pothos.org

I'm not going to lie to you; it's difficult for me to find a "favorite" character from the movie. I have to find said characters sympathetic, if not likeable, to begin with. Well -- though this really belongs to another thread -- I think that's absolutely key to why the movie didn't do be...

I thought we were talking about characters from the movie...

As long as "favourite" doesn't have to mean "most likable" -- Olympias, hands down. Especially if it's Alexander Revisited we're talking about, because she was more fleshed out. Even though she had to fight through the handicaps of being too young, having a lot of poorly-written ...

There is a beautiful portrayal of Diogenes by the Victorian painter John William Waterhouse -- hi-res reproduction here.

I frequent Daily Kos all the time and have had some of my computer art on the front page. Political, yes... but these are the people who are doing everything they can to stop the USA's slide towards a complete merger of corporate & government power -- better known as fascism. Anyway, I just upra...

Yeah, Paralus, where are you?

This seems like one of those procedures that destroys its own evidence. Unless some of the vinegar charges were duds, we wouldn't be seeing intact columns with holes in them......

I LOVE the addition!!!

Oh, what role might I like to play In mighty Alexander's day? A peasant drudging in the dirt? A warrior in bright bronze girt? A learnéd sophist, deep in books? A courtesan with drop-dead looks? A priestess in a precinct bright? A devious spy who creeps by night? A jester in the glittering court? A ...

Do we know that it was Ptolemy who told the story? Arrian, using chiefly Ptolemy and Aristobulus, doesn't even mention Thais and says that the burning was a matter of policy. I would think that Ptolemy wouldn't have wanted to be responsible for his beloved (and mother of two (?) of his children) ac...

So … I don't think Alexander’s regret offers us an explanation as to the why/how of Alexander burning the buildings. I think it was purely regret based on lost opportunity for future events. And that applies whatever the circumstances/reasons behind the burning. But I think if the decision had been...

Re civilization -- it's not just about living in cities; that's a side effect of homes becoming permanent. It's about changing a people's way of life from nomadic to agricultural. The source of their subsistence is changing from hunting/gathering -- and moving on when the area they're in is hunted/g...

But here's the thing -- it could be argued that burning the palace was effective in helping subjugate the Persians, and therefore good imperial policy. Hammond thought so. The argument that Thais is quoted as making -- that it was suitable revenge for Xerxes sacking the Acropolis -- would have had g...

It's funny how different people view things. N.G.L. Hammond swears -- using the remains of the fire as evidence -- that the burning was calculated, because he sees the idea that Alexander might have been tempted into it by a mere woman as intolerably disgraceful.

The disagreement is the excusatory tale of the courtisan and the alcohol. The disagreement, you mean, is based on your assumption that I consider the courtesan and the alcohol excusatory ;) As I had a character say in one of my books, "The dead are no less dead for the killer having been drunk...

An act born out of frustration can well be impulsive. Dare I say it, Paralus, we're agreeing. This thread is so active and multifarious that the post I am answering below is quite a few back at this point; Amyntoros and I were talking about rape and the camp followers. That they did also have sexual...