What Are You Reading

[jamespowers]

Herodotus is generally thought to have written earlier than Thucydides, though. He does not mention anything that happened after circa 425 BC and his account proper only goes down to 478 BC. Thuc on the other hand is writing about the events right after Herodotus; after his "archaeology" in Book 1 he starts with the period after 478, so from about 477 BC until the abrupt breakoff in Book 8 in 411 BC. Herodotus does not mention Thuc. Thuc was son of Oloros, a Thracian prince. He owned gold or silver mines (i cannot remember offhand) in Thrace.
That's so funny about Schliemann finding Troy. People give him a lot of grief now, but his accomplishments were huge. I've been to Troy. It's all low walls, fallen plains, bushes, crud. It's no longer very close to the sea. My guide (one Nursel Demirdelen) warned me "The best way to appreciate Troy is to lower one's expectations." Hee hee.

:eusa_doh: I should have said that Herodotus mentioned Oloros--father of Thucydides in his The Histories Book 6, Chapter 39 section 1:

"XXXIX. Stesagoras met his end in this way. The sons of Pisistratus sent Miltiades, son of Cimon and brother of the dead Stesagoras, in a trireme to the Chersonese to take control of the country; they had already treated him well at Athens, feigning that they had not been accessory to the death of Cimon his father, which I will relate in another place. Reaching the Chersonese, Miltiades kept himself within his house, professing thus to honor the memory of his brother Stesagoras. When the people of the Chersonese learned this, their ruling men gathered together from all the cities on every side, and came together in a group to show fellow-feeling with his mourning; but he put them in bonds. So Miltiades made himself master of the Chersonese; there he maintained a guard of five hundred men, and married Hegesipyle the daughter of Olorus, king of Thrace."
Roughly translated---of course.
I had a seat of the pants view of Troy through the History channel. It was probably more interesting since they focused on certain areas and showed the remnants of fire damage and the like accompanied by experts in related fields. I think they only found the remains of one woman under some stairs that collapsed. Probably makes sense when you consider Homer's tale of the event.

Regards,

J

 

[Dr Doran]

:eusa_doh: I should have said that Herodotus mentioned Oloros--father of Thucydides in his The Histories Book 6, Chapter 39 section 1:

"XXXIX. Stesagoras met his end in this way. The sons of Pisistratus sent Miltiades, son of Cimon and brother of the dead Stesagoras, in a trireme to the Chersonese to take control of the country; they had already treated him well at Athens, feigning that they had not been accessory to the death of Cimon his father, which I will relate in another place. Reaching the Chersonese, Miltiades kept himself within his house, professing thus to honor the memory of his brother Stesagoras. When the people of the Chersonese learned this, their ruling men gathered together from all the cities on every side, and came together in a group to show fellow-feeling with his mourning; but he put them in bonds. So Miltiades made himself master of the Chersonese; there he maintained a guard of five hundred men, and married Hegesipyle the daughter of Olorus, king of Thrace."
Roughly translated---of course.
I had a seat of the pants view of Troy through the History channel. It was probably more interesting since they focused on certain areas and showed the remnants of fire damage and the like accompanied by experts in related fields. I think they only found the remains of one woman under some stairs that collapsed. Probably makes sense when you consider Homer's tale of the event.

Regards,

J

Nicely translated. I couldn't do better myself!

 

[Harp]

I've been to Troy. It's all low walls, fallen plains, bushes, crud. It's no longer very close to the sea. My guide (one Nursel Demirdelen) warned me "The best way to appreciate Troy is to lower one's expectations." Hee hee.

...swim the Hellespont afterwards?

 

[Lesvinyl]

I'm currently reading or rather looking at a large collection of Disfarmer photographs from the book Disfarmer: Vintage Prints, that I picked up while at work today. Very engaging.

 

[Dr Doran]

...swim the Hellespont afterwards?

No swimming in the Hellespont or the Bosporos (literally the "Ox-ford") but sailed the Propontis, Sea of Marmara: at one moment, a long moment, we had Europe on our left and Asia on our right. Istanbul is the only city that straddles two continents. I drank a raki, or tried to: hated it. My father and I were awestruck.

 

[carebear]

I'm currently reading or rather looking at a large collection of Disfarmer photographs...

Which farmer?

 

[Harp]

No swimming in the Hellespont or the Bosporos (literally the "Ox-ford") but sailed the Propontis, Sea of Marmara: at one moment, a long moment, we had Europe on our left and Asia on our right.

I lived in Thessalonikki for two years, and never made the splash....

 

[Mike1939]

I'm reading White Tower by James Ramsey Ullman, which was the best selling novel of 1945. It's about a mixed group of mountaineers that climb a difficult peak in Switzerland while the war rages on just beyond the borders. Hollywood made a movie based on the book in 1950 with Glenn Ford which I enjoyed although they changed the story around alot.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I finished the DeMille book, Wildfire, which was good -- some thought provoking material in there relevant to post-9/11.

Just started a book about the great pandemic of 1918, which killed my paternal grandmother. The book is The Great Influenza, by John M. Barry. It is the best "plague" book I have read since Shilt's And The Band Played On.

I like that the author first describes the history of medicine in Europe and the U.S. and how it got to be what it is today, and then describes viruses and how they work, in layperson's terms.

I read a book on this subject 30-some years ago, called The Curse of the Spanish Lady, also read two books on the bubonic plague as well as the Shilts book, which is about AIDs. Also some books on the Ebola virus, The Hot Zone, and others.

Don't know why I read all that stuff, probably to scare myself silly. Or maybe my perverse self believes that this will be what gets us in the end, as per T.S. Eliot -- "not with a bang, but a whimper."

karol

 

[Steve]

Right now I'm halfway through a collection of Edgar Allen Poe short stories: Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Incredibly engaging and well-written literature; though the man had an unhealthy fetish for premature internment as subject matter.

 

[Harp]

Incredibly engaging and well-written literature; though the man had an unhealthy fetish for premature internment as subject matter.

The Cask of Amontillado is vintage Poe.

 

[Dr Doran]

The Cask of Amontillado is vintage Poe.

Not to preach to the choir, but if you read Poe you must read Lovecraft, his biggest fan.

 

[Parallel Guy]

Just finished With Amusement for All by LeRoy Ashby. The author looks at US amusements from 1820 to the present and does a sterling job of creating a fun read that deserves much wider play than the book gets. He writes about how plays became more acceptable to family audiences, the development of circuses and wild west shows, the progress of movies, radio, tv, comic books, and lots else. One of the better books I've read in a long time.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Parallel Guy: Thanks for posting that one, sounds like a book I would enjoy. Will look for it.

karol

 

[Harp]

Not to preach to the choir, but if you read Poe you must read Lovecraft, his biggest fan.

Will look into Lovecraft.

Yet, Poe and his tortured soul intrigues.

 

[Dr Doran]

Will look into Lovecraft.

Yet, Poe and his tortured soul intrigues.

I thought you already were a Lovecraft fan. Maybe I am thinking of someone else. Lovecraft is not as poetic as Poe nor as sublime. In other words, he is not as great on an objective level, on a high culture level, on a civilization level. In other words, were I to speak about literature in English to someone who had read a great deal of literature from many languages and civilizations and had become well-versed in literature, I would point to Poe as a more shining paragon of the craft.

However, Lovecraft, a writer of the purplest prose, wrote truly imaginative horror set in a coherent universe in which the earth is threatened by gigantic alien entities who once controlled the world in the unimaginably distant past, measurable only in geologic time, and who want the earth again and communicate with insane societies of cultists to arrange their reclaiming of the earth.

 

[Harp]

However, Lovecraft, a writer of the purplest prose, wrote truly imaginative horror set in a coherent universe in which the earth is threatened by gigantic alien entities who once controlled the world in the unimaginably distant past, measurable only in geologic time, and who want the earth again and communicate with insane societies of cultists to arrange their reclaiming of the earth.

...hmm, I'm more the soul than solar type. lol

 

[Technonut]

The Children of H??rin BY J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien.

This is Tolkien's Unfinished Tales tied togther much better with no footnotes.. I am enjoying it..

 

[Sunny]

The Children of H??rin BY J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien.

This is Tolkien's Unfinished Tales tied togther much better with no footnotes.. I am enjoying it..

Aha, I'd wondered what was in it. I made it most of the way through UF (I like Tuor coming to Gondolin best), but I did get rather lost in the footnotes. Glad to see the thumbs-up!

 

[Orgetorix]

The Children of H??rin BY J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien.

This is Tolkien's Unfinished Tales tied togther much better with no footnotes.. I am enjoying it..

A good one. Some of Christopher Tolkien's best editorial work thus far.

I'm currently reading Deconstructing Evangelicalism, by D.G. Hart.