#Little Illiad

[jadagul]

Most people have heard of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but they're actually two parts of an eight-part Epic Cycle of poems that tell the whole Trojan War story.

In particular, neither the Iliad nor the Odyssey contain the Judgment of Paris, or Achilles dying to an arrow, or the Trojan horse. The first two stories we have from other authors summarizing the relevant poems; the third we have from the retelling in the Aeneid, which I suppose is also an author "summarizing" the original poem.

I was just reading a plot summary of the Little Iliad, which covers the period between the death of Achilles and the Trojan Horse gambit. And this plot is, like, batshit insane. It reads like either a 20th percentile genre novel or a JRPG plot summary.

I kidnapped an exiled prince from the enemy city! He told me of three prophecies that need to be fulfilled for the city to fall. Now we need to go recruit a new party member, go on a quest to recover an ancient artifact, and finally break into the enemy city to steal their load-bearing artifact.

(and that's just like a third of it!)

[alzirrx]

Homer: This is the lead hero of my second epic poem. He has a mind like Zeus’ own and possesses unparalleled strength, courage, nobility, cunning, and wit. He’s nearly undefeated in battle and has mercilessly overcome every trial he has faced.

Me: babygirl

Homer: what

[trashpidgeon48]

I am a tragedy enjoyer first, human being second.

[athamad]

The og wife guy fr

[katerinaaqu]

Homer Describing Odysseus: A head shorter than Agamemnon but wider in shoulders and in chest, strong legs and arms

Modern fanart: OK I shall make Odysseus shorter than literally ANY other character!

Like...come on guys! 😆 Agamemnon was also described to be taller than many men around the Greeks hahahaha and okay even if Odysseus could potentially be shorter than many other heroes in the war why the heck is literally EVERY character taller?! Including females?! Hahaha 😆 I mean I get it for goddesses that by n large they are pictured as tall etc but people like Penelope? Hahaha like even nowadays average height for women in Greece is like roughly 165-170 m tall yet alone back then! Hahaha she could potentially be at least at the same height as Odysseus if not shorter like come on!

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Like allow some girls be shorter than average or average hahahaha 😆 😂 😆

[simsim54]

There’s something incredibly endearing and heartwarming about the taller person in the relationship being the little spoon.

Like Achilles may be hailed as Aristos Achaion on the battlefield, but in the quiet of the night, behind all that bravado, there is left a man who felt safe only in the arms of his therapon, his beloved, Patroclus.

[rrenatass]

YES I TURN ACHILLES AND PATROCLUS INTO PONIES, SO WHAT!

this designs are heavily based on my designs of "the song of achilles", the right ones are the characters before the war and the left ones are after (or during, in patroclus case)

i made something silly here hehe

[inuthe3rd]

genuine question, why didnt Athena choose Penelope as her protege, since she was as bright and had presence and power just as his husband...?

also, shouldn't they kiss? /joking

[sirjo-esque]

I just woke up but Jay saying he might make a musical based on the Illiad is already the highlight of my day

[lunian]

by pretty big accident found this little pretty book I considered to get one day with all my obsession to ancient mythology/literature nowadays

its so nice looking and I realized that English version is not harder to understand, ironically

[simplenefelibata]

i'm unwell they make me unwell i haven't been this excited over writing a fanfic since Desolación/Desolation😭

[ibrithir-was-here]

@windsweptinred Another AU Drabble! This time for the old Children of the Endless AU. I know you’ve a soft spot for Destiny so I hope you enjoy this Drabble featuring him!

——————

“Please I beg you!”

The woman who until now had stood so proud, so strong, throughout the tense encounter, now at last fell at Destiny's feet; hard gray eyes softened by the sheen of tears, red hair tumbling out before her like a war banner, fallen to the dirt in defeat.

"My lord, I know the truth of what you are, the truth of your kin, the sires of cursed and accursed Helen and Paris. Lord Apollo's doom upon me has granted this clarity. But your knowledge is greater than the cunning of the Achaens, your power more potent than that of the gods on Olympus. Surely, most surely you can grant this one boon, that at least one man might heed my warnings?"

Destiny's unseeing eyes stared out over the battlements whereon the pair stood, the light of the dawn was choked and gray, struggling through the smoke that rose up from the battlefield surrounding the walls on all sides.

"Mercy is not the province of Destiny, Cassandra"

His voice, to the protastrated woman, sounded as cold and hard as the stones she knelt on, body trembling with both creeping despair and curdling rage.

"It was written in the Book of Destiny that all these things should be so, and they cannot be unwritten"

Cassandra reared up at this, rage overcoming caution as she raised her eyes once more to gaze on this being she had summoned, this being she knew in her more rational mind deserved naught but deference and respect, at least a greater doom then the one she already carried befall her.

For here was one greater than Lord Apollo, then Lord Zeus himself, one who could truly smite her not only from life but all existence if crossed.

She found, alas, she did not care.

"It is written that great Troy, envy of the living world, be razed until not a stone of it is left to us to weep over, for the beauty that was lost and shall never be again?!"

She climbed to her feet as she spoke, words ringing out in the cold dawn, her red hair flying up in the cold wind, torch like in the heat of her passion.

"That my people shall be scattered and set upon like sheep abandoned and left to the ravenings of wolves??"

To Cassandra's distress, the flames of her anger began to flicker under the rising wave of her grief, and the tears that had until now shimmered behind her eyes now at last began to fall, and she thrust forward with the last vestiges of her anger, fists raised to shake a curse at the sky, as gray and implacable as the being before her.

"That my brothers, brave and true and flawed and foolish should all to a man fall and be forgotten?!"

Her grief at last smothered her flame, and despair gripped her as she dropped her head to her hand, knees sinking once more to the ground as she choked out:

"And that I should have the power to foresee it all, and yet be powerless to prevent it?"

Destiny stood over the princess’ shaking form, as silent tears fell from her hidden eyes, looking upon her in a silence that seemed infinite even to himself.

When at last he spoke, there was smallest shift of softness in his tone, so minute that it would have taken another Endless to note it, and so profound a change within their oldest brother would have shaken any one of them.

"What is written cannot be unwritten Cassandra" He repeated, "You, Paris, Helen. All are children of the Endless. In each of you there is an echo of your sire, one that will always ring true, though you struggle against it. Helen draws the Desire of all who look upon her, whether she wills it or not. Paris leads himself and all who surround him to Destruction, whether he seeks it or not.”

And here Destiny stepped forward, only a single step, the first he had taken since Cassandra had summoned him, but it was to any else who could have witnessed it as if an immovable mountain had stooped down to touch the cheek of a crying child.

"And you, Cassandra, last daughter of Troy, daughter of Destiny, you must bear witness to the end of all and all those you most love…"

The dawn finally broke over the city, casting the shadows of Destiny and his doomed daughter across the ramparts like a pair of shrouds.

"Whether we wish it or not"

[athamad]

Headcanon time: Odysseus is like those people who say "Ummm, that just happened!" you guys know what I'm talking abt right? And also, he says pogchamp, pog and poggers, he's silly and cringe like that 🤪

[uwanosorade]

i love the shriekcast bits where they read one-star goodreads reviews of classic literature, as someone who also unfortunately thought being in honors english was a personality trait when i was 14 they're so funny and nostalgic. im sure a lot of people would listen to those and be like "this is the death of literacy brought upon us by the tiktokification of reading" but im just like teens is the same (affectionate)

[hycinthrt]

literally anything i post about the chosen is me treating it as an ancient mythical text adaption with the occasional lil dash of ✨guilt✨ as a treat every once in a while