Hollywood and History: The Good Place
I'd like to start a new series of blog posts. They will probably not be reliably regular but hopefully regular enough to constitute a series. Recently I've been thinking a lot about how movies and TV portray the past, specifically my area of interest, the ancient Middle East and Mediterranean world (pre-Greek and Roman times). So, I'd like to talk about the times Hollywood brings them up, explain what they may get wrong or right and if the former, how they could have fixed those things, without taking away from what they are trying to do in the movie or show.
I'll start with the recent smash hit series The Good Place, which recently ended (and I cried). Consider THIS your SPOILER WARNING, if you have not finished season 4, STOP HERE.
In season 4's penultimate episode, the whole gang, humans, Michael and Janet, arrive in the real good place at last. They of course end up meeting a few people from the ancient world, including the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria and a man called Paltibaal who claims to have helped the poor in Phoenicia (and is presumedly from ancient Phoenicia). I don't know enough about Hypatia to talk about her, but there were a few lines delivered by Paltibaal that gave me pause.
Let's start with his name: Paltibaal. Paltibaal is a name attested in Phoenician writing and it translates to "Baal is my refuge" (Baal was a god very popular in the area we know as Phoenicia as well as in Canaan). There was a king of Byblos name Ozbaal who was the son of a Paltibaal, priest of Baalat and a Persian satrap of Byblos in the mid 400s BCE named Paltibaal. So clearly, the episode writers did some research and found a fitting name.
After introducing himself he says he helped the poor of ancient Phoenicia. That's all fine, and Tahani, who he is speaking to, doesn't seem to know what or where Phoenicia is and can only refer to someone she knew named Phoenicia. When asked how he died, Paltibaal claims he got a cut on his hand and that was it. Presumably, it got infected or something of that nature. He then says the year was 2491 BC. Here in lies a big problem that the writers could have easily avoided. While its true that in 2491 BC you could die from infected wounds and vaccines had not been invented, a real person from Phoenicia would not have called his homeland 'Phoenicia', especially not in 2491 BC.
The area we now call Phoenicia is located along the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean from the ancient cities of Arwad in the north to Dor in the south. Today this is the coast of Lebanon and a little bit of Syria and Northern Israel. Phoenicia was never a unified state or nation, even the term Phoenicia is one imposed by outsiders and loosely referred to people from the cities along this coastline. These cities were actually individually independent, so someone from this region would say, "Hi I'm from Byblos", or "Tyre", or "Sidon". Furthermore, the year 2491 is about a thousand years too early at least. It would have been more appropriate for Paltibaal to say "it was 2491 years ago"; there was after all Paltibaal in Phoenician in the 400s BC. 2491 BC is a relatively early point in the history of this area. Egypt was only in its 5th Dynasty and the kingdom of Sumer still existed in Iraq. You may not know what all this means but suffice it to say, 2491 BC was a time before big empires, and definitely before Phoenicia was thought of as separate from the land surrounding it. In the 25th century it would have been considered part of Canaan. The region and its cities would not rise to fame for over 1000 years after much success in trade. So, though it't not completely wrong to claim to be a person called Paltibaal from Phoenicia who died in 2491 BC, a real person would have said something different.
Because attestations of the name Paltibaal come from a later time period, the safest fix is: "I'm Paltibaal from (insert Phoenician city) who died 2491 years ago." Tahani could still make her comment about a Soul Cycle instructor named Phoenicia if Paltibaal had said a city name, seen her confusion and then specified it was in ancient Phoenicia. The exchange could have gone something like:
I'll start with the recent smash hit series The Good Place, which recently ended (and I cried). Consider THIS your SPOILER WARNING, if you have not finished season 4, STOP HERE.
In season 4's penultimate episode, the whole gang, humans, Michael and Janet, arrive in the real good place at last. They of course end up meeting a few people from the ancient world, including the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria and a man called Paltibaal who claims to have helped the poor in Phoenicia (and is presumedly from ancient Phoenicia). I don't know enough about Hypatia to talk about her, but there were a few lines delivered by Paltibaal that gave me pause.
Let's start with his name: Paltibaal. Paltibaal is a name attested in Phoenician writing and it translates to "Baal is my refuge" (Baal was a god very popular in the area we know as Phoenicia as well as in Canaan). There was a king of Byblos name Ozbaal who was the son of a Paltibaal, priest of Baalat and a Persian satrap of Byblos in the mid 400s BCE named Paltibaal. So clearly, the episode writers did some research and found a fitting name.
After introducing himself he says he helped the poor of ancient Phoenicia. That's all fine, and Tahani, who he is speaking to, doesn't seem to know what or where Phoenicia is and can only refer to someone she knew named Phoenicia. When asked how he died, Paltibaal claims he got a cut on his hand and that was it. Presumably, it got infected or something of that nature. He then says the year was 2491 BC. Here in lies a big problem that the writers could have easily avoided. While its true that in 2491 BC you could die from infected wounds and vaccines had not been invented, a real person from Phoenicia would not have called his homeland 'Phoenicia', especially not in 2491 BC.
The area we now call Phoenicia is located along the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean from the ancient cities of Arwad in the north to Dor in the south. Today this is the coast of Lebanon and a little bit of Syria and Northern Israel. Phoenicia was never a unified state or nation, even the term Phoenicia is one imposed by outsiders and loosely referred to people from the cities along this coastline. These cities were actually individually independent, so someone from this region would say, "Hi I'm from Byblos", or "Tyre", or "Sidon". Furthermore, the year 2491 is about a thousand years too early at least. It would have been more appropriate for Paltibaal to say "it was 2491 years ago"; there was after all Paltibaal in Phoenician in the 400s BC. 2491 BC is a relatively early point in the history of this area. Egypt was only in its 5th Dynasty and the kingdom of Sumer still existed in Iraq. You may not know what all this means but suffice it to say, 2491 BC was a time before big empires, and definitely before Phoenicia was thought of as separate from the land surrounding it. In the 25th century it would have been considered part of Canaan. The region and its cities would not rise to fame for over 1000 years after much success in trade. So, though it't not completely wrong to claim to be a person called Paltibaal from Phoenicia who died in 2491 BC, a real person would have said something different.
Because attestations of the name Paltibaal come from a later time period, the safest fix is: "I'm Paltibaal from (insert Phoenician city) who died 2491 years ago." Tahani could still make her comment about a Soul Cycle instructor named Phoenicia if Paltibaal had said a city name, seen her confusion and then specified it was in ancient Phoenicia. The exchange could have gone something like:
Paltibaal: I'm Paltibaal.
Tahani: So, what's your story? Did you cure something, or invent something?
Paltibaal: I helped the poor in Byblos. (sees her confused look) In Ancient Phoenicia.
Tahani: I once had a Soul Cycle instructor named Phoenicia. How did you die?
Paltibaal: I got a cut on my hand. It was 2491 years ago, so that's pretty much all it took.
And there you have it. Just some minor changes. It writers wanted to keep "2491 BC", I'd recommend dropping the Phoenicia bit and saying Canaan instead or referring to another famous ancient place like Nippur (Sumer, Modern Iraq) or Saqqara (Egypt), but that may also require a character name change. Anyway, I've nitpicked this long enough. If my facts are off, please correct me and point me to your sources of info. Mine are right here:
- Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC by Robin Osborne, pg 38-39
- https://www.ancient.eu/article/120/phoenician-names/
- https://www.ancient.eu/Phoenician_Government/
- https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/CanaanByblos.htm
- http://www.ancientegypt.eu/pharaohs-old-kingdom/pharaohs-5th-dynasty.php
- http://sumerianshakespeare.com/21101.html
I'm Paltibaal. Welcome to paradise. So, what's your story? Did you cure something, or invent something? I helped the poor in Ancient Phoenicia. Excellent! I once had a Soul Cycle instructor named Phoenicia. How did you die? I got a cut on my hand. The year was 2491 BC, so that's pretty much all it took. Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=the-good-place-2016&episode=s04e12
Comments
Post a Comment