Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #BadAncient

Most recents (3)

The myths around Thermopylai often rely on broader misconceptions about ancient Sparta.

Well, we can't have that can we?! Come along with @Roelkonijn and me, for another thread looking at 12 key myths about the Spartan culture, and their army 1/16
Myth #1: Spartans were professional soldiers.

The big one! This comes from Xenophon's description of Lykurgus banning Spartiates from having a job.

He doesn't actually say anything about them soldiering which, you know, is a job! Seem more like 'professional citizens'
2/ Image
*CW: Infanticide*

Myth #2: Spartans killed imperfect babies by throwing them off a mountain.

This is very iffy: the literature is suspect and the archaeology does not support it. See this #badancient write up here: badancient.com/claims/spartan…
3/
Read 16 tweets
More #badancient Spartans. A review of new book by Dr Andrew Bayliss of @theBRIHC The reviewer seems to ignore Bayliss's opening section all about the Spartan mirage: dailymail.co.uk/home/books/art… /1
No, 300 Spartans did not fight at Thermopylae. Bayliss explicitly mentions helots and other greeks being there. Also: badancient.com/claims/did-300… /2
And as for molon labe (it had to be mentioned didnt it!). Bayliss says outright this was a later embellishment - Herodotus loved a good story, he would have kept this in. We have covered this phrase here: badancient.com/claims/molon-l… /3
Read 5 tweets
I was approached by the team behind @AncientWorldMag to turn my #badancient into a website project. So here it is! badancient.com

This is about examining modern public claims about the ancient world, and trying to untangle the history from them.
Bad Ancient began as a teaching exercise to encourage students to see the use of the ancient world in everyday arenas: politics, advertising, TV, video games. By picking out incorrect uses, or bad examples, we began to discuss their purpose:
Why do they use bad ancient history? What purpose does it serve? What intrinsic value do these mistakes hold in the modern world? I found posts began to attract queries for further information - how is it wrong? Why would they say it if it is wrong? What does the evidence say,etc
Read 4 tweets

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