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World's Greatest Draft (2 Viewers)

If I sound a little pissed off, it's because just now I had to guess where to put Edmund Burke, Cardinal Richelieu, Martin Luther King, and Atilla the Hun.

I probably got all of them wrong. Oh well.
Why do you have to keep track of it? Put the guy anywhere and as long as the drafter finishes his roster properly, what difference does it make?
 
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Hi everybody.Just got in, and now the OPs are fully updated. Lots of interesting picks. I have a pet peeve...Some of you are not giving a category for your picks. This makes me upset. This makes me have to guess, and that is exactly what I'm doing. And then you will correct me later, and it is a pain in the ### to go back and retype some long Italian name in a different category. Do NOT write, "I don't know what category he goes in yet." #### that. If you're drafting the ####er, you better know what ####### category he's in. You can change it later if you must. And don't list three categories trying to impress everybody with how versatile your pick is. I'm not impressed; I'm confused and pissed off. Choose ONE category. If I sound a little pissed off, it's because just now I had to guess where to put Edmund Burke, Cardinal Richelieu, Martin Luther King, and Atilla the Hun.I probably got all of them wrong. Oh well.
I'm pretty sure I said put Burke in Intellectual.
 
If I sound a little pissed off, it's because just now I had to guess where to put Edmund Burke, Cardinal Richelieu, Martin Luther King, and Atilla the Hun.

I probably got all of them wrong. Oh well.
Why do you have to keep track of it? Put the guy anywhere and as long as the drafter finishes his roster properly, what difference does it make?
So that the judges can keep track of who's been taken in each category without having to read the entire draft; they can just scan the OP; so can everyone else. It's supposed to be a convienence to help you draft.
 
Tim,

I sent you the picks instead of another drafter so they would not give any ideas away. Hopefully they don't but you never know. You are impartial as I do not think you share info from PM's. That is the reason I sent them to you.

 
My roster should look like this tim - I thought I was making categories clear. Sorry if I wasn't. I'll make sure to do so from this point.........

Yankee23fan

Leader Charlemagne

Military

Scientist Hippocrates

Inventor T'sai Lun

Discoverer/Explorer

Humanitarian/Saint/Martyr - St. Augustine

Novelist/short story

Playwright/Poet

Villain Adolf Hitler

Athlete

Composer

Muscian/ Performer

Painter

Artist/ Non Painter

Philosopher - Adam Smith

Religious Figure

Celebrity

Intellectual Edmund Burke

Rebel

Wildcard

Wildcard

Wildcard

 
If I sound a little pissed off, it's because just now I had to guess where to put Edmund Burke, Cardinal Richelieu, Martin Luther King, and Atilla the Hun.

I probably got all of them wrong. Oh well.
Why do you have to keep track of it? Put the guy anywhere and as long as the drafter finishes his roster properly, what difference does it make?
So that the judges can keep track of who's been taken in each category without having to read the entire draft; they can just scan the OP; so can everyone else. It's supposed to be a convienence to help you draft.
But they're not judging until after the draft is over. And as a drafter all I need to know is if a name has been taken - I don't care what category he's been put in.
 
Hi everybody.

Just got in, and now the OPs are fully updated. Lots of interesting picks.

I have a pet peeve...

Some of you are not giving a category for your picks. This makes me upset. This makes me have to guess, and that is exactly what I'm doing. And then you will correct me later, and it is a pain in the ### to go back and retype some long Italian name in a different category. Do NOT write, "I don't know what category he goes in yet." #### that. If you're drafting the ####er, you better know what ####### category he's in. You can change it later if you must.

And don't list three categories trying to impress everybody with how versatile your pick is. I'm not impressed; I'm confused and pissed off. Choose ONE category.

If I sound a little pissed off, it's because just now I had to guess where to put Edmund Burke, Cardinal Richelieu, Martin Luther King, and Atilla the Hun.

I probably got all of them wrong. Oh well.
sorry, but CNTRL-C and CNTRL-V work pretty well for long names. Do you think we actually write out the bios?Hun should be leader for now.

 
Tim,I sent you the picks instead of another drafter so they would not give any ideas away. Hopefully they don't but you never know. You are impartial as I do not think you share info from PM's. That is the reason I sent them to you.
Mario, I sent them to FUBAR because I had to leave at 5:15 pst this morning and did not return until just now. This happens to me often, I can't say when I will be online, which is why I warned everyone NOT to PM picks to me. FUBAR was willing to accept and post them. Best I could do under the circumstances.
 
If I sound a little pissed off, it's because just now I had to guess where to put Edmund Burke, Cardinal Richelieu, Martin Luther King, and Atilla the Hun.

I probably got all of them wrong. Oh well.
Why do you have to keep track of it? Put the guy anywhere and as long as the drafter finishes his roster properly, what difference does it make?
Allowing the person to change categories gives them an advantage, but also creates a quandary for other drafters . For example, if 10 military leaders go in other categories, then I have a good chance by drafting someone now for the 6th military leader. However, if all go into the military leader, why should I spend a draft pick on someone who could end up 16th? (just as an example). Too late to change it now, but IMHO it would have been better to make the picks go into a category at that time.
 
If I sound a little pissed off, it's because just now I had to guess where to put Edmund Burke, Cardinal Richelieu, Martin Luther King, and Atilla the Hun.

I probably got all of them wrong. Oh well.
Why do you have to keep track of it? Put the guy anywhere and as long as the drafter finishes his roster properly, what difference does it make?
Allowing the person to change categories gives them an advantage, but also creates a quandary for other drafters . For example, if 10 military leaders go in other categories, then I have a good chance by drafting someone now for the 6th military leader. However, if all go into the military leader, why should I spend a draft pick on someone who could end up 16th? (just as an example). Too late to change it now, but IMHO it would have been better to make the picks go into a category at that time.
:confused: I guess I'm not taking this as seriously as I should.
 
My team:

Discoverer/Explorer - Yuri Gagarin

Playwrights/Poets - Homer

Composer - Johann Sebastian Bach

Painter - Raphael

Artist (non-painter) - Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

Religious Figure - Jesus of Nazareth

Philosopher - King Solomon

 
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Some notes-

Larry, I wouldn't have thought of Solomon but it's an extremely intriguing choice. You mentioned Proverbs, but my favorite (and my favorite Biblical book is Ecclisiastes. The guy could have been taken as a poet as well, because this book is sheer poetry.

Yankee, by taking Burke and moving Smith to philosopher, you may have a problem. Smith is an important individual, but not a philosopher. You might want to rethink this.

JRR Tolkein is much like the Stan Lee and Dr. Seuss picks in the GAD. Very influential, but how to rank him? Interesting dilemma for Krista...

Include me among the guys who never heard of Alhazen. Fascinating choice.

Painters are being taken off the board fast now. Nobody wants to be left out. Renoir and Raphael are certainly masters. There's still quite a few more, though...

 
Larry, I wouldn't have thought of Solomon but it's an extremely intriguing choice. You mentioned Proverbs, but my favorite (and my favorite Biblical book is Ecclisiastes. The guy could have been taken as a poet as well, because this book is sheer poetry.
I've never really read Ecclesiastes, but I probably should (adds to my list of things to do in the near future)... but either way Proverbs is the more "known" book of wisdom, which fits in his category, even if Ecclesiastes is very philosophical, too, I think...
 
Some notes-Larry, I wouldn't have thought of Solomon but it's an extremely intriguing choice. You mentioned Proverbs, but my favorite (and my favorite Biblical book is Ecclisiastes. The guy could have been taken as a poet as well, because this book is sheer poetry.Yankee, by taking Burke and moving Smith to philosopher, you may have a problem. Smith is an important individual, but not a philosopher. You might want to rethink this.JRR Tolkein is much like the Stan Lee and Dr. Seuss picks in the GAD. Very influential, but how to rank him? Interesting dilemma for Krista...Include me among the guys who never heard of Alhazen. Fascinating choice.Painters are being taken off the board fast now. Nobody wants to be left out. Renoir and Raphael are certainly masters. There's still quite a few more, though...
I've never moved anyone drafted from the slot I originally put them in. I guess I wasn't paying attention to your second overall post because I've been keeping track of my picks in my sig. To me, Burke and Smith can go in either slot I have them in.
 
Also, when people put more than one category, I think it's safe to assume the first category listed is where they would like them slotted.

 
btw...

who's the philosophy judge?

(better stated as "how bad exactly are they gonna rate my Solomon pick?)

 
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7.08--Sir Alexander Fleming-Scientist

Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist who discovered the antibiotic substance Penicillin in 1928, thereby opening up the entire field of antibiotics and allowing the curing of diseases that had devestated mankind for all ages.

 
This guy should be a slamdunk top 5 for his category, and IMO is third only to Shakespeare and Homer.

Virgil - Poet

Publius Vergilius Maro (also known by the Anglicised forms of his name as Virgil or Vergil) (October 15, 70 BCE – September 21, 19 BCE) was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works—the Bucolics (or Eclogues), the Georgics and the Aeneid—although several minor poems are also attributed to him. The son of a farmer, Virgil came to be regarded as one of Rome's greatest poets; his Aeneid as Rome's national epic.



Composition of the Aeneid and death

Virgil worked on the Aeneid during the last ten years of his life. Its first six books tell how the Trojan hero Aeneas escapes from the sacking of Troy and makes his way to Italy. On the voyage, a storm drives him to the coast of Carthage, which historically was Rome's deadliest foe. The queen, Dido, welcomes the ancestor of the Romans, and under the influence of the gods falls deeply in love with him. Jupiter recalls Aeneas to his duty towards Rome, however, and he slips away from Carthage, leaving Dido to commit suicide, cursing Aeneas and calling down revenge in a symbolic anticipation of the fierce wars between Carthage and Rome. On reaching Cumae, in Italy, Aeneas consults the Cumaean Sibyl, who conducts him through the Underworld and where Virgil imagines him meeting his father Anchises who reveals his son's Roman destiny to him.

The six books (of "first writing") are modeled on Homer's Odyssey, but the last six are the Roman answer to the Iliad. Aeneas is betrothed to Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, but Lavinia had already been promised to Turnus, the king of the Rutulians, who is roused to war by the Fury Allecto. The Aeneid ends with a single combat between Aeneas and Turnus, whom Aeneas defeats and kills, spurning his plea for mercy.

Virgil traveled with Augustus to Greece. En route, Virgil caught a fever, from which he died in Brundisium harbor, leaving the Aeneid unfinished. Augustus ordered Virgil's literary executors, Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca, to disregard Virgil's own wish that the poem be burned, instead ordering it published with as few editorial changes as possible. As a result, the text of the Aeneid that exists may contain faults which Virgil was planning to correct before publication. However, the only obvious imperfections are a few lines of verse that are metrically unfinished (i.e., not a complete line of dactylic hexameter). Other alleged "imperfections" are subject to scholarly debate.



Incomplete or not, the Aeneid was immediately recognized as a masterpiece. It proclaimed the Imperial mission of the Roman Empire, while at the same time pitying Rome's victims and feeling their grief. Aeneas was considered to exemplify virtue and pietas (roughly translated as "piety", though the word is far more complex and has a sense of being duty-bound and respectful of divine will, family and homeland). Nevertheless, Aeneas struggles between doing what he wants as a man, and doing what he must as a virtuous hero. In the view of some modern critics, Aeneas' inner turmoil and shortcomings make him a more realistic character than the heroes of Homeric poetry, such as Odysseus.



Later views of Virgil

Even as the Roman empire collapsed, literate men acknowledged that the Christianized Virgil was a master poet. #### read Virgil, whom he quotes in several places, along with some other Latin poets, though he cautions that "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death". The Aeneid remained the central Latin literary text of the Middle Ages and retained its status as the grand epic of the Latin peoples, and of those who considered themselves to be of Roman provenance, such as the English. It also held religious importance as it describes the founding of the Holy City. Virgil was made palatable for his Christian audience also through a belief in his prophecy of Christ in his Fourth Eclogue. #### and other classical writers too were declared Christian due to similarities in moral thinking to Christianity. Surviving medieval collections of manuscripts containing Virgil's works include the Vergilius Augusteus, the Vergilius Vaticanus and the Vergilius Romanus.

Dante made Virgil his guide to Hell and the greater part of Purgatory in The Divine Comedy. Dante also mentions Virgil in De vulgari eloquentia, along with ####, #### and ####, as one of the four regulati poetae (ii, vi, 7).

Virgil continues to be considered one of the greatest Latin poets.

 
I need to get my Scientist in ... no time for a real write-up:

7.09 - Michael Faraday, Scientist

Imagine what life was like before this guy's discoveries were applied to both industry and, later, the household. Read on:

Michael Faraday, FRS (22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist ... who [made huge leaps forward in] the [then-nascent] fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.

Faraday studied the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a DC electric current, and established the basis for the electromagnetic field concept in physics. He discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism, and laws of electrolysis. He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology.

As a chemist, Faraday discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an early form of the bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and popularized terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion.

Although Faraday received little formal education and knew little of higher mathematics, such as calculus, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. Some historians of science refer to Faraday as the best experimentalist in the history of science. The SI unit of capacitance, the farad, is named after him, as is the Faraday constant, the charge on a mole of electrons (about 96,485 coulombs). Faraday's law of induction states that a magnetic field changing in time creates a proportional electromotive force.

Faraday was the first and foremost Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a position to which he was appointed for life.
 
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This guy should be a slamdunk top 5 for his category, and IMO is third only to Shakespeare and Homer.

Virgil - Poet

Publius Vergilius Maro (also known by the Anglicised forms of his name as Virgil or Vergil) (October 15, 70 BCE – September 21, 19 BCE) was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works—the Bucolics (or Eclogues), the Georgics and the Aeneid—although several minor poems are also attributed to him. The son of a farmer, Virgil came to be regarded as one of Rome's greatest poets; his Aeneid as Rome's national epic.



Composition of the Aeneid and death

Virgil worked on the Aeneid during the last ten years of his life. Its first six books tell how the Trojan hero Aeneas escapes from the sacking of Troy and makes his way to Italy. On the voyage, a storm drives him to the coast of Carthage, which historically was Rome's deadliest foe. The queen, Dido, welcomes the ancestor of the Romans, and under the influence of the gods falls deeply in love with him. Jupiter recalls Aeneas to his duty towards Rome, however, and he slips away from Carthage, leaving Dido to commit suicide, cursing Aeneas and calling down revenge in a symbolic anticipation of the fierce wars between Carthage and Rome. On reaching Cumae, in Italy, Aeneas consults the Cumaean Sibyl, who conducts him through the Underworld and where Virgil imagines him meeting his father Anchises who reveals his son's Roman destiny to him.

The six books (of "first writing") are modeled on Homer's Odyssey, but the last six are the Roman answer to the Iliad. Aeneas is betrothed to Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, but Lavinia had already been promised to Turnus, the king of the Rutulians, who is roused to war by the Fury Allecto. The Aeneid ends with a single combat between Aeneas and Turnus, whom Aeneas defeats and kills, spurning his plea for mercy.

Virgil traveled with Augustus to Greece. En route, Virgil caught a fever, from which he died in Brundisium harbor, leaving the Aeneid unfinished. Augustus ordered Virgil's literary executors, Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca, to disregard Virgil's own wish that the poem be burned, instead ordering it published with as few editorial changes as possible. As a result, the text of the Aeneid that exists may contain faults which Virgil was planning to correct before publication. However, the only obvious imperfections are a few lines of verse that are metrically unfinished (i.e., not a complete line of dactylic hexameter). Other alleged "imperfections" are subject to scholarly debate.



Incomplete or not, the Aeneid was immediately recognized as a masterpiece. It proclaimed the Imperial mission of the Roman Empire, while at the same time pitying Rome's victims and feeling their grief. Aeneas was considered to exemplify virtue and pietas (roughly translated as "piety", though the word is far more complex and has a sense of being duty-bound and respectful of divine will, family and homeland). Nevertheless, Aeneas struggles between doing what he wants as a man, and doing what he must as a virtuous hero. In the view of some modern critics, Aeneas' inner turmoil and shortcomings make him a more realistic character than the heroes of Homeric poetry, such as Odysseus.



Later views of Virgil

Even as the Roman empire collapsed, literate men acknowledged that the Christianized Virgil was a master poet. #### read Virgil, whom he quotes in several places, along with some other Latin poets, though he cautions that "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death". The Aeneid remained the central Latin literary text of the Middle Ages and retained its status as the grand epic of the Latin peoples, and of those who considered themselves to be of Roman provenance, such as the English. It also held religious importance as it describes the founding of the Holy City. Virgil was made palatable for his Christian audience also through a belief in his prophecy of Christ in his Fourth Eclogue. #### and other classical writers too were declared Christian due to similarities in moral thinking to Christianity. Surviving medieval collections of manuscripts containing Virgil's works include the Vergilius Augusteus, the Vergilius Vaticanus and the Vergilius Romanus.

Dante made Virgil his guide to Hell and the greater part of Purgatory in The Divine Comedy. Dante also mentions Virgil in De vulgari eloquentia, along with ####, #### and ####, as one of the four regulati poetae (ii, vi, 7).

Virgil continues to be considered one of the greatest Latin poets.
The poor mans Dante......
 
Hey Herbert the Hippo, read this and weep big guy:



Dante made Virgil his guide to Hell and the greater part of Purgatory in The Divine Comedy. Dante also mentions Virgil in De vulgari eloquentia, along with ####, #### and ####, as one of the four regulati poetae (ii, vi, 7).

 
Hey Herbert the Hippo, read this and weep big guy:



Dante made Virgil his guide to Hell and the greater part of Purgatory in The Divine Comedy. Dante also mentions Virgil in De vulgari eloquentia, along with ####, #### and ####, as one of the four regulati poetae (ii, vi, 7).
:2cents: :fishing:
 
Andy D via pm:

7.16: Wilbur Wright – InventorThe Wright brothers always presented a unified image to the public, sharing equally in the credit for their invention. Biographers note, however, that Wilbur took the initiative in 1899–1900, writing of "my" machine and "my" plans before Orville became deeply involved when the first person singular became the plural "we" and "our". Author James Tobin asserts, "it is impossible to imagine Orville, bright as he was, supplying the driving force that started their work and kept it going from the back room of a store in Ohio to conferences with capitalists, presidents, and kings. Will did that. He was the leader, from the beginning to the end."The Brothers are generally credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. They are also officially credited worldwide through the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the standard-setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics, as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight". In the two years afterward, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed wing flight possible.The brothers' fundamental breakthrough was their invention of "three-axis control", which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. This method became standard and remains standard on fixed wing aircraft of all kinds. From the beginning of their aeronautical work, the Wright brothers focused on unlocking the secrets of control to conquer "the flying problem", rather than developing more powerful engines as some other experimenters did. Their careful wind tunnel tests produced better aeronautical data than any before, enabling them to design and build wings and propellers more effective than any before. Their U.S. patent 821,393 claims the invention of a system of aerodynamic control that manipulates a flying machine's surfaces.
 
Has anyone timed out more than once?

I may have missed a post, but Usual21 was skipped again.

Is it safe to put him on autoskip?

Doug B & DC Thunder have stated they are autoskips.

Just helps the flow instead of wasting a god hour of drafting time.

By the way, if it gets back to my 8th rounder tonight, I can be skipped.

 
7.17 Diego Velazquez - Painter

Diego Velázquez was probably Spain’s greatest baroque artist. He was born in Seville, in 1599. Between the ages of 11 and 16 he worked as an apprentice to the Mannerist painter, Francisco Pacheco. This was where he also gained the influences of Flemish and Italian realism.

For the first few years after he had served his apprenticeship, Velázquez's works fell into three categories. These were the bodegón, which comprised everyday subjects combined with still life, portraits, and religious scenes. He also showed a strong bias towards naturalism. One of his earliest bodegones was The Meal, which is now on display in the Hermitage in St Petersburg. This may have been his first work as an independent master.

Another of the early bodegones that he produced, the Water Seller of Seville, is on display at Apsley House in London. This is often compared with the work of XXXXX because it has a very clever use of light and shadow, and is a realistic portrayal of nature. Velázquez used the people of Seville as models for his religious paintings and his Adoration of the XXXXX, now on display in the Prado in Madrid, actually includes portraits of his own family and a self-portrait for the biblical figures. Velázquez moved in the intellectual circles of Seville, and was introduced to many of the poets and writers of the time. This was to influence him later in his life when his work adopted more Classical themes. In 1622, he painted a portrait of the great poet XXXXX, which now hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Velázquez travelled to Madrid in 1623, and painted a portrait of XXXXX, which is now on display in the Prado in Madrid. After this he was appointed the King’s official painter. He spent the majority of the next 6 years painting portraits of the Royal Family. He also painted some mythological pictures, The Drinkers, which is also on display in the Prado. His depiction of the people drinking with the God of wine is a good example of how interested Velázquez was in realism, but still maintains his mythological theme. In 1929, Velázquez left for Italy, and spent the next two years travelling around the country. During his time there he studied Italian art and current trends. One of the works that he produced on his travels, XXXXX and His Brothers, is on display in El Escorial, near Madrid. This combines the sculptural style of Michelangelo with the light and shadow techniques of many of the Italian masters.

When Velázquez returned to Madrid he continued as the court painter. He produced many notable works, including XXXXXwith a Dwarf, which is on display in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He also contributed to the decoration of the throne room in the new royal palace of Buen Retiro, alongside some of the most famous painters of the day. His most famous piece is the battle picture the Surrender of Breda. This is now on display in the Prado, and is the most celebrated historical composition of Spanish Baroque art. Velázquez continued as court painter and architect until his death in 1660.

 
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thatguy said:
mad sweeney said:
Posting from iPhone so no bells and whistles. Going with the greatest of Greek tragedians who fits in nicely with my previous pick.

Sophocles

I can't Pm big rocks if someone else would be so kind.
Nice pick, and definitely fits in nicely with Freud. You continue to dominate this draft. I think Sophocles is a surefire top 5 in his category.ETA: Well, maybe not surefire top 5, but I would say absolutely no worse than 8th.
One of the fathers of tragedy? Not top 5? Blasphemy!Sophocles is the greatest of a group of playwrights I rank alongside the Greek philosophers in their respective influence.

Oedipus at Colonus?!?

Antigone?!?

Electra?!?

These are part of very foundation of "tragedy." Without his 7 surviving plays (and those of his Greek pals), Shakespeare would be half the man he was. Ok, that's a large claim. Tragedy may have been invented by the time Shakespeare was born. But Shakespeare did study Sophocles intensely. As did Aristotle. I can say for certain that Aristotle's Poetics wouldn't have been possible without Sophocles, and Aristotle's Poetics is the foundation of Western aesthetics. Furthermore, without Sophocles one of the greatest books on aesthetics, The Birth of Tragedy wouldn't have been written, the book that launched the career of one of Western Civ's greatest philosophers (name withheld). And we all know the keystone of Freud's thought is based on one of Sophocles' plays.

Not only did Sophocles help "invent" tragedy, he continued to be a generative figure well into the 20th century, some 2400 years after his death. THAT's world influence.

I'm astounded none of the great tragedians went earlier. I chalk it up to the cumbersome poet/playwright combo category - after Shakespeare, most thought only of the poets and forgot all about the playwrights.

 
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thatguy said:
mad sweeney said:
Posting from iPhone so no bells and whistles. Going with the greatest of Greek tragedians who fits in nicely with my previous pick.

Sophocles

I can't Pm big rocks if someone else would be so kind.
Nice pick, and definitely fits in nicely with Freud. You continue to dominate this draft. I think Sophocles is a surefire top 5 in his category.ETA: Well, maybe not surefire top 5, but I would say absolutely no worse than 8th.
One of the fathers of tragedy? Not top 5? Blasphemy!Sophocles is the greatest of a group of playwrights I rank alongside the Greek philosophers in their respective influence.

Oedipus at Colonus?!?

Antigone?!?

Electra?!?

These are part of very foundation of "tragedy." Without his 7 surviving plays (and those of his Greek pals), Shakespeare would be half the man he was. Ok, that's a large claim. Tragedy may have been invented by the time Shakespeare was born. But Shakespeare did study Sophocles intensely. As did Aristotle. I can say for certain that Aristotle's Poetics wouldn't have been possible without Sophocles, and Aristotle's Poetics is the foundation of Western aesthetics. Furthermore, without Sophocles one of the greatest books on aesthetics, The Birth of Tragedy wouldn't have been written, the book that launched the career of one of Western Civ's greatest philosophers (name withheld). And we all know the keystone of Freud's thought is based on one of Sophocles' plays.

Not only did Sophocles help "invent" tragedy, he continued to be a generative figure well into the 20th century, some 2400 years after his death. THAT's world influence.

I'm astounded none of the great tragedians went earlier. I chalk it up to the cumbersome poet/playwright combo category - after Shakespeare, most thought only of the poets and forgot all about the playwrights.
Eh. To be quite honest, I remembered Sophocles and was aware of his influence, but I just don't like reading his stuff all that much. :rolleyes: Great value pick, though. No doubt about it.

 
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This guy should be a slamdunk top 5 for his category, and IMO is third only to Shakespeare and Homer.

Virgil - Poet
Damn, love this pick too.Little known fact about Virgil's Aenid -

The story is about the founding of Rome. We all know that. Aeneas is a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy but was prophesied to found an empire that would eventually conquer the Greeks and the known world.

Well, when the Puritans left England (and by "left" I mean "kicked out for being bat #### crazy"), they looked not to the Bible for narrative guidance, but to Virgil's Aenid. They believed themselves to be the new Aeneas fleeing a corrupt and decadent Old World to found a New World empire to last thousands of years. The Aenid was their guiding narrative, and mixed with some good old fundamentalist/cultish interpretations of the Holy Bible (for moral guidance), they believed themselves destined to come to America to bring "the light" (of God) to the darkness of that "undiscovered" land.

Many have traced the underlying imperialistic tendencies of the United States to these Puritanical notions. So go Virgil! :goodposting:

 
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This draft's pace is far too leisurely for my liking. I start buggin' out whenever it gets close to my picks and there's no one here.

 
My top 5 for the category are Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Sophocles. The last three are in no particular order, though I do think Virgil is a worthy third.

 

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