aphrodarling

[aphrodarling]

im not really interested in engaging in moral discourse surrounding the relationship of zeus and ganymede bc 1. i like to leave things up to the viewer and 2. the inherent horror and tragedy of being the “most beautiful boy to exist” is more interesting to me since we’ve seen it play out horribly in real life. i take inspiration from björn adrésen, quotes from the young river phoenix, the lives of castrati and antinous more than anything lol.

i see ganymede being taken as something that mirrors the inevitable “death” that either occurs literally or metaphorically to beautiful young men. they either “die” by aging out of their perceived beauty or die in some tragic way that preserves their young grace in peoples minds. ganymede cannot die in the traditional sense as he is immortal, but him being taken is a “death” of sorts in that the memory of his beauty is frozen in time. the ganymede inside everyone’s heads will stay the same forever and can be deified both literally and figuratively.

so did zeus “kill” ganymede or save him? is there love in the “kill” and greed in his conservation? is there liberation in “death” when you are the most beautiful boy to exist? can you ever be liberated? is ganymede dead or alive?

[aphrodarling]

odysseus absolutely does present a threat to penelope if he perceives her as at all unfaithful, and i feel the unfairness of this, and i think people tend to undersell how much tension at least potentially exists between odysseus and penelope. but i'm also like. his reaction, all speculation aside, his actual reaction in the odyssey to her flirting with the suitors is delight, because he immediately ascertains that she is running a con. sorry that they're so in-sync in spite of the forces that try to drive a wedge between them, including their own misgiving hearts. sorry that they invented homophrosyne ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[aphrodarling]

imagine if instead of pop greek mythology tons of people were obsessed with extremely simplified and warped pop versions of cicero’s speeches

[aphrodarling]

meditations on the odyssey

[aphrodarling]

Orpheus & Eurydice

Commissioned illustration for Follow Me Down, a TTRPG inspired by Greek mythology.

[aphrodarling]

[aphrodarling]

So I had compiled the clips of the voice of the Narrator and Achilles from Hades reading the Iliad, Book 1 line 1-8 and Book 22 line 406-432 (Achilles' monologue after killing Hector.) And added subtitles. For all those that missed the Iliad project stream, enjoy!.

[aphrodarling]

–if that ever happened.

[aphrodarling]

99% of all murders committed by women in ancient greek plays are completely justified

[aphrodarling]

all these stories about how the modern day dionysian ritual is going out and murdering someone in the woods…the true modern day dionysian ritual is drunkenly going to taco bell at 3 am and i dare anyone to tell me otherwise

[aphrodarling]

no hope for a lush young man

hades

[aphrodarling]

Catch ur grumpy reaper so he doesn’t float away

[aphrodarling]

Hades makes my bisexual heart so happy ❤💕😭

[aphrodarling]

The Queen and King of the Underworld

Commission. The design is inspired by my 2015 Persephone & Hades artwork.

♕ patreon / portfolio / ig / twitter

[aphrodarling]

Soon it will be Autumn and Persephone can go back to pegging her husband in peace and I can wear a fucking jumper

[aphrodarling]

you may not like it but every greek tragedy is a musical

[aphrodarling]

reread it… the resurfacing of my emotions over this book is as I imagined it would be