Category: Classical Reception
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Classical Reception: Killing Eve’s Villanelle as “The Dying Gaul”
The following has very minor spoilers about classical reception from Killing Eve season 2, episode 7 entitled “Wide Awake,” that aired on May 19, 2019. The show stars Sandra Oh as the titular character and her counterpart, Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It’s a satisfyingly unique series.…
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A Historical Look at Frank Miller’s Xerxes #2
Frank Miller’s second issue of Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander hit shelves this week and here is the historical hottake (see review of Xerxes #1). The story picks up after the Greek victory at Marathon (490 BC), following the famous runner to deliver the news to a…
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A Historical Look at Frank Miller’s Xerxes #1
Frank Miller’s first issue of Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander finally hit shelves this week and here is the historical hottake (see review of Xerxes #2). We’ve been hearing about Frank Miller’s follow-up to his 300 miniseries for years. When 300: Rise of an Empire finally hit theaters in 2014, I…
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Classical Reception: Batman and the Court of Owls
Scott Snyder expertly taps Ancient Greek myth and history to create a whole new set of villains and challenges for the Dark Knight. In the New 52 run of Batman, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo introduced us to the Court of Owls (trade paperback 1 and 2), an ancient, underworld society in Gotham that seeks…
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Classical Reception: Wonder Woman and the Strait of Messina
During the Justice League’s most trying times, Wonder Woman often serves as a conduit for parallels in Greek history and myth, at least when Geoff Johns writes her. The year-long Darkseid War(2015-2016) was one such event where the superheroes and villains of earth watched helplessly as two gods—the Anti-Monitor and Darkseid—battled it out. The effects…
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Classical Reception: Dr. Strange’s Encounter with Caesar in Alexandria
In Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme 33 (1991), the mystic tangles with Thanos who sends the sorcerer back in time via a time warp. As he floats back in history, Strange manages to latch onto a place (Alexandria, Egypt) and a year (48 BC) to stop the backward momentum (these sorts of things happen often with the…
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Classical Reception: Wonder Woman and the Plague of Athens
In 2015, the Justice League found themselves unable to combat the deadly Amazo Virus. It affected humans and metahumans in fantastical and horrific ways, ultimately killing its victims. Superman and Wonder Woman were among the immune, being an alien and a god respectfully, and thus, they were on the front lines of trying to unravel…
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We relate with Athens, but idealize Sparta
Paul A. Rahe opens The Spartan Regime with an astute point on how we perceive the ancient Spartans and Athenians. Of course, we may prefer the Athenians, regarding them as more like ourselves, and we may well be right not only in that judgment but in our moral and political preferences as well. Our predilections notwithstanding,…
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Classical Reception: Hannibal in the Music of Killah Priest
Anyone familiar with Brooklyn-based rapper Killah Priest knows his propensity for mixing urban culture with historical topics such as Alexander the Great and the Byzantines. For example, he starts one of his more famous verses by yelling, “It’s the Byzantine king!” The man literally has a lines about watching the History and Discovery channels. One…
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Book Review: Caesar in the USA
Wyke, Maria. Caesar in the USA. Berkely: University of California Press, 2012. xii + 306 pp. Julius Caesar has ebbed and flowed in American memory, but he remains entrenched in pop culture, which is the main thesis of Maria Wyke, author of Caesar in the USA (2012). Wyke is a professor of Latin at University College…
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I Speak Spartan: The Lasting Lingo of 300
While there is plenty to say about the breakthrough filming style of 300 that has since been imitated to death, the real legacy of the movie is the quotable dialogue. Numerous one-liners have infiltrated popular culture, as “This is Sparta!” has become arguably as popular as “I am your father.” The real beauty of the…
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Go tell the Spartans
Although Herodotus tells us of several monuments that resided on the Thermopylae battlefield, not a single one of them has survived to today. However, there are numerous modern recreations. One in particular pays tribute to the last stand of the Spartans and their Thespian allies on Kolonos Hill, the probable spot where they fell. ((The topography…