Why is there so much historical fiction and fantasy set in medieval times but not in classical antiquity?
>>25254020Cause there is historical fiction written in that time about that time?
>>25254020Most people just don't know enough about it.It's not enough to know that they used spears and bronze helmets.To write a compelling story, you need to know so much more, like customs, local politics, common careers, types of food and music, etc etc.Most writers just don't have quite such a clear vision of classic antiquity.
>>25254020because if you try to world build rome in a fantasy style it become romanesque which doesnt even look roman, its a real style that existed for a thousand years after the romans, and it looks medieval and thats what it is. If you try to make it authentic its too difficult because romans built like the sistine chapel, or they made stuff that looks like italian villas, or it looks like florence italy, assassins creed did that somewhat but its like fucking team america world police and they fucking destroy everything and they cant write for shit, latin writing is denser and more archaic than shakespeare, its just not the same
>>25254020Antiquity left behind a meaningful library of their own works negating the need for secondary recreations.
>>25254020Early fantasy was inspired by the likes of Tennyson, Walter Scott, Sir Thomas Mallory, among others, who were influenced by the medieval era. The problem is that, at some point, following fantasy writers decided to just ape up early fantasy rather than coming with their own ideas or outside influences. This got worse with each new generation because fantasy became a rehash of a rehash of a rehash and so forth.
>>25254020Read Herodotus. It's basically Esos in Game Of Thrones but better.
medieval times reminds neckbeards of their favorite fantasy slop, simple as.
>>25254020Because feudal medieval society was unironically the best way in all of history to organize human activity, therefore everyone subconsciously longs for it. There's a reason it's the period that produced gothic cathedrals.
>>25254020>he hasn't read the Clavdivs novels
>>25254534>a bunch of barbarian warlords invading the empire and turning it into private turfs for their gang wars depending on descendents of debtors for food the best way to organize society
>>25254529The restaurant?
>>25254025they wrote about the heroic era, aka bronze age.>>25254033it's not that different from medieval. Most medieval fantasy doesn't even understand the feudal system. Vikangz had weirder customs and normies lap it up.
>>25254567that too probably.
Same reason why the American western frontier is the setting for historical action movies. There is this idea of basically anarchy where the individual answers only to himself and the law comes down to might-makes-right. Both are sort of post-apocalyptic. The dark ages functionally were in way with societal and governmental and civilizational collapse, that's why they left very few records, hence 'dark'.https://youtu.be/9sDUQt4suHk>>25254534Then there is also this perspective which is based on the medieval romance conception of a knight as a moral ideal, here the middle ages is the perfect fantasy setting because it allows for a comforting escape from cynicism. Almost the exact opposite for why it is a preferred setting in the first example I gave
>>25254591I wanted to go once whime i was in texas but i think they had very particular times for the show that were inconvenient
This is good if you want historical fiction set in ancient times
>>25254020Most fantasy is downstream of Tolkien and he chose a medieval setting because he was an expert on Anglo-Saxon and Norse. Also, fantasy is most popular in Britain and its descendant nations and those peoples see themselves more in a medieval European setting than in an ancient one. I would expect ancient settings to be more popular among Mediterranean readers potentially.
>>25254108/thread
>>25254534>There's a reason it's the period that produced gothic cathedrals.Because feudal lords were so retarded they believed Christian bullshit?
>>25254617Fuck you i said the same thing >>25254025
>Cities built on lakes>Human sacrifice and blood offerings>Society without beasts of burden and only little use of metals>Mythology is cosmic horror>Soldiers fighting in warsuits made of iridescent feathers>IRL contact with Europeans is the closest thing we have to alien contact or an isekai>Barely used in fantasy, and when it is used to influence fantasy, it's almost always just mimicking their ruins and turning them into primitive ooga booga tribesmen, not using their actual gorgeous painted cities, fine clothing, or cultural practicesThis is the real mystery OP
>>25254020It's crazy how much western history just looks like one long village brawl when compared to Chinese history. It's embarrassing. Explore their stuff instead.
>>25254020Because Classical Antiquity is gay larpagan and Medieval Europe is based and tradpilledThe real answer is because we're more infatuated with Medieval mystique as a natural human defense mechanism against (((enlightenment))) and what followed
>>25254764There are a lot of mexican projects influenced by or who lift from aztec culture, but most of them are unfinished and most mexicans think the aztecs are overrated or overrepresented. Besides, it may be tricky to pull it off becase the public may end up adding their own interpretations on why it's political.
>>25254862I'm moreso talking about Mesoamerica in general rather then the Aztec in particular>There are a lot of mexican projects influenced by or who lift from aztec cultureSuch as? I autistically follow anything related to Mesoamerica if it's at least somewhat authentic or well researched and I can't think of many
>>25254557OP's not wrong that it's sort of fallen out of fashion but most of the those old sword-and-sandal movies like Ben Hur and Spartacus were based on popular novels.Pressfield's Gates of Fire is well liked in some quarters but I still haven't read it.
>>25255921It is quite good.Tides of war is fun too.
MARGUERITE YOURCENAR - MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN
The departure of the Romantic languages from Latin the developments of the English Romantic period. While Germans who did not speak Latin have inherited the invocative nature of Latin and Faust is an inheritance of the Roman Fantasy which would be predicated on bargaining or dealing with the Gods for riches of some kind
it's really simple, pre-antiquity man thought the thoughts in his head were commands vocalized by his god, that book about bicameral mind claims this, it would be fun to make a film/book like the quest for fire showing the transition btn this and how writing changed all of it
>>25254020There are some, but I would assume that it's not as popular because a lot of people don't know anything before the medieval times
>>25254874Are you kidding? There are plenty of video games like Guacamelee or Aztech Forgotten Gods. Mexican-americans love that shit despite their shallow understanding of native american tribes.
>>25256567Guacemelee barely has any Mesoamerican influences from what i've seen, and even in Aztech there's really not many overt references to actual Aztec iconography or culture. Those are also some of the only examples I can think of. If we're including shit made in the US and other countries then there's also all the other games I mention here: https://arch.b4k.dev/v/thread/728989049/#728990251 but in the grand scheme of things this still is not a lot.
>>25256584>barelyHoly cope, the whole thing reeks of aztec culture and aesthetics.
>>25254020Every time you ask a question like this you should just assume you don't know something obvious. Which is implicit in the act of questioning, but maybe you don't get that.
>>25254020I'm playing this musou.
>>25254817>warlord rises >mass famine >warlord overthrown >mass famine >human cannibalism >new warlord rises, invades from the North>more human cannibalism >mass famine >repeat There, I just saved you reading 5000 years of recorded Chinese history
Salammbo is a fantastic book, maybe the most orientalist thing I’ve read and it just works so well. Dunno how good the original French prose is but English translation was just gorgeous to read. Final third devolves into one massacre after another so not that appealingMary Renault’s books are apparently good, I think Tolkien liked them And Gene Wolfe wrote a couple books about an amnesiac soldier in Ancient Greece, only read the first one but pretty good.
>>25256607Maybe I haven't given it a close enough look then, can you post some particularly inspired parts of the game in your eyes?I've seen some generic pyramid temples and I know there's a jaguar guy and that's the extent of the Mesoamerican influences I've seen it have, and neither are really that inspired by actual Mesoamerican culture, art etc in a specific way, they moreso seemed just like playing into pop culture tropes about the region.
