I want to say "Who thought both were great, but their evening was ruined by all this compulsive poll-taking?" except that Friends references are probably a bit low-brow for this audience :) Is there another quote that would do?
I quite like it, but remind me, is there a reason for the sudden outbreak in polls?
There was a time I'd have voted for Constantine; the legalisation of Christianity certainly did a lot to (later) civilise the wild northern fringes of Europe. But on reflection, I'm not entirely sure the bad in Christianity is sufficiently enough to outweigh the good to stop me voting for someone else.
My impression of Kurash (Cyrus) comes largely from Mary Renault's The Persian Boy (which in turn is largely based on Herodotus), where she portrays him as not just a powerful empire builder, but a munificent ruler, whose action on throwing off the yoke of the Medes and defeating their king was to present him back with his wife, and appoint him satrap of Media. (She also portrays Alexander as impressed with this, and seeking to emulate it with Darayavaush (Darius) IV, until he (Darayavaush) got killed by his own followers.)
My impression of Knut (Canute), apart from the foot-wetting incident (which even in its fuller, less known form, is insufficient to override the following) is largely from Dorothy Dunnett's King Hereafter (a grittily historical retelling of the story of Macbeth), which portrays him as a power-hungry megalomaniac, who, having made himself king of Denmark and England, and imposed himself on a hostile Norway, was beadily eying up Scotland at the time that he died.
Finally, you missed out Sargon of Akkad, the first ruler of an multi-ethnic empire.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 01:48 pm (UTC)Me clearly,
Can't really justify that though, but give me time and I'll come up with a good reason.
*wonders off to create empire...*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 02:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 01:54 pm (UTC)I quite like it, but remind me, is there a reason for the sudden outbreak in polls?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 01:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 02:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 02:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 02:53 pm (UTC)My impression of Kurash (Cyrus) comes largely from Mary Renault's The Persian Boy (which in turn is largely based on Herodotus), where she portrays him as not just a powerful empire builder, but a munificent ruler, whose action on throwing off the yoke of the Medes and defeating their king was to present him back with his wife, and appoint him satrap of Media. (She also portrays Alexander as impressed with this, and seeking to emulate it with Darayavaush (Darius) IV, until he (Darayavaush) got killed by his own followers.)
My impression of Knut (Canute), apart from the foot-wetting incident (which even in its fuller, less known form, is insufficient to override the following) is largely from Dorothy Dunnett's King Hereafter (a grittily historical retelling of the story of Macbeth), which portrays him as a power-hungry megalomaniac, who, having made himself king of Denmark and England, and imposed himself on a hostile Norway, was beadily eying up Scotland at the time that he died.
Finally, you missed out Sargon of Akkad, the first ruler of an multi-ethnic empire.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 04:46 pm (UTC)Sargon might have been a good one, yes.
I suspect quite a few of these guys were power-hungry megalomaniacs by any reasonable standard...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 03:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-05 10:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-16 02:07 am (UTC)