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Fiona
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Re: Adding to Pothos

Post by Fiona »

I like the new introduction on the home page. It's honest and welcoming at the same time. Inviting readers to suggest things they'd like is good too.
That reminds me of a piece that I looked for recently, that doesn't exist (yet), a piece about Alexander's navy. That would be a good thing to have. I know he had various different assortments of ships, and that they weren't as important as his army, but I get the feeling that they were not as unimportant as sometimes it would appear.
The information is so patchy, I struggle to make sense of it all. I do get the impression that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes, politically, than we're told about, especially between Issus and Tyre.
Hoping some nautical expert is inspired...
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Post by Paralus »

Marcus....

I once had editorial rights (or some such). Thomas sent me a pm with details about same but it seems not to have been saved. A first draft of Billows is written and one on Eumenes is "scribbled". If these contributor or editorial rights are still functional I could post them when done - ditto the hypaspists.

Johnny Schumate has okayed the use of any of his artwork on this site as we are obviously not for profit. He has a spanking conceptualisation of the phalanx (as well as others).

You able to provide a quick tutorial??

Mind you, Melbourne Cup week is going to deprive me of time, money and not a few grey cells. A time when the Philip II in me manifests itself in terms of wine and raiding the treasury like some Wall Street investment banker-robber baron.
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Wicked men, you sin against your fathers, who conquered the whole world under Philip and Alexander.

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Post by Thomas »

Hello everyone.

I am still alive. :D

My family, job and re-discovery of indoor rowing keep me away from pothos. Also being back in Science teaching means I generally am reading and researching Science stuff...And remember, I know little but the techy stuff.

But I still care!

Thoughts:
  • I can create (quickly and easily) any forum you desire.
  • As for hosting photos, I have been waiting for an appropriate window of time to upgrade this forum to version 3, which allows anyone to upload images. I have put this off because I need to find the window to build a template that matches the main forum look. This is not too hard, just time consuming.
  • Also, anyone with editing rights on the site can add photos pretty easily.
  • I believe it is also possible to have a gallery built in to the main forum software.
  • For the techies out there...I have not upgraded the forum software because of (a) forgetting to (b) time (c) waiting to see if the CMS software (CMSmadesimple) will write a hook in to PHPBB3, which would make some very interesting things possible.
  • I worry that by my lack of time on the site that I am holding it back. If there are people out there with the web skills to take it forward I would be open to ideas*.
*P.S. I once sent the password to the site to the Alexanderama guy, but in a Freudian slip typed the password wrong. He never complained and I didn't realise for months, so no idea if he tried and failed or didn't have the time...
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Post by amyntoros »

Thomas wrote: I worry that by my lack of time on the site that I am holding it back. If there are people out there with the web skills to take it forward I would be open to ideas*.
I don't think for one minute that you are holding back the site, Thomas. Even though you are not actively involved on a daily basis you always put time and effort into the site when needed, and I, for one, am very grateful for that. Plus you've kept the forum going for many years now and without you we'd (literally) be nothing. :)
*P.S. I once sent the password to the site to the Alexanderama guy, but in a Freudian slip typed the password wrong. He never complained and I didn't realise for months, so no idea if he tried and failed or didn't have the time...
Ah ... well ... he now has his Librarything site which is very popular (and he actually employs techies to work on it) so he has little or no time for his other interests. In fact, his Alexander the Great on the Web site and others such as his Classical Wiki and Classical Dictionary are currently defunct. I was able to reach him recently and he says the problem lies with his hosting company and he's hoping to bring back the sites eventually, but all this means is that even if you had sent him the correct password he would no longer have the time to help.

Best regards,
Amyntoros

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Additional article on Hephaestion

Post by marcus »

Dear all,

Last night I posted on the main site, under the "Main Characters" section, a new piece on Hephaestion, written by Fiona.

I have not removed the existing article, by Jeanne Reames Zimmerman, but have put Fiona's piece underneath, hopefully clearly signposted.

Sometimes things will move slowly on Pothos - all the things Thomas said are problems for us all (although I'm not into rowing machines) - but I would like to assure people that, having asked for additions/improvements/suggestions, I and the other moderators/editors are not just ignoring them! So, how about some more? :P

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alter egos

Post by dean »

Hello Fiona,
just read your piece on Hephaestion and thought it was very well written, quite to the point and informative,and I also like all the cross refernces to the sources.
As you say in the piece, Hephaestion was Alexander's "alt3r ego." - and I think that Alexander's closeness to him is shown when he sends men to Siwah asking for divine honours.
I know that it may be foolish to say so, but I know of a number of couples who once one dies the other has shortly followed almost as if life becomes meaningless without the other so he or she just gives up- who knows maybe Alexander didn't either want to carryon without his alter ego...

well just musing,and thanks for the piece once again.
best regards, :)
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Re: alter egos

Post by Fiona »

Thank you, Marcus, for posting it, and thank you, Dean, for your kind coments.
That's a good point about the couples, where one dies shortly after losing his/her partner. It happens too often to be just coincidence, doesn't it? There's probably a medical explanation for it - some loss of the will to live, perhaps, in one whose health was not robust to start with - and like you, I can't help thinking that Alexander's death may have been an example of this happening.
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Post by the_accursed »

I think the references to Alexander as ”the great” on this site should be changed to Alexander III of Macedonia or just Alexander III. Whether or not Alexander was “great” is a matter of personal opinion, and subject matter for discussions. I don’t think the site should take sides on this issue. And while some might argue that he has been known as "the great" for a long time, that there is a tradition to use this epithet, this is only true in the west. In the east he has been known as "the accursed" for just as long. Alexander III of Macedonia is neutral. “Alexander the great” is Eurocentric.

I also think the line about Alexander being "arguably the most famous secular person in history" should be deleted. There are many historical, secular people who are just as famous as Alexander.
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Post by marcus »

the_accursed wrote:I think the references to Alexander as ”the great” on this site should be changed to Alexander III of Macedonia or just Alexander III. Whether or not Alexander was “great” is a matter of personal opinion, and subject matter for discussions.
Although there is much in what you say (including in the bits I cut out in order to shorten this whole post), we must consider the marketing angle here - whether right or wrong, people know who "Alexander the Great" was (even if they don't actually know anything about him, if you see what I mean); whereas "Alexander III of Macedonia" is less obvious - and "Alexander III" could refer to a Scottish king or a Russian Tsar ... all things considered, we would be alienating a lot of possible visitors if we started changing how we call him.
the_accursed wrote:I also think the line about Alexander being "arguably the most famous secular person in history" should be deleted. There are many historical, secular people who are just as famous as Alexander.
You really made me think about this! I have a strong feeling that this is a quote from one of the famous bygone academics ... but blow me if I can't remember who it was, nor can I find it anywhere (although I definitely have the quote somewhere). I wouldn't object to our putting it in quotation marks and attributing it ... but like the name above, there's the marketing angle to think of - polemics win, every time! :D

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Post by the_accursed »

Although there is much in what you say (including in the bits I cut out in order to shorten this whole post), we must consider the marketing angle here - whether right or wrong, people know who "Alexander the Great" was (even if they don't actually know anything about him, if you see what I mean); whereas "Alexander III of Macedonia" is less obvious - and "Alexander III" could refer to a Scottish king or a Russian Tsar ... all things considered, we would be alienating a lot of possible visitors if we started changing how we call him.
It would seem that the guy who managed to sell Alexander III to the world as "the Great" (Ptolemy, I'm guessing, as a way to market Alexander III's corpse) must have been some kind of genius. Not only because of the rather enormous discrepancy between the epithet and the person he managed to attach it to, or because it's survived for 2300 years, but because, apparently, even today people feel constrained to use that epithet to market their Alexander III related products, even if they don’t personally believe in it themselves. Ian Worthington is probably the best example, who strongly argues against using that epithet in relation to Alexander III, yet uses it to market the very same book in which he's making the argument.

I think the downside, as far as this site is concerned, is that as long as it keeps on selling Alexander III as "the Great", “the most famous secular person in the world” and uses heroic images (or at least one such image) to market itself, then it will never be more than just another – however popular – Alexander the Great fan site.

For the record, regarding "Alexander III". What I meant was that it could be used (and I myself will be using it from now on), when appropriate, as a shorter alternative to Alexander III of Macedonia. Not that it should be used exclusively.
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Post by athenas owl »

I agree with Marcus. It's an epithat...given to him by the Romans, if memory serves. It's been the one he has been identified by for some 2000 years. His epithat prior to that was "Alexander the Invincible" or something along that line.

Temüjin. Should we drop his better known name because he and his mounted warriors we're brutal conquerors who caused the deaths of millions (along with his sons and grandsons). That would work very well...for any student trying to find informaton about him. Because that is not how he is known to history.

Or that fellow Charles I of France.

It's really a stretch to call Pothos a "fan site"... a really long stretch. Do you really think that it was just Ptolemy that kept his name out there as a "marketing tool"?

It's just a name really...like Sargon the Great, or Cyrus the Great, or any other "great".

Great doesn't just mean "super dooper awesome and the bestest, kindest guy ever"..it also means something or someone of huge impact or significance or importance.

I suppose that makes me a "fangurl" ... :P

Which is rather ironic, as I don't think I "like" him that much, but I find the period incredibly interesting. Both because of the actual participants and trying to sort out the biases of the people whose work has survived. That includes the Iranians and the Indians and the Arabs and all the other peoples.
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Post by Semiramis »

It's all about marketing books and websites. Those Google and Amazon searches. Keywords. While I agree with the accursed that it jars to see the epithet "great" attached to men who caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands in their wars of aggression... the value of instant recognition trumps any such delicate sensibility every time. :)
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Post by marcus »

the_accursed wrote:I think the downside, as far as this site is concerned, is that as long as it keeps on selling Alexander III as "the Great", “the most famous secular person in the world” and uses heroic images (or at least one such image) to market itself, then it will never be more than just another – however popular – Alexander the Great fan site.
More to the point, Pothos isn't exactly a mass traffic generating site; that is, it's a niche site anyway. If people can't find it because it doesn't refer to Alexander the Great, or get turned off it because it isn't clear who it's about, then it will be so niche we might as well go home.

Like it or not, he's Alexander the Great to most people, and the image is a heroic one. Anything else, and no-one's going to be interested.

I can see where you're coming from, but I would hesitate to describe Pothos as a fan site in any way. If it were a real fan site, we wouldn't have such stimulating debates about his character, nor would anyone who has any non-adulatory attitude, however strong or ambivalent, bother to involve themselves. That's what's so great about Pothos, and it's the reason why I've been involved for so long. I don't think anyone would accuse me of having a rose-tinted version of Alexander, but I never refer to him as anything but "the Great".

Anyway (at the risk of seeming uncaring), I think you're on a hiding to nothing with this one, cos I doubt we'll change it ... :lol:

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Post by the_accursed »

More to the point, Pothos isn't exactly a mass traffic generating site; that is, it's a niche site anyway. If people can't find it because it doesn't refer to Alexander the Great, or get turned off it because it isn't clear who it's about, then it will be so niche we might as well go home.
Alexander III of Macedonia...aka Alexander "the Great" and Alexander "the Accursed" would solve that problem.
I can see where you're coming from, but I would hesitate to describe Pothos as a fan site in any way. If it were a real fan site, we wouldn't have such stimulating debates about his character, nor would anyone who has any non-adulatory attitude, however strong or ambivalent, bother to involve themselves. That's what's so great about Pothos, and it's the reason why I've been involved for so long. I don't think anyone would accuse me of having a rose-tinted version of Alexander, but I never refer to him as anything but "the Great".
But then, you're a westerner, aren't you?

The forum is an exception and the part of this site that I like (though it too has a eurocentric component...I wonder what it is like to be Iranian or Indian and post here and find that you're now a "Pezhetairos"). But with a name like "pothos", the other things I've mentioned and also to some extent the articles (and the choice of subjects), this is definitely not a neutral site.

It's a fan site.
Anyway (at the risk of seeming uncaring), I think you're on a hiding to nothing with this one, cos I doubt we'll change it ... :lol:
I'm kind of getting that impression. You did ask though, so I thought I'd give you my two cents. My vote is for neutrality.
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Silly mistake

Post by marcus »

marcus wrote:Using the term pezhetairos isn't "eurocentric". The pezhetairoi in the forum are the moderators - the "bodyguards" of the forum, if you like. The other "levels" within the forum relate to activity - i.e. how many posts you've made. Therefore, if you've posted more than a certain number of times, you become a "general"; until then, you're a footsoldier.
Massive apology required, regarding this - and I'm very surprised nobody has picked me up on it. Which just goes to show that some people haven't been following this discussion. When I started banging on about this, I was thinking of the somatophylakes, who are the bodyguards/moderators - the pezhetairoi are, of course, the "footsoldiers" and are those who have not posted enough to become strategoi. DOH! :shock:

I must have been half asleep! :cry:

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Last edited by marcus on Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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