Category: Reader Questions

Random Access asks:

What ARE the main differences between the Greek Ares, and the Roman Mars?

Well, Ares is… not a popular god, put it that way.  In scenes from the Iliad depicting interactions between the gods, he’s consistently treated as something of an outcast, Zeus’ least-favourite child (in stark contrast to perfect daughter Athena).  Not a lot of people really worship Ares – he personifies bloodlust, the madness of battle and war.  Mars, on the other hand, was originally a god of agriculture in pre-classical Italy before he became a martial god closely identified with Ares, and was one of the foremost patron deities of the Roman state; he stood for martial discipline, justice and vengeance upon the guilty.  In a polytheistic society, it’s not uncommon to note a couple of similarities between one of your gods and one worshipped in another neighbouring culture, and decide “eh, it’s probably the same guy,” even if you wind up glossing over a few differences in the process.  They’re gods; they can be several mutually contradictory things at once if they want to.

Anonymous asks:

Does it irk you that most people seem to refer to Heracles as Hercules, even when they’re talking about the Greek version of the hero?

Eh… not really.  It’s not often that the distinction is important, unless you’re in a technical context, since they’re basically the same guy (unlike, say, Ares and Mars, where the Italian conception of the god is actually different enough that it sort of matters which one you’re talking about).  The ancient Greeks had at least three different ways of spelling “Heracles” anyway.

Cavedraconem adds: I don’t know, I think that Hercules Olivarius, as protector of olive merchants, is a pretty important Roman version of Hercules whom one might want to specifically refer to.

Well, I did specify “unless you’re in a technical context.”  But yes, if you’re a classicist talking about Roman religion and you call him “Heracles” then you should absolutely be shot.

Anonymous asks:

If you’re a Classical archeologist, how come you’re so knowledgable about evolutionary biology? And is Jim as smart as you are? Curious because I admire your wide-ranging intellect!

Flattery will get you everywhere, anonymous grey sphere.

So, for my undergrad I did what in New Zealand we call a conjoint degree.  You have a higher course load, and it takes four years (instead of three, which is the standard for a bachelor’s degree in New Zealand), but you come out of it with two degrees.  As a result, although I’m an archaeologist, I actually also hold a BSc in chemistry, which is fundamental to a lot of my work, because I’m interested in analytical techniques for investigating the chemical composition of artefacts and archaeological materials (for my PhD, I want to conduct analyses of that kind on samples of Roman window glass).  I also have a better-than-layman’s knowledge of biology and statistics, but they’re definitely not specialist subjects of mine.

Jim the Editor is about half as clever as he thinks he is, but that’s still enough to make him as smart as me. 😉 He probably has broader knowledge of a lot of subjects where I tend to dive down obscure rabbit holes… which helps in keeping me honest.

Anonymous asks:

I think that Game Freak should have made an Ability that’s Chlorophyll but with a different name (a la Insomnia/Vital Spirit), and made THAT Blaziken’s Hidden Ability instead of Speed Boost. Something like ‘Blazing Legs’. This would address Blaziken’s big weakness (Speed) and encourage players to use it in sunlight, which strengthens its Fire attacks, thus powering it up in competitive without making it crazy broken like Speed Boost does. What do you think?

I kinda want it to be something more unique… I don’t know that it particularly fits Blaziken to be especially dependent on sun.  Maybe something Technician-esque that gives priority to low-power moves, so she gets, like, priority Aerial Ace and priority Double Kick?  Or something Motor Drive-esque that absorbs Fire attacks to gain speed (it worked for Electivire in his day, after all)?

Anonymous asks:

What would happen to the meta Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina get signature Z-moves in a potential DP remake, which activate the Room effects? They fit quite well thematically- especially Inverse or Wonder for Giratina and Trick for either D or P

Well, I’m fairly confident the ubers meta can withstand damn near anything you throw at it, and a Z-move is a fairly costly thing to give a Pokémon, since the Z-crystal expends your item slot – especially considering that Dialga, Palkia and Giratina all have fairly powerful signature items (their respective Orbs) that they might prefer to use (unless they break the rules of Z-moves, the way Rayquaza breaks the rules of mega evolution, which doesn’t seem implausible – if they get signature Z-moves, the Orbs might enable them).  Besides, auto-Magic Room and auto-Wonder Room don’t strike me as particularly game-breaking effects.  Auto-Trick Room, maybe, especially if you give it to Dialga, who’s one of the slower uber-tier Pokémon (not that that’s saying much) – but then, if this hypothetical Z-move also forces Dialga to give up a move slot to Roar of Time, which seems likely, maybe that’s balance enough.