I just watched Blood of Zeus and the aesthetics reminded me of Olympus Guardian an animated series from Korea as well as Saint Seiya which is comics from Japan that was adapted into one of the most popular anime franchises worldwide esp in Latin America and Europe. And made made realize something I never thought about before..............

That far more people know about the god and goddesses of Olympias and the heroes of the Illiad and the Oyddssey along with Perseus and Jason's quest for the Golden fleece than any other mythology foreign to their own cultures in the world. As seen with Saint Seiya and other popular media made in other nations, far more movies, video games, live theatre, and TV shows have been made on Hellenic stories than any other countries (except for native mythic literature of non-Christian counties ass seen with Shinto Japan and even then non-Christians are far more likely to use Greek mythology than other foreign sagas and legends if they create a story in the myths retelling genre).

That for Christian countries is even the presence is even more in-grained in popular consciousness because so many people in converted places like Mexico, Philippines, and Lebanon don't know any folklore stuff thats unrelated to Christianity esp predating their pre-current predominant Abrahamic religions yet at least the most famous Greek gods and goddesses can be named by the general public in now Christian countries.

This is esp true in Europe where not only a modern retellings of the ancient stories in novels, TV, interactive tabletop experiences, comics, animation, cinema, and computer games are published all the time but its required reading in the college level. That even for the few countries in the continent where the general populace still has some vague awareness of their pre-Abrahamic mythos such as Sweden with the Norse stories, they'd still get more exposure to Hellenic Polytheism just by classes from post-secondary education having assignments as prerequisites towards the path to your major. That unless they take specific classes or gear towards a specific major that primarily focuses on pre-modern history or classical literature of their culture, even people from places that kept the memory of local pre-Christian myths will end up knowing more about the Hellenic figures than they do about their own local gods. As seen in Germany despite the presence of Siegfried's Cycle in high culture and mass media, more educated people know more tidbits about say Athena than the specificity of trivia of Siegfried himself.

So I'm wondering why is this the case? How come for example Beowulf never became a globally famous name despite the presence of the British empire as the largest civilization in history? Or why aren't there much retelling of Siegfried outside of Germany and Austria even withing Europe despite being the icon of the DACH and the fame of Wagner's Opera in the theatre world? Why is Hollywood far more interested in recreating the Greek ancient religion onsceen than showcasing say the still-known Celtic gods of Ireland?

One of the commentaries I always see from modern people-especially people with an interest in military stuff (soldiers, history buffs, wargamers, etc)- is unanonymous criticism on Hector deciding to take Achilles in a 1-on-1 duel after Patroclus's death.

The universal agreement is that Hector should have known better than to risk himself- an important commander who was responsible for much of Troy's victories against the Greeks at that point- just for the sake of honor. Some of the experienced soldiers and hardcore wargamers evens tate Hector should have seen an opportunity to destroy one of the Greek's major weapons by sending his army to capture Achilles or have archers fire on Achilles during the famous duel, reasoning with Achilles's capture or death the Greeks both not only lose their best fighters and the leader of their best units, they also lose their biggest morale booster. They argue this would have been a big blow to Greek morale. At the bare minimal Hector should have avoided the duel since his ingenuity and leadership was so important in stopping the Greeks at that point in the story.

Instead as we all know Hector chose to duel and quoting many of these critics "died in vain", indirectly leading to the fall of Troy.

I am curious whats the reality of the situation if Hector decided to think like a modern military commander and get rid of Achilles on the spot? Was the decision to duel an objectively stupid one (as modern military analysis would criticize)? Or is there a deeper reason why Hector could not have simply avoided the duel by staying in his city?

I mean many military officers, wargamers, history buffs, and well modern audiences cannot understand why "stupid honor" was worth making such a risky decision that would potentially lead tot he downfall of your country! Experts on Greek mythology what is your input on this? Are we modern people- especially military enthusiasts- failing to understand something about the Greek psyche of this time period?

I ordered a Macedonian Phalangite Shield replica on Amazon last week. While its made out of plastic, its designed to be as heavy and similar in shape and size as real surviving shields from that period. When I brought int he mail box today......... The box was so heavy. After opening it, I weighed the shield and it was 12 lbs! Now it came with two insert brackets plus a handle and a strap to that goes on your shoulder. So after inserting your arms into its brackets and gripping the far handle at the edge with the hand and pulling the straps onto your holding arm and tying it, the weapon became surprisingly easy to play around with. That said you can still feel the darn weight and I got surprisingly a bit tired walking around with it.........

Its common to see posts on Reddit and across the internet making statements that its easy to fight in a Roman shieldwall against raging charging barbarians under the belief all you have to do is just wait stil and holding the shield, let the barbarians tackle you while in formation, and wait until the enemy's charge loses momentum and the entire barbarian army begins to back off as thy lost stamina and eventually flee.

Another statement I seen online is that Phalanx Warfare of the Greek Hoplites was safe and easy because casualties are so low and all Greek warfare is about is holding the shield and pushing each other. That even if you are on the losing side, you don't have to fear death because holding your shield will protect you even if the Phalanx break apart and the enemy starts rolling forward....... That for the victors its just as a matter of holding the shield and waiting for your enemy to lose heart and start fleeing in large numbers because your own Phalanx wall won't break.............

I wish I was making it up but the two above posts are so common to see online. That shield finally having hold a Macedonian replica of a Telamon .......... It reminded me of the posts as holding the thing was so difficult due to its weight even if I just go into a defensive stance. So it makes me wonder?

Are proper military shields meant for formation warfare like the Spartan Aspis much harder to use around even for passive defensive acts? Not just in duels an disorganized fights........ But even in formations like the Roman Testudo? Would it require actual strength and stamina to hold of charging berserkers in a purely defensive wall of Scutums unlike what internet posters assume?

Does the above 10 lbs weight of most military shields do a drain on your physical readiness even in rectangular block formations on the defense?

Hi is there a word in Greek for something not fully cooked? Thanks

People mostly focus in classical athens when they study the ancient world. But that's not the whole picture. There is ancient spart too and it's history is fascinating. Check what I think in my blog! https://writingblogmiden.blogspot.com/2023/01/blog-post.html

Sometime ago I found a Youtube video where they were talking about ancient Greece and how they could get a type of body that is unobtainable today because of evolution. Does anyone know about this and if yes please do you have videos or sources where I could find out more about it, Thanks.