Newby Question

[philippas.livejournal.com]

So, I'm sure everybody knows this but me, but I've heard MWT actually comments here once in a while. What screen name does she use when she does? I want to be sure to recognize it, so I can be appropriately awestruck if I ever stumble across one of her posts :D

Annux, Arthur, and Old Testament politics

[philippas.livejournal.com]

So, I feel slightly embarrassed for putting up three posts in a row, but what the heck - it's the weekend, and I have burning questions! (Or at least itchy ones.)

I'm fascinated by this concept of Annux - and Gen's apparent destiny as king of kings - and I'm trying to align it with a particular historical or mythical inspiration. Classical Greece, if I'm remembering my very weak ancient history correctly, was a collection of city states without one uniting leader, right? We do have uniting conquerors - like Alexander and Julius Caesar (once Rome appears on the stage), but in the particular case of Eugenides, this doesn't seem like a good parallel. Eddis, Sounis, and Attolia need unity to keep out the invading power; those men kind of were the invading power; Gen's destiny is (apparently) to become high king of only a particular set of countries and strictly for those countries' good, not because he's completely bent on achieving power.

What it actually reminds me most of is the British legend about the coming of Arthur, where he becomes high king in Britain, not because he has a bigger army than everyone else but because he's destined to be. Being a Victorianist, I depend rather heavily on Tennyson for my opinions and information about Arthurian legend, so indulge me for a second here:

For many a petty king ere Arthur came
Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war
Each upon other, wasted all the land;
And still from time to time the heathen host
Swarm'd overseas, and harried what was left
....
And after these King Arthur for a space,
And thro' the puissance of his Table Round,
Drew all their petty princedoms under him,
Their king and head, and made a realm, and reign'd. (Idylls 1: 5-9, 16-19)

Isn't that a pretty good description of what has happened and what will (hopefully) happen in E/S/A?

The other comparison I thought of was the ancient tribes of Israel, who were being harried by other people's and demanded a king to lead them into battle. Saul, the first king, is something like Gen in that he was more or less dragged into it kicking and screaming - when the time came for him to be presented to all the people, he tried to hide in the baggage.

So, thoughts? Additions to my scanty historical knowledge?