“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose“
– Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, 1849
So, writing fantasy is not as great an escape from current events as you might imagine…
I started work on a project (sword & sorcery, for the curious), and while looking up a term for what the ancient Greeks used to call their harbor district, I came across articles about Chersonesus, a Greek colony founded on the shores of the Black Sea.
What came up in pursuing the search wasn’t a name, but an oath, one taken by the citizens of the colony, dating back to the third century BCE:
I swear by Zeus, Gaia, Helios, Parthenos, the Olympian gods and goddesses, and all the heroes who protect the polis, chora, and forts of the people of Chersonesos:
I shall act in concord (with my fellow citizens) on behalf of the protection and freedom of the polis and its citizens.
I shall not betray to anyone whomsoever, whether Greek or barbarian, Chersonesos, Kerkinitis, Kalos Limen, the other forts, and the rest of the chora, which the people of Chersonesos inhabit or inhabited. But I shall carefully guard all of these for the demos (the people) of Chersonesos.
I shall not put down democracy. I shall neither rely upon nor help conceal either traitor or subverter, but I shall reveal them to the damiourgoi (magistrates) in the city.
I shall oppose anyone who plots against, betrays or revolts from Chersonesos, Kerkinitis, Kalos Limen, the forts, and the chora of the people of Chersonesos.
I shall hold the office of damiourgos; I shall be, to the best of my ability and with the greatest fairness, a councilor to the city and its citizens.
I shall guard carefully the ΣАΣТНРА for the demos; and I shall not reveal to either a Hellene or barbarian any secret which is likely to harm the city.
I shall neither offer nor accept a gift to harm the polis and its citizens.
I shall not contrive with evil intention against any citizen who has not revolted (from Chersonesos); I shall neither rely upon one who plots (against the city) nor conceal anything from anyone, but I shall lay an impeachment and determine the matter by vote according to the laws.
I shall pledge my oath to a conspiracy against neither the commonwealth of the people of Chersonesos nor any citizen who has not been shown to be an enemy of the demos.
If I conspire with anyone and am bound by oath or solemn curse, may it be better for me and my possessions if I am reconciled (to the state), but the opposite if I stand fast (to the conspiracy).
I shall report to the damiourgoi (leaders) any conspiracy which I perceive to exist already or to be forming.
Neither shall I sell grain suitable for exportation which comes from the plain, nor export grain from the plain to another place, except to Chersonesos.
Zeus, Gaia, Helios, Parthenos, and the Olympian gods, as long as I abide by these covenants, may it be better for me, my family, and my possessions. But if I do not abide, may it be ill for me, my family, and my possessions; may neither the earth nor the sea bear their fruit for me; may the women not be happy in children …
What makes you take a step back as you read this is what it asked of its citizens, to not try and stab in the back anyone else who lived there. Its timing is what gives this such velocity:
- Chersonesus was founded on what would become the Crimean Peninsula…
- …which the Ukranian government wants to take back from the Russians…
- …who after they grabbed it from Ukraine went to extraordinary measures to hold onto it, including trying to nerf the US by messing with the 2016 election…
- …which gave us a winner whose own people tried to hide (badly) that their administration was compromised by the Russians…
- …who might have to give up the Crimean Peninsula and Chersonesus.
“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…“
James Ryan 