not muster the endless enthusiasm of her friend.

Their lunches together had nothing romantic about them, they never did. He was a kind, soft-spoken man in his mid-forties, his skin just starting to sag around his cheeks, his forehead creased from frowning, brown eyes wet and tired behind a thick pair of glasses. The way he looked at her unnerved her sometimes, but then again, he seemed to look at everything that way…

He picked her up from Casa Ur and they went to a restaurant together, his paunch swinging before him and the sun shining brightly on the bald spot at his crown. He loved to talk, his high hoarse voice filling up the silence. She didn’t mind. She needed the company.

“And anyway, to prevent the shipment from being late, we found an old pathway they could take to avoid the flood, and they arrived five minutes before schedule,” he said, finishing the latest drama from his shop as they sat down at the restaurant across from the Fontana Trevi. “Can you imagine? Flooding, in the hottest summer on record?”

“Oh, last summer was even hotter.”

“You think so, but that’s not what they said on the weather report.”

“I think I’ll have carbonara,” she hummed, licking her lips. She loved the menu at this place…

“Hm? Oh, parmesan gnocchi for me, I think. With cream and garlic, oh yes… Wine for you?”

“No, I don’t think so. Just water.”

“Might be a while until they come around to us. So many tourists out today. Awful. Anyway, I wanted to tell you about the reason we found that route. Guess.”

“I don’t know,” she laughed.

“Guess, guess! Alright, so, it was our collection of Martinelli maps.”

“Fascinating. Oh, there’s a waiter! Scusi, cameriere!”

She hadn’t liked Fred when they first met two years before, but she’d gotten used to him. Or, she’d learned how to put up with him, allow herself to be carried on the wave of conversation that he wove. Now, it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, eating in the open air, letting his enthusiasm drown her worries as he wagged his sausage fingers in the air to summon up the largess of the maps that saved his boss’ shipment.

Every one of their colleagues was different, each with their own flaws and problems — broken marriage, spiteful children, loneliness and illness and malaise — but they all carried the same passion for books. Books most people never heard of, books only obsessives cared about, books older than countries. They, few and a little insane, were together enchanted by their beauty.

So she could forgive Fred his childlike wonder, even during their lunch break, because the same passion smouldered, albeit very deeply, within her. It was what kept her going in spite of her loneliness, her anomie, and the drudgery of daily life.

“By the way, who’s coming at the next auction?”

“Most of the same,” she sighed, her breath fogging the half-empty glass of water. “A few new names this time. Foreign names. Can’t say I know any of them.”

“Must be invited by Oso.”

“Oh, I doubt he has the authority.”

“No, but you know how the Baron looks up to him.”

She chuckled, her lips pursed to stop a toothy grin. “Given his condition, it’s hardly surprising.”

“What do — Oh, you mean the… Oh, that’s quite cruel,” said Fred, his eyes two charcoal slits beneath the fat dark crinkles of a smile.

“Sorry, sorry…”

“But anyway, you know he could talk him into doing just about anything.”

“Maybe… Would you like to have some coffee before we go?”

“Sure,” he said. “I know you don’t really like talking about the auctions.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that… just that…”

“Just that you don’t like it,” he laughed.

She was playing with her fork in the leftover sauce of carbonara while Fred waved a waiter over when she noticed from the corner of her eye a familiar contrast of black hair and deathly pallor. Was that Mr. Riddle? His eyes were hidden by shades and his full lips were pressed against the rim of a wine glass, but she was certain it was him. She turned before he spotted her.

While Fred kept droning on about another fascinating problem he’d had at work, she found her thoughts drifting, dreaming, and a soft smile blossomed on her face at just the memory of how good Tom looked the last time he was in her shop. Those dark curls falling over his eyes, how she longed to ease them back, to trace the sharp angles of his jawline, to kiss him… His lips looked so soft.

She sneaked another glance his way when the waiter took their plates. Leisure looked good on him, even if he seemed an amateur at it. A workaholic, perhaps, like her… He wore a pale green shirt today. The colour tasted sweet in her mind, like pistachio gelato. It was generously parted at the neck where his sweat was cooling, and underneath the table she could tell his legs were crossed, clad in sinfully tight silver-grey trousers.

“And once we had the original manuscript, we realised it referred to the Capuchin Catacombs, not the Parisian ones! My dear, are you listening?”

“What? Yes, the catacombs, of course,” she said, hiding her warm smile behind a cup of coffee.

V

The shop was more quiet than usual when Tom stepped in that day. That was to say, it was quieter than when he’d broken in. There was a tense silence to the place, one that slithered up his spine and settled pleasantly at the back of his brain.

He hadn’t missed the Torchia displayed in the window, in the centre of a carefully constructed swirl, holding court over far lesser volumes. In fact, it was the reason he had come.

“Buongiorno.”

“H-hello!” she called from behind her desk, getting up quickly enough to knock over a stack of papers when she noticed him.

“Didn’t expect to see me again, did you?” he grinned, sliding a hand casually in his pocket.

“Not really, no,” she chuckled. “How can I help you?”

Her eyes flitted to the window before coming back to him. She was expecting him to ask for the Delomelanicon again. She probably had a whole little script ready once he did. As if Tom would fall for so obvious a trap…

“Well, I was wondering if you had a copy of The Lost Word, by Bernard Trevisan.”

“W-what?”

“Is it a bit too obscure? He’s a —”

“Fifteenth-century alchemist,” she said, her smile suddenly beaming with nothing of the apprehension from before. “The Lost Word is a famous alchemical treatise! Yes, I know it. Which edition?”

“Doesn’t matter. Any would do.”

“We have a solid copy. Not too old, but faithful to the original, and at a good price.”

She began leading him into the second room before she’d even finished speaking. What a charming girl… She’d hoped he hadn’t been the intruder, and Tom had just confirmed it. He had gained her trust.

He followed her quick and careful steps, a heady perfume trailing behind and the metronomic echo of her thin high heels.

“It’s quite deep inside,” she said.

“Is it indeed?”

His hand came slowly out of his pocket, holding his wand.

“Not much further now, through this door.”

Tom stopped, took aim, and cast it.

“Imperio.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” she asked as she kept walking.

“…Nothing?” Tom muttered to himself in wonder. He looked down at his wand as if it were impotent.

“What?” she said, half-turning.

He shoved the wand back between the folds of his jacket before she could see it.

“Ahem, nothing,” he smiled. “Please, continue.”

A chill ran down his skin and bile rose in his throat in anger. It was clear to Tom now that this building, or perhaps the very land it sat on, was protected by some counter-charm. His usual solutions of bending locks and minds would not suffice, but he could not call himself the Heir of Slytherin if he could not find a way. Tom eyed her figure, infuriating and sleek, and decided then and there that she would be his key.

[aviawrites]

may the sun dawn on panem (tbosas)

𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴: 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥!𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥!𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴

𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺: 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘢 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮’𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘊𝘰𝘻𝘢𝘩, 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘛𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘰𝘻𝘢𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘊𝘰𝘻𝘢𝘩 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯. 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘸. (2.6𝘬)

𝘢/𝘯: 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘪 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘈 𝘉𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩! 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘮 𝘳𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺/𝘯 𝘳𝘯😎 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘭𝘺<3

𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘯 𝘪𝘴: 𝘤𝘰𝘻𝘢𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮 (𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘦-𝘶𝘩)

Your eyes, wide and tear filled, are glued to the screen. Lucy Gray looks down at your tribute, stroking his face as foam continues to flow from his lips. All of your naive hope is lost as Jessup’s face is replaced with the Hunger Games title card and Lucky’s eccentric voice breaks you out of your trance.

“Annndddd that is it for Jessup Diggs and mentor Cozah Highbottom, a hard sight to see indeed but not hard enough for you to turn off your televisions, am I right?” He delightfully laughs, his artificial smile being a stark contrast to the knot that’s tied itself in your stomach.

You slowly look over to Coriolanus, the man who’s supposed to be your partner. His eyes are just as wide as yours as he stares back at you. He begins to speak, placing a hand on yours. There’s no time for him to get in a word before you shove him off of you and storm out of the hall, throwing your Academy pin on the marble floor. 

The fresh air outside of the school does little to calm you, an angry snarl plastered on your face as your walk begins to turn into a jog. You were stupid to ever think you could trust Corio. The boy you grew up with has changed. The games changed him, Lucy Gray Baird changed him. He’s turned into a Capitol elitist who will clearly stop at nothing to make sure Lucy Gray wins. Not even murder was below him.

The footsteps running up behind you are ones you recognize, though, they don’t make you turn around. If anything, they make you walk faster. Nevertheless, they quickly catch up to you and expectantly, a hand pulls on your shoulder. 

“Cozah-“

You snap around, unable to keep your composure at his touch. 

“I should’ve never sent that water. I should’ve never trusted you.” You sneer, your unique and oddity of a District 12 accent growing thicker the more emotional you become.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think that he’d-“

“You knew exactly what would happen but you let me send it anyway.”

“What- No! I meant for it to scare him not to…” He trails off.

You step closer, staring up into his saxe eyes; though you’re only seeing red. 

“I know you, Corio.” You assure him, “I should’ve known better.”

His brows furrow, his frosty hair softly blowing in the cool front. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“‘Snow lands ontop,’ Right?”

He rolls his eyes as the silly phrase he says suddenly becomes fuel for fire.

“Come on-“

“You knew about the drones. You knew I hadn’t seen when Pliny sent his and you knew I thought they functioned perfectly fine. You wanted Jessup to die so your little Songbird can win and you’ll get your stupid money.”

He shakes his head, “How can you say that? I would never do that it’s- That’s not who I am.”

You shake yours, unsurprised that he hasn’t seen how he’s differed yet. 

“You’ve changed, Corio. ‘Cause now that’s exactly who you are.” 

➵ ➵ ➵

You sit beside the rest of the shunned mentors at the back of the hall as Dr.Gaul’s snakes slowly glide across every part of Lucy Gray’s body. She continues to fearfully sing as the reflective serpents continue to slither, but never bite.

“It must be her singing!” Corio stares at the screen. 

The mentors have all risen to their feet, looking intently as the seemingly docile snakes seem to sway around her. 

“Get her out!” Tigris shouts, the rest of your class agreeing with her in a loud chant.

Dr.Gaul finally gives the order. The crowd erupts in applause and smiles as a helicopter is sent to her. You only stare at the live feed, stone faced as you reminisce on all of the innocent children that lost their lives. But that’s not the only thing that takes your attention. 

When Clemensia disappeared, reportedly to the flu, you and Tigris were the first people Coriolanus ran to to tell the full truth. And with that truth came some knowledge on Volumnia’s snakes. You’ve only seen them once or twice in your life when you were allowed into Gaul’s office. But from those few visits you were positive those slippery things weren’t going to bow down to just any old girl. Especially not because they want to gather around and listen to her song. There’s only one way those snakes wouldn’t be biting Lucy Gray. 

Coriolanus holds Tigris close, laughing as the cheers slowly die out and the hall clears. Soon after, it’s only you and them left. Though, you’re not sure they notice you after their big win.

You take a breath, aware of the flood gates you’re preparing  to open.

“How’d you do it?” You ask, your voice echoing through the bare command center. 

Both Tigris and Coriolanus jerk their heads around, startled. 

“Coze.” He smiles, not hearing your question. 

You don’t smile.

“First, you deceive me. Then, you kill my tribute. And now you cheat so that his ally can win the games for you.” You lay it all out, looking down at them from the stands. “That’s low, Coriolanus.”

The cousins look at each other before looking back to you.

“Wh- What are you talking about?” He inquires.

“You know, your father died to this same poisonous power. These games are a goddamn virus. They’re serpents who have already slithered their way around you.” You scorn, finally being able to say what you need to say. “Those snakes don’t calm easy, Coriolanus.”

He stares, warily tilting his head at you. “…It was her singing.”

“And snow falls beneath grass.” You highlight his ridiculous and impossible implication with your own. “Singing wouldn’t work worth a damn and you know it. We all know it.”

“He didn’t cheat, she’s calmed a snake before.” Tigris defends, holding onto his arm.

“You haven’t seen ‘em, not how they really are. Theres only one way they’d allow her to live-“

“Coze-“

“And it’d be a damn shame if my father connected the dots and they led back to his own student.” You stare dead in his face, his glance faltering. 

“He didn’t cheat.” Tigris claims once again.

“They only keep from biting if they know your scent. Do you really think Lucy Gray has been within 10 miles of them in her life, Tigris?”

She stops, doubt now in her eyes as she stares from you to Coriolanus, who can’t stop staring at you. You can’t tell if it’s fear or hate in his eyes but it seems to be burning him from the inside and seething onto you. 

“Who have you become, Cozah? You’d never do this before the games.” He deflects in an angry whisper.

“I didn’t know you were a cancer before the games. Now you kill kids for money.” You coldly reply.

He says nothing. You can almost see him physically accept his fate as he looks at you once more before walking out. Knowing what he wants, you begin walking down from the stands, you and Tigris following behind him. 

The silent walk seems to last hours before the three of you are walking past the old zoo, and  Coriolanus finally decides to speak up. 

He walks toward the bars, softly running his fingers along them.

“This is where I first properly saw Lucy Gray. From the moment I met her I knew she was worth meeting. Worth saving.” He nods as if he’s reliving the memories for  himself. 

He turns to you, “I had her equipped and prepared to win fairly. It wasn’t until Dr.Gaul aired her announcement that my plan changed.”

Both you and Tigris listen intently. She has an expression of confusion while you have one of knowing. A blue bird chirps, landing above the bars.

“The night of the bombs I visited her here. I did all I could but she was so scared…” He reminisces, slightly snapping out of it as you wait for the part you want to hear. “I wiped her tears. It was a cloth my father gave me. When I found out it was the snakes I just…” He shrugs, knowing that both of you knew what came next. 

“It had her scent.” You finish for him, wanting him to admit it a little more concretely. 

“It had her scent.” He nodded, his head down. 

You sigh, “It was a good move. Better than what I could’ve thought of. Though of course, I had no such chance as to devise a plan to save my tribute. He was dead the second Lucy Gray was in danger.”

“Coze, Jessup would’ve never made it-“

“Think hard about what you’ll say before you speak his name again.” You advise him.

He backs down, both him and yourself momentarily looking over at Tigris. Her pale hand is covering her mouth as tears fill her eyes.

“Oh, Tigris…” Coriolanus whispers sympathetically, grabbing her free hand and holding it tight.

“They’ll kill you, Corio. They’ll hang her and then you just to show what happens.” Her voice trembles. 

He rubs his lips together, knowing she couldn’t be far off. He looks over to you, knowing his life is now in your hands.

“Do you want me to hang?”

You pause, for the first time in your life genuinely contemplating if you want your best friend dead.

“You won’t hang, Coriolanus.” 

He badly hides his sigh of relief before nodding in what he thinks is a mutual agreement. You do the same, though you know he is far from out of the woods.

➵ ➵ ➵

“They’ll kill you, Corio, They’ll hang her and then you just to show what happens.”

“Do you want me to hang?”

“…You won’t hang, Coriolanus.” 

You stop the Jabberjay tape, having shown your father all he needs to see.

You sit across from him, tightly squeezed on the other side of his desk in the middle of the lecture hall. 

“What will you do?” You ask him. 

“Well, we could never hang them. Lucy Gray has already won over the Districts.”

“And Corio’s in the 24, it’d be too bad of a look.”

He twiddles his thumbs, examining the situation.

“What would you have done?”

“Me?”

“Well, yes.” He nods, “You got the crime, you had to have something in mind for the punishment.” 

You think for a moment, unsure of what the appropriate consequence is for cheating a government issued activity.

“I just want him to pay.” You shrug, “One way or another he has to pay for what he’s done. Not just for Jessup but for everything. Lying to me, incentivizing the games, all of it. He has to know that it’s wrong and he can’t get away with it.”

“Well…” Your father begins, “The Plinth money he’s meant to be rewarded for his victor hasn’t been issued yet. That’s all he really wants. But with this evidence, he won’t see a dime.”

You don’t even have to think on it before you agree to the punishment. Taking away what one never had is much more telling than taking away what they’ve already enjoyed.

➵ ➵ ➵

Your father confronted Coriolanus last night and you can’t help but think about it. It’s not exactly worry, certainly not guilt; you know what a man like him can turn into. It’s more an eerie feeling of him once being the closest friend you had and now being an enemy.

Attempting to distract yourself, you aimlessly walk through the Capitol. You’ve ended up in the penthouses, the ones you and the Snow’s used to run through the halls of all those years ago. 

You’re passing their very door when you notice a white and red slip on it. 

‘EVICTION.’ 

You stare, a highway of thoughts racing through your mind. The core emotion of feeling like you’ve lost some of your morale creeps in. Indirectly taking their home from them. But you quickly push the thoughts from your head, remembering that what you did was right. You continue walking, only making it a few feet before you see a familiar face resting on the wall of the wide hallway.

Tigris, face and hair as bland as you’ve ever seen it, waits for you to come near her. You keep your distance.

“You told.” She states. 

You only look at her. 

“We can’t pay it off, now” She points to the slip on her door. “You know, they’re sending him away because of what you did.” 

Your brows furrow, “What I did? Your cousin killed people.” You remind her. “He cheated the games.” 

“Games that your father made!” Tigris snaps, truly raising her voice at you for the first time. “How could you really be angry at him for doing what he could to win? It’s win or die, that’s how it always is.”

“My father may have made the games,” You keep your voice low and calm, “But Coriolanus is who turned them into what they are. They would’ve fizzled out and became a thing of the history books had he left them be, Tigris. But now…” You pause, “Every single death for decades to come is no longer on my father’s hands. They’re on Snow’s.”

She shakes her head, “You know he’s not a monster, Coze.”

“If you really believe that you’re more ill than I thought.”

“God, we used to be friends, Cozah! Not even a month ago!” She urges, attempting to keep her voice as leveled as possible. “Since we were children it was me, you, and Corio. We played in this same penthouse, we made board games in the dirt during the dark days. When we lost our parents we went through it together. Does that mean anything to you?"

Contemplation absorbs your mind, but nothing she’s saying is something you haven’t thought about before. The last few days have been a few of your hardest, no matter what it seems like. But you, unlike many, know how to put morals and what’s right above money and power and the godforsaken games.

You step toward Tigris. The gloss in her eyes chips a part of your heart away. Through all of it, she was innocent. You didn’t want to hurt her. 

“See, that was before, Tigris.” You begin. “But you and I know Coriolanus more than anyone does. And you know I'm right when I say he's different. You can follow him into madness if you'd like but I won't do it. The snow will melt one day and all that'll be left is the ashes of the fire. I won't go down with him and I don't want you to either, I really don't. Time is running out and I've made my choice. Now, you can fight with snow and ice, sure. But when the sun finally dawns on Panem, your choice will have already been made.”

She gawks at you, her mouth hung open but no words escaping.

“I know Corio; But I also know you, Tigris. You’re good. The most good I’ve ever seen in my life.” You admit. “So for the sake of yourself, Panem, your brother, and me…choose good. Choose to tell Corio he was wrong and uproot his corruption before it’s too late.” You grab both of her hands, kissing her knuckles, “You’re the only one who can.”

Gently releasing her hands, you exhale in relief. Now you’ve truly said all you can say, it’s up to the Snow’s what history they want to write. You place a sympathizing hand on her arm before walking away, having faith that your words got through to her. 

All you have now is the hope that Coriolanus stops himself from his free fall and Tigris be his net. If not, the chips will fall where they may. You just pray that the odds are in your favor. 

[officialpenisenvy]

gio what are your thoughts on the story of cimon and pero/roman caritas. devoid of (incestuous) eroticism bc breasts were and are not inherently sexual or rife with voyeurism on something transgressive for the sake of filial piety. also apparently some versions have it be a mother and daughter so make of that what you will

very very interesting question!! i had to look up the sources because i wasn't super familiar with the story in the first place, and for the sake of ease and context i have translated the two sources i referenced and added them here. (exceedingly long answer under the cut, after some figurative depictions and the sources themselves)

Valerius Maximus, Memorabilia 5.4.1:

Such fame of filial piety is said to be held by Pero, who nursed as though an infant her father Mycon, very old in age, having come into the near-identical condition of imprisonment she was in. The human eye marvels and astonishes upon seeing the paintings depicting this story, which perpetually renews the extraordinary nature of such an ancient event through the admiration for the scene being portrayed.

Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 7.55:

Undoubtedly endless examples of filial piety exist worldwide, but in Rome there is one alone to which none other can compare. A humble woman on the verge of giving birth, a plebeian and thus unnamed, had been allowed to visit her mother who was in prison because of a crime she had committed; despite being under constant surveillance so that she may not sneak in food for her, the woman was caught feeding her mother from her own breast. For such a marvelous display of piety was the mother freed, and both were granted food in perpetuity, and that very place was consecrated to the goddess of Pietas.

i think this is a very interesting story, i can see why it is such a common theme to be depicted throughout art history, and i definitely empathize with and share the reaction valerius maximus describes in the viewer of such artistic depictions: the visual effect of a woman breastfeeding an adult, one significantly older than the woman herself, is no doubt incredibly striking, and it is only compounded by the knowledge that said adult is the breastfeeder's own parent.

there is something extremely visceral about this mental image that makes me want to flinch and look away from it, like i am seeing something i am not supposed to be seeing: this is something different from the reaction that a mother breastfeeding her child usually evokes in me, and far more similar to the reaction i have to seeing a couple have sex in public. of course, a lot of this is my own personal and cultural bias speaking: while breasts are not ontologically sexual, they have a sexual connotation in our society, and an adult sucking on another adult's breasts, even with milk flowing, is an act that instinctively reads as sexual and thus incestuous to a modern-day observer, even one who knows there is no sexual intent behind the act.

there is also an element of subversion, and thus further taboo, enshrined in the act: it's more self-evident in the story about the plebeian mother and daughter, but no less present in the one of pero and mycon. a mother breastfeeds her daughter, who in turn grows to have children of her own and breastfeed them, and this goes doubly so for a plebeian woman who would not have had the means to take on a wetnurse: that a daughter breastfeed her own mother shatters the hierarchical dynamic that tacitly establishes itself the moment the newborn daughter latches onto the mother's breast, and it places the daughter herself in a position of power as the one who now controls the mother's access to food and life, as well as forcing the mother into a regression of age where she now has to step into a child's shoes and trust her daughter with her life and her nourishment.

i would argue the same goes for the father, with the obvious caveat that roman fathers usually did not breastfeed their children and so that one immediate parallel doesn't hold up; however, it is still a very clear subversion, especially when you take into account that the roman father as head of the family would have very concrete power of life and death over his children, while he is here fundamentally subject to the whim of the daughter who holds the power of life and death over him in the form of breastmilk. of course, in both cases, the daughter is magnanimous and pious and of her own volition she offers her breast to her parent for feeding, potentially even robbing her soon-to-be-born or newly-born child of the milk that is rightfully theirs: after all, these are both being used as exempla of filial piety and are surrounded by other such exempla, and selfless devotion to the ailing parent even beyond the realm of what is usually considered proper is a storied roman value. in this sense, one can read these tales as the child giving back to the parent, and therein can lie the subversion: as the parent once fed them and gave them life (or even straight up breastfed them in the case of the mother) in a time of the child's helplessness, so too the daughter in a time of the parent's need must take it upon herself to give back and feed her parent with the body she was given by them.

of course, this is just pure speculation on my part, and while i do think it's likely that an ancient roman reader or viewer might interpret the story somewhat similarly to the last paragraph, i cannot be sure: i don't know how breasts were viewed in the roman world, but i can make an educated guess, judging by how even in most nude or scantily clad depictions of roman women their breasts are bound and they are only shown as unbound in erotic illustrations. it is very possible that the ancient romans saw breasts in a somewhat similar way as us, which is to say quite eroticized beyond the context of breastfeeding; i wonder especially if a father would have had the opportunity to see his daughter's breasts organically, if such an instance was normal or possible or if she would have kept them bound in such a situation.

all this rambling to say that breasts were likely eroticized to some degree in roman culture, and to me it's very telling that some narrations report the guards/witnesses of such breastfeeding as being shocked or finding it indecent before understanding it as an act of filial piety: the sheer fact that it needs to be prefaced with this disclaimer of sorts, of it being a story of filial piety, implies that the image of an adult man sucking on a woman's breasts may have had other, sexual connotations (an adult woman doing the same might even have connotations of lesbianism, how ghastly), and so the tale both plays into that ambiguity and tries to dispel it by explaining the context.

i hope this makes even a lick of sense! i had a lot of fun exploring this story and mulling it over in my head, thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so, i really hope you found my answer the least bit satisfactory <3

[ancientcharm]

10/24: The tragic day of the Roman Empire

This is one of the letters that the writer Pliny the Younger, an eyewitness to the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79, wrote to the historian Tacitus. In this letter he recounts in astonishing detail the tragedy as well as the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder.

Remember that there was an error in the translation of the date. Now we know it was October 24.

The ninth day before the Kalends of September (August 24), in the early afternoon, my mother drew to my uncle’s attention a cloud of unusual size and appearance. Its general appearance can best be expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed. My uncle hurried to the place steering his course straight for the danger zone. Ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames. For a moment my uncle wondered whether to turn back, but when the helmsman advised this, he refused and decided to go to Stabia, to the house of his friend Pomponianus. After his bath he lay down and dined; he was quite cheerful, or at any rate he pretended he was, which was no less courageous. Meanwhile on Vesuvius, in various places, very wide flames and high fires shone, whose brightness stood out in the darkness of the night. My uncle, to excuse his fear, said that they were bonfires made by fugitive peasants or abandoned villas that were burning. Then he went to sleep and indeed he slept soundly, for his snoring was heard by those who were on guard at the gate. But the courtyard through which the room was reached began to fill up with ashes and rocks in such a way that if they had stayed there, they would not have been able to get out.   He awoke and rejoined Pomponianus and the others who had been keeping watch. They debated whether they would stay under cover or if they went out into the open, for the building was shaking with frequent long tremors and its foundations seemed to shift from one side to the other. However, if they went out into the open, the rains of boulders were to be feared, although more bearable.  Having compared both dangers, the second solution was chosen: in my uncle this constituted the triumph of reason over reason, in others, fear over fear. They put pillows on their heads, fastened with rags, the only protection against what fell. Elsewhere it was already dawn; there was a night blacker and denser than all nights, broken only by torches and various lights.  My uncle thought it appropriate to go to the beach and see what possibilities there were in the sea, which was deserted and adverse. There he lay down on a canvas and asked for cool water, which he drank twice;The others were flee by the smell of sulfur, the precursor of the flames. My uncle rose to his feet with the support of two serfs, but immediately fell down because, I think, the hazy mist choked his breath and closed his trachea, which was very delicate. And the ashes came to Misenum, but at first sparsely. Behind us an ominous thick smoke, spreading over the earth like a flood, followed us. We had scarcely agreed what to do when we were enveloped in night. To be heard were only the shrill cries of women, the wailing of children, the shouting of men. But the darkness lightened, and then like smoke the cloud dissolved away. Everything appeared changed - covered by a thick layer of ashes like an abundant snowfall.  When it was daylight again, my uncle's body was found intact and just as he was dressed; he seemed asleep rather than dead.

These types of volcanic eruptions -explosive ones that expel pyroclastic flows instead of lava - are known as plinian eruptions after Pliny the Younger, the first in history to document this.

Pliny the Elder was a renowned writer and researcher of natural phenomena Pliny settled with his family in Misenum, on the Gulf of Naples, when Vespasian appointed him as commander of Roman navy.

[whiterosechrista]

Famous/Important Women?

I'm trying to make a list of notable women in history (mostly for fun, partially to use against misogynists who think men did everything), and kinda not wanting to just look up a list online.

So; I'd like anyone who sees this post to add to the list. Even if all you can remember is a name and basic details, that's enough (I myself am mostly operating off memory, and then looking up details to fill in the blanks). If possible though, a date of birth/death and what they're most known for would be great, since those are the details I'm focusing on right now.

I'll add all new people/details to a list here on Tumblr so we're all on the same page info-wise.

Edit; pinning this post both so I don't have to scroll millions of miles and so it's easier for people to find (I should probably be pinning my intro post instead but whatever).

List so far:

Enheduanna (𒂗𒃶𒌌𒀭𒈾), Birthdate unknown (c. 23rd century BCE), death date unknown (c. 23rd century BCE). High Priestess of Nanna/Sin (Sumerian Moon God), Daughter of Sargon (Founder of the Akkadian Empire), Earliest Known Named Author in History.

Nitocris (Greek: Νίτωκρις). Birthdate Unknown (c. 22nd century BCE), death date unknown (c. 22nd century BCE). Possible Queen of Egypt; If So, Would Have Been the Last Queen of the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (c.2686 – 2181 BC).

Sobekneferu (Neferusobek). Birthdate unknown (mid 18th century BC), death date unknown (mid 18th century BC). Queen of Egypt, the Last Ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom, Reign Lasted 3 Years, 10 Months, and 24 days, Ending in c. 1802 BC.

Hatshepsut. Born ~1507 BC, died 1458 BC. Queen of Egypt (c. 1479 – 1458 BC), Fifth Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, Prolific Builder, Reigned in Peace and Prosperity.

Sappho (Modern Greek: Σαπφώ (Sapphṓ), Aeolic Greek: Ψάπφω (Psápphō)). Born c. 630 BC, died c. 570 BC. Ancient Greek Poetess, Famous for Love Poems, Symbol of Lesbian Love, Known as “The Tenth Muse”.

Timarete (Thamyris, Tamaris, Thamar (Greek: Τιμαρέτη)). Birthdate unknown (c. 5th century BC), death date unknown (c. 5th century BC). Ancient Greek Painter; According to Pliny the Elder, She "Scorned the Duties of Women and Practiced Her Father's Art." At the Time of Archelaus I of Macedon She Was Best Known for a Panel Painting of the Goddess Diana That Was Kept at the City of Ephesus.

Helena of Egypt. Birthdate unknown (4th century BC), death date unknown (c. 4th century BC). Painter, Learned From Her Father, Worked in the Period After the Death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Painted a Scene of Alexander Defeating the Persian Ruler, Darius III, at the Battle of Issus.

Kalypso. Birthdate unknown (c. 3rd century BC), death date unknown. Supposed Ancient Greek Painter (existence disputed).

Aristaineta. Birthdate unknown (3rd century BCE), death date unknown (3rd century BCE). Aetolian Woman, Dedicated a Large Monument at the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi Which Included Her Mother, Father, Son, and Herself, Which Was a Symbol of Social Status Usually Reserved For the Male Head of the Family.

The Vestal Three (Aemilia, Licinia and Marcia). Born in the 2nd century BC, died December, 114 BC (Aemilia), and 113 BC (Licinia and Marcia). Roman Vestal Virgins (Priestesses), Prosecuted For Having Broken the Vow of Chastity in Two Famous Trials Between 115 and 113 BC.

Iaia of Cyzicus (Ιαία της Κυζίκου). Born c. 2nd century BC, died c. 1st century BC. Famous Greek Painter and Ivory Carver, Most of Her Paintings are Said to Have Been of Women. According to Pliny the Elder; "No One Had a Quicker Hand Than She in Painting." Remained Unmarried All Her Life.

Cleopatra (Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator). Born ~69 BC, died August 10, 30 BC. Queen of Egypt (51 – 30 BC), Last Active Ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Only Known Ptolemaic Ruler to Learn the Egyptian Language.

Soseono (소서노) (Yeon Soseono (연소서노)). Born 66/7 BCE, died 6 BCE. Queen Consort of Goguryeo, One of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (37 – 18 BC), Queen dowager of Baekje (Another of the Three Kingdoms) (18 – 6 BC), Founder of Baekje (18 BC).

Heo Hwang-ok (허황옥) (Empress Boju (보주태후)). Born 32 AD, died 189 AD. Legendary Queen of  Geumgwan Gaya, Mentioned in Samguk yusa (a 13th-Century Korean Chronicle), Believed to Originally be From India.

Septimia Zenobia (𐡡𐡶𐡦𐡡𐡩, Bat-Zabbai). Born ~240, died ~274. Queen of Palmyra (267 – 272), Queen of Egypt (270 – 272), Empress of Palmyra (272).

Hypatia. Born c. 350–370 AD, died March, 415 AD. Neoplatonist Philosopher, Astronomer, and Mathematician, Prominent Thinker in Alexandria, Taught Philosophy and Astronomy, Beloved by Pagans and Christians Alike.

Seondeok of Silla (선덕여왕) (Kim Deokman (덕만)). Born c. 580 or 610, died 20 February, 647. Queen of Silla, One of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (632 – 647), Silla's Twenty-Seventh Ruler and First Reigning Queen, Known as a Wise and Kind Monarch.

Jindeok of Silla (진덕여왕) (Kim Seungman (김승만)). Birthdate unknown, died 654. Queen of Silla, One of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (647 – 654), Silla’s Twenty-Eighth Ruler and Second Reigning Queen, Greatly Improved Relations With China.

Jinseong of Silla (진성여왕) (Kim Man (김만)). Born c. 865, died 897. Queen of Silla, One of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (887-897), Silla’s Fifty-First Ruler, Third and Last Reigning Queen, Said to be Smart by Nature, But Whose Reign Saw the Weakening of Unified Silla.

Ende (En). Born c. 10th Century AD, died c. 10th Century AD. First Spanish Female Manuscript Illuminator to Have Her Work Documented Through Inscription.

Diemoth (Latinized: Diemudus, Diemut, Diemud, Diemuth, Diemod or Diemudis). Born c. 1060, died c. 30 March, 1130. Recluse at Wessobrunn Abbey in Upper Bavaria, Germany, Worked on 45 Manuscripts From 1075 to 1130.

Lǐ Qīngzhào (李清照) (a.k.a. Yian Jushi (易安居士)). Born 1084, died c.1155. Chinese Poet and Essayist, Defiant Visionary, Known as “The Most Talented Woman In History.”

Gunnborga (a.k.a Gunnborga den Goda (literary: 'Gunnborga the Good')). Born c. 11th century, died c. 11th century. Viking Age Swedish Runemaster, Responsible for the Hälsingland Rune Inscription 21, Known as the Only Confirmed Female Runemaster.

Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen, Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis, a.k.a Saint Hildegard/the “Sibyl of the Rhine”). Born c. 1098, died 17 September, 1179. German Benedictine Abbess and Polymath, Active as a Writer, Composer, Philosopher, Mystic, Visionary, and Medical Writer/Practitioner During the High Middle Ages.

Matilda of England (Empress Matilda, Empress Maude, the “Lady of the English”). Born c. 7 February, 1102, died 10 September, 1167. Holy Roman Empress (1114 – 1125), Disputed Queen of England (1141 – 1148).

Guda. Born 12th Century AD, died 12th Century AD. German Nun and Illuminator, One of the First Women to Create a Self-Portrait in a Manuscript.

Herrad of Landsberg (Latin: Herrada Landsbergensis). Born c. 1130, died July 25, 1195. Alsatian Nun and Abbess of Hohenburg Abbey in the Vosges Mountains, Known as the Author of the Pictorial Encyclopedia Hortus Deliciarum (The Garden of Delights) (completed in 1185).

Claricia (Clarica). Born c. 12th Century AD, died c. 13th Century AD. German Laywoman and Illuminator, Noted for Including a Self-Portrait in a South German Psalter of c. 1200.

Jefimija (Јефимија) (Jelena Mrnjavčević (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Мрњавчевић)). Born 1349, died 1405. Considered the First Female Serbian Poet. Her Lament for a Dead Son and Encomium of Prince Lazar are Famous in the Canon of Medieval Serbian Literature. Also a Skilled Needlewoman and Engraver.

Christine de Pizan (Cristina da Pizzano). Born September, 1364, died c. 1430. Italian-Born French Poet and Court Writer for King Charles VI of France and Several French Dukes. Considered to be One of the Earliest Feminist Writers; Her Work Includes Novels, Poetry, and Biography, and also Literary, Historical, Philosophical, Political, and Religious Reviews and Analyses.

Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc, Jehanne Darc). Born ~1412, died 30 May, 1431. French Knight, Martyr, and Saint, Burned at the Stake.

Catherine of Bologna (Caterina de' Vigri). Born 8 September, 1413, died 9 March, 1463. Italian Poor Clare, Writer, Teacher, Mystic, Artist, and Saint; The Patron Saint of Artists and Against Temptations.

Elena de Laudo. Born c. 15th Century AD, died c. 15th Century AD. Venetian Glass Artist, Belonged to a Glass Painter Family of Murano, is Noted to Have Painted Blanks Delivered to Her From the Workshop of Salvatore Barovier in 1443–1445.

Maria Ormani (Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi). Born 1428, died c. 1470. Italian Augustinian Hermit Nun-Scribe and Manuscript Illustrator, Most Notable Work is an Apparent Self-Portrait in a Breviary That She Signed and Dated 1453; the Earliest Dated Self-Portrait by a Woman Artist in Italian Renaissance Art.

Sister Barbara Ragnoni (Suor Barbara Ragnoni). Born 1448, died 1533. Italian Nun and Artist for Whom Only One Work Remains Extant; Her Signed Painting, The Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1500).

Antonia Uccello. Born 1456, died 1491. Carmelite Nun, Noted as a "Pittoressa" (Painter) on Her Death Certificate; Her Style and Skill Remain a Mystery as None of Her Work is Extant.

Marietta Barovier. Born 15th Century AD, died c. 15th/16th Century AD. Venetian Glass Artist, the Artist Behind a Particular Glass Design from Venetian Murano; the Glass Bead Called Rosette or Chevron Bead, in 1480. In 1487 She Was Noted to Have Been Given the Privilege to Construct a Special Kiln (Sua Fornace Parrula) for Making "Her Beautiful, Unusual and Not Blown Works".

Catherine of Aragon (Katherine, Catharina, Catalina). Born 16 December, 1485, died 7 January, 1536. First Wife of King Henry VIII, Queen Consort of England (1509 – 1533).

Properzia de' Rossi. Born c. 1490, died 1530. Ground-Breaking Female Italian Renaissance Sculptor, One of Only Four Women to Receive a Biography in Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists.

Anne Boleyn. Born c. 1501 or 1507, died 19 May, 1536. Second Wife of King Henry VIII, Queen Consort of England (1533 – 1536), Martyr, Executed on False Charges.

Jane Seymour. Born c. 1508, died 24 October, 1537. Third Wife of King Henry VIII, Queen Consort of England (1536 – 1537), Died of Postnatal Complications.

Levina Teerlinc. Born in the 1510s, died 23 June, 1576. Flemish Renaissance Miniaturist who Served as a Painter to the English Court of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Catherine Parr (Kateryn Parr). Born c. August, 1512, died 5 September, 1548. Sixth Wife of King Henry VIII, Queen Consort of England and Ireland (1543 – 1547), First English Woman to Publish an Original Work Under Her Own Name, Widowed, Remarried, Died in Childbirth.

Anne of Cleves (Anna von Kleve). Born 28 June or 22 September, 1515, died 16 July, 1557. Fourth Wife of King Henry VIII, Queen Consort of England (6 January 1540 – 12 July 1540), Marriage Annulled, Outlived All Other Wives.

Mary I of England (Mary Tudor). Born 18 February, 1516, died 17 November, 1558. First Undisputed Regnant Queen of England and Ireland (1553 – 1558), Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

Mayken Verhulst (a.k.a. Marie Bessemers). Born 1518, died 1596 or 1599. 16th-Century Flemish Miniature, Tempera and Watercolor Painter and Print Publisher, Actively Engaged in the Workshop of Her Husband, Posthumously Publishing His Works. While Recognized as an Exceptionally Skilled Artist, Little is Known About Her Works or Life as There are Few Surviving Sources.

Catherine Howard (Katheryn Howard). Born c. 1523, died 13 February, 1542. Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII, Queen Consort of England (1540 – 1541), Stripped of Title, Beheaded for ‘Treason’.

Sister Plautilla Nelli (Pulisena Margherita Nelli). Born 1524, died 1588. Self-Taught Nun-Artist, the First Ever Known Female Renaissance Painter of Florence, and the Only Renaissance Woman Known to Have Painted the Last Supper.

Caterina van Hemessen (Catharina van Hemessen). Born 1528, died after 1565. Flemish Renaissance Painter, the Earliest Female Flemish Painter for Whom There is Verifiable Extant Work, Possibly Created the First Self-Portrait of an Artist (of Either Gender) Depicted Seated at an Easel (1548).

Sofonisba Anguissola (a.k.a Sophonisba Angussola or Sophonisba Anguisciola). Born c. 1532, died 16 November, 1625. Italian Renaissance Painter, Born to a Relatively Poor Noble Family, Got a Well-Rounded Education That Included the Fine Arts; Her Apprenticeship With Local Painters Set a Precedent for Women to be Accepted as Students of Art.

Elizabeth I of England (Elizabeth Tudor, the “Virgin Queen”). Born 7 September, 1533, died 24 March, 1603. Regnant Queen of England and Ireland (1558 – 1603), Last Monarch of the House of Tudor, Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

Lucia Anguissola. Born 1536 or 1538, died c. 1565 – 1568. Italian Mannerist Painter of the Late Renaissance, Younger Sister of Sofonisba, Who She Likely Trained With.

Lady Jane Grey (Lady Jane Dudley (married name)). Born  ~1537, died 12 February, 1554. Queen of England for ~9 days (~10 July, 1553 – 19 July, 1553) (disputed), First Cousin Once Removed of Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Mary, Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart). Born 8 December, 1542, died 8 February, 1587. Queen of Scotland (1542 – 1567), Forced Abdication, Imprisonment, Execution.

Diana Scultori (a.k.a Diana Mantuana & Diana Ghisi). Born 1547, died 5 April, 1612. Italian Engraver From Mantua, Italy; One of the Earliest Known Women Printmakers, Making Mostly Reproductive Engravings of Well-Known Paintings/Drawings and Ancient Roman Sculptures.

Lavinia Fontana. Born 24 August, 1552, died 11 August, 1614. Italian Mannerist Painter, Active in Bologna and Rome, Best Known for Her Successful Portraiture, but Also Worked in the Genres of Mythology and Religious Painting, Regarded as the First Female Career Artist in Western Europe.

Barbara Longhi. Born 21 September, 1552, died 23 December, 1638. Italian Painter, Much Admired in Her Lifetime as a Portraitist, Though Most of Her Portraits are Now Lost or Unattributed.

Marietta Robusti. Born 1560, died 1590. Highly Skilled Venetian Painter of the Renaissance Period, the Daughter of Tintoretto (Jacobo Robusti), Sometimes Referred to as Tintoretta.

Elizabeth Báthory (Báthori Erzsébet). Born 7 August, 1560, died 21 August, 1614. Hungarian Countess, Subject of Folklore, Alleged Serial Killer.

Esther Inglis. Born 1571, died 1624. Skilled Artisan and Miniaturist Who Possessed Several Skills in Areas Such as Calligraphy, Writing, and Embroidering; Over the Course of Her Life, She Composed Around Sixty Miniature Books That Display Her Calligraphic Skill With Paintings, Portraits, and Embroidered Covers.

Galizia (Fede Galizia). Born c. 1578, died c. 1630. Italian Painter of Still-Lifes, Portraits, and Religious Pictures, Especially Noted as a Painter of Still-Lifes of Fruit, a Genre in Which She Was One of the Earliest Practitioners in European Art.

Izumo no Okuni (出雲 阿国). Born c. 1578, died c. 1613. Actress, Shrine Maiden, Creator of Kabuki Theater (1603 – 1610), Recruited Lower-Class Women For Her Troupe, Primarily Prostitutes.

Clara Peeters. Born c. 1580s/90s, death date unknown. Flemish Still-Life Painter From Antwerp Who Worked in Both the Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic. Was the Best-Known Female Flemish Artist of This Era and One of the Few Women Artists Working Professionally in 17th-Century Europe, Despite Restrictions on Women's Access to Artistic Training and Membership in Guilds.

Artemisia Gentileschi (Artemisia Lomi). Born 8 July, 1593, died c. 1656. Italian Baroque Painter, Considered Among the Most Accomplished 17th-Century Artists, Making Professional Work by Age 15. In an Era When Women Had Few Chances to Pursue Artistic Training/Work as Professional Artists, She Was the First Woman to Become a Member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno and Had an International Clientele. Much of Her Work Features Women From Myths, Allegories, and the Bible, Including Victims, Suicides, and Warriors.

Magdalena van de Passe. Born 1600, died 1638. Dutch Engraver, Member of the Van de Passe Family of Artists From Cologne, Active in the Northern Netherlands. Specialized in Landscapes and Portraits, and Trained the Polymath Anna Maria van Schurman in Engraving, One of the Few Known Early Examples of the Training of One Woman Artist by Another.

Giovanna Garzoni. Born 1600, died 1670. Italian Painter of the Baroque Period; Began Her Career Painting Religious, Mythological, and Allegorical Subjects but Gained Fame For Her Botanical Subjects Painted in Tempera and Watercolor.

Michaelina Wautier (Michaelina Woutiers). Born 1604, died 1689. Baroque Painter From the Southern Netherlands (now Belgium), Noted For the Variety of Subjects and Genres She Worked in, Unusual For Female Artists of the Time, Who Were More Often Restricted to Smaller Paintings, Generally Portraits or Still-Lifes.

Judith Leyster (Judith Jans Leyster (also Leijster)). Born in July, 1609, died February 10, 1660. Dutch Golden Age Painter of Genre Works, Portraits, and Still-Lifes. Her Work Was Highly Regarded by Her Contemporaries, but Largely Forgotten After Her Death. Her Entire Oeuvre Came to be Attributed to Frans Hals or to Her Husband, Jan Miense Molenaer. In 1893, She Was Rediscovered and Scholars Began to Attribute Her Works Correctly.

Louise Moillon. Born 1610, died 1696. French Still-Life Painter in the Baroque Era, Became Known as One of the Best Still-Life Painters of Her Time, Her Work Purchased by King Charles I of England, as Well as French Nobility.

Catharina Peeters. Born 1615, died 1676. Flemish Baroque Painter, Noted For Painting Seascapes.

Katharina Pepijn (Catharina Pepijn). Born in February, 1619, died 12 November, 1688. Flemish Painter Who Was Known For Her History Paintings and Portraits.

Josefa de Óbidos (Josefa de Ayala Figueira). Born c.  January, 1630, died 22 July, 1684. Spanish-Born Portuguese Painter. All of Her Work Was Executed in Portugal, Her Father's Native Country, Where She Lived From the Age of Four. Approximately 150 Works of Art Have Been Attributed to Her, Making Her One of the Most Prolific Baroque Artists in Portugal.

Maria van Oosterwijck (Maria van Oosterwyck). Born 20/27 August, 1630, died 1693. Dutch Golden Age Painter, Specializing in Richly-Detailed Flower Paintings and Other Still-Lifes. Despite the Fact That Her Paintings Were Highly Sought Out by Collectors (Including Royalty), She Was Denied Membership in the Painters' Guild Because Women Weren’t Allowed to Join. Stayed Single Throughout Her Life, but Raised Her Orphaned Nephew.

Johanna Vergouwen (Jeanne Vergouwen, Joanna Vergouwen). Born 1630, died 11 March, 1714. Flemish Baroque Painter, Copyist, and Art Dealer.

Mary Beale (née Cradock). Born in late March, 1633, died 8 October, 1699. English Portrait Painter and Writer, Part of a Small Band of Female Professional Artists Working in London. Her Manuscript Observations (1663), on the Materials and Techniques Employed "in Her Painting of Apricots", Though Not Printed, is the Earliest Known Instructional Text in English Written by a Female Painter.

Elisabetta Sirani. Born 8 January, 1638, died 28 August, 1665. Italian Baroque Painter and Printmaker Who Died in Unexplained Circumstances at the Age of 27. She Was One of the First Women Artists in Early Modern Bologna, and Established an Academy for Other Women Artists.

Maria Theresia van Thielen. Born 7 March, 1640, died 11 February, 1706. Flemish Baroque Painter, Known for Several Flower Pieces and Outdoor Still-Lifes Painted in the Style of Her Father, Jan Philip van Thielen.

Anna Maria van Thielen. Born 1641, death date unknown. Flemish Baroque Painter and Nun, Younger Sister of Maria Theresia, Older Sister of Fransisca Catharina.

Maria Borghese (Maria Virginia Teresa Borghese). Born 1642, died 1718. Italian Baroque Artist, Daughter of Art Collector Olimpia Aldobrandini.

Francisca Catharina van Thielen. Born 1645, death date unknown. Flemish Baroque Painter and Nun, Younger Sister of Maria Theresia and Anna Maria.

Maria Sibylla Merian. Born 2 April, 1647, died 13 January, 1717. German Entomologist, Naturalist and Scientific Illustrator, One of the Earliest European Naturalists to Document Observations About Insects Directly.

Élisabeth Sophie Chéron. Born 3 October, 1648, died 3 September, 1711. Remembered Today Primarily as a French Painter, but She Was a Renaissance Woman, Acclaimed in Her Lifetime as a Gifted Poet, Musician, Artist, and Academician.

Luisa Roldán (Luisa Ignacia Roldán, a.k.a La Roldana). Born 8 September, 1652, died 10 January, 1706. Spanish Sculptor of the Baroque Era, the Earliest Woman Sculptor Documented in Spain. Recognized in the Hispanic Society Museum For Being "One of the Few Women Artists to Have Maintained a Studio Outside the Convents in Golden Age Spain".

Rachel Ruysch. Born 3 June, 1664, died 12 October, 1750. Dutch Still-Life Painter From the Northern Netherlands. She Specialized in Flowers, Inventing Her Own Style and Achieving International Fame in Her Lifetime. Due to a Long, Successful Career That Spanned Over Six Decades, She Became the Best-Documented Woman Painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Born 6 February, 1665, died 1 August, 1714. Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1702 – 1707), First Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1707 – 1714).

Isabel de Cisneros (Isabel de Santiago). Born 1666, died c. 1714. Criollo Colonial Painter Born in the Colony of Quito (Ecuador), Specialized in Oil Paintings of the Childhood of the Virgin and of the Baby Jesus, Adorned With Flowers and Animals.

Rosalba Carriera. Born 12 January, 1673, died 15 April, 1757. Venetian Rococo Painter; In Her Younger Years She Specialized in Portrait Miniatures, Would Later Become Known For Her Pastel Portraits, Helping Popularize the Medium in 18th-Century Europe. She is Remembered as One of the Most Successful Women Artists of Any Era.

Giulia Lama (Giulia Elisabetta Lama). Born 1 October, 1681, died 7/8 October, 1747. Italian Painter, Active in Venice. Her Dark, Tense Style Contrasted With the Dominant Pastel Colors of the Late Baroque Era. She Was One of the First Female Artists to Study the Male Figure Nude.

Anna Dorothea Therbusch (born Anna Dorothea Lisiewski (Polish: Anna Dorota Lisiewska)). Born 23 July, 1721, died 9 November, 1782. Prominent Rococo Painter Born in the Kingdom of Prussia (Modern-Day Poland). About 200 of Her Works Survive, and She Painted at Least Eighty-Five Verified Portraits.

Catherine the Great (Catherine II, Екатерина Алексеевна (Yekaterina Alekseyevna), born Princess Sophie Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst). Born 2 May, 1729, died 17 November, 1796. Reigning Empress of Russia (1762 – 1796), Came to Power After Overthrowing Her Husband, Peter III. Under Her Long Reign, Russia Experienced a Renaissance of Culture and Sciences.

Ulrika Pasch (Ulrika "Ulla" Fredrica Pasch). Born 10 July, 1735, died 2 April, 1796. Swedish Rococo Painter and Miniaturist, and a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts.

Angelica Kauffman (Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann). Born 30 October, 1741, died 5 November, 1807. Swiss Neoclassical Painter Who Had a Successful Career in London and Rome. Remembered Primarily as a History Painter, She Was a Skilled Portraitist, Landscape and Decoration Painter. She Was, Along With Mary Moser, One of Two Female Painters Among the Founding Members of the Royal Academy in London in 1768.

Mary Moser. Born 27 October, 1744, died 2 May, 1819. English Painter and One of the Most Celebrated Female Artists of 18th-Century Britain. One of Only Two Female Founding Members of the Royal Academy in 1768 (Along With Angelica Kauffman), She Painted Portraits But is Particularly Noted For Her Depictions of Flowers.

Anne Vallayer-Coster. Born 21 December, 1744, died 28 February, 1818. Major 18th-Century French Painter, Best Known For Still-Lifes. She Achieved Fame and Recognition Very Early in Her Career, Being Admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1770, at the Age of Twenty-Six. Her Life Was Determinedly Private, Dignified and Hard-Working.

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (née Labille/a.k.a Adélaïde Labille-Guiard des Vertus). Born 11 April, 1749, died 24 April, 1803. French Miniaturist and Portrait Painter, Was an Advocate for Women to Receive the Same Opportunities as Men to Become Great Painters. She Was One of the First Women to Become a Member of the Royal Academy, and Was the First Female Artist to Receive Permission to Set Up a Studio for Her Students at the Louvre.

Marianne Mozart (Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart). Born 30 July, 1751, died 29 October, 1829. Musician (c. 1759 – 1769), Music Teacher (1772 – 1829), Sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, born Élisabeth Louise Vigée, a.k.a. Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Madame Le Brun). Born 16 April, 1755, died 30 March, 1842. French Painter Who Mostly Specialized in Portrait Painting, in the Late 18th/Early 19th Centuries, Made a Name For Herself in Ancien Régime Society by Serving as the Portrait Painter to Marie Antoinette, Enjoyed the Patronage of European Aristocrats, Actors, and Writers, and Was Elected to Art Academies in Ten Cities.

Marie Antoinette (Maria Antonia). Born 2 November, 1755, died 16 October, 1793. Last Queen of France (1774 – 1792), Bad Reputation, Executed by Guillotine.

Maria Cosway (Maria Luisa Caterina Cecilia Cosway (née Hadfield)). Born 11 June, 1760, died 5 January, 1838. Italian-English Painter, Musician, and Educator, Worked in England, France, and Later Italy, Cultivating a Large Circle of Friends and Clients. Founded a Girls' School in Paris (Dir. 1803 – 1809). Soon After it Closed, She Founded a Girls' College and School in Lodi, Northern Italy, Which She Directed Until Her Death.

Marguerite Gérard. Born 28 January, 1761, died 18 May, 1837. French Painter and Printmaker Working in the Rococo Style; More Than 300 Genre Paintings, 80 Portraits, and Several Miniatures Have Been Documented to Her.

Marie-Gabrielle Capet. Born 6 September, 1761, died 1 November, 1818. French Neoclassical Painter, Pupil of the French Painter Adélaïde Labille-Guiard in Paris. Excelled as a Portrait Painter; Her Works Include Oil Paintings, Watercolors, and Miniatures.

Anna Rajecka (a.k.a Madame Gault de Saint-Germain). Born c. 1762, died 1832. Polish Portrait Painter and Pastellist, Raised as a Protégée of King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland; In 1783, She Was Enrolled at His Expense at the Art School for Women at the Louvre in Paris. Chose to Stay in Paris After Marrying Miniaturist Pierre-Marie Gault de Saint-Germain in 1788. Became the First Polish Woman to Have Her Work Represented at the Salon in 1791.

Marie-Guillemine Benoist (born Marie-Guillemine Laville-Leroux), Born December 18, 1768, died October 8, 1826. French Neoclassical, Historical, and Genre Painter, Student of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.

Adèle Romany (born Jeanne Marie Mercier, a.k.a. Adèle Romanée, Adèle de Romance). Born 7 December, 1769, died 6 June, 1846. French Painter Known for Miniatures and Portraits, Especially Those of People Involved in Performing Arts.

Marie-Denise Villers (Marie-Denise "Nisa" Lemoine). Born 1774, died 19 August, 1821. French Painter Who Specialized in Portraits. In 1794, She Married an Architecture Student, Michel-Jean-Maximilien Villers. Her Husband Supported Her Art, During a Time When Many Women Were Forced to Give Up Professional Art Work After Marriage.

Constance Mayer (Marie-Françoise Constance Mayer La Martinière). Born 9 March, 1775, died 26 May, 1821. French Painter of Portraits, Allegorical Subjects, Miniatures and Genre Works. She Had "a Brilliant But Bitter Career."

Jane Austen. Born 16 December, 1775, died 18 July, 1817. English Novelist, Author of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), etc, Known For Her Subtle Criticism of the Nobility of the Time.

Marie Ellenrieder. Born 20 March, 1791, died 5 June, 1863. German Painter Known For Her Portraits and Religious Paintings, Considered to be the Most Important German Woman Artist of Her Time.

Louise-Adéone Drölling (Madame Joubert). Born 29 May, 1797, died 20 March, 1834. French Painter and Draftswoman. Both Her Father and Older Brother Were Celebrated Artists in Their Day; She Herself Was Not a Very Prolific Painter.

Mary Shelley (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, née Godwin). Born 30 August, 1797, died 1 February 1851. English Novelist, Author of Frankenstein (1818), Which is Considered One of the Earliest Examples of Science Fiction.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Born 6 March, 1806, died 29 June, 1861. Influential Poet, Author of How Do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43, 1845) and Aurora Leigh (1856).

Ada Lovelace (Augusta Ada King, née Byron, Countess of Lovelace). Born 10 December, 1815, died 27 November, 1852. Mathematician, Writer, First to Think of Other Uses for Computing Besides Mathematical Calculations.

Victoria I (Alexandrina Victoria). Born 24 May, 1819, died 22 January, 1901. Queen of England (1837 – 1901), Longest Reign of All Predecessors.

Florence Nightingale. Born May 12, 1820, died August 13, 1910. English Nurse, Pioneer of Modern Nursing, Statistics, and Social Reformation (~1853 – ?).

Rosa Bonheur. Born 16 March, 1822, died 25 May, 1899. French Artist Known Best as a Painter of Animals (Animalière). She Also Made Sculptures in a Realist Style. Was Widely Considered to be the Most Famous Female Painter of the Nineteenth Century. It’s Been Claimed That She Was Openly Lesbian, as She Lived With Her Partner Nathalie Micas For Over 40 Years Until Micas's Death.

Barbara Bodichon. Born 8 April, 1827, died 11 June, 1891. English Educationalist, Artist, and a Leading Mid-19th-Century Feminist and Women's Rights Activist. She Published Her Influential Brief Summary of the Laws of England concerning Women in 1854 and the English Woman's Journal in 1858, and Co-Founded Girton College, Cambridge (1869).

Emily Dickinson (Emily Elizabeth Dickinson). Born December 10, 1830, died May 15, 1886. American Poet, Little-Known During Her Lifetime, Most Works Published Posthumously and Heavily Edited, Later Regarded as One of the Most Important Figures In American Poetry.

Louisa May Alcott. Born November 29, 1832, died March 6, 1888. American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Poet, Author of Little Women (1868), Abolitionist, Feminist, Active in Temperance and Women’s Suffrage Movements.

Elizabeth Jane Gardner (Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau (married name)). Born October 4, 1837, died January 28, 1922. American Academic and Salon Painter, Born in Exeter, New Hampshire. She Was the First American Woman to Exhibit and Win a Gold Medal at the Paris Salon. Her Works Were Accepted to the Salon More Than Any Other Woman Painter in History, and More Than All But a Few of the Men.

Marie Bracquemond (Marie Anne Caroline Quivoron). Born 1 December, 1840, died 17 January, 1916. French Impressionist Artist, One of Four Notable Women in the Impressionist Movement, Along With Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, and Eva Gonzalès. Studied Drawing as a Child and Began Showing Her Work at the Paris Salon When She Was Still an Adolescent. Never Underwent Formal Art Training, But Received Limited Instruction From Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Advice From Paul Gauguin, Which Contributed to Her Stylistic Approach.

Berthe Morisot (Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot). Born January 14, 1841, died March 2, 1895. French Painter and a Member of the Circle of Painters in Paris Who Became Known as the Impressionists. Described by Art Critic Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as One of "Les Trois Grandes Dames" (The Three Great Ladies) of Impressionism Alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.

Emma Sandys (born Mary Ann Emma Sands). Born 25 September, 1841, died 21 November, 1877. British Pre-Raphaelite Painter. Her Works Were Mainly Portraits in Both Oil and Chalk of Children and of Young Women, Often in Period Clothing, Against Backgrounds of Brightly Coloured Flowers.

Maria Zambaco (Marie Terpsithea Cassavetti (Greek: Μαρία Τερψιθέα Κασσαβέτη)). Born 29 April, 1843, died 14 July, 1914. British Sculptor of Greek Descent, Was Also an Artist's Model, Favored by the Pre-Raphaelites.

Kitty Kielland (Kitty Lange Kielland). Born 8 October, 1843, died 1 October, 1914. Norwegian Landscape Painter.

Marie Stillman (Marie Spartali (Greek: Μαρία Σπαρτάλη)). Born 10 March, 1844, died 6 March, 1927. British Member of the Second Generation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Of the Pre-Raphaelites, She Had One of the Longest-Running Careers, Spanning Sixty Years and Producing Over One Hundred and Fifty Works. Though Her Work With the Brotherhood Began as a Favorite Model, She Soon Trained and Became a Respected Painter.

Mary Cassatt (Mary Stevenson Cassatt). Born May 22, 1844, died June 14, 1926. American Painter and Printmaker, Born in Pennsylvania and Lived Much of her Adult Life in France, Where She Befriended Edgar Degas and Exhibited With the Impressionists. Often Created Images of the Social and Private Lives of Women, With Particular Emphasis on the Intimate Bonds Between Mothers and Children. Described by Gustave Geffroy as One of "Les Trois Grandes Dames" (The Three Great Ladies) of Impressionism Alongside Marie Bracquemond and Berthe Morisot.

Elizabeth Thompson (Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, later known as Lady Butler). Born 3 November, 1846, died 2 October, 1933. British Painter Who Specialized in Painting Scenes From British Military Campaigns and Battles, Including the Crimean War and the Napoleonic Wars.

Lilla Cabot Perry (born Lydia Cabot). Born January 13, 1848, died February 28, 1933. American Artist Who Worked in the American Impressionist Style, Rendering Portraits and Landscapes in the Freeform Manner of Her Mentor, Claude Monet. She Was an Early Advocate of the French Impressionist Style and Contributed to its Reception in the United States. Her Early Work Was Shaped by Her Exposure to the Boston School of Artists and Her Travels in Europe and Japan.

Anna Boch (Anna-Rosalie Boch). Born 10 February, 1848, died 25 February, 1936. Belgian Painter, Art Collector, and the Only Female Member of the Artistic Group, Les XX. Part of the Neo-Impressionist Movement.

Anna Bilińska (a.k.a. Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz). Born 8 December, 1854, died 8 April, 1893. Polish Painter, Known For Her Portraits. A Representative of Realism, She Spent Most of Her Life in Paris, and is Considered the "First Internationally Known Polish Woman Artist."

Cecilia Beaux (Eliza Cecilia Beaux). Born May 1, 1855, died September 17, 1942. American Artist and the First Woman to Teach Art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Known For Her Elegant and Sensitive Portraits of Friends, Relatives, and Gilded Age Patrons, She Painted Many Famous Subjects Including First Lady Edith Roosevelt, Admiral Sir David Beatty and Georges Clemenceau.

Evelyn De Morgan (Mary Evelyn Pickering). Born 30 August, 1855, died 2 May, 1919. English Painter Associated Early in Her Career With the Later Phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, and Working in a Range of Styles Including Aestheticism and Symbolism. Her Paintings Rely on a Range of Metaphors to Express Spiritualist and Feminist Content; Her Later Works Also Dealt With Themes of War From a Pacifist Perspective.

Lucy Bacon (Lucy Angeline Bacon). Born July 30, 1857, died October 17, 1932. Californian Artist Known for Her California Impressionist Oil Paintings of Florals, Landscapes and Still Lifes. Studied in Paris Under the Impressionist Camille Pissarro; The Only Known Californian Artist to Have Studied Under Any of the Great French Impressionists.

Laura Muntz Lyall (Laura Adeline Muntz). Born June 18, 1860, died December 9, 1930. Canadian Impressionist Painter and Art Teacher, Known for Her Sympathetic Portrayal of Women and Children.

Olga Boznańska. Born 15 April, 1865, died 26 October, 1940. Polish Painter and Art Teacher of the Turn of the 20th Century. She Was a Notable Painter in Poland and Europe, and Was Stylistically Associated With French Impressionism, Though She Rejected This Label.

Suzanne Valadon (Marie-Clémentine Valadon). Born 23 September, 1865, died 7 April, 1938. French Painter Who, in 1894, Became the First Woman Painter Admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Shocked the Artistic World by Painting Male Nudes as well as Less Idealized Images of Women (in Comparison to Those of Her Male Counterparts).

Mademoiselle Abomah (Ella Williams). Born October, 1865, death date unknown (after 1920s). African-American Performer, Giantess Who Grew to Eight Feet Tall.

Anna Connelly. Born September 23, 1868, died ~1969. Inventor of the First Fire Escape (1887), One of the First Women to Patent an Invention Without Help From a Man.

Emma Goldman. Born June 27, 1869, died May 14, 1940. Anarchist Revolutionary, Political Activist, Writer, Played a Pivotal Role in Development of Anarchist Philosophy in North America and Europe In the First Half of the 20th Century.

Ella Ewing, “The Missouri Giantess” (Ella Katherine Ewing). Born March 9, 1872, died January 10, 1913. Giantess, Performer, Considered the World’s Tallest Woman of Her Era.

Helen Keller (Helen Adams Keller). Born June 27, 1880, died June 1, 1968. Blind/Deaf, Disability Rights/etc. Activist (1909 – ?), Author (1903 – ?).

Agatha Christie (Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller)). Born 15 September, 1890, died 12 January, 1976. English Writer, Known For Her 66 Detective Novels and 14 Short Story Collections. Dubbed “The Queen of Crime”.

Amelia Earhart (Amelia Mary Earhart). Born July 24, 1897, died January 5, 1939 (in absentia). First Solo Female Pilot (1932), Women's Rights Activist, Lost at Sea (1937).

Ebony and Ivory (Margaret Patrick and Ruth Eisenburg). Born 1902 (Eisenburg)/1913 (Patrick), died 1996 (Eisenburg)/1994 (Patrick). Elderly Interracial Piano Duo (1983 – 1988), Disabled on Opposite Sides.

Virginia Hall (Virginia Hall Goillot, Codenamed Marie and Diane, Known as “Artemis” and ”The Limping Lady” by the Germans). Born April 6, 1906, died July 8, 1982. WWII-Era Intelligence Agent (1940 – 1945), Considered “The Most Dangerous of All Allied Spies” by the Gestapo, Later Joined the CIA (1947 – 1966), Had Prosthetic Leg.

Li Zhen (李贞) (Li Danmeizi (旦妹子)). Born February, 1908, died March 11, 1990. Revolutionary (1927 – ?), First Female General of the People’s Liberation Army (1955 – ?).

Mother Teresa (Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu)). Born 26 August, 1910, died 5 September, 1997. Albanian-Indian Catholic Nun, Founder of the Missionaries of Charity.

Rosa Parks (Rosa Louise McCauley Parks). Born February 4, 1913, died October 24, 2005. Civil Rights Activist (1943 – ?), Played a Pivotal Role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955), Became Symbol of Resistance to Racial Segregation.

Judy Garland (Frances Ethel Gumm). Born June 10, 1922, died June 22, 1969. Award-Winning Singer/Actress (1924 – 1969), Starred in The Wizard of Oz (1939), A Star Is Born (1954), etc.

Stephanie Kwolek (Stephanie Louise Kwolek). Born July 31, 1923, died June 18, 2014. Award-Winning Chemist, Inventor of Kevlar (1965).

Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jeane Mortenson). Born June 1, 1926, died August 4, 1962. Award-Winning Actress (1945 – 1961), Pop/Sex Icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Starred in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Some Like It Hot (1959), etc.

Ursula K. Le Guin (Ursula Kroeber Le Guin). Born October 21, 1929, died January 22, 2018. American Novelist, Best Known For Her Works of Speculative Fiction, Author of the Earthsea Series (1964 – 2018), The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Dispossessed (1974), etc.

Aretha Franklin (Aretha Louise Franklin). Born March 25, 1942, died August 16, 2018. Award-Winning Gospel/Rock/RnB Singer, Songwriter, Pianist, Civil Rights Activist, Record Producer (1954 – 2017).

Liza Minnelli (Liza May Minelli). Born March 12, 1946, Still Living. Award-Winning Actress, Singer, Dancer, and Choreographer (1961 – present), Daughter of Judy Garland.

Afeni Shakur (Afeni Shakur Davis, Born Alice Faye Williams). Born January 10, 1947, died May 2, 2016. American Political Activist, Member of the Black Panther Party (1968 – 1971), Mother of Tupac Shakur.

Assata Shakur (Assata Olugbala Shakur (Born JoAnne Deborah Byron), A.k.a. Joanne Chesimard). Born July 16, 1947, Still Living. American Political Activist, Convicted of Murder, Former Member of the Black Liberation Army, One of the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists", Friend of Afeni Shakur & Mutulu Shakur, Often Described as Their Son Tupac Shakur's "Godmother" or "Step-Aunt", Currently a Fugitive, in Asylum in Cuba.

(P.S. if I got anything wrong, feel free to correct me.)

[0junemeatcleaver0]

ℑ𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔡𝔲𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫

Muta Cupido; An examination of Roman sexual morality, what makes a man a vir, the practice of oratorical celibacy, and the appetites of both a mortal man and monster. 

Ages ago, I wrote a quick-n-dirty meta (which I will link to later in this post). At the time, I was quite proud of it. But after having done my last Marius deep dive, all of my previous metas now look lackluster to me. Consider this to be the updated version of the original meta. It is not necessary to have read the previous meta before this one, though those of you who have (and even those of you who haven’t) should be able to pick up what I’m putting down before I even link to the original. 

That being said, I would suggest that you do read this companion piece I wrote about what (in the mind of a Roman) made a man, a man. It’s a relatively short read, and will help add more context to the short discussion on the same topic later in this post. 

A quick note before anyone tries to jump up my ass (again): I view meta as serving the same purpose as fic, just via a different methodology. Where in fic you dream up scenarios to put the characters through to see how they might act in those situations, I feel meta is a way of taking what we know canonically about the character and attempting to recontextualize the facts with additional information. Just as there are nearly infinite equations one can use to reach a sum, so too are there different ways a single character might end up the person we read on the page. In short: This post is meant to be a thought experiment and you’d have to be some kind of fool to think its author is proclaiming herself some kind of authority on the subject.  

𝔖𝔢𝔵𝔲𝔞𝔩 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔩𝔱𝔥 𝔦𝔫 𝔄𝔫𝔠𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔱 ℜ𝔬𝔪𝔢

The time of Pliny the Elder and the four humors; a time when medical theories that seem ignorant to the modern mind were rife. And while I could spend quite a long time dunking on the science of yesteryear, I’ll keep things brief by only focusing on ideas surrounding sexual health–especially where it pertains to the sexual health of men. 

As pictured above, one very important aspect of health for a male was the regulation of semen. Semen was a very important bodily fluid, as it was thought to be made via a mix of (the humor) blood and pneuma (“vital air”) and was believed to be the fuel on which internal organs ran. 

Blood and semen, in fact, were so inextricably linked in the Roman mind that the two would be even poetically coupled throughout different texts in oft times violent ways. Aya Betensky says in Lucretius and Love: 

“Let us begin with Lucretius’ Venus in De Rerum Natura 4. He introduces her as a physiologically as possible, moving from a discussion of dreams to wet dreams and then to the mechanics of ejaculation, which he shows mockingly to be the body’s enactment of the romantic expression ‘wound of love’. Semen is equated with blood spurting out of a wound. (4. 1049-1056)”. 

Greek physician Galen warns in his treatise On Semen that exorbitant sexual activity would result in a loss of pneuma and thus, vitality:

“It is not at all surprising that those who are less moderate sexually turn out  to be weaker, since the whole body loses the purest part of both substances, and there is besides an accession of pleasure, which by itself is enough to dissolve the vital tone, so that before now some persons have died from excess of pleasure.” 

As detailed further in this post’s companion piece, the rules for manhood were highly prescriptive to the Romans. Every man of good moral standing concerned with their own virtus would have also been weary of losing too much semen–whether through promiscuity or nocturnal emissions. 

As Catharine Edwards states in The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome:

“Morality and manliness [were considered] the distinguishing features of Rome.”

And while Rome’s mos maiorum were such a public affair (indeed, these customs and social norms functioned almost as some sort of morality play each citizen was expected to participate in while in public), these expectations leaked into even the most private sectors of citizen’s lives–including the bedroom. 

Robert Sharp speaking about how censores regulated the public in Incontinentia, Licentia et Libedo: The Juxtaposition of Morality and Sexuality during the Roman Republic. 

Indeed, a lack of control over the self (which included being able to appropriately manage one’s sex life) indicated that a man was incapable of governing others–a highly detrimental accusation in the heyday of the Paterfamilias. As per Catharine Edwards in Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome:

“The enjoyment of ‘low sensual pleasure’ threatened to erode the elite male’s identity as a cultured person”. 

Still yet, there were some men for whom this fear of loss of masculine potency loomed larger than most. 

Because a loss of pneuma was thought to cause a whole host of physical ailments–but most importantly to this discussion slow mindedness, an ‘effeminate’ voice, and general weakness of character–the men perhaps most concerned with keeping hold of their pneuma were orators. 

One such orator was C. Licinius Calvus (born 82 BCE, died possibly in 47 BCE). In Natural History, Pliny the Elder name checks Calvus during a discussion of medical uses for lead. Because Calvus took to putting lead plates on his kidneys to combat having wet dreams. John Dugan says in Preventing Ciceronianis: C. Licinius Calvus’ Regimens for Sexual and Oratorical Self-Mastery: 

“Pliny, moreover, connects this therapy with Calvus’ literary activity, stipulating that the orator’s treatment was designed to ‘preserve the strength of his body for the labor of his studies’.”

The oratorial obsession with preventing wet dreams isn’t where the scholarly preoccupation with keeping one’s seminal fluid to one’s self ended, either. As per the Encyclopedia Britannica: 

“As classical civilization developed, two ideals of masculine celibacy appeared, that of the ascetic philosopher and that of the priest of the mystery religions. [...] Pythagoras (c. 580 BC - c. 500) established a small community that emphasized study, vegetarianism, and sexual restraint or abstinence. Many later philosophers believed that celibacy is conducive to the detachment and equilibrium required by the philosopher’s calling. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus (AD 55- C. 135) for example, held that the ideal teacher would be unmarried and that his task would require freedom from the cares of family life.” 

𝔈𝔭𝔦𝔠𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔰𝔪, 𝔖𝔱𝔬𝔦𝔠𝔦𝔰𝔪, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔖𝔢𝔵𝔲𝔞𝔩 𝔐𝔬𝔯𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔦𝔫 𝔄𝔫𝔠𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔱 ℜ𝔬𝔪𝔢

Now that we’ve gotten a taste of how physicians viewed sexual activity, we’ll move on to what the philosophers thought on the subject. 

There were two major schools of philosophy in Ancient Rome–Epicureanism and Stoicism. Epicureanism was a philosophy that taught that pleasure was the highest good and the thing through which you could attain tranquility and freedom from fear and physical pain. Stoicism was the philosophy that taught that life was best lived in harmony with reason, was based in knowledge, and showed a complete indifference to pain and pleasure. 

𝔈𝔭𝔦𝔠𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔫 𝔖𝔢𝔵𝔲𝔞𝔩 𝔐𝔬𝔯𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔶

Within Epicurean thought, pleasure was believed to be the highest good. According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

“Epicurus’ ethics is a form of egoistic hedonism; i,e., he says that the only thing that is intrinsically valuable is one’s own pleasure; anything that has value is valuable merely as a means to securing pleasure for oneself.”

To Epicurus, pleasure simply meant satisfying one’s desires. He believed there to be two types of desire, “moving” and “static”. Moving desire happens when one is actively fulfilling the desire, such as eating when you feel hungry. Static desire occurs after fulfillment, i.e. feeling comfortably full after eating. He goes on to state he believes that static pleasure is the best form of pleasure. From IEoP:

“If pleasure results from getting what you want (desire-satisfaction) and pain from not getting what you want (desire-frustration), then there are two strategies you can pursue with respect to any given desire: you can either strive to fulfill the desire, or you can try to eliminate the desire. For the most part, Epicurus advocates the second strategy, that of paring your desires down to a minimum core, which are then easily satisfied.”

Epicurus divided desire into three categories:

Natural and necessary (food, drink, shelter, and personal safety)

Natural and unnecessary (things which will give you pleasure but lacking these things will not make your life impossible and/or unbearable)

Unnatural and unnecessary (desire for social standing, political power, fame, and glory)

He places sex in this second category. 

Later thinkers in this school of thought–namely Lucretius–would take harsher stances on sexual desire. Male desire, specifically, being viewed as pathological, frustrating, and violent (at least according to Robert D. Brown in Lucretius on Love and Sex [1987])–which is perhaps why Lucretius preached an ambivalent view of sex. 

Lucretius treated the sex drive as muta cupido, comparing the physiological response of ejaculation to blood spurting from a wound (again, via Brown in Lucretius on Love and Sex [1987]). 

𝔖𝔱𝔬𝔦𝔠 𝔖𝔢𝔵𝔲𝔞𝔩 𝔐𝔬𝔯𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔶

This school of thought emphasized sex within marriage as a way of fortifying an institution that helped to sustain social order. Such was this emphasis that by modern standards, we might consider these fathers of this philosophy to be homophobic (though that would be looking at things through a rather narrow and myopic lens)--Musonius disapproved of same-sex relations due to their lack of ability to create offspring. Seneca and Epictetus, meanwhile, merely favored male-female pairings over same sex couplings due to their ability to procreate. 

While these views surrounding same sex relations could be considered problematic by modern minds, the Stoics were more egalitarian in their thoughts surrounding highly gendered rules and how they opened people (mainly men) to hypocrisy–at least for the time. 

Indeed, both Musonius and Seneca believed if men wanted to exercise authority over women because they believed themselves to be in possession of greater self control, then those men ought to be able to manage their sex drives. 

This, of course, is not akin to the sex positivity movement of today, but rather a call for all good citizens–male and female–to control their baser urges so as not to embarrass the Republic. The (for lack of a better term) proto-feminism only went so far, as Seneca–staunchly against adultery–believed it was worse for a wife to cheat on her husband than for a husband to cheat on his wife. 

Kathy L. Gaca in her book The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity states that Seneca also believed that a wise man should make love to his wife by exercising good judgment (iudicium) and not emotion (affectus). Though this is a much stricter stance than taken by other Stoics, who largely saw sex as a means of promoting affection between married couples. 

But while Stoicism at least at first glance seems to take a more even keeled approach to the topic, it was not above fear mongering about the perils of the human sex drive. In her book, Gaca cites Ad Helviam (13:3), stating: 

“To Seneca, sexual desire for pleasure (libido) is a ‘destructive force (exitium) insidiously fixed in the innards’. Unregulated, it becomes cupiditas (lust).”

And here is where I risk losing those of you who didn’t put two and two together until this moment. AKA: I think Marius died a virgin and in this essay I will…

Or, more accurately, since this theory relies on a blending of canon and my research, let us make a melange of sorts.

ℑ𝔫𝔤𝔯𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔰 𝔏𝔦𝔰𝔱

For the purpose of keeping things contained to this post, here is a quick summary of the original post: 

Marius never mentions taking a shine to anyone while still a mortal

When speaking of his time as a mortal, he never alludes to being a part of any hedonistic activity, though he does admit to documenting the indiscretions of others

He’s only known to have been attracted to one person (Pandora) as a mortal, who he never got with romantically or sexually 

And before it gets brought up, I’ll address the passage in Prince Lestat where Teskhamen speaks to Marius and says: 

“[...] I saw your libraries, I saw and heard your quick-witted and curious companions, I saw the full blooming power of your experience, the life of a cultured Roman, the life that had made you what you were. I saw the beauty of Italy. I saw the beauty of fleshly love. I saw the beauty of ideas. I saw the beauty of the sea.[...]” 

This passage was pointed out to me on my original post. Before we continue, I want to make something clear: I don’t think anyone is wrong for reading this passage as meaning that Marius was party to that ‘fleshly love’. I think it’s ambiguous enough that it could go either way. 

My whole reasoning for personally not buying this as evidence against my current theory is a matter of language. Teskhamen front-loads this passage with language that focuses on Marius’ experience. It’s Marius’ library, Marius’s companions, Marius’ life as a cultured Roman. The second half of the passage removes possessive language from the equation entirely and instead focuses solely on the beauty of all he saw–Italy, pleasure, ideas, the sea. 

The remoteness of this language coming directly after the language that detailed Marius’ specific lived experience reads as a line of delineation to me. The things Marius did, and then the things Marius witnessed. 

This, of course, is in no way meant to be an argument about authorial intent. If I had to guess, Anne wasn’t focused on the preciseness of language here, but rather catching the flow of Teskhamen’s speech patterns. In short, it’s not that deep–it’s just a peculiarity of the writing that stuck out to me and I think lends itself to being read one of two ways. After all, Marius is not responsible for how beautiful the sea or Italy is, nor is he the sole thinker who had every beautiful idea and–it stands to reason, in my opinion, due to these things being grouped together–not necessarily the one participating in the fleshly love. 

Moving on. 

I’d like to continue my summation by detailing what it is we know (canonically) of Marius’ personality: 

Marius (whether he intends to or not) carries his Roman ideals about what makes a good man into the modern age, as called out by Pandora on page 57 of Blood Communion. 

Mortal Marius was noticeably odd and aloof. Pandora (again) calls this out on page 54 of Pandora, saying: 

“In the crowd, I saw Marius. He looked at me, then back to his book. So strange. I saw him standing against a tree trunk and writing. No one did this–stand against a tree, hold a book in one hand and write with the other. The slave stood beside him with a bottle of ink.” 

Showcasing yet again how Marius was still–at around thirty years of age–more invested in documenting fun instead of having any himself (this scene  was, after all, set during Saturnalia). 

I say ‘still’ because Marius himself says this on page 397 in The Vampire Lestat: 

“I’d come to Massilia after a long and studious journey that had taken me through all the great cities of the Empire. TO Alexandria, Pergamon, Athens I’d traveled, observing and writing about the people, and now I was making my way through the cities of Roman Gaul.” 

And again in TVL (page 397), the rowdiest he admits to getting is this: 

“By the age of twenty, I'd become the scholar and the chronicler, the one who raised his voice at drunken banquets to settle historical and military arguments.”

This identity as a chronicler–while cemented in his twentieth year–carried on into his fortieth year, as we see him still writing his own chronicles when approached by Mael in the tavern from which he was kidnapped (TVL, page 398).

This all, of course, is a rough sketch of Marius as a character and I am obviously relying on you to fill in any gaps with your own understanding of him as he appears on page. After all, it would take quite a while to transcribe every moment where Marius was particularly Roman, weird, scholarly, or restrained. Keep your own favorite instances in mind as we move on to the next bit: 

𝔏𝔢𝔱'𝔰 𝔐𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔞 𝔖𝔬𝔲𝔭

It is my belief that it makes a lot of sense that Marius (especially if you buy into the “Marius was never a senator” theory) being a man who values his identity as a Roman man and an intellectual, would buy fully into practicing celibacy as a way to protect his mental acuity. 

It was a common enough medical practice in his day, he obviously highly values his intellect, he was very serious about and dedicated to his scholarly undertakings, if ineligible for a political position he might want to win the respect of his fellow men of good standing by becoming something of a historian/philosopher, he’d only been very attracted to a woman he couldn’t marry anyway, and he was a bit of an off putting weirdo (affectionate) to boot. 

Marius has been shown to exhibit respect for the great thinkers of his time (name checking Xenophon, Herodotus and Poseidonius on page 399 of TVL alone) and it’s not much of a stretch (especially when paired with his habit of loudly and forcefully arguing at banquets) to assume he had a great deal of respect for orators and their craft. 

Whether Marius were ever a fan of Calvus is up to debate–Calvus died one to two decades before Marius was born (there is no record of Calvus’ exact year of death), he would have been recent history for Marius. Calvus’ poems would have still existed (in more than the fragments we have now), his speeches would have been spoken about, and was fairly well known in his time. My point is, orators were well respected as men and intellectuals and it wouldn’t shock me if Marius was a fan of any of them in specific or in general and that respect could have been the thing that kicked off any possible decision to remain celibate. 

In short, I believe there are many plausible  reasons why Marius may have died a virgin and I think all of these in combination would make a very fun space to play in, character-wise. 

ℜ𝔢𝔰𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔠𝔢𝔰

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4349696?read-now=1&seq=10#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1215514?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4349198?read-now=1&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/270440?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

[theromaboo]

@just-late-roman-republic-things seems to be plowing through Suetonius Augustus and I am here for it!

Your mention of the dinosaur bones that Augustus used as home decoration reminds me of a story about Tiberius! (I swear, everything recently has been reminding me about Tiberius!)

By the way, finding the ancient source for this story was shit! I remembered reading this like a year ago, and I had forgotten which ancient source this was from. Using my critical thinking skills ("hmmm tiberius hmmmm dinosaur"), I assumed that this story came from Pliny's Natural History.

It did not.

I was searching through the Natural History for so long that I was starting to wonder if I had made the story up!

After searching through the Natural History for ages, I finally used more critical thinking skill and was like "Hmmm. Maybe if I google this, I could find an article about the event and maybe possibly it would cite a specific part of the Natural History!"

I googled it, found an article about the event, and it cited Phlegon's Book of Marvels.

Whoopsie! I was looking through the wrong book this whole time! In my defense, Pliny and Phlegon actually are pretty similar names if you squint sooo...

(it was however worth it to look through the Natural History because I found the funniest story about Tiberius ever but that's a story for another day)

Now that I have the ancient source of this story, I can finally tell it!

Basically, there was an earthquake which opened up all sorts of cracks on the ground. And in those cracks, there were dinosaur bones!

The people were pretty spooked so they took a tooth and sent it to Rome. And this was a massive tooth.

The tooth was showed to Tiberius and he was asked if he wanted the rest of the bones. He was like "Well, I'm really curious about this thing, and I'm aching to get an idea of what size it was, but it feels like graverobbing to take the rest of the bones."

So Tiberius got some dude called Pulcher who was skilled in geometry. Tiberius asked him to make a face in proportion to the tooth. The dude estimated the size of the creature using its tooth as a reference and then showed Tiberius a construction of it he had made. Tiberius said that looking at the construction was good enough and sent the tooth back where it came from.

Tiberius and (especially) Pulcher, the world's first paleontologists!

I love this story. It's wild. Though I do wonder what happened to the construction. Did Tiberius keep it?

If Tiberius randomly showed up at my door one day, I'd bring him to Drumheller to go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Alberta is one of the most boring places in the world but we do have a banging dinosaur museum!

On the hours-long drive there, I will most certainly give him like a billion questions, though. "How was Caligula like? How was Augustus like? How were you like? How was Livia like? How was Sejanus like? Actually, scratch this. Name every single person you know and tell me how they were like and how they looked like. What did you do in Capri? Explain your entire life from beginning to end, giving extra attention to the personal parts! I don't want to hear about wars I want to hear about what people were like! Could you read Suetonius to me and point out parts where he's wrong? Could we watch Domina together and you can tell me if you like your characterization or not?"

For everyone's sake, it's good that dead Roman emperors usually don't randomly show up sometimes (not counting whatever the fuck was happening right after Nero died!)

If you want to read the Tiberius Tooth sTory (haha Triple T) for yourself, you can here. Look for §13.

[pomrania]

Time to actually start thinking about the Bestiaryposting creature of the week, if I want to get its design done today and the picture done tomorrow (because it was NOT fun, having to rush last week). This is the "narngreg".

Things actually mentioned about its physical description... it's beautiful, multi-coloured, "dabbed all over with very small circular spots [...] black and white colouring with eye-shaped circles of yellow", the young have sharp claws, gives birth to live young.

Things that are implied by what we're given.... Likely a mammal because of the whole "live birth" thing, but it could always be Something Weird (like a gryphon, which... honestly I'm not positive this isn't, like I don't THINK it's a gryphon but I can't be sure). It sleeps for a few days after eating until full. It's gentle and only has the dragon as its enemy... wait is this an elephant, because I remember reading that elephants were traditionally considered enemies of dragons in stuff like this; probably not, but I might use some elephant elements in this (claws and tusks are similar enough in concept, even though they'd be familiar with tusks from non-elephant animals because boars). Its breath smells sweet, and it's followed by other animals because of that, so it either naturally produces alcohol or it's a Disney princess. There's three offspring per birth, and only one successful pregnancy per animal.

...I'm kind of curious about how some bits are "Pliny says", "Physiologus says", and other bits are just plain reported as fact. @maniculum, if you've already information somewhere on this (that isn't a spoiler), could you please link it to me; otherwise, if you feel like rambling about what things were just described and what things had an appeal to a source, and why, I'd be interested in reading it. (No rush; I'll likely forget about this approximately ten seconds after posting, so I won't notice a difference between "near-immediate response" and "response half a year later".)

Most of the other features can be played around with -- even "sharp claws" is only specified for the YOUNG, it could be one of those things that falls off or gets blunted with maturity -- but the description is very specific about the colour and patterning. There's prolly a couple different ways to interpret it, but I've enough of a cognitive load with "designing an entire-ass creature based solely on vibes", so I'll go with what to me is the most straight-forward interpretation: the narngreg's base colours are white and black, in some combination, then there's yellow over it, like someone took paint to a zebra.

Now, what could the black and white stuff be like.... I mentioned "zebra", but I'm ruling that out for the very good reason of "I don't want to have to draw all those stripes". Dalmatian-type spots wouldn't fit the phrasing; something like pinto would, though, where it's large splotches. Looked up "tapir" because I half-remembered something, and that's definitely some black and white colouring; very distinct, white starting just behind the shoulders, continuing towards the rump, then stopping above the hindlegs (I can't tell if the tail is included in that area or not, and I don't care enough to keep searching further). "Orca" is another option, which has the added benefit of a light underside which is a feature I just keep coming back to because it is pretty.

"Eye-shaped circles of yellow"... I don't want to draw something that would LITERALLY look like an eye, because that would freak me out, which is undesirable for any piece I intend to spend time working on. Could be something like, I think the marking's called a "rosette", on a cheetah or leopard (can't remember which one it is). Could be almond-shaped; or, upon rereading the description, it might be something where the yellow bits are small enough I don't have to give them any detail.

So that's my rambling for the moment; ended up getting a few things figured out, and some other things where at least I've written down the possibilities so I won't have to go about it from scratch. Next update will be once I've gotten enough worked out in my mind that I can at least draw some options.

[a-luran]

Waaaaaiiiittt but potential of Arthur dyeing his hair . Vein little shit in his older years YES 100000% he’s too proud to admit he’s doing it. And out of spite he will stick to it until he’s last his hands.

Human au. But little baby Arthur shaving and putting anything in his hair to look more blonde his mother is 10000/10. Even better if his dad is somehow Differnet to his siblings dads (maybe his siblings have dads who are friends or some have the same dad) and he’s desperate for that connection to her.

Or if it’s nations au. Rome making him do it as he’s ashamed of him and hates that he is somehow connected to him. I just adore the idea of England having connections to Rome. Makes it extra angst if England and Albion are different people. Uk Celtic bros one day had Albion and the next had this new kid speaking another language insisting this is his land. With weird smelling hair (I dunno how he’d do it lemons???? Ammonia??) and some burning desire to conquer resting in his eyes (lemon smelling 6 year old is just a funny scary image)

He would absolutely be the kind of person to be shown a picture of (very obviously) himself as a child and say “I don’t know who that is” with a straight face, actively in the process of retouching his ends. (I have to admit that I am very partial to Arthur with blonde hair and dark dark roots. I don’t think that he’d hide he dyes his hair, just does not discuss it. It’s who he is at this point)

In a human AU I can definitely see this being a way for him to be closer to his mother, or who he thinks his mother is based off of old photographs. Maybe she had dark hair as well but dyed it— how could Arthur know, really? But it’s how he remembers her. It’s the her that left imprints in faded photographs.

In nationverse I think it’s a complex identity struggle, aye especially under rule. Either as a way to belong to himself, or forceful assimilation that sticks in a way he would battle to unlearn. The Arthur who existed before that influence does not exist anymore; he would literally not recognise himself in a mirror.

From a historical perspective he would have been able to lighter his hair with lye. There is a lot of evidence to suggest the use of ash as an alkaline agent. It’s not my area, but I can speak to a degree of different dyeing techniques for both hair and textiles across different periods of what we’d refer to broadly as the ‘Roman Britain .’ Even Pliny the Elder left behind commentary on how to achieve the perfect black and red dye job— in his opinion (for black he suggests rotting leeches in wine, for red he talks about a much more reasonable process involving beechwood ash and animal fat. A golden tone to is suggested to be achievable with saffron). You’ll find it suggested in some of the literature that sex workers and slaves were required to dye their hair blonde under Roman law. A lot of Roman law scholars and social historians disagree, for several reasons. Although it is true that prostitution was highly institutionalised, a likely middle ground is that blonde hair was desirable and pursued (which tells us plenty about the underlying social conditionings of desire, as well as the cultural, social and economic reading of blonde hair), and that in some instances may have been standardise as one of the professional markers of the sex trade.

[maniculum]

A reply to the scorpion effortpost (link):

@lucdzenlaurent this is getting its own post because I looked into it and I'm pretty sure you are absolutely correct. (Is this conjecture on your part, or is this an area in which you are knowledgeable and can share additional information?)

Pliny the Elder, who lived in the Mediterranean and absolutely knew what a scorpion was, includes this in his description:

It is an ascertained fact, that those which have seven joints in the tail are the most deadly; the greater part, however, have but six.

(From the Bostock translation.)

The word Pliny uses is internodia, which can mean "joints" or "segments", but the root nodus means "knot".

In the 13th century, Thomas de Cantimpre gives us the following:

But it has in any case in its knotty tail a venomous sting, so that it punctures and poisons any who approach.

(Translation mine, sorry if it's bad, my Latin isn't great and I couldn't find an English edition of De Natura Rerum.)

The word Thomas uses is nodosa, which can mean "knotty" or "knobbly". So he's not necessarily wrong, but the paraphrase could easily mislead someone.

So I think it's highly likely that Pliny's internodia, Thomas's nodosa (and any other texts paraphrasing Pliny), led people to believe that the scorpion had knots in its tail, not joints or segments. Which would absolutely explain images like these whose tails vexed me:

And in fact may also explain a lot of the twisty, spiraling tails on other scorpions that I had just assumed were artistic convention.

[thoodleoo]

if you had to pick a weird animal to show to pliny the elder and have him write about it what animal would you pick? i think i would have to show him an echidna. i NEED to see what sort of weird remedies he comes up with from an animal that lays eggs, sweats milk, and has a beak

[liminalwings]

Greenery of the Draconic Persuasion

When you think of dragons and plants associated with them, what’s the first thing you think of? Most likely Dragon’s Blood, but what other plants out there are also associated with dragons? This is more of an overview rather than a suggestion of “use these plants”, because some of them really just… aren’t all pleasant to work with, but still have a fascinating history. 

Dragon’s Blood

Still good to go over the big one we all know. Dracaena is a genus of trees that is noted for having certain members, such as Dracaena draco and Dracaena cinnabari, that bleed a red resin when cut; this resin is referred to as ‘Dragon’s Blood’. The name of this genus comes from the Greek ‘drakaina’, which is the name for a female dragon. It has also been tied to the myth of Heracles, particularly the 11th task and the dragon Ladon, by some interpretations Ladon is the dragon guarding the tree or is the tree; by others, the Dracaena springs from Ladon’s blood when slain. 

Do note, however, that the majority of Dragon’s Blood resin on the market these days comes from a different genus of tree entirely, Calamus dracunculus (formerly Daemonorops draco and Calamus draco), while other genera of trees also exude a red resin that may also be referred to as Dragon’s Blood, all technically having different properties. The tree that was believed to be originally used and written about, Dracaena cinnabari of Socotra, is rated ‘vulnerable’ on its conservation status, while Dracaena draco is listed as ‘endangered’. Calamus draco meanwhile does not seem to be threatened. 

This collective of red resins do have a long history of use in medicine, art, and ritual in various cultures. The most frequent magical uses of the resin are as an incense for protection or cleansing, and dissolved in alcohol as a magical ink. With how many different trees act as a source of ‘dragon’s blood’, it is good to keep in mind that different species may vary in terms of magical/energetic traits, and that the attraction to Dragon’s Blood as a magical component could be considered these days to be more based on symbolism and human-given attributes. 

Tarragon

Artemisia dracunculus, or “Little Dragon of Artemis”, often referred to as just “dragon” in Swedish and Dutch and, in the past, German; a name that was given for the appearance of its coiled roots, or likening the shape of the leaves to dragon tongues. It is in the same genus as Mugwort, Wormwood, and Sagebrush, and French Tarragon is most frequently used for culinary purposes with a somewhat licorice-like flavor. It was believed, per Pliny the Elder, that Tarragon would ward away dragons and venomous serpents (unproven of course) and could cure snakebite (also unproven). There aren’t many historic magical uses otherwise, though some modern witchcraft practices have given it associations with protection, banishment, and healing. Scientifically, it has been proven effective at repelling insects and as a mosquito larvicidal, effectively combating the spread of malaria through less environmentally-hazardous means. 

Snapdragon

Antirrhinum majus, also referred to as ‘toadflax’, ‘dog flower’, ‘dragon flower’. It is so named because of the flower’s appearance, which is likened to a dragon’s snout that opens and closes when squeezed laterally. They come in a wonderful range of colors and, like other dragon-associated plants, are considered to be protective: in Medieval Europe, they were believed to protect from witches and ill magic, and were planted near castle gates or hung above cribs to ward off evil spirits. They were also used as a charm against falsehood, and in flower language symbolized ‘truth-telling’. The skull-like seed pods have commonly been worn to protect from curses and other bewitchments. 

Dragon Arum

Dracunculus vulgaris, also referred to as dragon lily, vampire lily, devil’s tongue, and, in its native Greece, drakondia. Like its larger cousin, the Titan arum, it is not a flower most people would be including in a nice bouquet, with respect to its fragrance being like that of rotting meat to attract flies as pollinators. Like Tarragon, not only does it share the same Latin “little dragon” name, it was also believed to ward away serpents(also also unproven), though some sources also claim that it generates serpents (flies attract other critters that snakes eat, so yeah I could see that as a conclusion). It is also one of many in the Arum family that can produce heat (thermogenesis), reaching about 65°F/18°C, which is used to lure flies to the flower for pollination. These unique physical properties can lend themselves to equally interesting potential magical associations. 

Dragon Root/Green Dragon

Arisaema dracontium is a plant native to North America. All parts of the plant are highly toxic to humans when eaten raw due to the presence of Calcium oxalate. I am including it here only to show the range of dragon-associated plants and do not necessarily advocate its use. Though historically, it has in fact been used as medicine, especially as an abortifacient and to stimulate menstrual flow. 

__

This is by no means an exhaustive list of plants with dragon-inspired names, as can be seen here. But for those wanting to include draconic plants in their practice but can’t afford or can’t find a place to obtain dragon’s blood, or otherwise want to avoid using it, there are comparatively more easily-obtained alternatives at your local stores, such as Tarragon, Dragonfruit, and Snapdragons, or perhaps another native species local to you. Just make sure to do your research and know if cautions must be taken, what the physical attributes are, and if a plant is endangered or not. 

Resources

https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/tropical-biodiversity/2013/03/dracaenaceae-dragons-blood-and-the-language-of-the-birds/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_blood

https://herbsocietyblog.wordpress.com/2023/07/03/herb-of-the-month-french-tarragon-the-little-dragon-herb/

https://dsps.lib.uiowa.edu/roots/french-tarragon/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8076785/

https://www.gardenguides.com/126335-history-snapdragons.html

https://www.flower.style/stylewatch/discover-the-curious-origins-of-snapdragons-not-to-worry-they-dont-actually-bite

https://www.petalrepublic.com/snapdragon-flower-meaning/

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/44638/pg44638-images.html#page-153

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracunculus_vulgaris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arisaema_dracontium

https://ebrary.net/28107/environment/snapdragon

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/arisaema-dracontium/

https://www.yellowwood.net/post/skunk-jacks-dragons-the-curious-arum-family

[snowbirds-and-snakelets]

i’ve had the idea for a snowjanus fic in my mind recently. basically pliny sr (pup’s dad) and strabo plinth are negotiating an arranged marriage between their sons, because strabo thinks it will help his family assimilate into the capitol and be less ostracised and harrington sr really wants that munitions business because he wants to expand past the navy or something. they haven’t actually solidified anything and are still in the process of working it out and deciding whether or not it’s something they should do, and pliny sr asks pup to talk to sejanus to test the waters if you will. this is the first pup hears about the idea and sejanus currently has no clue about it.

so pup reluctantly asks coriolanus if he can introduce them, and snow is actually fuming over it but he doesn’t show it and tells him it’d probably be better if pup went up to sejanus himself. the plan is that he does it tomorrow, and snow would tell sejanus about it today so he didn’t freak out when pup randomly starts talking possible marriage to him. he’s mostly trying to buy time to sort himself out and push down his feelings. he talks to sejanus about it, silently seething and vindicated when sejanus doesn’t seem all that happy about the idea. they brainstorm ways to get out of it and come up with nothing, so they say goodbye and prepare to meet tomorrow.

there are two ways this goes: one, things don’t go well but none of the three know how to convince the adults not to go through with it. coriolanus is actually going insane and is constantly at the end of his fuse from what he refuses to call jealousy but definitely is, and comes up with the desperate brilliant idea to try and convince strabo not to wed his son off to the harringtons by dating sejanus instead, because if he really wants an in with the capitol, snow’s the way to go. he justifies this because of the plinth fortune and (if we’re going by movie canon) will probably help get him the plinth prize. two, coriolanus has no idea how it goes until pup storms over to him and complains about him ‘keeping secrets’ and ‘why didn’t you just tell me you he was taken?’ and ‘that was so embarrassing why not just say he’s your boyfriend?’. snow is so confused and pup walks away, and when corio and sejanus talk later sej apologises, explaining that he panicked and said it couldn’t work because he was already dating someone. unfortunately, as the only person who talks to him willingly is coriolanus, it was very easy for pup to draw the conclusion that snowjanus real. coriolanus decides that the best course of action is to roll with it, at least until there’s no more chance of the adults going through with the engagement. this is definitely 100% so he can use sejanus for money and get more snacks from his ma not at all because he wants to date him no sir.

either way they’re both fake dating now and have to deal with the epic highs and lows of rich kid highschool as well as the backlash from their classmates. snow is still desperately clinging onto his ‘hatred’ of sejanus by pretending his feelings for sejanus have absolutely nothing to do with the situation, whilst also warring against his pure rage at pup. pup has done nothing and is pretty glad the marriage didn’t work out but you can bet that snow will never get over it because he’s a possessive bastard. classic fake dating shenanigans ensue, as well as the ‘i love them but they can only love me as an act’ angst, requited love but it takes snow a long, long, long time to admit that. would probably be pre-tbosas because it’s harder to think about this occurring alongside the 10th games.

[tumblingghosts]

hello you’re the only person i know on here who likes harry potter so i’m sending you my headcanons for the mentors in their hogwarts houses

persephone- hufflepuff, i think she’s very loyal, kind, & patient

festus- gryffindor, he’s a lil impulsive but brave (sort of projected a james potter type personality accidentally)

livia- slytherin, i see her as ambitious and resourceful or ravenclaw, bc i also think she’s witty and creative

vipsania- slytherin, very ambitious and cunning

felix- ravenclaw, idk he’s just giving those vibes

hp x tbosas?? :D

(more under the cut)

i fully agree with the ones you mentioned-

persephone price - hufflepuff

what you said! i think she likely sticks close to her house for her earlier years but opens up to other houses once festus became her friend (after some group project that pairs them together)

festus creed - gryffindor

honestly didn’t even have to think about this one. festus just feels like gryffindor. 

livia cardew - slytherin

she has ambition, connections, self-preservation, pretty motivated by competition and doing better than people she doesn’t like and cunning when she wants to be

vipsania sickle - slytherin

she’s really competitive and driven. also i can’t explain it, but she kinda has quidditch keeper vibes.

felix ravinstill - ravenclaw

he tried for slytherin- he really did! (that’s a lie, he didn’t try that hard.) i’d say it was a bit of a toss-up between the two, and felix was fairly ambivalent since both were respectable enough- and that sealed it for ravenclaw.

more mentors!

coriolanus snow - slytherin

ambition. ambition for ages. the sorting hat didn’t even have to think about it.

clemensia dovecote - slytherin

ambition as well, but to a much less harmful degree than coriolanus. ravenclaw was probably floated as a potential house, but not long enough to cause a hat stall. unrelated to the sorting, but if we’re going with hp events as well, was likely the one to figure out the basilisk then got petrified before she could tell anyone.

sejanus plinth - gryffindor

he’s a hufflepuff in my heart, but he’d most likely be sorted into gryffindor. 

urban canville - hufflepuff

i would have said ravenclaw, except urban kinda gives zacharias smith (re: would urban push first years out of the way to escape the battle of hogwarts? probably.) so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

arachne crane - slytherin

she was nearly a hat stall because the hat tried putting her in gryffindor. she adamantly refused until the hat gave in. it sorts, but students do get choice.

io jasper - ravenclaw

incredibly smart, but she’s most skilled at science-related classes. everyday, she thanks the founders that urban wasn’t placed in the same house as her. it’s bad enough that hufflepuffs and ravenclaws often have classes together.

lysistrata vickers - gryffindor

i could see an argument for hufflepuff, but she feels outspoken enough to tip the scales into gryffindor when considering the two.

i have no explanations for the rest, these are just vibes-

pliny harrington - slytherin

juno phipps - ravenclaw

hilarius heavensbee - slytherin

gaius breen - slytherin

androcles anderson - hufflepuff

domitia whimsiwick - slytherin

dennis fling - hufflepuff

palmyra monty - ravenclaw

iphigenia moss - hufflepuff

apollo ring - gryffindor

diana ring - ravenclaw

florus friend - ravenclaw

bonus! here’s where i think some of the tributes would go-

lucy gray - slytherin

jessup - hufflepuff

marcus - gryffindor

reaper - hufflepuff

treech - slytherin

lamina - hufflepuff

(the slytherin/hufflepuff vibes for treemina go hard- lamina swears that treech should have been a hufflepuff, but treech swears that lamina should have been slytherin. in a way, they’re both right.)

also, where would you sort the d4 tributes/victors (mizzen, coral, finnick, mags, annie, etc.)?

thanks for the ask!