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GA Review

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Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Hi, I'll be reviewing this article. The rules for GA reviews are stated at Good Article criteria. I usually do reviews in the order: coverage; structure; detailed walk-through of sections (refs, prose, other details); images (after the text content is stable); lead (ditto). Feel free to respond to my comments under each one, and please sign each response, so that it's clear who said what.

When an issue is resolved, I'll mark it with  Done. If I think an issue remains unresolved after responses / changes by the editor(s), I'll mark it  Not done. Occasionally I decide one of my comments is off-target, and strike it out --

Coverage

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Structure

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  •  Done At first I was puzzled by the way section "Personal life" appears in the middle, but then I concluded that the real structure is "Achievements" (containing both "Athletic career" and "Military command"), "Personal life" and "Cultural representations" (including "Feats of strength", "Death" - both of which are mythic, - "Analysis" and "Legacy"). If I got that right, I suggest you create such top-level headings and group the rest as sub-sections under them. -Philcha (talk) 16:26, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 19:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done I think "Analysis" would be better titled e.g. "Place of champion athletes in Greek culture", and placed before "Feats of strength" etc. as it explains the tendency to mythologise such figures. --Philcha (talk) 16:26, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 19:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 19:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

General

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  •  Done Most of the dates are BC and this should be included. --Philcha (talk)
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 20:03, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Green tickY You need to be rather sceptical about ancient and Hellenistic Greek sources - most were romancers or second-rate journalists rather than what we would now consider proper historians. Herodotus admitted to simply retailing what he was told, and in his books "The X say that ..." is often amark of scepticism. Even the work of Thucydides, often described as the first scientific historiography, contains speeches that are plainly made-up. The history and poetics of scientific biography may help - I got it from a Google Scholar search for "pythagoras biography" (w/o quotes).--Philcha (talk) 17:57, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sources

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  • I'll have to WP:AGF on most of the books. However thanks for the Google Books link to Spivey, I appreciate it and I hope at least a few readers will. If you can find similar GB links for others, that would be appreciated. --Philcha (talk) 17:09, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm puzzled. All the sources are GB linked as far as I know except the one by Harris. ItsLassieTime (talk) 03:40, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Athletic career

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Done. At Olympia, age 17 to 20. ItsLassieTime (talk) 16:57, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done "Milo was a six time Olympic victor, winning the boys' wrestling (probably in 540 at the 60th Olympiad), and thereafter five men's wrestling titles in five consecutive Olympiads from 536 to 520" could be made a little more concise, although exactly how depends on whether you can define the boy-man boundary. --Philcha (talk) 17:09, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 16:56, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean his defeat by a young wrestler who stayed at arm's length? ItsLassieTime (talk) 16:56, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done Re "Croton apparently produced no other athletes of renown", Spivey says the youth who thwarted M at his 7th Olympics was also a Crotoniate. Was this the peak of the upstart's career? --Philcha (talk) 17:09, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. No other information. ItsLassieTime (talk) 16:56, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done Re "Milo was a five time Periodonikēs ...", it might be good to mention a modern equivalent to give readers a clue. The one that occurs to me is "grand slam", winning all the majors tournaments in the same year, applies to several sports. --Philcha (talk) 17:09, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 16:15, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 16:14, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Military command

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Done. My sources indicate this was his one and only military experience. No, it's not the right heading. Changed to "Military experience". (talk) 21:28, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. I've removed this passage. It's one person's considered opinion. Let the reader decide for himself. ItsLassieTime (talk) 21:28, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. I haven't been able to find anything else on this. The numbers are rather incredible. ItsLassieTime (talk) 21:28, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Personal life

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  •  Done Re "If this was indeed true, ....", if which was true, that M was associated with Pythagoras or that Pythagoras was influential, or both? In any case the inference looks dubious: Milo might have been merely an acquaintance or pupil of Pythagoras, which would not necessarily have made M influential. In fact this page about Pythagoras says Pythagoras avoided politics, and eventually left Croton. Please check. --Philcha (talk) 17:57, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. I've worked this as best I can. Your source does mention P may have been involved in the Croton-Sybaris dispute which involved Milo in a powerful capacity as a military leader. Milo's political influence cannot be accurately assessed, of course. There's no evidence he was involved in Croton politics except for the fact that it was usual for Greek men to be so involved. However, it is reported he was given a powerful command in the ensuing war which ordinarily would have been given to a member of the nobility. For myself, there isn't enough evidence to make any conclusions about Milo. I'd rather simply record all the tales and legends for better or for worse. I need to get sources for some.
Done. I'm sorry, I should have caught this (and other things) before submission to GAN. ItsLassieTime (talk) 04:07, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done "Milo was not likely of the nobility" looks wrong in my (Brit) dialect of English. How about "Milo was probably not a member of Croton's nobility"?
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 04:07, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. D escaped his Persian captors. I've moved the section to the notes as it's a digression here. ItsLassieTime (talk) 04:53, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Clarified. ItsLassieTime (talk) 04:53, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done I'm sorry, but I think your revision of this section has gone too far. The initial sentence "The ancients had the tendency to bring the famous into close association, and it is not surprising that Milo, the supreme athlete of Croton, and Pythagoras, the great Crotoniate philosopher were eventually brought together" has a few problems:
    •  Done Who says "The ancients had the tendency to bring the famous into close association" - it's a reasonable statement, but needs a ref. --Philcha (talk)
Done. Poliakoff. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    •  Done "it is not surprising that ..." looks like editorialising. If one of the sources says that, I'd go for e.g. "X was not surprised that ..." --Philcha (talk)
Done. Reworked. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Reworked. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    •  Done Re "Pythagoras, the great Crotoniate philosopher" is wrong. Nowadays we might call him a "Samo-Crotoniate", in the style of e.g. "Irish-American", but the Greeks always referred to "Pythagoras of Samos". I'd suggest "the great philosopher Pythagoras, who spent most of his life in Croton". --Philcha (talk) 09:18, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Reworked. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    •  Done "Sources for the accounts of an intimacy between Milo and Pythagoras are found in Strabo, Iamblichos, Diogenes Laertius, and Timaios" looks too much like a response to a comment at a GA review :-) How about e.g. "Strabo, Iamblichos, Diogenes Laertius, and Timaios report that ..."? --Philcha (talk)
Done. Reworked. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done The para beginning "The two famous Crotoniates were brought together in an account regarding the dispute of 510 BC that resulted in the destruction of Sybaris ..." has similar problems:
    •  Done "The two famous Crotoniates were brought together ..." suggests the two had at least 1 serious discussion about this, but the facts as presented here don't support that. --Philcha (talk) 09:18, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Reworked. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done Nice find about the other "Pythagoras of Samos" who was an athletic trainer. Is there evidence that he lived at the right time, stayed in Croton for a while and that Milo associated with him? If so, it might be best to deal with this up-front and then be very specific about which Pythagoras you're talking about. That means you'll have to check very carefully each mention of a Pythagoras in the sources - I'm afraid ancient history / biography can sometimes be a minefield. --Philcha (talk) 09:18, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. No other info on this man. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  •  Done "the philosopher urged the Croton assembly to protect the 500 banished citizens of Sybaris" assumes knowledge of the background. I'd put that in the "Military section" as part of a very brief outline of the war's origins - ideally not more than 2 sentences. There's material with sources at Sybaris (nothing useful at Crotone, IMO), but you'll have to very concise. --Philcha (talk) 09:18, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Reworked this passage as carefully as possible. ItsLassieTime (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Feats of strength

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Done. Both Pliny the Elder and Solinus attribute Milo's strength to the consumption of rooster stones.

Death

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Analysis

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Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 19:39, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Legacy

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Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 19:35, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Removed material. ItsLassieTime (talk) 19:35, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(A few copy edits)

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Fine! And thank you! ItsLassieTime (talk) 15:15, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • BC dates should have   before "BC" so that the number and "BC" stay on the same line. I've fixed it, and I suggest you get WikEd, which makes such bulk changes take less time than it's taken for me to type this. One thing you have to be careful about when doing this is not to change e.g. template or category names. --Philcha (talk) 12:37, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
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The report shows all the Web links are healthy, but a few are missing accessdate parameters (accessdate=yyyy-mm-dd), which are required. Please plug them in. --Philcha (talk) 12:54, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 15:14, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

BTW I recommend using the Link Checker whenever you submit an article for review. If you forget to note where it is, there's a link in the "Tools" section of my user page. --Philcha (talk) 12:54, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Images

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Lead

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I've just realised I forgot the lead:

Done. This is found in the "Feats of Strength' section, end of 2nd paragraph. ItsLassieTime (talk) 14:18, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done.. ItsLassieTime (talk) 14:18, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Once the lead is agreed, it's a GA. --Philcha (talk) 07:34, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid you've got carried away again. The interpretations in the last 2 sentences of the lead are not supported by anything in the main text, and that also raises suspicions about whether they're supported by any refs. --17:02, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
Done. Revised. ItsLassieTime (talk) 07:57, 4 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The 1st para is fine, pl don't change it. --Philcha (talk) 17:02, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
"and a few stories surround the two" in the 2nd para is superfluous. --Philcha (talk) 17:02, 3 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. ItsLassieTime (talk) 07:57, 4 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Pass as GA

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I'm very pleased to say that this article meets the Good Article criteria: it provides good coverage, is neutral and well-referenced, clearly-written, complies with the parts of WP:MOS required for a GA and uses appropriate images that have good captions and comply with WP's policies on images. Many thanks for the work you've put into this, and for your prompt response to my comments - it's been a pleasure working with you. --Philcha (talk) 08:23, 4 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]



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