Soldier Of The Mist: first reading (mit spoilers)

Son of Witz · 28 Jan 2010, 00:55 · from 2010-January.txt.gz

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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:55:20 -0500
Subject: (urth) Soldier Of The Mist: first reading (mit spoilers)
In-Reply-To: <222415.83388.qm at web180202.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
References: <222415.83388.qm at web180202.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <f846b7a3f0fd23b23dfc49e4aa81d5f3.squirrel at email.fatcow.com>

>
>
>
> --- On Tue, 1/26/10, Son of Witz <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org> wrote:
>
> From: Son of Witz <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org>
> Subject: Re: (urth) Soldier Of The Mist: first reading (mit spoilers)
> To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
> Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 5:35 PM
>
>
>>> Why Latro is so favored by the gods is not clear to me, nor is why he
>>> can
>>>touch the Gods and make them visible to others.?? (I'm certainly not
>>> well
>>>versed in Greek Myth, so these are my best guesses)
>>
>> Well, he???s not merely *favored* by the Gods. He???s cursed by Demeter
>> because his part of the Persian army desecrated the grove near her
>> Temple. This IIRC was listed as a reason for the Persian???s defeat,
>> particularly by the Spartan 300 (where Latro was wounded).
>
> I vaguely remember something about a desecrated grove. Do you remember
> what scene or chapter that was.
> thanks. ~witz
>
>
>
> At the beginning of Chapter 1, Latro is told that he had been wounded
> "near the shrine of the Earth Mother, where the Great King's army fought
> the army of??Thought and the Rope Makers."
> I don't remember if Wolfe says anything about the desecration of the
> grove, but Herodotus does. ?? The Persian navy sailed to the sanctuary of
> Demeter. ??"There they beached their ships. ??They cut down cultivated
> trees, surrounded the ships with a stockade of stone and wood, and fixed
> stakes in the ground around the stockade." ?? ??(The Histories, trans
> Robin Waterfield, Oxford World's Classics, p. 580.)
>
> Best wishes,Jack


Thanks Jack.
This makes me curious about Herodotus. I've never read The Histories. 
Crap, I have to admit having never even read Homer.  Better get cracking.
~witz
sent from my iPad in the future

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