Alicja’s Reviews > The Rise And Fall of the Sacred Band of Thebes > Status Update

Fourth historical bs, be done with the homophobia. It was not only an accepted practice, it followed societal rules as well. Pederasty was a rite of passage, a training of a citizen into adulthood. Homosexuality in the military, especially among the SBoT (but not exclusively) was seen as raising morale, as a bond between soldiers to improve bravery (as mentioned in Plato's Symposium).

citizenship. Second bs, he will not be retiring at 60. From the historians I read from it seemed the initiation into the SBoT was around 20/21 and they usually retired at 30. This means the third bs, the one where he moans and bitches about never having a wife... unless he gets killed he'd be free at 30 to marry, have kids, and still fuck his lover if he wished so. That's ancient Greece. No understanding of culture.

I call historical bullshit. Serious historical bullshit. The author brings in her 21st century morals and expectations without doing any actual research. N makes a big deal about never marrying, having a male lover, and how awful it all is. That if his father let him go into politics he wouldn't have a male lover. First bs, he would have still had a mentor/male lover regardless of what he did. It was the path to...

Another pet peeve of mine, when authors seem to impose modern morality and values on characters in the past living in very different cultures. Pressfield and Miller off the top of my head, and now Hauser.

Why, oh why do so many authors insist on taking historical names from ancient cultures and then butchering them with cute nicknames? It is not cute. It is not historically accurate. Especially when writing about tough ass warriors. Nikanoras would never have been Nikki. Never, fucking ever. If anything he'd be nicknamed "the butcher" or something else appropriate for a killer. I hate when authors do this.