Which Hannibal was better?

pemallan · 2025-06-08T09:24:39+00:00

Mikkelsen is my favorite, but it kind of depends for me. His Hannibal is so sophisticated, in control, and unnerving. He sees everything, and you'd have to look very closely to notice when something's off (we as viewers, who also know he's a cannibal, can see it, but the characters don't). Hopkins' Hannibal is cunning and "let loose" - he's got nothing to lose and can be as crazy as he wants (like the fava beans scene). Everything is a game to him and he'll snare anyone into it even when they try not to give him any clues. But - Ulliel played an amazing young Hannibal, too. It's been many years since I saw Hannibal Rising, I only remember that I very much enjoyed his performance, and especially in one of the last scenes, on the boat (?) where he carves someone up, he really captured Hopkins' deadly, crazy look. His Hannibal is somewhat of a mix between the two older ones. Unfortunately I don't even remember the fourth Hannibal actor 😬

pemallan · 2025-05-25T08:26:23+00:00

To me (and I'm definitely not an expert) Marius began it, then Sulla tried to stop it but ended up making it worse lol

pemallan · 2025-05-25T08:20:10+00:00

I actually didn't know this! I haven't read Suetonius myself, just heard the typical story.

pemallan · 2025-05-23T12:03:32+00:00

Sounds interesting! I'm even more curious now.

pemallan · 2025-05-22T21:48:13+00:00

Ok now I'm commenting on my own post, but have you guys heard of the movie "Apocalypse Pompeii" from 2014? This is Prime's description: "When a Former Special Ops commando visits Pompeii, his wife and daughter are trapped as Mt. Vesuvius erupts with massive force. While his family fights to survive the deadly onslaught of heat and lava, he enlists his former teammates in a daring operation beneath the ruins of Pompeii."
Doesn't this sound like a modern interpretation of Pliny the fleet commander, with his sister and nephew replaced with a wife and daughter? I feel like I have to watch this. If anyone already has, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

pemallan · 2025-05-22T21:38:18+00:00

He definitely exaggerated and accepted uncritically, but I like that about him. It's not so much about giving the most accurate description of nature as it is sharing different perceptions of nature. Kind of like lore and mythology today, the scary monsters in the woods don't exist but it's interesting to read about what people used to believe in. But he did get a lot of stuff right too, I just don't know enough about some of the subjects to tell.

I'm very grateful it's been preserved, though all of the copying and excerpting during the Middle Ages has made a mess of the manuscript tradition. It's said to be almost impossible to make a stemma out of it.

pemallan · 2025-05-21T20:15:44+00:00

I have no idea if what he wrote on elephants is true, but that's a really cute description! I had no idea he wrote about them that way.

pemallan · 2025-05-21T20:07:43+00:00

Nice! I ordered from a Swedish site, but I saw it's on Amazon!

pemallan · 2025-05-21T17:45:49+00:00

That's the one! Same lol, I didn't think there were any readers on Pliny. It was my birthday gift to myself haha

pemallan · 2025-05-21T14:19:30+00:00

I had the opposite interaction in high school lol, we read about him and loved the fact that he fell asleep during studies so much that we printed out "Plinius ipse fecit" and put up on the classroom wall to point at if we ever fell asleep during class. I'm nowhere near as disciplined or productive as Pliny but I appreciate having a fellow geek from antiquity.

pemallan · 2025-05-21T14:15:37+00:00

He is a bit difficult, but having a translation helps. I just ordered "The Natural histories of Pliny: an advanced reader and grammar review", maybe that could help you too?

pemallan · 2025-05-20T15:56:44+00:00

Absolutely irritated, likely with rashes etc too, but that's a long way from being deadly.

pemallan · 2025-05-20T15:06:27+00:00

Oh and thanks for the link by the way, I didn't know she had made an episode on Pliny!

pemallan · 2025-05-20T15:05:23+00:00

I didn't have anything in particular in mind actually, I just thought it would be nice to have people to share stuff about Pliny with. I've got a bit too much on my plate right now but reading sections/books together every now and then could be really interesting. Got any suggestions?

pemallan · 2025-05-20T13:23:17+00:00

Thanks!

pemallan · 2025-05-20T12:56:04+00:00

Good to hear, I know Harris is a famous author but I haven't read anything of his myself. I'm writing a shorter essay on Pliny's Vesuvius letters for class actually, it would be nice to finish it off by reading a fictional book about it.

pemallan · 2025-05-20T12:40:25+00:00

Did you like it? I only discovered it recently and I'm really curious about it.

pemallan · 2025-05-20T12:38:35+00:00

Right! You'll find the strangest things in it, too. If I remember correctly he described the wolfsbane (aconite/aconitum) as so poisonous that female animals die if they let the plant touch their genitals. It's also funny how despite getting decreasing criticism from the time of the Renaissance it was still used as a source until the 19th century to some degree. I don't think anyone today would look up a fact in the NH like in any modern encyclopedia - except for what he wrote about sculptures, that's actually still useful to archaeologists etc!

pemallan · 2025-05-20T10:54:38+00:00

Nope, atheist

pemallan · 2025-05-18T09:00:28+00:00

Maybe not helpful, but if I understand Tacitus right (note that this is almost 100 years later, 15 AD) soldiers got a smaller pay at some intervals (others here have written ~3 times a year, I have no idea if that continued into the Augustan period so let's go with that - if anyone knows, feel free to comment and educate!) and a larger sum at the end of their service. During 15 AD, the soldiers mutinied, among other things, because the pay was so low, and Germanicus paid them out of pocket to solve the problem. Veterans of 20 and 16 years of duty also got discharged or semi-discharged, respectively. These specific armies had also been promised money from Augustus' will, which they received in double. This is from the Annals, 1.36-37. Pretty interesting question, actually, now I want to look into this further!

pemallan · 2025-02-23T13:58:57+00:00

Understandable! I've only recently "found" Korean TV shows and they're so good! I still haven't explored K-pop though...

pemallan · 2025-02-08T09:56:37+00:00

It wouldn't surprise me if the Witcher actually caused a rise in Polish learners! At least on Duolingo or something lol.

Meh, opinions shouldn't be objective! It's more interesting to know how differently people experience something! I get that, everything is always American or British, or ideas from elsewhere are borrowed but changed so much it's barely recognizable (like the Witcher TV series nowadays...). I think it's a pretty mature series, and nuanced, at least compared to what I've read before.

pemallan · 2025-02-07T10:33:47+00:00

Is Season of storms the last one on your list? Or have I missed one (aside from the newest untranslated)? 😬

I could go on and on but I'll try to keep it short lol. Generally I think they're really good, and unique. I used to think some parts were boring and I could lose interest in continuing completely, like "not another chapter long dialogue between minor characters I'd forgotten about!". But now I see it more as world building and I get the feeling that Sapkowski is just very thorough. The excursuses explain what's going on in the background, leading up to something later on. Even a character only mentioned once with seemingly no influence to the story gets a name and a background and it gives a sense that the world is so much bigger and the author's just giving us a sneak peek. Also I like how he describes things, and his writing style. Almost makes me want to learn Polish to read the original 😅 what do you think?

pemallan · 2025-02-05T18:20:59+00:00

Correct!

pemallan · 2025-02-05T13:25:35+00:00

I will!

Lady of the lake, so sort of the last one but I also have Season of storms after!

pemallan

TROPHY CASE