140AD - The Rise to Empress || [GxG] ||

Chapter 40

As The World Caves In - Matt Maltese

https://youtu.be/yS2KyK3pqj4

Firstly, I just want to mention how absolutely incredible this song is. I had it on repeat for hours and hours while I wrote this piece, and let me tell you, you can bet your sweet ass that it's still on repeat.

Give it a listen, maybe you too will fall in love with it.

Secondly ... secondly, there's nothing. Enjoy the piece :)

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Translations:

Latin:

Cloaca Maxima = It literally translates to 'Greatest Sewer'. Lmao, I know. But, it turns out this was a pretty great sewer after all since it's still standing today and very much still in working condition. Rome still makes use of it.

Stadium = English: Stade. It's an ancient Roman unit of measurement. One stadium (stade) is equal to 185 meters or 607.14 feet.

Greek:

Geia sou mikrí. = Hello little one.

Kalá = Okay.
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End November, 142AD.

A rather foul stench hung in the air of the Sanctuary of Olympia accompanied by a cloud of thick black smoke. Lexa occasionally blinked her eyes that she was sure were red by now due to all the smog. It turned out the traditions of the beginning of the games were rather ... dense?

They passed by the sacred Temple of Hera and the stench became all the worse. A humongous pile of charred remains laid around an altar with freshly sacrificed oxen atop it. According to tradition, the offerings to Zeus at the beginning of the Olympic games took place on an overly large and grand scale.

One hundred oxen were sacrificed every four years at the beginning of the games and then burned on the altar. Lexa found it rather foolish to waste so much food; so much meat that could've potentially fed hundreds, if not thousands, of people. She understood the importance of tradition and whatnot, but wasteful remained wasteful.

She recalls the people of the Aventine just about killing one another for a bag of grain, and here the Greeks were burning an overzealous amount of rich flesh for one singular god. Lexa wasn't sure if she should admire them for being so giving and pious, or to pity them for being so cavalier.

Leonardo and Lexa halted at the front of the altar where the crowds began to gather. A grand purple carpet led up the handful of steps, adorned by golden tassels on its edges.
While not wanting to spoil the process of the ritual for herself, Lexa stops herself from asking what was about to happen next and instead just observes.

A Priest from the temple of Zeus, and Priestess of the temple Hera, ascended the steps up to the altar and took a stance in front of the freshly sacrificed oxen. With one swift movement, the belly of the ox was sliced open and its inners spilled into the bowl-like piece of the marble shrine.

The Priest seemed to be inspecting the intestines of the animal for some odd reason Lexa declares. She had never been squeamish of blood, or death, but the scene in front of her was rather unsettling. "Do we have to witness this, Leo? This is just revolting."

"It's customary, I'm afraid. If the inners are diseased it's a terrible omen which means that they'll have to do the sacrifice again until Zeus is satisfied." Lexa nodded her head slowly before she furrowed her eyebrows in thought. She wasn't the most knowledgeable about farming, or livestock for that matter, but one thing she surely knew was that animals inners didn't just become diseased by the hour. It happened by weeks, or perhaps kalends.