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Deidameia sketch!

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i think it's a sign of how (thankfully) far removed we are from that kind of violence that achilles' dragging of hector's corpse is so often framed mostly as an act of extreme disrespect, or only some brutal show of triumph. personally i think that's underselling both achilles' intention and what the trojans must be thinking as they watch it happen.

hector's corpse is divinely protected so it can't be damaged by the greeks after death; all that effectively happens in the iliad is that his body gets dirty. but under normal circumstances (and i'm not gonna impose realism on mythology, but the iliad is famously detailed when it comes to bodily trauma), the physical reality of dragging a corpse along stony ground for miles would be severe disfigurement and dismemberment. first the skin would wear off, then soft tissues, then extremities would start to detach. i think the iliad's original audience would be aware of that as an intended outcome.

achilles (who doesn't yet know that hector's body has been granted divine stasis) doesn't just want to parade his enemy's corpse, he wants to tear it apart ("i only wish that this fury inside my heart would drive me to carve you to pieces and eat your flesh raw..."), he wants it to not resemble a human anymore. he wants hector's blood and flesh to circle the city of troy. he wants to make it impossible for hector's family to gather the pieces of him to cremate and that way hector's spirit won't find passage into the underworld. that's what the gods are preventing from happening, they're not just keeping the corpse pretty for priam to pick up later.

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Helenus and his twin sister, chosen and blessed by Apollo with the gift of prophecy. Growing up, Apollo is everywhere. He is everywhere Helenus turns, but never with him. Because Apollo loves Cassandra. Her given gift is more important than his own. He discerns the meanings of birds in the sky. Cassandra speaks prophecies seemingly from Apollo himself.

Doesn't it sting that she is better than him? Was Helenus' gift only given because they were inseparable as children? A consolation prize? No one likes a seer, but they respect true prophecy. They respect Cassandra.

Until she refuses Apollo.

He remembers a time when people believed Cassandra. Maybe he is the only one that does remember her prophecies were believed. When the words that left her lips were the god's truth, when they were respected.

But now she's mad. She doesn't make sense when she prophesies. And he knows why.

So he doesn't refuse Apollo when he comes after he has ruined Cassandra. He remembers what Apollo has done for him. No one likes a seer, but this is still a blessing from the god of prophecy. He is still favored by the patron of their city. And he will keep that favor. He remembers what Apollo has done to his sister.

He won't be the reason that Troy is abandoned by the herald of Fate.

But then there is a part of him that knows fighting is futile. It's like an itch deep beneath his skin that he can't relieve. He tries at every turn to prevent his brothers' fates, and that only makes things worse.

Hektor dies in battle and his body is dragged around the city. His own father has to go into the Greek camp and beg for Hektor to be given back.

Paris is shot with a poisoned arrow, not by the son of the warrior Paris killed, but by an old man with a bow said to be unable to miss its target, so not through any skill of the archer's own.

What if it was Helenus' advice for Paris to flee to Mount Ida and beg his first wife for help? He must have known Paris would die anyway, but at least there was the idea of hope there for his brother. And that's the best Helenus could do for him.

And he then thinks, foolishly, that all he has done for his family — shouldering the attention (that he once craved, that part of him still does crave now that his attention has faltered with the war) from Apollo, placing himself in the thick of the fighting, advising the best possible course of action — will allow him to become the next husband of Helen.

Instead Deiphobos takes that opportunity away from him. Why should Helenus marry Helen? He already has the attention of a god.

Deiphobos don't understand what that means. Cassandra understands, but how can he speak to her about it? She rejected Apollo. He could've done the same.

(He never could've done the same.)

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As much I love Hector x Andromache, I hope Andromache still had something inside her to love Helenus too after so much suffering (the death of her family, the death of her husband, the death of her son, the enslavement, the abuses of both Neoptolemus and Hermione). With both Helenus and Andromache surviving the tragedy, I genuinely hope that they were able to heal together and that their marriage was an opportunity for Andromache to once again experience the healthy relationship she deserves. Epirus will never be Thebe Hypoplakia or Troy, but I genuinely hope it will be immensely better than Phthia was to her. No abusive owners or aggressive jealous wives.

At the same time, I can't even imagine what it was like for her to learn the fate of her loved ones. Maybe she hadn't heard about what happened to Hecuba, for example, but I imagine she certainly knew about what happened to Cassandra considering how much Agamemnon's death seems to have been a well-known topic. What is it like to look at Helenus, knowing that his twin sister had a fate that could have been Andromache's? Taken as a sex slave by an Achaean and threatened with death by that Achaean's legitimate wife. Hermione didn't get what she wanted, but Clytemnestra did. Andromache could have had the same fate as Cassandra. Does she think about that when she looks at Helenus and sees such a familiar face?

At the same time, did Helenus deal with survivor's guilt? He was taken as a slave, but he didn't stay that way for long, as Neoptolemus left him in Epirus to rule the place. He remained alive and in a position of leader, without further threats. He wasn't murdered, he wasn't given manual labor, he wasn't continuously abused. Looking at Andromache, his abused sister-in-law who suffered a fate so similar to his sister, his dead brother's wife, the mother of the nephew who was brutally murdered… I wonder, did he ever feel guilty about this, even though he was obviously not to blame? Did he ever see in her the sister he couldn't protect? Did he ever see in her the brother who couldn't be there to defend his wife? Did he ever blame himself for having uttered the prophecy about Philoctetes and Neoptolemus, even though he hadn't even done so of his own free will but because Odysseus had forced him? Did he ever think that if he had resisted longer, Neoptolemus wouldn't have been sought after? Troy wouldn't have fallen then, Andromache wouldn't have been enslaved, Astyanax might perhaps have been alive. Of course, in the end Troy was destined to fall anyway, but did Helenus ever entertain that fanciful possibility?

I don't know… Helenus and Andromache's marriage has genuine potential...

Yeah, I think I ship them...

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The Sirens were monstrous sea nymphs from ancient greek mythology, better known for their role in the Odyssey. They lured sailors in with their bewitching song, causing ships to be destroyed on the rocky cliffs of their island.

In another version of this myth, Demeter is angry that the Sirens didn't prevent Persephone's kidnapping and curses them to die when a mortal is able to resist their song.

The sirens are sometimes described as the daughters of Gaia. Other sources say their father is the river god, Achelous, and their mother is Melpomene or Terpsichore. There are others but I won't list them all.

I drew this before the prologue OTL

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Aphrodite, godess of Beauty, godess of grace, she'll throw apples at your face

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meny and ody

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I'm sorry

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I'll probably polish this later but in the meantime have Ares and Aphrodite being goofy

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Ares and Aphrodite, again, because me likey

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I could be a dick and call this " Andromache's dream"...But I 'd rather call it 'Andromache's life happy and unbothered forever"

Anyway, have a little Hector and Astyanax TvT

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I think Queen Omphale and Heracles is a story with potential. If I was a writer I could reach stars with them I just know it

But I'm a doodler so have those :3

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I did a Danaé mini comic cause my heart aches for her

Hope you like it :3

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where would our perception of roman sexuality be without pompeian erotic frescos. everybody say thank you vesuvius

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pottery workshop 🏺🏺

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Thetis.

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Deidamia and Neoptolemus shenanigans