Library

Porsena

Blaze is the black dragon, who is the king of the dark realm. The unknown realm in the Fairy. Only a few Fae know about the existence of the biggest realm in Fairy.Blaze is powerful, fierce, domineering, minds his own business and his word is a rule in the dark realm. He is intelligent and prefers to be alone. He doesn't lack the attention of a woman, but no one ever captured his attention for more than an hour.Isabella is a human girl, who was kidnapped from her home to replace her look-alike, Arabella.Arabella belongs to a rich family in fairy, whose mother is a fae and father is a human man. Her father forced her to participate in the bridal run, where a dragon claims a woman as his bride.Isabella wakes up in fairy, all disoriented. Before she could understand what is happening around her, she is being claimed by Blaze, who usually never participates in these runs, as his bride.Will Blaze find out that the girl he claimed is not who he thinks she is?Can Isabella go back home?Will Isabella's hate for dragons become a hinder to their love?What are the reasons behind her occasionally glowing palms?Where is Koni?Or, is it someone else from his family?Will he be successful in Bela?

9.4

201 Chapters

His Forbidden Obsession

"Is my Seraphina afraid of me? " She pressed her shivering naked body more against the wall to prevent getting touched by the bare skin of the owner of that raspily husky voice . "So you don't want me to touch you? But you had no problem getting touched by him, Seraphina? " Her eyes filled with tears hearing his words because her mind immediately recalled the face of her friend and how brutally he had killed him. "Then why are you afraid of getting touched by me, Princess?" She unlatched her lashes and immediately tried to free herself from him but her body turned into ice when he pinned her wrists against the wall and pressed his drenched body against her. "Hadn't I fucking warned you to stay away from him? But no, my little princess wanted to defy me? And look, her defiance made me to take another life, " A soul quivering smirk crept on his lips by watching the terror emerging into her alluring azure eyes . "So ,I guess now we have to make her obey me and for that, I have a very precious way to teach her, " His hand roamed over her naked skin. "A forbidden way which will hurt my princess a lot, " He squeezed her soft bosoms, making her whimper. "But the more pain she will feel, the more pleasure she is going to get through that way, " He chuckled when he found her struggling, like a kitten. "The more you will fight it, the more it's going to hurt, Princess," His hand went down to her lower abdomen And her blood drenched from her body, feeling his knuckles grazing against her lower region tenderly. "You're mine," His hand went down more to taint her purity. "You belong to Arzal Darius Grayson, Sera." *DARK ROMANCE*

9.7

125 Chapters

Mr. Ford Is Jealous

As they stood atop a cliff, the kidnapper held a knife to her throat, and the throat of his dream girl. “You can choose only one.”“I choose her,” the man said, pointing to his dream girl.Stella’s voice trembled as she said, “Weston… I’m pregnant.”Weston looked at her indifferently. “Gwen has a fear of heights.”Many years passed after that.Rumor had it that Ahn City’s prestigious Mr. Weston Ford was always lingering outside the house of his ex-wife, even breaking boundaries to pamper her, even if she would never bat an eyelid at him.Rumor had it that the night Stella brought a man home with her, Weston almost died at her door. Everyone was envious of Stella, but she smiled politely and said, “Don’t die at my door. I fear germs.”

8.8

1435 Chapters

BILLIONAIRE QUADRUPLET BABIES

BLURB Lena got back from work one evening and was greeted with the most heartbreaking scene of her life. Her own fiancee who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with was engaging her step sister. Dejectedly and drugged, she left the house and staggered into the wrong room in a club and ended up getting laid by an unknown man. Six years after finding out she was pregnant and leaving the city, she came back but this time around, with two set of identical twins( quadruplet) She started working for the most cold hearted billionaire in the city, Denzel. As fate would have it, she was able to melt his cold heart and they started a relationship. But things took a wrong turn when Lena found out that Denzel was the father of her quadruplet, the same man that took advantage of her drugged state years ago. Now, all she wanted was to keep her babies away from this man. But how will that be possible when the same man she wants to stay away from is the same man her quadruplet grew to love so much? She came back one day only for her kids to rush to her and exclaim; " Mommy, mommy, we've finally found our super rich daddy! "

9.5

120 Chapters

The CEO's Fabulous Ex-Wife

When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn’t love her, but that was the last straw for the camel’s back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, “Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce.” The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.

9.7

321 Chapters

Master Odell’s Secret Ex-wife

Set up by her husband’s muse, Sylvia Ross received the divorce papers while she was pregnant. She did not try to salvage the marriage because not only did he have her slapped sixty times but he even tried to take her child away!“Odell Carter, have you never loved me at all throughout these years?” she asked.His reply was uncaring and cruel. ”I’ve only ever felt nothing but hatred for you.”Three years later, Sylvia Ross was born anew after the baptism by fire. She returned to Westchester City with the daughter whose existence she kept secret all this time.Upon encountering her again, Odell tried to force himself into her life. “Let’s get married.”Sylvia could only chuckle. “Sorry, that ship has sailed.”

8.3

2210 Chapters

How Have Artists Depicted Porsena In Art And Film?

2 Answers2025-09-05 06:26:47

I've always been fascinated by the way artists pick and choose moments from old stories to tell something new, and Porsena is a great example of that selective storytelling. Reading 'Ab Urbe Condita' and skimming 'Plutarch's Lives' gives you the raw dramaturgy—siege, hostage drama, brave hostages like Cloelia, and those legendary tests of Roman grit. Painters from the Renaissance through the 19th century loved those beats because they could stage moral contrasts: a stern, ornate Etruscan king facing the naked courage of Roman youths. In canvas and engraving Porsena often shows up as a throne-bound, armored monarch with Etruscan-style helmets and patterned cloaks—artists borrowed actual Etruscan motifs (think bronze fibulae, geometric patterns from tomb frescoes) to give him that otherworldly-but-authentic look. Compositionally, he frequently occupies the high ground in a painting: upstage, seated, a hand raised, a column behind him—visually the opposite of the active, low-placed Romans who are shown leaping, burning, or escaping.

What really fascinates me is how style shifts what he means. In neoclassical works, Porsena is basically a foil to Roman stoicism: cold marble lighting, statuesque poses, a message about civic virtue inspired by painters like those who made 'The Oath of the Horatii' famous. Romantic painters, by contrast, leaned into the drama—flaring cloaks, chiaroscuro, rain-swept camps, and tears on the faces of hostages to emphasize feeling over moralizing. When artists pick the Mucius Scaevola moment (that dramatic hand-burning scene) Porsena is often rendered either shocked or quietly impressed—an image that nudges him toward being an honorable enemy in later retellings. Cloelia's escape gives female-centered dramatic possibilities too; painters who cared about heroic women made her the visual star while Porsena becomes the reactive, almost background authority.

Film treats him differently because cinema rarely pauses on a single ancient episode the way painting does. Actual movies rarely name Porsena front-and-center; instead the visual grammar developed in early peplum and silent epics—opulent costuming, angular beards, grand columns, and procession shots—gets used whenever filmmakers want an exotic, antiquated antagonist. When he's explicitly included, directors either compress him into a stock “foreign king” villain or soften him into a tragic, proud ruler who respects bravery. Outside of film, modern historical novels, comics, and strategy games sometimes reclaim Porsena as a nuanced leader resisting Roman expansion, drawing on archaeological work about Etruscan society to give him layers: ritual, diplomacy, and legitimate geopolitical motive. I love that tension—Porsena as both a narrative obstacle and a mirror reflecting how each era wants to view empire, honor, and the foreigner—so when I see a new depiction I try to spot which of those choices the artist made.

What Did Porsena Do During The Siege Of Rome?

2 Answers2025-09-05 21:13:42

When I picture the ancient world, the image of Lars Porsena standing before Rome feels like watching a smoky, heroic painting come to life — half history, half legend. According to the stories the Romans loved to tell (especially in Livy’s 'Ab Urbe Condita' and Dionysius’s 'Roman Antiquities'), Porsena, king of Clusium, marched on Rome around the end of the 6th century BC to restore the exiled king Tarquinius Superbus. The narrative is packed with dramatic episodes: a bridge held by one man, a would-be assassin who burns his own hand, and a daring hostage escape. Those scenes — Horatius Cocles defending the Sublician Bridge, Gaius Mucius Scaevola stabbing at a king’s camp and earning the nickname ‘Scaevola’ after burning his right hand, and Cloelia swimming across the Tiber with other hostages — are the kind of moral legends Romans used to show courage and civic virtue.

But I like to treat the legends like a playlist: they tell you what the Romans wanted to hear about themselves, not a blow-by-blow news feed. The sober historical take is messier. Some classical authors suggest Porsena besieged Rome and even made some initial gains, while others imply he negotiated and withdrew without fully restoring Tarquin. Modern scholars are skeptical about the length and character of the siege — archaeological evidence doesn’t offer a neat confirmation of a blockbuster, months-long siege the way the stories imply. It’s entirely plausible Porsena’s intervention was a serious military campaign aimed at installing a friendly regime, but that diplomatic settlements, battlefield setbacks, and prideful Roman myths later reshaped the story.

I always find the interplay between legend and reality the most fun: the ancients needed heroes like Horatius and Scaevola to teach kids about duty the way we binge inspirational films now. Meanwhile, scholars peek under the myth to ask practical questions — supply lines, Etruscan motives, and whether Porsena left any real imprint on Roman politics. For me, the Porsena episode is less a clear military report and more a snapshot of Rome learning to narrate its own rise. If you’re into primary sources, flip through Livy or Dionysius and then read a modern historian’s critical take; it’s like watching a director’s commentary for an epic movie, and it makes the legends even more fun to chew on.

Why Did Porsena Attack Rome According To Livy?

2 Answers2025-09-05 12:16:07

I’ve always loved how ancient stories read like the dramatic arcs of a long-running series, and Livy treats Porsena’s campaign almost the same way in 'Ab urbe condita'—as a mix of politics, personal honor, and moments built to show off Roman courage. According to Livy, the immediate reason Porsena marched on Rome was to restore the expelled king, Tarquin the Proud. After the outrage involving Sextus Tarquinius and the uprising that threw the monarchy out, Tarquin begged help from his Etruscan allies; Porsena, king of Clusium, answered that call. So on the surface it’s pretty straightforward: a deposed ruler hires a patron to regain power, and an allied king comes to try to put him back on the throne.

But Livy doesn’t stop at a simple political transaction—he layers the story with moral drama. In his narrative, Porsena’s intervention becomes an arena where Roman virtues are tested and displayed. That’s where the famous set pieces come in: Horatius defending the bridge, Gaius Mucius (later nicknamed Scaevola) attempting to assassinate Porsena and burning his hand, and the young hostage Cloelia swimming the Tiber to escape. Livy frames these as evidence that Rome’s moral fiber could withstand foreign intervention motivated by pride or obligation. In other words, Porsena’s attack is a convenient stage for Romans to prove their bravery, self-sacrifice, and civic loyalty.

If you poke at the edges, Livy’s motives for emphasizing certain details become clearer: he often blends tradition, rhetorical flourish, and moralizing. Modern historians read Porsena’s motives a bit more pragmatically—restoring Tarquin could be a pretext for Etruscan influence over a rising city-state, or Porsena might have seen an opportunity to check Rome’s growing independence and expand Etruscan power. Livy lets the stories about heroic Romans suggest why Porsena ultimately negotiated peace instead of outright conquest, but he’s not shy about mixing versions and legends to make a point. I find that mix fascinating—like watching history retold around a campfire, with each storyteller nudging the tale toward a lesson they want listeners to take home.

Which Myths About Porsena Inspired Roman Legends?

2 Answers2025-09-05 23:43:52

When I dive into the turbulent tales around the overthrow of the kings, the figure of Porsena always pops up like a dramatic guest star — part historical ruler, part legendary foil. The central myth that fed Roman storytelling was Porsena’s siege of Rome after the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus. In Livy’s 'Ab Urbe Condita' and in Plutarch’s 'Lives' you get the classic scenes: a fierce Etruscan king marching on Rome, and from that moment a parade of Roman exempla appear to define what Romans thought virtue looked like. The stories that stuck hardest were the heroics meant to show Roman courage under pressure — Horatius defending the Sublician Bridge, Gaius Mucius (later nicknamed Scaevola) thrusting his hand into the fire to prove his resolve, and Cloelia’s daring escape across the Tiber. Each episode isn’t just adventure; it’s a morality play about bravery, self-sacrifice, and civic loyalty.

What fascinates me is how these myths were shaped to serve Roman identity. Porsena himself is somewhat elastic in the sources: sometimes portrayed as a terrifying invader, other times as a reluctant or even admiring antagonist who eventually makes peace. That flexibility let later Romans turn the episodes into exempla — teaching tools that show how Romans ought to behave. Writers amplified the drama: Mucius becomes the prototype of fearless patriotism (and earns the epithet 'Scaevola' after losing the use of his right hand), while Cloelia becomes this almost cinematic female hero who swims to safety and gets honored for her courage. Artists, poets, and later schoolchildren learned these as episodes that proved Rome’s moral superiority.

Modern historians are a lot cooler about taking these at face value. Archaeology and more critical readings of the texts suggest political motives and myth-making — a new republic keen to justify itself through moral tales, not a documentary record. But I’ll admit I love the mix of possibility and performance: these myths tell us as much about Roman self-fashioning as they might about a 6th-century siege. If you’ve ever read the poem 'Horatius' or flipped through a museum guide pointing out a heroic frieze, you’ll see how these Porsena-linked legends leapt into art and education, keeping those little moral fireworks alive for centuries. It’s the kind of history that makes me want to re-read Livy under a lamp and argue with a friend about which story is most inspiring.

When Did Porsena Rule Clusium And Etruria?

2 Answers2025-09-05 13:51:00

I get a kick out of the dramatic way ancient writers paint Lars Porsena — the Etruscan king of Clusium who strides straight out of stories about early Rome. The short, practical version is that Porsena (sometimes spelled Porsenna) is placed by Roman tradition at the very end of the 6th century BCE. The most famous episode — his intervention after the expulsion of the last Roman king, Tarquin the Proud — is usually dated around 509–507 BCE in sources like Livy’s 'Ab Urbe Condita' and Plutarch’s 'Life of Publicola'. So when people ask “when did Porsena rule?”, the common, conventional answer is: late 6th century BCE, with his high-profile actions centered on the period just after 510 BCE.

But I also like to point out that history isn’t a single neat date on a calendar—ancient sources are often part-annal, part-legend. Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Plutarch were writing centuries after the events and mix fact with moral storytelling (you get the famous bridge-heroics of Horatius, the cloak-and-dagger tale of Gaius Mucius Scaevola, and the deal with Clusium). Archaeology around modern Chiusi (ancient Clusium) shows that the Etruscan city was powerful in the 6th century BCE, with grand tombs and strong material culture, so a dominant local ruler like Porsena in that late-6th-century window makes sense even if the siege-of-Rome story is embroidered.

If you want a more cautious, scholarly tone: many historians accept that a powerful Clusian king was active at the very end of the 6th century BCE and that the Roman tales probably preserve a kernel of reality — Clusium intervened in Roman politics around the time the monarchy fell. But exact regnal years are fuzzy; some modern reconstructions give Porsena’s influence from the later 6th century into the early 5th century BCE. For a fun follow-up, I always recommend reading the Roman narratives (Livy and Plutarch) alongside summaries of Etruscan archaeology for Chiusi so you can see how story and material evidence braid together — it makes the whole era feel alive in a way dusty timelines never do.

What Modern Books Analyze Porsena And His Legacy?

2 Answers2025-09-05 01:00:32

I get a kick out of how the story of Porsena sits right at the crossroads of legend, archaeology, and later Roman identity — and most modern books treat him as a useful test case for how myths and facts get tangled. If you want a readable but scholarly starting point, pick up Tim Cornell's 'The Beginnings of Rome'. Cornell does a great job sifting through Livy and other literary traditions, showing what might plausibly be historical about the Etruscan king often named Porsena and what probably grew from later Roman storytelling. For a lively popular spin that still respects sources, Anthony Everitt's 'The Rise of Rome' gives a nice narrative frame for the early monarchy and the Etruscan connections that produced figures like Porsena.

For the archaeological and cultural angle, I turn to books on the Etruscans rather than anything billed solely as a study of Porsena. Graeme Barker and Tom Rasmussen's 'The Etruscans' is an accessible, richly illustrated survey that places Etruscan power in regional context, which helps explain why a leader like Porsena appears in Roman memory. Larissa Bonfante's 'Etruscan Life and Afterlife' and Sybille Haynes' 'Etruscan Civilization' (often published as 'The Etruscans') bring in art, burial practice, and inscriptions — all crucial if you want to understand the non-Roman side of the story.

If you're more into historiography — how Romans later remembered Porsena — try essays in collections such as 'The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic' edited by Harriet I. Flower and relevant chapters in the 'Cambridge Ancient History' volumes on early Italy. I also always recommend going back to the well: read Livy's 'Ab Urbe Condita' and Plutarch's 'Life of Publicola' with a modern commentary beside you. For deeper dives, search journals like 'Journal of Roman Studies' and 'Etruscan Studies' for articles debating whether the famous siege and the tale of the bravery of Mucius Scaevola are more myth than fact. Personally, I mix one narrative book, one archaeological study, and a few scholarly articles — it keeps the picture honest and satisfyingly messy.