Network: Beware the Ides of March

[fogboundcrow]

Today is March 15th. That means the Ides of March are upon us.

On this day, the Roman Senate banded together to assassinate the tyrant Julius Caesar, stabbing him twenty-three times.

Though he became a martyr at the time, it was an act of necessity, and his killers acted in the name of the republic.

Though it's unfortunate that Caesar's demise paved the way for the Roman Empire, I cannot deny the allure of its history and the art and cultural iconography it spawned.

I do, however, still favor the Greek pantheon and myths over their Roman counterparts.

Comments

[fogboundcrow]

Greek mythology contained tales of great heroes, fickle gods, and mighty monsters. The gods were flawed, as were the heroes, and though the morals within the myth hardly hold up under a modern lens, they nonetheless remain a fascinating look into ancient customs.

Roman mythology placed far less emphasis on mortal heroes, and though it co-opted aspects of Greek mythology, it molded them through a strikingly different cultural lens.

For instance, Ares was the Greek god of war and was brutal, chaotic, and unpredictable, while his Roman counterpart Mars symbolized strategy and discipline as well as spring and fertility.

This is because the Greeks saw war as a necessary evil, whereas the Romans saw it in a far more glorious light, as the means to secure power.

[odysseyandroid]

From what you are saying, human cultures can have drastically different views on the same subject. As you have discussed with Ares and the concept of war, it shows a very distinct view of it depending on which version you are viewing.

Now he's actually curious... Does his namesake have a different meaning and portrayal to humans across cultures? He doesn't exactly know what he's know for to begin with. Just that he's the one he was named after.

Do you know Ulysses? Could you tell me about him? What of his cultural portrayals?

[fogboundcrow]

Ulysses is the Roman name of the Homeric Greek hero, Odysseus, known for his wit and cunning and his ten year voyage to return to his kingdom of Ithaca after ten years in the Trojan war.

The journey is recounted in Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, though the story starts with his son Telemachus setting out to uncover the whereabouts of his father after the goddess Athena greets him in the guise of a man, assuring him that his father still lived.

Odysseus also played a part in The Iliad, which covered the end of the Trojan war. However, Odysseus was but one member of a larger ensemble.