"He who submits to fate without complaint is wise" - Euripides
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I have been getting into comic strip books recently. I cannot be bothered any more with endless pages of prose.
A couple of my favourites are the Manga Japanese comic strip versions of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, which are great fun to read. I read The Illiad in cartoon form to Nicholas, and it grabs his attention.
But for me the "silver back, alpha male gorilla" book of them all, and my current favourite, is "300" by Frank Miller. This is an A3 size beautifully produced hard-back, telling the story in comic strip form of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the last man against the massive 100,000 strong Persian army, and King Xerxes. Facing insurmountable odds, the Spartans' sacrifice inspires all of Greece to unite against the Persian invaders.
A couple of my favourites are the Manga Japanese comic strip versions of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, which are great fun to read. I read The Illiad in cartoon form to Nicholas, and it grabs his attention.
But for me the "silver back, alpha male gorilla" book of them all, and my current favourite, is "300" by Frank Miller. This is an A3 size beautifully produced hard-back, telling the story in comic strip form of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the last man against the massive 100,000 strong Persian army, and King Xerxes. Facing insurmountable odds, the Spartans' sacrifice inspires all of Greece to unite against the Persian invaders.
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The film is out later this year. The book is visually stunning, with more shades of red than I knew existed.
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The Spartans hold a massive fascination for me. All they did was train and act in war. I think I like the discipline. As my old mate Sylvia Plath said: "Every woman adores a fascist".
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Spartans were men of few words. Chiefly these were: honour, duty, glory, combat, victory, shield, spear, sword, bone, flesh and blood.
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With the men playing soldiers, this meant that Spartan women enjoyed a status, power and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world. They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army. It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 40% of all land and property in Sparta. Spartan women received as much education as men, as well as substantial amount of physical education and gymnastic training.
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They rarely got married before the age of 20, and unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased.
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The Spartans are often misrepresented as proto-fascists. But they were proto-feminists.
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