Chris M

Need a golden casket confiscated from a Persian baggage train so I can sleep with the Witcher books at my bedside

It’s still fun to think “what if he conquered Rome,” but, all the same, that likely wouldn’t have made a difference to the Gauls or others conquered by Rome. Whereas if he hadn’t made it to Gaugamela, the Persians would’ve clapped back in a decade as they did with the Egyptian revolt.

moments he could’ve died, not least on the first causeway that went up in smoke thanks to Phoenician ingenuity. And ofc there’s his wounds during the Asian campaign that stand out. At each point, the aftermath would’ve looked profoundly different, esp after depleting Macedonian manpower.

What fascinates me most about Alexander isn’t what might’ve been had he lived past 323, but what could’ve happened had he died sooner. Obviously there’s source unreliability, but what if Black Cleitus hadn’t saved him at the Granicus? Cilician fever? Tyre? Given the siege’s length there were several

Phrygian (sometimes called Thracian) cap, 2nd CE Roman statue. Note the distinctively bent top!

They should make beanies like this

Concern trolls are a miserable bunch. They rile in hate while hiding behind plausible deniability, like “fairness in sports,” “welfare ‘cheaters,’” and, infamously, “ethics in gaming journalism.”

Timelessly topical

You’re so talented! I used to study music academically and was especially fascinated by illuminated manuscripts! They’re so beautiful

Do you think this saying could have caught on in antiquity, similar to how English speakers still use phrases and idioms from Shakespeare half a millennium later?

It’s no coincidence civic buildings and banks have façades inspired by ancient Roman temples. They see capitalism and conservatism as rooted in “Western values” extending back to antiquity. It’s a shameless meta narrative that positions their ideology as the “natural order” when it’s anything but.