Lands Beyond

The funniest thing that happened during the production of RAMPANT was when I got a note back from the copyeditor concerned that Alexander the Great HAD no descendents, seeing as a) his legitimate son [sic — it’s actually plural] had died at a relatively young age and b) “it’s commonly thought that he preferred the company of other men.” [um, b/c sexuality in ancient Greece is the same as it is today, and no gay men ever have bio kids?]

I laughed this argument off. Not only was the most popular novel in the world at that time predicated on the concept of JESUS having children, it was also not uncommon in antiquity to claim descent from Alexander. (And he had several commonly accepted bastards running around during his lifetime, as well.)

I like this guy — he claimed Alexandrian ancestry AND invented something that sounds mysteriously like the Remedy.

fuckyeahhistorycrushes:

Mithradates (or Mithridates, spelling varies) VI Eupator Dionysus the Great of Pontus ruled from 120 BC – 63 BC (the year of his death). A comet heralded his birth (parallels to the Jesus tale, anyone?). He claimed ancestry both to Darius the Great of Persia and Alexander the Great of Macedon. His father, Mithradates V of Pontus, was assassinated by poisoning in 120. Mithradates VI ran away from his mother for fear of being knocked off in favor of his younger brother, and returned between four to seven years later (after raising himself in the ideal of a Greek hero) and assumed the throne. He fought three separate wars against his most hated enemy, Rome, and was one of the most determined adversaries Rome ever had (and the one that people forget the most).

Mithradates himself was a tall man, well-built by years of weapons training. He had a vast repository of knowledge, spoke 22 or more languages (by Pliny’s count), and travelled all around the world known to him at the time in search of all poisons known to man. He ingested small amounts of various poisons every day and became immune to them, henceforth developing the famous Mithradatium, a prevent-all antidote.

So! A conquerer, a master toxicologist, a skilled diplomat, and pretty cute to boot ;)