05-28-2007, 06:06 AM
Quote:Byzantium is with us everyday since we are born so there is no need to reenact it.The church the priests the temples the holidays........You see it when you go out of your house .Its too familiar at least some aspects of it whilst most are unkown so you dont get the need to reenact something thats already there like that.
Partially speaking, I feel the same way about the Church being a direct link to Rome since I'm a Roman Catholic. But that in no way turns me off to Roman reenactment of any period. For centuries the Church in western Europe, in a way, has promoted reenactment through the use of Passion Plays. Yet most people on RAT are drawn to Roman reenactment.
If I feel familiarity toward something I would tend to identify with it all the more rather than feel repelled by it. So, I don't understand the psychology of feeling disconnected with something so familiar. Maybe it's the nasty modern tendency to compartmentalize aspects our lives.
Quote:About a hero like image as one in Ancient Greece its non existant.
Belisarius is probably the most well known hero and he was a Greek or a Thracian (I know part of ancient Thrace is now a Greek province). His popularity in the West reached its apogee during the 19th century when his story was partially fictionalized and many paintings of him were commissioned at that time. So, he may not be well known today but that's only been true for a few decades with the collapse of learning in modern state-run schools.
Here are some famous paintings :
[url:3dr6inq6]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Belisarius_by_Francois-Andre_Vincent.jpg[/url]
[url:3dr6inq6]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/David_-_Belisarius.jpg/655px-David_-_Belisarius.jpg[/url]
[url:3dr6inq6]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Belisarius_by_Peyron.jpg/800px-Belisarius_by_Peyron.jpg[/url]
BTW, most people know about 'famous' Greeks like Leonidas because they saw that silly '300' movie :roll: So, I don't buy the rationale of ignorance breeding antipathy towards Byzantine reenactment. Most people are ignorant of things that happened 50 years ago. Of course they know nothing about Byzantium !
~Theo
Jaime
