Roman Forum of Athens
Tumbling down steps in Plaka onto the Roman Forum of Athens:
The Tower of the Winds in the Roman Forum of Athens: sundial, waterclock, and wind vane, complete with statues of eight wind gods, one each 45°.
Later ended up a bell-tower, and then a Sufi hall. The fact it is as intact as it is makes it stand out.
Detective stories seem to be the major literary genre for anachronistic treatment historical subjects. I’ve never forgiven the Inspector Murdoch TV series: I was hoping for an enlightening look at Victorian Canada, and instead got steampunk fan-service of 21st century diversity and technology. (The original novels, I am told, have none of that, and are much darker.)
I never understood why it was detective stories, in particular, that ended up being set in any number of past settings, and having to ignore the actual cultures of those settings, for fear of offending audiences only after a bit of fluff. (See:
Of course, I’m sceptical whether past eras would have thought spending weeks trying to work out who the culprit was was a good use of resources.
This, in any case, is the Tourist in Athens iteration.
As Ed Conway insightfully pointed out:
On the resources question, I wonder if some of this effort comes from “we need to resolve this in a way that doesn’t lead to riots and massive disruptions”? That seemed to be more common in the Ancient Roman Era, at least. Less “Who killed this person?” and more “How can we prevent vigilanteeist bloodbaths and the resulting blood feuds?”.
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