Essowe Tchalim
Essowe is a fantasy writer, classicist and nerd. Follow him on Twitter at @E.Tchalim. His first published story is coming later this fall in the Kaleidocast.
As both a Classicist and a Speculative Fiction Writer, I was overflowing with nerd glee when I learned about the SF in Classical Tradition panel at Readercon. John Crowley, Haris Durrani, Ada Palmer, Catherynne M. Valente, and moderator Jo Walton had an excellent discussion deconstructing the elements of the SFF genres that existed in—or were essentially birthed from-- the Classical Tradition.
Classics is the study of the Ancient Mediterranean World, usually with a greater focus on Ancient Greek and Roman cultures. When I attended Brooklyn College, I chose to major in this field partly due to my life-long interest in the subject, but also my fiction always gravitated to secondary worlds inspired by ancient civilizations. The more I learned about real world ancient histories, ways of life, and belief systems, the more nuanced and dynamic my fictional worlds became.
Classics is the study of the Ancient Mediterranean World, usually with a greater focus on Ancient Greek and Roman cultures. When I attended Brooklyn College, I chose to major in this field partly due to my life-long interest in the subject, but also my fiction always gravitated to secondary worlds inspired by ancient civilizations. The more I learned about real world ancient histories, ways of life, and belief systems, the more nuanced and dynamic my fictional worlds became.
Automatons were statues made out of metal, animated by the God of metalworking, Hephaestus
In almost all of ancient Greek and Roman stories I read during my Classics courses, I found the conceptual and mythological threads that make up most of our contemporary science fiction and fantasy. The panelists brought up examples that I had never considered, like Hephaestus’ automata. They were beings of metal, either humanoid or animal-shaped, that moved on their own—with ‘autonomy’, if you will (pun intended)— created by the Greek god of fire and the forge. In modern times, we recognize such things as robots, one of the most used devices in science fiction.
John Crowley brought up Apuleis’ Golden Ass as another example. The tale is of a man named Lucius who, in an attempt turn himself into a bird, instead transforms into a donkey and must find a way to cure himself. What’s most interesting here is that this mistress had a collection of potions (or ointments in some translations) capable of completely altering physiology (Lucius’ having stolen the wrong one)—this being yet another device we often see in science fiction/fantasy.
John Crowley brought up Apuleis’ Golden Ass as another example. The tale is of a man named Lucius who, in an attempt turn himself into a bird, instead transforms into a donkey and must find a way to cure himself. What’s most interesting here is that this mistress had a collection of potions (or ointments in some translations) capable of completely altering physiology (Lucius’ having stolen the wrong one)—this being yet another device we often see in science fiction/fantasy.
Lucretius's Universe
This should not be surprising, since, as Ms. Valente put it, Science Fiction is a set of impulses—taking a curious look at the world, wondering what is out there, and crafting answers to satisfy this question. Such impulses are timeless, not exclusive to any culture or generation. While their understanding of the natural world differed from ours, storytellers from antiquity employed the same techniques that modern SF writers use: creating new, imaginary concepts whilst grounding them in rational, methodical thought and the ‘scientific’ reasoning of the time.
Jo Walton used Roman philosopher Lucretius to champion this point, speaking of how he conceived of other universes (what we understand as solar systems) as having other inhabited planets like Earth at the center. While this is clearly untrue—the Earth isn’t even in the center of this universe—it does shows that Lucretius was constructing a vision of the cosmos based on his—and that of his time—understanding of astronomy.
Jo Walton used Roman philosopher Lucretius to champion this point, speaking of how he conceived of other universes (what we understand as solar systems) as having other inhabited planets like Earth at the center. While this is clearly untrue—the Earth isn’t even in the center of this universe—it does shows that Lucretius was constructing a vision of the cosmos based on his—and that of his time—understanding of astronomy.
With that said, we should be cautious in claiming the ancient stories as works of science fiction. Ms. Valente aptly stated that the intent of the storytellers must matter in the context of the genre we ascribe to their stories. As filled with elements of science fiction as they may be, these stories were “history and fact” in the eyes of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. This is a stark difference from contemporary SFF writers, who tend to create worlds and concepts that we know are not true.
One of the few writers of antiquity to stray from the Greek framework and approach ours was Lucian of Samosata, specifically in his work A True Story. The panelists kept coming back to him because he was the first in his time to write a story and proclaim it as a fictional piece; his intent was to write a story that was not true. A True Story is a tale of space travel and aliens on different planets waging war—it doesn’t get more SF than that!
I thoroughly enjoyed this panel not only because of my background in Classics, nor just the quality of the discussion, but because it helped remind me that writing knows no boundaries. Sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, etc—these are all terms that have been applied to our work for the sake of convenience and profit. At the end of the day, all we’re doing is imagining new worlds, concepts and scenarios, all of which are in varying degrees of conversation with the stories already in existence, whether it a story written ten years ago, or a thousand.
Essowe Tchalim is a writer of speculative fiction short stories and novels. He graduated from Brooklyn College, where he studied concepts of the soul and rituals of power from the Ancient Mediterranean. He currently works at Droga5, where he assists in producing TV commercials. When he is not writing or working, he is reading manga or trying to convince his friends to watch his favorite television shows.
His short story The Emperor Mantis, is set to be published at The Kaleidocast. You can find him on Twitter at @Etchalim, where he talks abouts politics, ancient history, and random nerdy shenanigans.
His short story The Emperor Mantis, is set to be published at The Kaleidocast. You can find him on Twitter at @Etchalim, where he talks abouts politics, ancient history, and random nerdy shenanigans.
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