08 When (in history) does X:WP take place?
Description
This article is from the Xena: Warrior Princess FAQ, by Paul Hilling p.hilling@bigfoot.com with numerous contributions by others.
08 When (in history) does X:WP take place?
The official MCA website (http://www.mca.com/tv/xena/) says that
X:WP is: "...set in the 'Golden Age' of myth, long before ancient
Greece or Rome..."
**BUT** there is also this information that was taken directly
from Arbiter's original FAQ. (Special thanks to
rcarter@indirect.com for the following information)
The time frame is difficult to pin down since the series presents
contradictory material.
Since so much iron is used in weapons (we'll assume it's iron and
not steel), the time can't be significantly earlier than about
150BC -- as that is the time when iron started being produced in
quantity.
The latest historical reference made in the series so far (Dec.
1995) was in the episode "Death in Chains", where there is
mention of Sophokles (496-406 BC). This places the series
probably no later than about 380 BC
There are several mentions of heroes of the Trojan War (e.g. in
"The Reckoning"), and this places things sometime after c.1184 BC
(the traditional date of the end of the Trojan War).
We could be comfortable with this except for one thing: Herakles
(Hercules) is computed as dying some 79 years before the start of
the Trojan War -- and obviously Xena and Gabrielle are
contemporaries of the legendary hero. This places the time
period somewhere between 1300-1250 BC
At of this writing, if we ignore the Sophokles reference, the
series probably takes place sometime between 1300-850 BC
Other observations include:
Not to get to technical, but the writers of X:WP have now thrown
in Julius Caesar and a holiday episode which appears to portend
the birth of Christ. Suffice it to say, Xena goes where Xena
wants to, and it doesn't matter what time line we go by.
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