I'm bummed
Oct. 8th, 2015 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dhampyresaMan, I was going to request "Any" for yuletide in Ancient Carthaginian History and Mythology RPF (Dido | Elissa (Queen of Carthage), Hannibal Barca, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major, Tanith) and I was having SO MUCH FUN coming up with prompts for unlikely combinations of those folks, but alas, 'twas not to be.
So, for posterity, the prompts I came up with.
Dido | Elissa (Queen of Carthage) + Hannibal Barca : There's apparently an opera in which Hannibal is framed as Dido's vision of her revenge on Rome, which is fascinating to me, I have to say. I mean, can you imagine if that vision's two ways? For Hannibal to know that Dido -- who is probably half a goddess already in Carthage, let's face it -- lays all her hopes of revenge on him? What's it like for Dido to know that this man she's never met -- will never meet -- is all she's got to hope for revenge, that she has to wait that long for this. Or, you know, you could have them meet in the Carthaginian afterlife (of which we know very little about, thanks for nothing, Scipio Aemilianus).
Dido | Elissa (Queen of Carthage) + Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major : I got this! I got this! See, Dido's pissed about the destruction of Carthage, understandably. She didn't build that city just so some upstart could come along and burn it for seventeen days, after all. Anyway, she's pissed so she goes looking Aemilianus and finds the wrong Scipio instead. He's also pissed about the destruction of Carthage -- look, if he had wanted Carthage destroyed, he would have done it himself, not let some upstart do it. All of which is a long-winded way of saying: DIDO AND SCIPIO ON A ROADTRIP. Or they can chill together in the afterlife -- only it'd have to be the Greek afterlife, I guess, or else they probably wouldn't meet.
Dido | Elissa (Queen of Carthage) + Tanith : There is SO MUCH TO WORK WITH, here. I mean, you could go with something about Dido's flight from Tyre, did that upset Tanith's careful plans or was it a part of it? Was there scheming among gods over wtf to do about this Aeneas dude? What about Dido at sea and Tanith ill at ease with leaving Phoenicia? Or the other way around, is the reason there's so little archaeological evidence of Tanith in Phoenicia because she's a purely Carthaginian goddess, because Dido made her? You could write about the early days of Carthage and Dido's patient struggle to build this city through peace and diplomacy with Tanith, goddess of war that she is, chomping at the bit for bloody conquest?
Hannibal Barca + Tanith : So Hannibal is going to war against Rome, right? Finally something Tanith can help with! Is she along for the ride? Was she along when it was Hamilcar against Rome? Do things change once Hannibal makes it to Italy? Holy shit, TANITH AT CANNAE, what more do you need? And then, of course, Hannibal's name is "chosen by Ba'al" (or "grace of Baal", or several other translations, point being: Baal's involved) and how does Tanith feel about that? Hell, how does Hannibal react to any of this, this ain't the freaking Iliad, Hannibal isn't big on gods. And then, of course, Hannibal's blood oath, which I feel is enough of a prompt all on its own.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major + Tanith : You'd think there was no uncontrived way those two could meet, and you'd be, well, mostly right, actually. Anyway, there's actual evidence that the Ancient Romans believed that Scipio was palling around with Jupiter for reasons that have never been entirely quite clear to me*, so what am I'm saying is: what if that wasn't Jupiter? What if that was Tanith? What if she was trying to convince him to let her help -- or rather "help" -- and, idk, maybe she borrowed Ba'al's thunderbolts and maybe he believed she was Jupiter or maybe he didn't but either she never got him to say yes. Or maybe he's arguing with her to try and get into the Carthaginian afterlife (and hey, if you go the Tanith -> Astarte/Ishtar -> Inanna route, there's even precedent of a sort) to talk to Hannibal.
(Looking at those like this, it's pretty obvious I grew up on Stargate, what with all the people meeting gods (theirs or otherwise) and being, if not unfazed, then at least somewhat unimpressed. Idk.)
I understand the reasoning behind the yuletide decision, I'm just bummed.
I'm also bummed that I had to had the "OMG! I can READ BOOKS! On my PHONE!" epiphany again, because I can, in fact, read books on my phone. How many times I am going to have to have this epiphany before it sticks?
So I'm reading Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer (on my phone!), as a kind of birthday present to myself, and so far I haven't much to say about it, except that I enjoy it, Loki better not be the villain and I like what (very little) I've seen of Loki so far. "Tell the All-Father I said hello", indeed.
*Okay, fine, the fall of Carthago Nova does hinge on one very conveniently timed storm.
So, for posterity, the prompts I came up with.
Dido | Elissa (Queen of Carthage) + Hannibal Barca : There's apparently an opera in which Hannibal is framed as Dido's vision of her revenge on Rome, which is fascinating to me, I have to say. I mean, can you imagine if that vision's two ways? For Hannibal to know that Dido -- who is probably half a goddess already in Carthage, let's face it -- lays all her hopes of revenge on him? What's it like for Dido to know that this man she's never met -- will never meet -- is all she's got to hope for revenge, that she has to wait that long for this. Or, you know, you could have them meet in the Carthaginian afterlife (of which we know very little about, thanks for nothing, Scipio Aemilianus).
Dido | Elissa (Queen of Carthage) + Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major : I got this! I got this! See, Dido's pissed about the destruction of Carthage, understandably. She didn't build that city just so some upstart could come along and burn it for seventeen days, after all. Anyway, she's pissed so she goes looking Aemilianus and finds the wrong Scipio instead. He's also pissed about the destruction of Carthage -- look, if he had wanted Carthage destroyed, he would have done it himself, not let some upstart do it. All of which is a long-winded way of saying: DIDO AND SCIPIO ON A ROADTRIP. Or they can chill together in the afterlife -- only it'd have to be the Greek afterlife, I guess, or else they probably wouldn't meet.
Dido | Elissa (Queen of Carthage) + Tanith : There is SO MUCH TO WORK WITH, here. I mean, you could go with something about Dido's flight from Tyre, did that upset Tanith's careful plans or was it a part of it? Was there scheming among gods over wtf to do about this Aeneas dude? What about Dido at sea and Tanith ill at ease with leaving Phoenicia? Or the other way around, is the reason there's so little archaeological evidence of Tanith in Phoenicia because she's a purely Carthaginian goddess, because Dido made her? You could write about the early days of Carthage and Dido's patient struggle to build this city through peace and diplomacy with Tanith, goddess of war that she is, chomping at the bit for bloody conquest?
Hannibal Barca + Tanith : So Hannibal is going to war against Rome, right? Finally something Tanith can help with! Is she along for the ride? Was she along when it was Hamilcar against Rome? Do things change once Hannibal makes it to Italy? Holy shit, TANITH AT CANNAE, what more do you need? And then, of course, Hannibal's name is "chosen by Ba'al" (or "grace of Baal", or several other translations, point being: Baal's involved) and how does Tanith feel about that? Hell, how does Hannibal react to any of this, this ain't the freaking Iliad, Hannibal isn't big on gods. And then, of course, Hannibal's blood oath, which I feel is enough of a prompt all on its own.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major + Tanith : You'd think there was no uncontrived way those two could meet, and you'd be, well, mostly right, actually. Anyway, there's actual evidence that the Ancient Romans believed that Scipio was palling around with Jupiter for reasons that have never been entirely quite clear to me*, so what am I'm saying is: what if that wasn't Jupiter? What if that was Tanith? What if she was trying to convince him to let her help -- or rather "help" -- and, idk, maybe she borrowed Ba'al's thunderbolts and maybe he believed she was Jupiter or maybe he didn't but either she never got him to say yes. Or maybe he's arguing with her to try and get into the Carthaginian afterlife (and hey, if you go the Tanith -> Astarte/Ishtar -> Inanna route, there's even precedent of a sort) to talk to Hannibal.
(Looking at those like this, it's pretty obvious I grew up on Stargate, what with all the people meeting gods (theirs or otherwise) and being, if not unfazed, then at least somewhat unimpressed. Idk.)
I understand the reasoning behind the yuletide decision, I'm just bummed.
I'm also bummed that I had to had the "OMG! I can READ BOOKS! On my PHONE!" epiphany again, because I can, in fact, read books on my phone. How many times I am going to have to have this epiphany before it sticks?
So I'm reading Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer (on my phone!), as a kind of birthday present to myself, and so far I haven't much to say about it, except that I enjoy it, Loki better not be the villain and I like what (very little) I've seen of Loki so far. "Tell the All-Father I said hello", indeed.
*Okay, fine, the fall of Carthago Nova does hinge on one very conveniently timed storm.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-09 12:19 am (UTC)Hope your other nominations got through fine.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-09 12:46 pm (UTC)The rest of them went through okay!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-11 01:42 am (UTC)(I hear you on comics fandoms--I don't follow much in the way of comics because I'm just too overwhelmed, but I watch the discussions. :] )
Glad the rest of your fandoms went through okay as well!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-11 04:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-11 03:09 pm (UTC)I had an excellent time reading your fic last year, so I'm glad to hear that!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-08 11:55 pm (UTC)"OMG! I can READ BOOKS! On my PHONE!"
Hahaha I periodically have this realization as well. My library has downloadable ebooks and every couple months I realize I not only can get a book I want, but I can get it on my phone and have it everywhere and read it on the bus and OMG WHY DON'T I DO THIS ALL THE TIME? And then I finish the book and go back to the status quo. :P
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-09 03:22 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly! Except sometimes I don't even finish the book in question. (I'm an idiot.)
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-10 12:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-10 01:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-11 01:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-11 01:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-09 02:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-09 03:37 pm (UTC)