tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post7665750748001230119..comments2023-11-10T04:17:00.492-05:00Comments on View From The Porch: Riotous History.Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-88844525903304665392009-01-16T12:16:00.000-05:002009-01-16T12:16:00.000-05:00An interesting (and excellent) fictionalization of...An interesting (and excellent) fictionalization of this story can be found in Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic diptych: _Sailing to Sarantium_ and _Lord of Emperors_. Nothing he writes disappoints.rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07841345914979706106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-56830446222275250522009-01-16T11:47:00.000-05:002009-01-16T11:47:00.000-05:00"... a senior eunuch ... had the stones the empero..."... a senior eunuch ... had the stones the emperor lacked."<BR/><BR/>Really?<BR/><BR/>Hee hee!Alpineman, RNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01945070664217256254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-37865895862831379112009-01-15T22:26:00.000-05:002009-01-15T22:26:00.000-05:00I learned the story of Justinian losing his nerve ...I learned the story of Justinian losing his nerve and almost abdicating in the face of riots until Theodora brought him up short, but nothing about the immediate reason for the riots. Figures.<BR/><BR/>I'll say this for the roundy-roundy fans, though: I usually feel a lot safer in a room with my NASCAR-loving in-laws than I would with the same number of, say, Manchester United fans (at least if they were from Manchester.)Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15824445546892392815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-76051801746437446412009-01-15T08:15:00.000-05:002009-01-15T08:15:00.000-05:00Constantinople / Istanbul is great for sudden exti...Constantinople / Istanbul is great for sudden extirpations of the troublesome- the massacre of the Janissaries is a classic.<BR/><BR/>I was in Bimbidirek all alone once- thinking of that hand to hand fight, in the utter darkness, in a yard of icy water- ugh!<BR/><BR/>(Although the dog deportation marked a retreat from direct action in the capital, the sturdy Anatolians roared back with the Armenian, British prisoner of war, and Smyrna cleanups. )<BR/><BR/>I too recommend Graves, he's well worth reading in all his historical fictionalisations. Including his own.staghoundshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976667812875074135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-65809545108779931592009-01-15T02:16:00.000-05:002009-01-15T02:16:00.000-05:00To catch up on that area and era of history, I hig...To catch up on that area and era of history, I highly recommend John Julius Norwich's 'History of Byzantium'. If you don't have time for all 3 1000-page volumes (er, like me), the 'Short History' is still an amazing read.<BR/><BR/>I remember finishing it with enormous melancholy at the <I>real</I> end of the Roman Empire (Tuesday, May 29, 1453 - none of this 476 business), and the elation of discovering that almost every good scifi plotline I'd read was in those pages.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-91853217505981431862009-01-15T01:50:00.000-05:002009-01-15T01:50:00.000-05:00Lima, Peru 1964. Cause still suspect, but it was i...Lima, Peru 1964. Cause still suspect, but it was in Readers' Digest and everything.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-59535081928196430992009-01-14T21:41:00.000-05:002009-01-14T21:41:00.000-05:00Better yet, go to the master:http://www.sacred-tex...Better yet, go to the master:<BR/>http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/gibbon/04/daf04005.htm<BR/><I>Justinian was lost, if the prostitute whom he raised from the theatre had not renounced the timidity, as well as the virtues, of her sex. In the midst of a council, where Belisarius was present, Theodora alone displayed the spirit of a hero; and she alone, without apprehending his future hatred, could save the emperor from the imminent danger, and his unworthy fears. "If flight," said the consort of Justinian, "were the only means of safety, yet I should disdain to fly. Death is the condition of our birth; but they who have reigned should never survive the loss of dignity and dominion. I implore Heaven, that I may never be seen, not a day, without my diadem and purple; that I may no longer behold the light, when I cease to be saluted with the name of queen. If you resolve, O Caesar! to fly, you have treasures; behold the sea, you have ships; but tremble lest the desire of life should expose you to wretched exile and ignominious death. For my own part, I adhere to the maxim of antiquity, that the throne is a glorious sepulchre.</I><BR/><BR/>Graves is only so-so; but Hollywood did rip off his ideas--the storyline in Gladiator is actually the core idea of I,Claudius and Claudius the God, with Russell Crowe reprising Derek Jacobi.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-52438231710110121412009-01-14T18:24:00.000-05:002009-01-14T18:24:00.000-05:00Belisarius has my vote for greatest general ever.R...Belisarius has my vote for greatest general ever.<BR/>Read Robert Graves' <I>Count Belisarius</I>. <BR/>Procopius was a tool.Dranghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08082177597135236652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-85830805558646786362009-01-14T11:55:00.000-05:002009-01-14T11:55:00.000-05:00Both of the books you mention sit on shelves at ho...Both of the books you mention sit on shelves at home right now, among other books by the same authors. <BR/><BR/>Drake's a pretty nice guy and will talk your ear off about which obscure bit of history he mined for a certain story.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-48306442494059471362009-01-14T10:45:00.000-05:002009-01-14T10:45:00.000-05:00I LOVE your telling of history. =)I LOVE your telling of history. =)CastoCreationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634631986152757174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-28251888579882713462009-01-14T10:37:00.000-05:002009-01-14T10:37:00.000-05:00"Counting the Cost" was the first Hammer's Slammer..."Counting the Cost" was the first Hammer's Slammers story I ever read, and it hooked me by the end of the first chapter. Drake tries to weave ancient history and legends into his work, and it makes it a lot easier for me to get my teenager interested in the Odyssee when he's already read "Cross the Stars".<BR/><BR/>A lot of Drake's and other authors' work is available for download from Baen books at http://www.baen.com/library/. It makes a long boring shift easier when you can read a book in your text editor and not look like you're reading a novel.DaddyBearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07508543148426098384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-76010476756027130472009-01-14T09:35:00.000-05:002009-01-14T09:35:00.000-05:00Donald Kagan would be spinning in his grave, if he...<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Kagan" REL="nofollow">Donald Kagan</A> would be spinning in his grave, if he were in his grave. But that's be a good thing. Or he'd be laughing himself silly.<BR/><BR/>Jeff Gordon. Heh.Borepatchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05029434172945099693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-76721914511721377212009-01-14T09:24:00.000-05:002009-01-14T09:24:00.000-05:00Yeah. I was thinking just that, for that very reas...Yeah. I was thinking just that, for that very reason.<BR/><BR/>I've used the Falkenberg story as a model for a more general curettement. For the stadium, metaphor the West Bank and Gaza.<BR/><BR/>Of course, the reason Falkenberg had to do it the way he did applies in spades.<BR/><BR/>MAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-8561722408555253302009-01-14T09:05:00.000-05:002009-01-14T09:05:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.the pawnbrokerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16643081755036536592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-1342866694018985282009-01-14T08:31:00.000-05:002009-01-14T08:31:00.000-05:00I never read that series, actually.I never read that series, actually.Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-63542492798705484412009-01-14T08:26:00.000-05:002009-01-14T08:26:00.000-05:00I was thinking of something similar when the New O...I was thinking of something similar when the New Orleans Superdome bit was going on. By the by, did you read the last in the Belisarius series by Flint and Drake?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-32139566284831065522009-01-14T08:21:00.000-05:002009-01-14T08:21:00.000-05:00Falkenberg's Legion was great! Thanks for the his...Falkenberg's Legion was great! Thanks for the historical reference; I didn't pick it up when reading the book. Now I'll have to go read Counting the Cost. <BR/><BR/>-PopgunAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com