Template:Did you know nominations/Thebaid (Latin poem)

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 00:49, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Thebaid (Latin poem)

  • ... that the Thebaid inspired a Middle Irish poem named Togail na Tebe ('Destruction of Thebes')? Source: Perhaps also to be dated to some time near the millennium is the original of what has come down to us as the Middle Irish Togail na Tebe, or 'Destruction of Thebes' ... Dewar (1991) xxxix
    • ALT1: ... that, according to Robert Maxwell Ogilvie, the Thebaid "cannot be said to be about anything"? Source: R. M. Ogilvie, in fact, took criticism of the 'Thebaid' to, perhaps, its ultimate low point when he declared in his 'Roman Literature and Society' (p. 292): "The 'Thebaid' cannot be said to be about anything." Ahl (1984) 2804

Improved to Good Article status by Modussiccandi (talk). Self-nominated at 15:04, 27 May 2021 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
QPQ: Done.

Overall: —valereee (talk) 22:45, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

  • Neither of these hooks inspires. Maybe ALT1 for a quirky? Is there anything else we can come up with that would be more interesting? —valereee (talk) 23:51, 27 May 2021 (UTC)
@Valereee: thanks for the review. There is one fact in the article which I think is quite interesting but not strictly about the poem. I'll post it below in two versions. Modussiccandi (talk) 08:13, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
  • ALT2: ... that Dante erroneously considered the author of the Thebaid to have been a Christian?
  • ALT3: ... that Dante erroneously considered Statius, the author of the Thebaid, to have been a Christian?
Source: Statius was much admired in the Middle Ages; regarded by Dante as a Christian, he appears in Cantos 21 and 22 of the Purgatorio where his spirit meets that of Virgil, appropriately enough in view of Statius' reverence for the earlier poet. Statius is represented as explaining how he was led to Christianity by certain passages in Virgil. Howatson (2011)

Approving all four alts as fully cited; after more thought on balance I quite like ALT1 for the quirky. Nice work, Modussiccandi! —valereee (talk) 11:46, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

  • I came to promote this but the Synopsis section has no refs. I'm assuming we don't need them for either DYK or GA in synopsis sections? I need to check first. Desertarun (talk) 15:48, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
@Desertarun: Thank you for wanting to promote this hook. Plot summaries do not normally include citations - I believe this is because the work itself is presumed to be the sole source. To verify this independently, you could go to Wikipedia:Featured articles#Novels, including graphic novels and take a look at some of the entries there. Best, Modussiccandi (talk) 16:59, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
Thanks. Desertarun (talk) 17:08, 5 June 2021 (UTC)