thersites. Journal for Transcultural Presences and Diachronic Identities from Antiquity to Date
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Review of Hamish Williams: Tolkien and the Classical World: Walking Tree Publishers (Zurich/Jena 2021) (= Cormarë Series No. 45), 414 pp . ISBN: 978-3-905703-45-0, 44 €
No full textRezension von Melanie Möller ( Hg.): Gegen/Gewalt/Schreiben. De-Konstruktionen von Geschlechts- und Rollenbildern in der Ovid-Rezeption: De Gruyter (Berlin/Boston 2021) (= Philologus. Supplemente 13), S. 187, 10 Abbildungen. ISBN: 978-3-11-070296-5, € 89,95 (hb)
No full textLegolas in Troy: The influence of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies on cinematic portrayals of ancient Greece and Rome
No full textThe Lord of the Rings movies were a cinematic phenomenon, extremely popular. They are not often considered as works of Classical Reception. These films’ influence on subsequent ancient world movies has been understudied, and undervalued. A common model of cinematic Greece and Rome in the twenty-first century looks solely back to Gladiator. Undoubtedly Gladiator, and its commercial success, is important to how ancient world movies developed; but focussing solely on Gladiator does not explain a move away from Roman history towards Greek mythology, culminating in a flurry of movies about Greek mythological heroes. Lord of the Rings is an overlooked factor. Already in Troy two LOTR stars are in key roles, and the battle scenes seek to imitate those of Jackson’s trilogy. 300 mythologizes far beyond Frank Miller’s graphic novel, adding several monsters; LOTR’s influence is at play here. LOTR’s influence was one factor in a complex process that saw ancient world movies change in the twentyfirst century. LOTR fed into an atmosphere that moved ancient world movies towards Greece, away from Rome, through promoting the appeal of a combination of epic and the fantastic
From Pyramids to Obscure Gods: The Creation of an Egyptian World in Persona 5
No full textWithin Persona 5’s modern Tokyo setting, imagined worlds are created that represent the cognitive processes of various characters. These ‘palaces’ allow the player to explore locations far removed from the game’s real-world, contemporary backdrop. One episode creates an ancient Egyptian world. This article examines how this world has been produced and the different transmedial tropes and other influences that its developers have drawn upon. Many references are recognisable to a broad audience (pyramids, gods, hieroglyphs), while others reflect Japanese pop-cultural trends (in various manga and anime), including the mention of an obscure Egyptian god, Medjed. The intentionally fictitious nature of these ‘palaces’ means that the Egypt that appears in this game is not bound by the need to replicate an ‘accurate’ landscape. Instead, the developers were free to design a gamescape that combines multiple and diverse receptions of ancient Egypt
Review of Nadine Viermann: Herakleios, der schwitzende Kaiser. Die oströmische Monarchie in der ausgehenden Spätantike: Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2021, Millennium-Studien, 392 pp. ISBN: 978-3-11-071114-1
No full textQuis enim laesos impune putaret esse deos?: Ents, Sacred Groves, and the Cost of Desecration
No full textSeneca the Younger, in his Letters, describes a sacred grove as a “thick grove of ancient trees which rise far above the usual height and block the view of the sky with their umbrella of intertwining branches” (Seneca the Younger, Letters 41.3). Fangorn Forest is clearly a sacred site as defined by Seneca, made even more sacred by the presence of the Ents. Thus, to violate it would be a terrible act of desecration, not unlike Lucan’s narrator’s shock at Caesar’s desecration of the sacred grove at Massilia (Lucan BC 3.447 – 8, quoted in the title of this paper). After exploring the relationship between Ents and sacred groves, the paper will compare the fate of Caesar to that of Saruman, who violated Fangorn Forest. Just as Augoustakis (2006) argues that the violation of the grove foreshadows Caesar’s death, so too Saruman’s death at the hands of Wormtongue becomes a fitting punishment for his violation of Fangorn
Review of Emilio Zucchetti & Anna Maria Cimino (eds.): Antonio Gramsci and the Ancient World: London/New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2021 (= Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies), xiv + 387 pp., ISBN: 978-0-36-719314-0, £ 96.00 (hb.)
No full textDe héroes y efebos. El mundo clásico en la fotografía de desnudo masculino contemporáneo. Entrevista a Carmelo Blázquez
No full textEntrevista a Carmelo Blázquez, fotógrafo especializado en fotografía de desnudo masculino, que trabaja con motivos y modelos procedentes de la Antigüedad grecolatina
The Throne of the King: The Throne Room in Minas Tirith and Late Antique Ruler Ideology
No full textA conspicuous feature of Tolkien’s description of the city of Minas Tirith in The Return of The King is the depiction of two thrones in the Great Hall; one empty throne reserved for the king, and one seat for the steward of Gondor. This paper aims to ascertain the late antique and mediaeval sources of inspiration behind Tolkien’s creation of the throne room in Minas Tirith. As a starting point, we shall compare the setting of the two thrones in Minas Tirith with a motive in Christian iconography, the hetoimasia, and its architectural expression in the Chrysotriklinos, the throne room in the Byzantine Great Palace in Constantinople. Next, we shall show that Tolkien intentionally obscured his appropriation of the Byzantine throne room to create a multi-layered image of rulership, in accordance with his aesthetics of applicability and allegory. In conclusion, we shall formulate some remarks on the interpretation of the association between the Byzantine Chrysotriklinos and the Gondorian Great Hall. As a form of Tolkien’s literary process of sub-creation, the description of the throne room in Minas Tirith serves to emphasise the significance of The Return of the King as a retelling of Christ’s restoration of the fallen world, placing the work of Tolkien in the context of a strong personal Catholic piety
(Classical) Narratives of Decline in Tolkien: Renewal, Accommodation, Focalisation
No full textThe paper investigates Tolkien’s narratives of decline through the lens of their classical ancestry. Narratives of decline are widespread in ancient culture, in both philosophical and literary discourses. They normally posit a gradual degradation (moral and ontological) from an idealized Golden Age, which went hand-in-hand with increasing detachment of gods from mortal affairs. Narratives of decline are also at the core of Tolkien’s mythology, constituting yet another underresearched aspect of classical influence on Tolkien. Such Classical narratives reverberate e.g. in Tolkien’s division of Arda’s history into ages, from an idealized First Age filled with Joy and Light to a Third Age, described as “Twilight Age (…) the first of the broken and changed world” (Letters 131). More generally, these narratives are related to Tolkien’s notorious perception of history as a “long defeat” (Letters 195) and to that “heart-racking sense of the vanished past” which pervades Tolkien’s works – the emotion which, in his words, moved him “supremely” and which he found “small difficulty in evoking” (Letters 91). The paper analyses the reception of narratives of decline in Tolkien’s legendarium, pointing out similarities but also contrasts and differences, with the aim to discuss some key patterns of (classical) reception in Tolkien’s theory and practice (‘renewal’, ‘accommodation’, ‘focalization’)