Game of Thrones - A View from the Humanities Vol. 2: Heroes, Villains and Pulsions

240 Pages·2023·6.031 MB·English

by  Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio, Fernando Lozano, Rosario Moreno Soldevila, Cristina Rosillo-López

Game of Thrones –
A View from
the Humanities
Vol. 2
Heroes, Villains and Pulsions
Edited by
Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio
Fernando Lozano
Rosario Moreno Soldevila
Cristina Rosillo-López
Game of Thrones - A View from the
Humanities Vol. 2
Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio
Fernando Lozano
Rosario Moreno Soldevila
Cristina Rosillo-López
Editors
Game of Thrones -
A View from the
Humanities Vol. 2
Heroes, Villains and Pulsions
Editors
Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio Fernando Lozano
Departamento de Historia Antigua Departamento de Historia Antigua
Universidad de Sevilla Universidad de Sevilla
Sevilla, Spain Sevilla, Spain
Rosario Moreno Soldevila Cristina Rosillo-López
Departamento de Filología y Departamento de Geografía, Historia y
Traducción Filosofía
Universidad Pablo de Olavide Universidad Pablo de Olavide
Sevilla, Spain Sevilla, Spain
ISBN 978-3-031-15492-8 ISBN 978-3-031-15493-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15493-5
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A b
bout this ook
The chapters in this book focus on G. R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
and the TV series Game of Thrones. To avoid confusion Game of Thrones
in Roman type refers to the universe, Game of Thrones in italics alludes to
the TV series, whereas A Game of Thrones, usually abbreviated as GoT, is
reserved for the homonymous first novel of Martin’s saga.
Titles in A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) are cited as follows:
A Game of Thrones. New York: Bantam, 1996 = GoT
A Clash of Kings. New York: Bantam, 1999 = CoK
A Storm of Swords. New York: Bantam, 2000 = SoS
A Feast for Crows. New York: Bantam, 2005 = FfC
A Dance with Dragons. New York: Bantam, 2011 = DwD
References to the novels are presented as follows: title of the novel +
chapter number + the name of the character from whose point of view the
chapter is written + the number of the chapter from that character’s point
of view. Example: SoS 23 Arya 4.
Game of Thrones, the television series, is shortened as Thrones. References
to specific passages are presented as follows: Thrones + season number +
episode number + episode title. Example: Thrones S1: Ep.1, “Winter is
Coming”.
vii
C
ontents
1 Heroes, Villains, War and Violence in Game of Thrones 1
Alfonso Álvarez-Ossorio, Fernando Lozano, Rosario Moreno
Soldevila, and Cristina Rosillo-López
Part I “The Things I do for Love”: Heroes, Villains and
None of the Above 9
2 Scheming in the Shadow of Tyrants: The ‘Littlefinger’
Type in Roman Historiography 11
Antonino Pittà
3 Parallel Lives: Connections Between the Lannisters and
Historical Dynasties 29
Víctor A. Torres-González and Marcos Rafael Cañas Pelayo
4 The Tragedy of Eddard Stark: Greek Tragedy in A Song
of Ice and Fire 55
Isidro Molina Zorrilla
5 “Was it a God, a Demon, a Sorcerous Trick?”. Magic,
Performative Rituals, and Moral Standards in A Song
of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones 77
Maureen Attali
ix
x CONTENTS
Part II “Some Allies are More Dangerous than Enemies”:
Warfare and Violence 113
6 Juggling “a Hundred Balls in the Air”: Reflections of
the Year of the Four Emperors in the War of the
Five Kings 115
Louis Autin
7 The Punic Wars in the World of A Song of Ice and Fire 137
Iván Moreno-Marín
8 The “Battle of the Bastards”: A Tactical Iconic Narrative 155
Carlo Lualdi
9 Some Heads Are Gonna Roll: Punishments and Executions
in G. R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and in HBO’s
TV Series 177
Denis Álvarez Pérez-Sostoa
10 From Greek Tragic Drama to Fantastic Terror: Tragic
Echoes in A Storm of Swords’ Red Wedding 201
Alexia Dedieu
Index 221
n C
otes on ontributors
Alfonso  Álvarez-Ossorio is Professor of Ancient History at the
University of Seville, Spain. Both his PhD thesis and most of his research
have been devoted to the socioeconomic and cultural study of piracy dur-
ing the late Roman Republic and the early Empire. He is editor of The
Present of Antiquity: Reception, Recovery, Reinvention of the Ancient World
in Current Popular Culture (2019).
Denis Álvarez Pérez-Sostoa is Assistant Professor in the Department of
Classical Studies at the University of the Basque Country. His main
research line focuses on the Middle and Late Roman Republic, mainly
ancient diplomacy, warfare and post-war settlements, with a special regard
to hostages and prisoners of war.
Maureen Attali obtained her PhD in History and Anthropology of
Ancient Religions at Sorbonne Université (Paris, France). A postdoctoral
researcher at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), part of her research
deals with the reception of Antiquity in contemporary fantasy works with
a focus on religion and gender.
Louis Autin is maître de conférences (assistant professor) in Latin lan-
guage and literature at Sorbonne Université, member of the research cen-
tre Rome et ses Renaissances (UR 4081). His research areas are in Latin
historiography (esp. Tacitus), the political and social history of the Roman
Empire (political communication, history of information, rumours)
and the classical tradition/reception, from the commentaries on
Tacitus in the early modern period to the reception of Antiquity in con-
temporary fictions.
xi
xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Marcos Rafael Cañas Pelayo holds his PhD in Modern Age from the
University of Cordoba and his research interests are social history in the
kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, cinematography and the role of new
technologies in education. He has written several papers in international
journals and universities such as the University of Palermo, University of
Évora and University of Buenos Aires.
Alexia Dedieu is a PhD Candidate at the Université Grenoble Alpes and
the Università degli Studi di Pisa. She studies the reception of Greek trag-
edy and especially the scholarly reception of Euripides in the sixteenth
century.
Fernando Lozano is Professor of Ancient History at the University of
Seville, Spain. His research focuses on the study of Roman religion during
the Empire and, specifically, on the imperial cult, as well as Reception
studies. He has authored and edited several monographs on these topics.
Carlo  Lualdi is a PhD Student in Classics and Ancient History at
Warwick University. His main academic interests are in military images,
Hellenistic warfare and modern reception of ancient warfare. He is con-
ducting a doctoral research project focused on the battle scenes part of the
decorative apparatus of Messapian funerary monuments dating between
the late fourth and the early third century BCE.
Isidro Molina Zorrilla is a PhD candidate in Greek Philology at the
University of Málaga, where he teaches Classical Mythology. His research
interests lie in the area of Greek Literature (especially tragedy) and its
reception on cinema and pop culture. His publications include articles in
journals like Ágora, Tycho and Cuadernos de Filología Clásica.
Iván Moreno-Marín is a graduate in Geography and History (University
of La Rioja) and holds an MA in Advanced Historical Studies in Ancient
History (University of Seville). He is a PhD candidate in Ancient History
at the University of Seville with a thesis on Socii Navales in the Western
Mediterranean during the Roman Republic.
Rosario Moreno Soldevila is Professor of Latin Philology at Pablo de
Olavide University, Seville, Spain. Her main lines of research include the
Epigrams of Martial, the oeuvre of Pliny the Younger and amatory motifs
in classical and late Latin literature. She has authored or co-authored ten
monographs, including A Prosopography to Martial’s Epigrams (2019).