#Description of Greece

[mary-maud]

The beginning of the Description of Greece, by Pausanias

[hedgewitchgarden]

"The only persons who were allowed to enter her shrine at Tithorea in Central Greece (Phocis), a town named for a dryad and known for its sweet olive oil - “the holiest one the Greeks have made for her” - were those she had summoned in dreams."

- Pausanias, Description of Greece. x.32.13

(Description of Greece by Pausanias, written between the 150s and 170s AD)

[katerinaaqu]

Well I believe there is a dual reason why Icarius wanted Odysseus to stay. One is of course that he didn't want to part from his daughter. The other could be that he wanted Odysseus to stay and govern his kingdom.

Odysseus was already renounced for his brains and intellect so there is quite the possibility that Icarius wanted him to stay for that reason.

Either way Odysseus indeed gave Penelope a clear choice which is something also appreciated by Penelope herself and yes she clearly chooses him.

According to Pausanias, Icarius, Penelope's father, wanted to keep Odysseus to Lakedaimona (Sparta) but Odysseus wanted to return with his new wife, Penelope, to Ithaca. Her father was begging her to stay. Odysseus endured it for some time but then he made Penelope choose whether she wanted to come with him or stay with her father and Penelope instead of replying she covered her face with her veil signaling that she wanted to follow her husband.

And that is now the newest most adorable thing ever!

[markyotie13]

I am afraid that you'll get to know me as just a MHA artist. ( promise that I actually draw other stuff. Here is Patroclus.

IT IS NOT FINISHED BTW

<3

[ilions-end]

researchers will see a lacuna next to odysseus' name in an ancient text and immediately assume it said "and diomedes"

[Polygnotos's Iliupersis: A New Reconstruction]

i find the ghost of you wherever i go

[homers-filing-cabinet]

There are so many books I want to read, but alas, I am SO BUSY.

[evilios]

σπόδιος (spodios) - a poetic epithet given to Apollo with the meaning 'of the ashes' in reference to ashes and embers left on the altar after an offering is burnt - possibly, in particular about human or animal bone ashes.

[a-teardrop-of-the-sun]

buff ancient greek god's convicted murderer statue sentenced to underwater exile; "oops wait nvm" says town

please enjoy via wikipedia & original discord screenshots the saga of the funniest, most cartoony-ass goof of a story from ancient greece that i've ever had the delight of encountering. sources: theogenes and theagenes of thasos

but wait...there's more! further research always pays off, kids!

[kaliarda]

Ο δυνατός αθηναϊκός ήλιος και τα χρόνια της κρίσης έχουν ξεθωριάσει τα φανταχτερά χρώματα και την γυαλάδα των κουστουμιών που μια ομάδα πορτοφολάδων, με έδρα τον κινηματογράφο Broadway, χρησιμοποιεί για να προσελκύσει θύματα.

Θα χρειαστεί η παρέμβαση μιας ομάδας drag queens, η μυστηριώδης εμφάνιση του Χρήστου Πολίτη, η λάμψη της Ελένης Φουρέιρα, το μπρίο του Λάκη Γαβαλά και η μουσική του Gabriel Yared, για να επέλθει η ισορροπία σε αυτό το φτιαγμένο από στρας και πολυέστερ σύμπαν.

μέχρι 30/11 στο Ertflix

[nyxinastris]

Cup

Satyr abandoning the drinking cup and plunging without restraint into a pithos filled with pure wine.

Pithos Painter, around 490 BC

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Spread of greening disease in Brazil pushes Greek orange prices higher

The extreme weather conditions during the summer did not have a significant impact on the citrus production in Greece, says Nick Nafpliotis, company director of fresh produce exporter Greek & Fresh: “Greece did experience extremely hot weathering last July. However, the citrus was fortunately not affected by this, nor from the frost. This means that in general, the quality of Greek oranges and Clementines is very good this season. Quantities are a bit lower than they were last season, as we’re seeing a drop of about ten per cent, which is only a minor difference”.

The situation halfway across the world is having a big impact on the orange season in Greece as well as in Europe, Nafpliotis explains. “According to the research group Fundecitrus, the rapid spread of the greening disease in Brazil, which seems to have infected about 38% of Brazil’s production area, can see their yields reduced by 60 per cent over the next five years. The source of this is Reuters. Furthermore, according to CitrusBR, which is a group representing Brazil’s major citrus producers, the orange juice stock of the Brazilian processors is currently at the lowest levels of the last twelve years, due to both weather and greening impacts.”

Continue reading.

[jeannereames]

Hello Dr.Reames,

In your novels and lots of other popular works, Philip is usually depicted with dark hair and dark eyes. I wonder if it is a modern creation or it has been recorded in historical source? By the way, do you know the usual hair color of ancient Macedonians? Is it different from some of the southern Greek states, like Athens? Because Alexander is always depicted as blond. I wonder if this is common in Macedonia. Thank You!

As I noted at the bottom of my prior post about Philippos’s thoughts on Alexandros in Dancing with the Lion (which may have generated this question?), we don’t actually know what Philippos’ coloring WAS. No ancient evidence says. We’re told he was apparently very good-looking in his youth, but that’s about it, other than his wounds/scars.

This brings me to your larger question, the usual hair color of Macedonians…we don’t know that either.

And that raises the most interesting fact of all:

Interest in hair- and eye-color was just not that important in antiquity. What I call “driver’s license descriptions” are mostly absent. There might be some reasons for that:

First, most people from ___ area all had the same eye- and hair-color. Remember, lighter shades are mostly a feature of select populations and great divergence a factor of colonial and immigrant activity. If everybody you know has brown hair and eyes…why would you bother saying as much when describing them? Descriptions focus on points of difference.

In Greece, there was some variation, maybe. I’ve mentioned before that red-blond was considered especially beautiful, so Aphrodite was a strawberry blonde, as was Helen of Sparta/Troy. Because it was unusual. Some populations were considered fairer (maybe not fairly…pun intended). Whether Spartans really were fairer or it’s a generalization from Helen is a good question. Athenians were supposedly darker due to Pelasgian (indigenous people) ties…why Hephaistion is dark-haired and quite olive-skinned in the novel. But from pottery—which is largely Athenian, later—it would appear that most people had dark hair. I do remember seeing a teen boy depicted on red-figure pottery with obviously light (probably blond) hair, but it stood out to me, and was almost certainly meant to.

There is some implication the Macedonians were fairer, and the images in mosaics from Pella might bear that out. We see a lot of blondies/redheads. But is that reflecting real people or ideals? Wall paintings show brunettes, too. Supposedly Thracians were known for having more redheads, but is that true or a stereotype?

The plain fact is…the ancient Greeks don’t tend to highlight hair color (or eye color). Maybe that’s because most people had brown hair and eyes, so why mention it? Or maybe hair- and eye-color just wasn’t that important to them.

Descriptions of Alexander himself are exemplar: he’s described as “ruddy-fair”…of COMPLEXION. He walked fast, spoke fast, had a bent neck, a rough voice, and wavy hair and anastole, but no mention of his eye- or hair-COLOR. Apelles is faulted by Plutarch for making him “too dark”…of COMPLEXION. That’s led to a popular perception of Alexander as a blondie, which isn’t unrealistic. And, again, the few probable depictions of him that show coloring show him as a strawberry blond/redhead…except for the Pompei Mosaic, which is supposed to be based on an Apelles painting (maybe). But there are some other Romanizing aspects to it, so his coloring may have been tampered with too (Apelles or no Apelles).

In fiction, Olympias is almost always depicted as having black or red hair…usually as a factor of her “witchy” nature. That’s always annoyed the hell out of me. So as ATG was (likely) blond or red-haired, I chose to make her also a blondie in Dancing with the Lion. I have Alexandros look a lot like his mother on purpose, including coloring and height (or lack of it).

But truth is, we don’t know what color hair (or eyes) she had. Or that Philip had. I chose to make Philippos dark-haired (and eyed) mostly to underscore that Alexandros doesn’t (obviously) look like his father, although he does in less obvious ways. By contrast, my Kleopatra has the dark coloring, but otherwise, she and her brother resemble each other more than a bit. Genetics are fun.

[withoutzeuzey]

Kiseki no Sedai + Kuroko portraits

[justletmeon12]

Image ID: screenshot reading as follows:

"Myth:

Originally a woman named Caenis, he was abducted by Poseidon who fell in love with him. Afterwards, Poseidon promised to grant any wish to him and Caenis wished to have a man's body. Not only did Poseidon grant this, he also granted Caenis impenetrable skin. Soon, Caenis changed his name into Caeneus."

shout out to my fave under-appreciated unbreakable transgender hero

[lecruee]

“The word pornography, derived from the ancient Greek 'porne' and 'graphos", means "writing about whores." Porne means "whore," specifically and exclusively the lowest class of whore, which in ancient Greece was the brothel slut available to all male citizens.

The porne was the cheapest (in the literal sense), least regarded, least protected of all women, including slaves. She was, simply and clearly and absolutely, a sexual slave. Graphos means "writing, etching, or drawing."

The word pornography does not mean "writing about sex" or "depictions of the erotic" or "descriptions of sexual acts" or "depictions of nude bodies" or "sexual representations" or any other such euphemism. It means the graphic depiction of women as vile whores. In ancient Greece, not all prostitutes were considered vile: only the porneia.”

- Andrea Dworkin, Pornography (1981)

[a-captions-blog]

[Image descriptions: 1. Tweet by BBC News (World) @BBCWorld that says, ‘Greece legalises same-sex marriage.’ Attached is a photo of people hugging in a crowd outside. 2. Tweet by sev [sun emoji] he/him @SolarLesbian that says, in all caps, ‘Greece just legalized same sex marriage / you now what this means / lesbian weddings on lesbos.’ Attached to the Tweet is an edit of a yelling emoji on the sunset lesbian flag with impact text that says, ‘Let’s fucking go.’ The ‘go’ has many extra O’s added. \End descriptions]