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“I am the forest, I am ancient. I treasure the stag, I treasure the deer. I shelter you from storm, I shelter you from snow. I resist the frost, I keep the source. I nurse the earth, I am always there. I build your house, I kindle your hearth. Therefore, you people, hold me dear.”

— Inscription found in a 17th century forester’s house in Lower Saxony, Germany (via inatt)

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Title: Young Marsyas (Marsyas Enchanting the Hares) Artist: Elihu Vedder (American, 1836-1923) Date: 1878 Genre: mythological painting Movement: Symbolism Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 94.5 cm (37.2 in) high x 136.5 cm (53.7 in) wide Location: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, United States

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Torso of Bacchus (1st-2nd century CE) Roman Imperial period

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Aphrodite by Briton Rivière (1902)

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Literally wish I could have this design squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment

Hellenic inspiration, Villa Kerylos, Nice

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So even back then ppl were really pushing the Perseus/Andromeda and Dionysus/Ariadne parallels

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κοιμάμαι ξανά, με επίχρυσα όνειρα η αφθονία | cornucopia 24k goldpoint & painted gold on icon panel

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One of my fav gods aka Dionysus

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I'm very fascinated with the effeminate depictions of Apollo and Dionysos. Recently I was at the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung in Frankfurt and saw the following statue of Apollo.

"Especially when they depict him as a musician, Greek artists tend to bring out an androgynous aspect of Apollo’s existence. Above the forehead of this striking head, the hair is piled up in a feminine hairstyle familiar to us from sculptures of Aphrodite. It is divided into two wide braids, casually tied together on top of the head. The sensuous expression is emphasised by the half-open mouth, but also by the moving turn of the head." (From: https://liebieghaus.de/en/antike/head-god-apollo-apollo-antium)

for uhm personal reasons I need to know all about feminine apollo so please tell me more

Aha, that's something I love to talk about. I was about to make a post about this anyway so: There's a lot of ancient greek vase paintings that show Apollo wearing feminine robes and accessories that were usually worn by women. For example,

a veil

(Heracles ascending to Olympus)

Multi pinned sleeve

(Apollo helping Hector in the Trojan war)

Cross sash

(The musical contest between Apollo and Marsyas)

Periskelis (the thigh band)

(Orestes seeking shelter at Delphi)

Here, he is wearing the chiton in a way that girls wore

And these lithographs of ancient art have him wear such pretty dresses

Since he is an eternal youth, 99% of the times he has long hair and youthful face - those are the very important physical traits of Apollo. There are many paintings where you will confuse Apollo for a girl.

Apart from these, I have found quite a few statues and marble reliefs too. Many of these are from Hellenistic Greece and Roman era:

As you can notice, most of these present Apollo as a musician, so maybe music played a part in Apollo being effeminte? Did the Muses have a lot of influence on him?Idk, food for thought I guess. Oh and there are a number of headless statues identified as Apollo Patroos (fatherly), where again Apollo is wearing long robes.

Lastly, some quotes from literary sources (FYI I have not included the hundreds of quotes describing Apollo's long hair and smooth chin):

"And ever beautiful is he and ever young: never on the girl cheeks of Apollo hath come so much as the down of manhood."

- Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.)

"Apollo puts his hair in order by shaping his flowing locks with soft foliage and braiding it with a golden diadem."

- Virgil, Aeneid 4.147 (trans. Ingo Gildenhard) (Latin poet C1st B.C.)

"These children Niobe placed above those of Latona [Leto], and spoke rather contemptuously against Apollo and Diana [Artemis] because Diana was girt in man's attire, and Apollo wore long hair and a woman's gown."

- Hyginus, Fabulae 9 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.)

[describing an effeminate man]: giving himself excessive airs of daintiness and indulging in all sorts of effeminacy; sometimes darting his eyes about; sometimes throwing his hands hither and thither...sometimes personating Aphrodite, sometimes Apollo"

- Tatian, Address to the Greeks 22 (trans. Pratten) (Assyrian Theologist C2nd A.D)

"[in the fragments of Lucilius' satires (C2nd B.C)]: Taking issue with Apollo, whom Romulus mocks as a pretty boy (pulcher) with a fondness for effete dance, Romulus rants against foreign luxuries"

- The Cambridge Companion to Seneca (ed. Shadi Bartsch, Alessandro Schiesaro)

fair number of Renaissance paintings continued this tradition by making Apollo look feminine and beautiful. But for some reason most of the modern adaptations make him macho, the typical Manly Man 🙄 Come on people, you're throwing away the potential here! I wanna see an Apollo who can rock a suit and a pretty dress. Give me more of Apollo and Dionysus hanging out together at drag parties.

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Hazy dreams of summer evenings

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des hommes tumblr

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Oh Dionysus, son of Semele

I honor your golden chalice

Filled with wine as red as blood 

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Pompeii, last excavations, May 2024, in Region IX. Sanctuary with blue walls. Photos by Pompeii Parco-Archeologico

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Currently filling a void cuz life has hit me in the best way possible though it has made me extremely busy. So now I present the largest drawing I’ve ever done.

εἰς ὕπνῳ / Sleeping on me

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