#& then when i got home i read greek epithets to dogs

[amazingmsme]

Y’all not gonna lie, I’m having a rough night. What should I watch to cheer up?

[howlermoonart]

Argos the Faithful (Art Print!)

So this will be is the very first art print for Howler Moon Art, a lil online art shop that will hopefully be launching in spring of 2025!!! I picked the concept pretty much randomly off of a list of ideas, but I had a bit of a nudge because I knew the story of Argos from The Odyssey and found it very emotional.

To summarize: Argos is Odysseus’ hunting dog. When Odysseus leaves to fight in the Trojan War, Argos is swift and strong and in his prime. Upon Odysseus’ return 20 years later, however, Argos is old and feeble. Odysseus, disguising himself as a pilgrim after reaching his home in Ithaca, is forced to ignore his faithful hound’s greeting (only Argos is able to recognize him after two decades of absence) so as to remain incognito. Shortly afterward, Argos’ heart gives out from sadness, and he dies.* Most stories about faithful dogs are sad ones, unfortunately; they don’t live as long as we do, regardless of how much we love them or how much they love us in return.

I wanted to capture an imagined scene from before Argos’ death, where Argos is watching the sea surrounding Ithaca and waiting for his master’s return from war. The Greek ship upon the waves below him is Odysseus’ vessel!

You can read about the development of this artwork below the cut.

Artwork Start/Completion: September 22, 2024 → September 30, 2024

Art Program: Clip Studio Paint PRO (ver 2)

Tablet: Huion H610 PRO V2

Font Used: MCapitals by Manfred Klein (link)

Brushes Used:

CSP default brushes

Cream Cheese Frosting by WholeMilk (link)

References Used:

Photo by Yorgas Ntrahas on Unsplash (link)

Photos of Cretan Hounds from the Greek Kennel Club website (linked below)

I first looked for digital brushes on the Clip Studio asset store that would make the meander for me, since I wasn’t sure of my skills. I didn’t find any that were within my means, however, so I just drew it myself with some of the default brushes in my Clip Studio Paint program. It turned out to be easier than I expected! The repetitive pattern is actually very soothing once you get the hang of it, and I like how the meander “keys” aren’t perfectly identical.

Ironically, it was only after I finished the meander that I found a collection of Greek pattern brushes that were free if not easy to use.

I gave Argos an epithet and labeled him in the print because I wasn’t sure if a casual viewer would recognize him from the artwork alone. Although most people are aware of the broad plot points of The Odyssey (such as “Nobody” slaying the cyclops), Argos’ part in that tale is a very minor one and comes toward the end.

As geographically inaccurate as it is, I based Argos’ design off of the Cretan Hound, a breed now recognized solely in Greece… and in Germany, for some reason. The other Greek breed I would see as apt for a nobleman’s hunting dog is the Hellenic Hound, but if I’m being perfectly honest the Hellenic Hound looks like a very generic hound to me, while the Cretan Hound’s spitz-y tail and upright ears are more visually appealing for me personally. The upright ears give the dog an air of alertness that I really like, on top of just being so cute!

For a while I was worried that the warm, rusty terracotta color of the border would clash with the much softer palette of the scene with Argos looking out over the sea, so I hid those layers of the artwork and constructed another, more elaborate border with stone columns meant to be reminiscent of Greek temples entrances. This time, I got to use the Greek pattern brushes that I had downloaded previously!

However, the columns and wave border take up too much space within the landscape-oriented A5 print, so after much fiddling with resizing various elements of the border, I decided to go back to the simpler terracotta look. 

I was a bit frustrated with myself letting myself go down this rabbit hole, since it took at least 3 hours to create a border that I ended up not using. (I know the time because I watched the entirety of the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie with my partner while drawing, and then we got partway through Ralph Bakshi’s 1983 animated movie, Fire and Ice, before I went to bed and was able to mull over my artistic choices).

I had initially been very nervous to draw Odysseus’ ship. I knew it would be tiny and therefore details weren’t terribly important, but I also knew it was a trireme (a warship of Ancient Greece) and I had never drawn a boat before this. I learned about the Olympias, a reconstruction of an ancient Athenian trireme that is currently in the service of the Greek navy, and got to ogle pictures of her while I hyped myself up for the task of drawing another of her kind… which, in the end, took less than twenty minutes.

* This version of events with Argos dying specifically from sadness isn't from a "real" translation, but rather from the version that my dad told me as a kid before bedtime.

[maskedlady]

things people who haven’t read/studied the homeric poems should know

the iliad isn’t about ten years of war. it’s about fifty-one days from the last year of war. more than nine years have passed since the beginning. neither the recruit of achilles or odysseus nor aulis nor the sacrifice of iphigenia nor the trojan horse and not even achilles’ death feature in it. it actually ends with hector’s burial.

similarly, the odyssey starts during the tenth year of odysseus’ travels, when he leaves the island of the nymph calypso who had kept him there for eight years. while the story of his travels is actually there, it’s a massive flashback that odysseus himself narrates.

odysseus actually only travels circa one year, if you subtract the seven years spent on ogigia, the one year with circe, the various months and bits they camped in other places.

part of the odyssey is actually about odysseus’ son, telemachos, and his quest to find his father. also another part is about odysseus returning to ithaca and killing a bunch of princes who were trying to usurp his throne.

the aeneid is not a homeric poem. it’s styled on the homeric model, but it was written in latin by a roman poet, and the protagonist is technically one of the antagonists from the iliad.

homer never existed.

he isn’t a historical figure, he is a name with a legend attached, to whom these poems are attributed. the poems were written—no, not even written, composed orally by a series of unnamed aoidoi (hm... ministrels?) through the ages.

in fact this is quite obvious when you read the iliad. there are a lot of inconsistencies, like frequent style changes, chapters that have nothing to do with anything else and no influence on the story whatsoever, strange time lapses—at some point it’s midday twice the same day

it is thought that all of these separate fragments were then collected and organized by one person, and this version was then handed down, orally, until the first written edition around 520 b.c.

the mycenean civilization that these poems originate from ended in 1200 b.c. circa

the odyssey was initially part of a whole group of nestoi, aka “return poems”, that were basically the tales of the return of each hero from troy. the odyssey is the only one that remains, though we do know something about the others too from other pieces of greek literature

a warning for the interested. these poems are a pain to read. they are delightful but they are a pain. they were composed orally so they are full of epithets, descriptions, metaphors and similitudes. these acted as fillers to help the aedo of turn reach the length of the verse, make the various characters more recognizable, and also make the poems more comprehensible to the general public, composed mostly of common people who had never actually been in a battle—so battles and duels are often compared to more familiar scenes, like fights between animals.

no i’m not joking

there is one in particular where the screeching army of trojans coming down the hill is compared to cranes migrating over the oceans.

also, the duel between hector and patroclus is one of the “compared to animal fights” scene

when odysseus is about to drown, he talks to his own heart. possibly because it sounds slightly less crazy and more Romantic than just directly talking to oneself.

helen insults paris real often. hector berates him both internally and publicly. in fact everyone insults paris. paris is the local coward and scapegoat. deservedly. i rejoice

everybody loves patroclus. all the kings hate each other but everyone loves him—so much so that they risk their lives over his corpse 

which, mind me, wasn’t something that special in and of itself. it was important to retrieve comrades’ corpses because if the enemy got ahold of your body he’d leave it to rot and be devoured by dogs and crows, which was a huge dishonour (and also possibly barred you from entrance to the afterlife)

so much so that the ancient greek version of “go to hell” is eis korakas, “to the crows” (“may you die, lie unburied, and your body be eaten by crows”)

at some point they hold a truce (possibly several times) so they’ll have the time to collect, burn and bury all the fallen soldiers. 

back to patroclus because i got sidetracked: still. this time it is kind of a big deal because the literal centre of the fighting after patroclus dies is all the major greek heroes playing tug-o-war against hector and his brothers with patroclus’ corpse. the centre of the fighting, people, this is no joke

at some point someone is sent to tell achilles that his lover’s body is in danger so he better get out of your sulk, hurry up and come help the rest of us

achilles going armour-less to the battlefield and screaming for patroclus is enough to send the trojans running.

i am sure that all of you know this but the reason achilles doesn’t have armour is that when hector kills patroclus he takes achilles’ armour, that patroclus was wearing, as spoils of war

so an entire book after that is devoted to hephaestus forging achilles new, better armour so he can actually fight again

look, it is not actually stated that they were lovers, but it’s obvious. in greek culture especially. that was the norm and italian school teachers can get over it and stop omitting it from lessons and school books any time now

odysseus isn’t actually an asshole. sure, a lot of his misadventures were caused by him being too curious and disregarding his comrades’ advice *cough*cyclops*cough* but most of the most destructive events were caused by them disregarding his orders.

“do not kill and eat the sacred cows of apollo! he’d kill us.” guess what they did. guess how it ended 

or when they stopped by eolos’ island. eolos, god of the winds, gave odysseus a flask with all the adverse winds imprisoned inside, leaving free only the one that he needed to take him to ithaca. they got so, so very near, and then odysseus fell asleep and the others opened the thing because they thought there was more treasure inside it, and all the winds came out and blew them halfway across the mediterranean

athena often glamours odysseus to look younger and prettier or older and then again younger. it’s amazing because he always looks either like an old beggar (for camouflage) or like a young and handsome man.

do some maths. at the beginning of the war he must’ve been at least twenty. + ten years of war. + ten years of travel. at the end of the odyssey he is at least forty. by ancient standards that was not young.

odysseus’ whole voyage is basically a pissing contest between poseidon and athena. actually between poseidon and the rest of the gods. poseidon hates him and all the other gods take turns helping him.

odysseus is not an asshole, but the greeks probably considered him a shitty character, because he was clever, shrewd, and the only survivor of his community. the greeks really insisted on the concept of community, the individual doesn’t have worth in and of themself but as a part of society. this is particularly evident when he gets to the cyclops, who are the very antithesis of the greek man, described as uncivilized and living in isolation without assemblies or laws. a lot of emphasis is put on the fact that they live outside of a community.

alternatively, the difference between the iliad and the odyssey (and their respective heroes) signifies the change in greek culture, from the warrior myceneans to commerce and voyage: odysseus represents the victory of intelligence over force, and his qualities are the characteristics, for example, of a merchant

i should perhaps point out that the odyssey was composed much later than the iliad, which is also the reason it has a more complex structure (begins with the gods + telemachos’ quest, we first see odysseus on ogigia, then he recounts his whole voyage in a long flashback triggered by a bard at a feast singing about the trojan war)

oh look i got sidetracked again

back to the trivia!

do not be fooled by madeline miller. patroclus was indeed a warrior, and a very good one at that. and briseis was indeed achilles’ lover, and loved him (that is explicitly stated).

odysseus might have loved penelope but that does not mean he did not sleep around with every woman he met

circe. calypso (by whom he is imprisoned for seven years). and nausicaa princess of the phaeacians falls in love with him. this is engineered by athena 

i don’t think he actually sleeps with her but athena does make him look younger and prettier so she’ll be smitten and welcome him at the palace and give him a bunch of gifts and eventually a ship to take him back to ithaca

in the poem named after him, his own poem, odysseus is always the stranger, the guest, or the beggar.

or all three.

or all three, but it’s a lie and he’s actually at home, the king returned.

despite the iliad being about one and a half months and the odyssey being more than a year + more time taken up by other characters, the iliad is about one and a half times the odyssey.

more to come (maybe)