regndoft: (Wanderer in the 4th Dimension)
- Achilleus mourning Patroclus, aka Ancient Greek Angst Burrito, is my favourite plate ever. One of the finest objects in the Mediterranean Museum in Stockholm's collection imho. :P

- Have literally done nothing of productive value today (well, technically yesterday by now...). Mostly spent the day reading and watching 70s sci-fi; slowly moving through the Key to Time arc with The Androids of Tara, and started watching season two of Blake's 7 (PET ALIEN TELEPATHIC CACTUS, I CAN'T).

- That five-sentences meme? I finally managed to gather enough presence of mind to finish it. Which is a good thing, as I really should be writing my [community profile] unconventionalcourtship fic and a paper on the Parthenon friese.

Ian/Barbara, highs and lows )

Third Doctor/Delgado!Master, red, green, wait )

Aziraphale/Crowley, grace, London, sun )

First Doctor and Vicki, aliens, exploring, flowers )

Stuff.

Mar. 13th, 2013 11:00 pm
regndoft: (Herodotus!)
First of all: I have Skype. Have had for quite some time actually, but am finally trying to get used to it properly. If anyone wants to add me, I'm teadoom there.

Lately on Tumblr, I've been seeing a lot of posts like these two floating around. It's interesting to me because it's a very prevalent idea that I've never been able to completely relate to.

Read more... )

So maybe I actually agree, I'm just older now and don't think of teachers as the ultimate responsibility in these things. The people who actually decide how the educational system should work? Are politicians.

Which just goes to prove that teenagers lack perspective in some things, I guess (surprise!). This is one of many reasons I don't like my job, tbh. I feel like I can't relate to most students because this has never been my experience of school.


Less whiny stuff: this is now my new favourite icon. Herodotus! Making and embelleshing history since the 5th century BC! In his honour, have an inscription from the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia:

(context: women were never allowed to participate in the Olympic games; the majority of them didn't even get to witness them. During the Hellenistic period however, chariot races were added to the games, and rich women could actually sponsor them and share in their victory, if not participate themselves. A Spartan woman called Kyniska did so, becoming the first woman in history to win the Olympic games, and erected two monuments in honour of Zeus afterwards).

Sparta's kings were fathers and brothers of mine,
But since with my chariot and horses I, Kyniska,
Have won the price, I place my effigy here
And proudly proclaim
That of all Grecian women I first bore the crown.

(Swaddling 1984:42)


I am awfully fond of this inscription. Women of antiquity seldom got to make their voices heard, but there is such (rightful) pride and attitude in this. <3

(Also, considering the London Olympics of 2012 was the first time in history every participating nation had at least one female representative, I'm surprised I didn't hear her mentioned once... then again I'm not very into sports).

And oh, did I mention she got a hero-shrine erected to her in Sparta, on a site previously reserved for Spartan kings? We're rapidly approaching Actual Favourite Woman of Antiquity territory here folks, as far as I'm concerned.
regndoft: (Time And Nyan In Space)
As I always am when March arrives, I've been suddenly struck by the realisation that my birthday is in less than a month. Come the 22nd of March 2013 I will officially no longer be considered a teenager. I don't have any particular feelings about that, positive or negative, it's just... strange how much faster time passes the older you get.

Not much is happening in life atm. Instead, let me present the kind of quotes that makes my course lit worth reading:


"[...] Finally the day came that was set for deciding about the marriage, and Cleisthenes was obliged to make his choice. Sacrificing a hundred oxen, he feasted both the suitors and all the citizens of Sicyon. After they had eaten, the suitors entered in a singing-contest and in public speaking. Hippokleides surpassed the others in these events. and as the drink flowed he asked the flute player to play him a tune, and when he did so Hippokleides danced.

Whereas perhaps in his own eyes he danced very well, Cleisthenes, looking on, now began to have doubts about the whole business. After a short pause Hippokleides asked that a table be brought in. When the table came in, he climbed up on it and, first, danced some Spartan dances, then some Attic ones, and finally, standing on his head, he kept time with his legs in the air.

Cleisthenes had a hard enough time with the Spartan and Attic dances, and because of the dancing and the shameless behaviour now hated the thought that Hippokleides might become his son-in-law. Nonetheless he restrained himself, but when he saw Hippokleides beating time with his legs, he could no longer hold himself back.

"O son of Tisander," he said, "you have danced away your marriage."

Hippokleides answered, "Hippokleides doesn't care!"

From this event comes the saying, "Hippokleides doesn't care!"


- Herodotus 6. 126-30 (transl: Aubrey de Selincourt, 1996).


The Greeks: YOLOing since roughly 560 BC.

Profile

regndoft: (Default)
regndoft

December 2022

S M T W T F S
    123
4 5678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 9th, 2025 09:58 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios