Arturo Sánchez Sanz. Interview with the author of Belisarius: Magister militum of the Eastern Roman Empire

Photography: Arturo Sánchez Sanz. Facebook.

Arturo Sanchez Sanz He has a doctorate in Ancient History and his curriculum in the academic world and as an informative essay author is as broad as it is important. His latest work, Belisarius: Magister militum of the Eastern Roman Empire. In this interview tells us about it and also gives us a master class about this genre much less consumed by readers. Thank you for your time and kindness.

Arturo Sánchez Sanz. Interview

  • ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: Doctor in History and Archeology at the Complutense University, your last published essay is Belisarius: Magister militum of the Eastern Roman Empire. What are you talking about in it?

ARTURO SANCHEZ SANZ: The publishing world is saturated with historical essays devoted to the same subjects over and over again, and in Spain this reality is much more stark. Cleopatra, Caesar, the Tercios, Auschwitz ... that's why, since my first essay we have tried to offer something more, something new and different. Anglo-Saxon literature has fewer shortcomings in this regard, but in Spanish there are few essays devoted to other topics, although they are also known. In fact, historians themselves tend more to focus on the closed academic world. The current system of higher education forces us to write only articles and essays so specialized that no one other than our own colleagues can digest.

Historical disclosure is frowned upon, and that is why we always have the same works on the market, many times written by journalists, lawyers, etc. who fill that gap with their own illusion for history, but they are not historians or archaeologists, and not infrequently the idea that is transmitted to the general public is wrong or wrong.

I believe that our work, and more broadly, Our duty as historians is to talk about History not only in the academic field, but for the whole world, to make it close, easy and accessible. Throughout my life I have met few people who, even dedicating themselves to all kinds of trades, do not like History, and in the end what they learn does not come from trained historians, capable of conducting good background research, and that generates wrong paradigms on various topics.

For that reason I also considered writing disclosure even when I have had to swim against the current, with the idea of ​​demolishing those false myths created from partial or scarcely documented works, of offering essays dedicated to lesser known subjects or never treated in Spanish, and this has been the case from the beginning.

I dedicated my first book to Philip II of Macedonia (2013), precisely because his figure has always been overshadowed by his son, the great Alexander the Great, and the importance he had in history is often forgotten. In fact, I always say that without Philip there would never have been Alexander. The same happened with my first essay for the Sphere of Books, dedicated to the praetorians (2017)

The figure of this mythical Roman military body has always been dark and negative, especially for the deaths of emperors associated with them, but nothing further. The legions overthrew many more emperors than the Praetorians, and even in those cases, the conspiracies they carried out were known only to a few of their members compared to the thousands of soldiers from the Praetoria who operated in the empire. Condemning the entire body for this would be like condemning the entire police institution for the actions of a few.

These are some examples, and in the case of Belisarius something similar happens. Not many people know her figure, and most of those who do it is usually always through the novel that the great Robert Graves left us. We wanted to deal with his real life, his fighting, the intrigues at the Byzantine court, etc. beyond the novel, and no one had written about it before in Spanish. That is the main idea that always moves us, to go further and that we hope to continue with the next works that I have just finished and have yet to be published.

  • AL: Why write essays and nonfiction (yet)?

ASS: In part it has to do with the very training we receive as historians. We are taught from the first moment to investigate with the intention of expanding general knowledge, not to write a novel, not even an informative essay as I mentioned before. The language we must use is too cryptic for the general public, too specialized, we do not learn to write, but to inquire about the past, and that generates many shortcomings that arise when putting that work in writing.

Much impact is put on aspects that do not exist in the novel, such as the critical apparatus, the bibliography, etc., but nobody teaches us to write in an agile, simple way, to create characters, suspense, or even to create a plot, now that is not necessary. So I consider that writing a novel, at least a good novel, is much more difficult than writing an essay, and it requires learning, preparation, and other knowledge that I hope to acquire over time. Very few historians write novels, and in our case I suppose that something more is expected of us if we try. Is a huge responsibility and for that reason I consider that it is necessary to do it well.

For that reason I am preparing myself, and I have already started with an idea that I had been macerating for a long time, but it is still early. I want to offer a story not only well written, but documented, so that it is not necessary to invent about what we know happened, but only to fill those "gaps" that always exist in history. Many characters gave us really extraordinary stories that hardly anyone knows, but we lack a lot of information about them. It is possible to reconstruct it to offer it to the public without the need to invent fictional stories, although they are just as necessary. I imagine that as a historian it is a natural tendency, but I think it is another way of presenting history in a truthful and attractive way for the general public.

  • AL: As a reader, do you remember that book that you read one day and it especially marked you?

ASS: I remember it very well, and it precisely has a lot to do with what we were saying, and perhaps that is why I consider myself an unconditional fan of its author. It is a historical novel dedicated to the mythical Amazons by Steven Pressfield (The last Amazons, 2003). His way of treating history, even mythology as it is in this case, impacted me so much that I began to study history, even the subject of my doctoral thesis is about the Amazons, but not only for that, but mainly for my deep admiration for the female gender. His courage, tenacity, courage and greatness always relegated from the origin of History.

For this reason I wanted to contribute my grain of sand, precisely to treat the real image of mythical figures whose memory has been so distorted in the collective imagination but whose strength has kept it alive for millennia since their stories originated. In fact, precisely because of what we mentioned before, even from the academic world sometimes Issues like this have been used in a partisan way due to the rise of gender studies, even going so far as to offer supposedly academic essays but that contain manipulated data to turn them into real characters when they never were.

It is one of the crusades that I believe we must wage as historians, even sometimes in front of our own colleagues when their particular interests affect the truth about History with capital letters. And that is important because I believe that a false image is generated in the general public that we must contribute to change.

Many other works have marked me especially, including the rest of those written by Pressfield, or posteguillo, that I believe precisely they have succeeded because they have not needed to invent anything but the details that the original sources did not leave us or were lost on real stories, which alone are already more than frenetic.

The problem for historians is that we know very well the importance of properly documenting ourselves to deal with any subject, and for that reason I have not had time for years to spend just a minute reading for the mere pleasure of doing so. I have literally hundreds of books waiting of an opportunity, which I hope to offer you soon.

  • AL: A bedside essayist? And a literary author? You can choose more than one and from all eras. 

ASS: Thucydides has become on its own merits the father of the most rigorous historical discourse, especially at a time when the prevailing tradition was still the epic or, in any case, the stories much less truthful and critical. He was an Athenian, and not just anyone, but he did not mind acknowledging the mistakes of his people in starting unnecessary wars or committing atrocities without justification.

Perhaps due to my own specialization in ancient history I cannot fail to mention the other father of the now more literary genre, his own Homer, which laid the foundations of the fictionalized mythical story almost three millennia ago. From them there have been many extraordinary figures who have developed both genres to the sublime as Shakespeare, Dante, Cervantes, Poe, Tolstoy... and others for whom I feel special admiration such as his own Verne.

  • AL: What historical figure would you have liked to meet? 

ASS: Difficult question. Very difficult, as there are many. I could name the spartan hero Leonidas, to the mythical Alejandro or the extraordinary Hannibal Barca, Caesar, Cleopatra, Akhenaten, Muhammad or Queen Boudica. Even at other times when Cid and Colón, even more recently to Gandhi.

I wish I had met the AmazonIf they had been real However, if I could only choose one, I think it would be Jesus of Nazareth, mainly for all that it has meant not only in his time, but in the History of Humanity, to know the person beyond the myth, as a historian. In fact, he is a transcendental character who has always remained somewhat on the sidelines for historians because of all the fables that were later written about his life, but he was undoubtedly one of the greatest figures in history with all that it implies.

  • AL: Any special mania or habit when it comes to writing or reading? 

ASS: Not really. The topics to write arise spontaneously and the story is already there, waiting for someone to transfer it to the people in the best way. I suppose that with novels it is different, since they require much more preparation, elaboration and work, so it is normal for authors to experience these types of customs, since they require the help of the muses and the inspiration that sometimes is only achieved in very specific circumstances. Up to now I just need books and a quiet place to write, but when the time comes to make the leap, who knows?

  • AL: And your preferred place and time to do it? 

ASS: I think the most important part of writing an essay is the huge prior research that is necessary to face to speak about a subject with knowledge of the facts. In fact, I think it is necessary to spend more time on it than on the final writing of the text that is intended to be offered. Otherwise we can publish an incomplete, inaccurate work that anyone with some knowledge could confidently refute, and it is necessary to try to avoid that situation.

That's why I usually visit many libraries, foundations, etc. where they keep those sources that cannot be accessed from home, and many times I write directly there. Beyond that I am fortunate to have a small office at home, although I love to write outdoor, and whenever the weather permits, I look for quiet places to enjoy nature while I work.

  • AL: Are there other genres that you like? 

ASS: I love the essay for what it means, to offer the truth about History, and I adore the novel because it helps us escape from reality, sometimes so crude, to transport us to a different world in a much closer way. But the same thing happens with poetry, which I love, even in its most seemingly simple forms, such as poetry haiku, although they really are not. All genres have their purpose and all are important.

  • AL: What are you reading now? And writing?

ASS: Well, if I'm honest, the pandemic has changed our lives a bit, and during the months of confinement I had a lot of time to dedicate to researching and writing, more than I usually have, so I have started several rehearsals I hope they see the light in a short time.

This year I just published the biography of Flavio Belisario, but I am also reissuing some of my early essays since they were only published in paper version and in Spain, but many friends from other countries have not been able to access them, so I have dedicated myself to updating them to offer them again in electronic version, including more images, maps and illustrations, plus additional content. This year there will also be a essay dedicated to the queen of the Eceni, the mythical Boudica, the first woman to face the Romans as a leader on the battlefield to liberate Britain from Roman conquest.

Next year the second part of the complete history that I have dedicated to the History of Carthage, from its foundation to the destruction of the city after the third Punic War, and other test dedicated entirely to paranormal events in ancient times, from the stories offered by the classical sources. I am not referring only to stories about mythical monsters or lost cities like the famous Atlantis, but also to stories about specters, demons, reborn, werewolves, haunted houses, possessions and exorcisms, spells and witchcraft, strange events, etc. in ancient Greece, Rome and Mesopotamia. A whole compendium on the inexplicable in antiquity.

And finally, the essay on Boudica will be the first of several that I have decided to dedicate to the great women of the past, so it will come out another dedicated to Queen Zenobia, to the mythical Berber leader who faced the advance of Islam in the Maghreb, known as the Kahina. And another dedicated to the onna-bugeishas and kunoichis, samurai and shinobi women in the history of Japan., that there were and they carried out extraordinary feats. In this way I hope to be able to contribute my grain of sand to the knowledge and value of female history.

  • AL: How do you think the publishing scene is for a genre as special as essays?

ASS: The picture is Very darkalthough in a way it always has been. We find ourselves in an even more difficult situation than usual, which is a lot. In the case of essays worse, since regular readers tend to seek above all stories that help them have a good time and escape from everyday life, especially through novels. Rehearsals are reduced to an audience very concrete, especially interested in the subject of each work, so the impact of these works is very small.

What's more, in Spain most historical essays deal with the same themes already more than known, dedicated to specific moments such as the Medical Wars or important characters such as Cleopatra because they hope that they will have greater acceptance, although hundreds of works have already been written about them to which the news can contribute little or nothing, while nobody writes on lesser known topics.

For that very reason and in the end we ended up translating works by recognized foreign authors hoping that his prestige will help popularize the work, rather than giving the opportunity to extraordinary own authors that they will probably never have a chance to post. It's a shame, really, and it doesn't seem that the situation is going to improve.

That is why I like to trust publishers such as HRM Ediciones or La Esfera de los Libros, which are not afraid to take that step and know the research scene in Spain well to embark on these works without resorting to translations. And for this reason I have not stopped collaborating with them.

In general, the publishing world has always been focused on the most renowned figures, although the possibility of desktop publishing has generated more opportunities for many beginning authors. However, the crisis of a few years ago, the current pandemic and the trends of society in terms of reading make it very difficult for the most modest publishers or most authors to survive, who in no case can make a living from their works.

Most of us write for the sheer pleasure of doing so and, above all, to share or teach, but only a few can afford to dedicate themselves exclusively to it and live off books. That Belén Esteban has sold more books than a Nobel laureate like Vargas Llosa says a lot about these trends, and many people prefer to opt for lightweight content that is easy and fast to access more than embarking on hours and hours in a book.

The promotion of culture is a pending subject, and above all the enhancement of the Humanities, always reviled even among the members of governments that, if it were up to them, would be suppressed. Despite everything I want to be optimistic, and in the face of difficulties there is always the illusion of many authors who never stop writing without expecting anything in return. 


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