Comments on: How to Pick a King and Where Cinnamon Comes From http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/ the agony and ecstasy of a reading life Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:53:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: world book day « Incurable Logophilia http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-40107 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:05:53 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-40107 [...] so luckily I’ve got Herodotus to tackle this month. From Stefanie’s posts (like this one) I think I will thoroughly enjoy my encounter with the father of history and hopefully he’ll [...]

]]> By: Stefanie http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39466 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:23:16 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39466 BCK, Herodotus is not exactly the most accurate historian. Yes, the convenient flash of lightening seals the deal for Dareios to be king. One has to wonder though if he managed to have a clever servant set that one up too ;)

Verbivore, I think you will enjoy Herodotus very much when you get to him.

Heather, yeah, I hate when that happens. I think the main lesson in ancient Greek lit is “never try to avoid a prophecy.”

BooksPlease, sorry to ruin cinnamon for you!

Heather T, you’re so nice! I am glad you were entertained :)

Danielle, thanks :) That is a lot of work for the cinnamon, but since they supposedly didn’t know where it grew they didn’t have a choice. I’d much rather gather cinnamon I think than be chased by giant ants!

Amateur Reader, you are right. Not a reliable source, but definitely entertaining.

Iliana, Herodotus is a lot of fun, though the really good stories tend to be spaced out by pages of tedious things like descriptions of rivers.

Gene, I’d be interested in the human drama you stretch the scenario into :) Herodotus does say the birds gather sticks. I agree though, the Arabs are clever in how they figure out a way to get the nests to fall.

Dorothy, I had no idea either!

]]> By: Dorothy W. http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39435 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:26:08 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39435 Oh, my, who knew Herodotus could be so entertaining! I certainly didn’t.

]]> By: Gene http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39433 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:36:47 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39433 I wonder how the birds cut out the inner barks. On a moment’s speculation I hold that it must have been twigs; not the kind of cinnamon guills or sticks that we have on our condiments racks. And maybe the Arabs in the desert couldn’t get hold of cinnamon, and so had to rely on the birds that somehow took to cinnamon twigs and gathered them from afar. If this is right, I’ve got to say it was a clever idea of the Arabs to use animal bones. They might have cracked the big bones into pieces of a good size for the suckers to carry easily. Hmmm. . . At this point I’m tempted to stretch the scenario to a revolving human drama, so I’d better sign off now. ^^

]]> By: iliana http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39432 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:08:43 +0000 http://somanybooksblog.com/2008/02/27/how-to-pick-a-king-and-where-cinnamon-comes-from/#comment-39432 Oh no, I love cinnamon – well, maybe used to now ;)
I admit I’ve never really consider reading Herodotus but you make it all sound so fun.

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