ext_57487 ([identity profile] lovesrain44.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] lovesrain44 2010-12-07 07:58 pm (UTC)

The title came from a poem I'd read while scrolling the internet. I have the name of the writer on a piece of paper somewhere, and if you knew my house, you'd know what a sad thing that is, because I can't find the paper and it's giving me hives not to be able to state my source. But then I went looking at Sparta stuff, like I sometimes to, the real Sparta, in Greece, and came upon this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_I

Upon receiving a request from the confederated Greek forces to aid in defending Greece against the Persian invasion, Sparta consulted the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle is said to have made the following prophecy in hexameter verse:[9]

Hear your fate, O dwellers in Sparta of the wide open plains;
Either your famed, great town must be sacked by Perseus' sons,
Or, if that be not, the whole land of Lacedaemon
Shall mourn the death of a king of the house of Heracles,
For not the strength of lions or of bulls shall hold him,
Strength against strength; for he has the power of Zeus,
And will not be checked till one of these two he has consumed.

And, of course, Leonidas was a great king of Sparta, and who in the movie "300" uttered the ever-fun words, "THIS is SPARTA!"

All of this reminded me of the poem, and so that's what I used for the title. The poem has the exact phrase "with the strength of lions" and the stuff about Leonidas echoed that.

Thank you for asking; it's fun to share stuff like this.


Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting