#Greek author

[0thello]

Undine (sculpture), 1904 - 1988.

by Isamu Noguchi.

[imbecominggayer]

Creating The Mythology For Writing

This is the topic that @melda0m3 has request of me with the specific quote as: "How to write legends about gods? I have my whole god system and their basic lore, but can never figure out how to make legends and such"

So, following this advice post, I will only be talking about how to create legends for your established gods and I will not be talking about how to create gods.

Writing Legends

Legends, as defined by a quick google searchl, are a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.

Legends are also classified as myths since myths are traditional stories that were meant to explain a physical or social phenomena.

For example, the "marriage" between Hades And Persephone was meant to explain seasons as Demeter(the goddess of harvest) destroyes all the plants when Persephone is in the underworld for six months.

Using the real-life reason for legends and myth exist can help provide a clearer, more concise, guideline to make use of.

Of course, your characters won't discuss every single legend within the story so you need to write the legends which will be noteworthy to the plot.

For example, you can highlight the mythology that explains why your characters have inhuman characteristics and why {SOMETHING} is happening.

However, mythology doesn't only exist around the natural. Legends are also weaved around battles, important individuals, and other such things.

This is due to the fact that legends are often the most influencial piece of propaganda within the world. Legends often serve to disparate certain communities within a conflict as failing to win the cover of God.

However, this propaganda also serves to paint certain individuals in an almost heavenly light where their ability to present themselves as a seemingly supernatural creature provides untold benefits for them. A real-life example of this is the Legend of King Arthur.

HOW IS IT APPLICABLE FOR YOU(Story Ideas) ?

Characters have a vested interest in making themselves appear better than they actually are. They may attempt to utilize legends in order to appear like they are God's favorite child.

Countries have a desire to always appear victorious and idealized. This can create it's own sort of reflection chamber where exaggerate stories of grandeur can create a mutation of beliefs so profound that when your characters step outside of the country, reality is vastly different.

Gods are the most likely to manipulate legends to cast their enemies in an unlikeable light while portraying themselves as perfect. This can lead to a highly complicated hodge-podge of contradictory information.

I hope I did well by you @melda0m3 :)

[houseofmcallister]

New rule. Read the goddamn source material before you talk about it. PLEASE.

Please just read the fucking Odyssey before you make posts about the actual thing. Read the Iliad. Watch productions of the plays.

I am on my hands and knees here, I’m like Franky Valli I’m beggin’! I’m begging!!!!

It isn’t hard. There are really accessible translations for free. I post links really regularly. Just PLEASE read the actual epics before you start talking I cannot keep living with this insane pop cultural transmutation of misinformation. The adaptations are cool but I’m literally on my hands and knees the actual source material is fantastic guys the Odyssey is good it’s insane Telemachus is a fatherless brat and a bastard the whole time, he’s hilarious. pLEASE I’M BEGGING YOU READ THE BOOKS

[lovely-rants-alot]

one thing I noticed with the ithaca saga is how the challenge is framed.

With Penelope, she says 'whoever can string my husband's old bow'. Nothing really unusual, cause Odysseus is still her husband.

Where as the Suitors say 'whoever can string the old king's bow'. They feel entitled to being the new king. Odysseus is out the picture for them.

It would've been so easy to just have the lyric be 'whoever can string the king's old bow', but it's not.

To Them, Odysseus is no longer king, and I think when he does actually show up at the end of Hold Them Down, they would've been floored.

The fact they go back to calling him king when they're begging for mercy just adds salt to the wound. Like he's only their king when it's convenient.

I could be reading into this too much but it's still so interesting to me.

[authoreverking]

🐦‍⬛ Raven Society 🐦‍⬛

The Raven Society is a secret society at the Academy of Magic, known for its unconventional methods and mysterious members. While rumors paint them as dark and dangerous, they’re more focused on unraveling the secrets of magic than anything else. Each member is hiding a secret that will have you questioning who the true villain of this story really is.

Author’s Note: I’m so excited to finally share the Raven Society with you all! These characters have been living in my head for years, and bringing them to life through writing and illustrations has been amazing. I can’t wait to share their Greek mythology-inspired love stories with you. There’s so much magic, mystery, and romance ahead! 😊🏛️🥀

📚 Book: Academy of Villains by Ever King

Learn More: Academy of Villains Series

[mydarlingdearestdead]

Hyacinth grinned with a queer, juvenile delight. He placed a light hand upon Apollo's lean shoulder, bringing his lips toward the god's ear in the very same motion.

"My god." He murmured, "My Apollo."

He giggled, "Oh, look what I'm becoming... It's you. Your influence."

Apollo hummed, smiling warmly in return.

"Yes," He began to reason, "The influence of my melodic words and ever so endearing charm."

"Or perhaps of your perfect posture and flawless physical state."

"What, if I may ask, does my posture consequence?"

"Just..." Hyacinth's tanned face split in a grin, "Just take the compliment, dear."

Masterlist

[adiradirim]

Sephardic Jews from Thessaloniki in their traditional costumes, in the city’s old cemetery, before the war // a contemporary photo that shows where the destroyed cemetery once was, which is now Greece's largest university, built partially on top of and with land and materials (particularly tombstones) stolen from the razed site.

Thessaloniki or Salonika, once referred to as “the Jerusalem of the Balkans” due to its Ladino-speaking Jewish majority, saw roughly 96% of its Jewish population murdered during the Holocaust. This mass destruction extended to the city's Jewish cemetery, which had been the country's largest, established in the 15th century and housing hundreds of thousands of Jewish graves until its razing by city authorities who had long desired to repurpose the land and resented the inconvenience of Jewish presence. Despite its large-scale destruction during German occupation in 1942, which was initiated and carried out primarily by Thessaloniki authorities with Nazi consent and arrangement, some parts of the cemetery survived intact as late as 1947. Many tombstones were subsequently appropriated and used by city authorities and the Greek Orthodox Church. After the war, people were still carrying away Jewish gravestones each day and regularly looting the cemetery in search of valuables. The city's officials, led by their mayor, completed the cemetery's destruction and sold the tombstones to contractors for use as building materials in various projects; as such many were and are still found in various walls, roads, structures, and churches around the city. A 1992 commemorative book pictures Greek schoolgirls playing Hamlet with skulls and other bones they found in the cemetery.

“[T]he ‘rape’ of the cemetery escalated, marble flooded the market, and its price plummeted. Jewish tombstones were stacked up in mason’s yards and, with the permission of the director of antiquities of Macedonia and overseen by the metropolitan bishop and the municipality, used to pave roads, line latrines, and extend the sea walls; to construct pathways, patios, and walls in private and public spaces though out the city, in suburbs such as Panorama and Ampelokipi, and more than sixty kilometers away in beach towns in Halkidiki, where they decorated playgrounds, bars, and restaurants in hotels; to build a swimming pool – with Hebrew-letter inscription visible; to repair the St. Demetrius Church and other buildings...” Devin Naar, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece

Most of the efforts to return found tombstones throughout the city are led by Jews, particularly Jacky Benmayor, the curator of the Jewish Museum and last Ladino speaker in Greece, who has personally recovered hundreds of tombstones including his own family's. Surviving Greek Jews never received compensation for the confiscation of the land under the destroyed cemetery, upon which now partially rests Greece's largest university, Aristotle University, which also used Jewish gravestones as building material for its long-coveted expansion finally made possible by the dispossession and annihilation of the city's Jews. In 2014, 72 years after the cemetery's destruction and appropriation, a small memorial was established on campus grounds to acknowledge the Jewish cemetery the school is built on and with; the ceremony just 10 years ago involved the first-ever acknowledgement of the atrocities and apology from a Thessaloniki mayor. The memorial has been vandalised multiple times since its establishment.

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Hymn to Womanly Dionysos

I praise the God who runs with wild women, She who takes joy in their forms, Who Herself bears long hair, soft skin, delicate lashes, Dionysos of womanly epithets, Who wore long dresses in Her youth. I praise Dionysos who runs with the Maenads, Who surrounds Herself with ever-present holy wild women, Reveling in their company, Dancing under the sacred darkness at night, By day feasting on wine and honey and milk. Come to me now, O gently blessed one, Whether Your head is laid in the lap of Your beloved wife Ariadne, Who traces Your lips with Her own gentle hands, Or whether You are lying in flowered meadows with maenads, Who themselves rejoice in Your feminine form. Bless me with an ever-present sense of peace, Bless me with the love of women, Bless me with perfect joy in my own gender. May Your gentle cow-like eyes always behold me with kindness, May Your hands hold mine when I sorrow, And when the world raises a hand against me, May I hide behind Your flowing skirts, And may Your thyrsos be raised in my defense.

[anniflamma]

Why is Asclepius associated with Hermes? Not heard about that before.

It's because the first time I read the birth of Asclepius, I read the version where it was Hermes who saved him (cutting Asclepius out from his mother's womb) from Apollo's wrath. I know now the most common version is Apollo decided to save the baby after having Artemis kill the mother, but the first version stuck with me. I also liked the idea that Asclepius' staff commonly been misidentified with the caduceus (Hermes' staff). So, I thought it could be funny if they looked similar to each other, like a nod to that.

[0lympian-c0uncil]

HOLY SHIT-

I NEED THIS! I WILL DIE WITHOUT IT!

DEMETER IS FINALLY GETTING THE RECOGNITION SHE DESERVES!

Greeks are putting out books to clean up the misinformation Westerners have spread about our myths and I LOVE it.

Ioanna puts the focus on Demeter and I am here for it! Demeter is the protagonist of this story, after all.

In the reviews so far it looks like Ioanna depicts the Greek gods as powerful, as we truly see them in our culture. I really hope it keeps the balance, as the reviewers say.

Greek author, Greek book cover illustrator (Yorgos "Lanthimos" Cotronis) and we are on for a very promising work!

source

[my-name-is-apollo]

Why is Hera so hostile to Leto in a manner that she isn't with the other lovers of Zeus? I can't think of any other woman who was targeted so much by Hera. One could say she didn't want Leto to give birth because her children would be a competition to Hera's children, but why bother her even after she had already given birth? Is it because Leto herself is also a threat to Hera?

Sort of I guess?

I don't think Leto would ever be a threat to Hera's role as the queen of the gods but Hera might see her as a competitor for Zeus' affection, even though I think Zeus would not marry someone else and replace Hera.

The twins are definitely a big reason why Hera begrudged Leto - it is outright stated in the Callimachus Hymn to Delos that the reason Hera especially targeted Leto was because she was told that Apollo would be dearer to Zeus than Ares is. Zeus is very proud of Artemis as well. As he himself puts it, he doesn't mind facing Hera's wrath for children like her.

But the continued hatred even after the birth of the twins (like sending Tityus to rape Leto) could have been for different reasons. This wasn't like one of those affairs Zeus would have with mortal women where he'd leave them behind once the child is conceived. Neither could Hera, despite her many attempts, get rid of Leto like she did with the other lovers. Not only did Leto give Zeus children that he loves dearly, she also stayed on Olympus despite Hera's hatred towards her (which isn't directed to any of Zeus' other divine mistresses, btw). It might have also been because Leto herself is dear to Zeus, if the way she's treated on Olympus is any proof. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo, Leto stands next to Zeus - in the Olympian assembly - to welcome their son. Hera is completely absent from the scene, as if Leto had taken her place even if temporarily. Now you could say this is because Apollo himself is such a powerful and glorious son in a way that no other son of Zeus is, so of course Leto would get such an honor (the hymn itself presents it this way).

But here's another instance - in the Iliad, when Hera goes to seduce Zeus, he is obviously very smitten but before getting into the action, he lists some of his lovers (I believe these were his favorite lovers, as a lot of others are not mentioned):

"for never has such desire for goddess or mortal woman so gripped and overwhelmed my heart, not even when I was seized by love for Ixion’s wife, who gave birth to Peirithous the gods’ rival in wisdom; or for Acrisius’ daughter, slim-ankled Danaë, who bore Perseus, greatest of warriors; or for the far-famed daughter of Phoenix, who gave me Minos and godlike Rhadamanthus; or for Semele mother of Dionysus, who brings men joy; or for Alcmene at Thebes, whose son was lion-hearted Heracles; or for Demeter of the lovely tresses; or for glorious Leto; or even for you yourself, as this love and sweet desire for you grips me now.’ (Book 14, trans. A. T. Murray)

Notice how when talking about most of them, he also mentions the children they bore to him but when Demeter and Leto are mentioned, he doesn't bring up their children at all despite them being some of the most accomplished kids of his. What's more, he takes Leto's name just before Hera's. I mean, this is an interpretation but it looks like not only did Zeus love Leto the most out of all his mistresses - giving her a place second to that of his wife, but also his love for her wasn't necessarily only because she gave him two amazing children.

Nonnus does something similar in the Dionysiaca (but this time Zeus is enamored with Persephone instead of Hera) but more notably, when Typhoeus attacks Olympus and Zeus is discouraged, Nike takes the form of Leto to encourage him and it's pretty telling of what Leto meant to Zeus.

One interesting similarity between Hera and Leto is that they both had a giant try to rape them. Porphyrion tried to violate Hera (Zeus inspired him to do this) and Tityus tried to violate Leto (upon Hera's order). Though both of them were killed, only Tityus got an eternal punishment in Tartarus of having his liver/heart eaten out by vultures so Zeus seems to have taken a greater offense at Tityus trying to assault Leto.

Again, I don't think Zeus would ever take anyone other than Hera as his permanent wife - she is irreplaceable to him. There's an entire myth about Hera leaving him and Zeus winning her back. Their relationship is obviously complex and involves all kinds of emotions including love and hate. But Leto is continually dear to him as well and that's something Hera can't do much about.

[0thello]

The Birth of Venus (painting), 1863.

by Alexander Cabanel.

[vyunok-obyknovenniy]

Really happy with how she turned out! I decided to give her some naiad features, inspired by this post and it was really fun! I hc that she can breathe underwater (even though she doesn't have gills. Do naiads have gills?), although I am not sure if she can do it freely or for a limited amount of time 🤔

The fabric piece covering her chest was loosely inspired by 18th century neckerchiefs, because I wasn't sure how the Mycenaean open chest fashion would fly with the censorship here or on other platforms ¯⁠\⁠_(•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[zagreusapollyon]

"Do you think it'll stop one day?" Percy asked of him one day, breaking the comfortable silence they both basked in.

Poseidon tilted his head toward his child, raising his eyebrow as Percy laid down on the wooden floor of the dock.

"What, little one?" He questions the boy back, his tone curious and fond.

His son sighs softly, splashing around the water with his feet. He looks up at the lavender-toned dawn, stars shining across the heavens like a divine pattern on the fabric of the world.

"The suffering. The constant struggle for a losing battle where I can never win." The boy says, the reflection of the stars in his eyes, like a swirling galaxy of miracles and wonder.

Poseidon stills.

He slowly turns to his son and closes his eyes as he breaths out his words.

"I'm sorry." He apologizes.

"Don't be," Percy says back, his voice firm but soft. "It's not your fault, and neither it is mine. I'm not blaming you for loving me enough to make my existence a reality."

Poseidon opens his eyes, his gaze filled with sadness.

"Then what can I do?" Poseidon whispers desperately. "Whisk you away to be my side? Keep you chained to this land by immortalizing your body and destroying your soul? You wouldn't want any of that. I am a god and yet I can do nothing to aid you with your pain." He finishes, falling silent as angry waves crash upon the shore and stormy clouds cover the sky like curtains.

Percy glances at the crashing waves on the horizon, at the dark ocean that stretches to eternity and beyond.

"I don't know. And it's okay for you to not know either." Percy says calmly.

"Just be here for me until I won't be here at all."

And wait until comes forth the inevitable end.

[lovely-rants-alot]

why be sad when you can just Epic?