#arab mythology

[joelchaimholtzman]

Glad to share this weeks DUNE painting I just finished! Based on your top votes, here is Reverend Mother Jessica Atreides. I plan to make 5 more DUNE pieces for the time being, which one should I make next?

1. Emperor

2. Rabban

3. Chani

4. Stilgar

5. Gurney

For Jessica, I wanted to depict her in her darkest moments with the Water of Life. She is surrounded by the means to gain unlimited power, and is not hessitate to use it to subdue others to her will for what she deems the greater good.

Please let me know what you think!

All the best,

JCH

[jezzzebel]

Glory to Al-Uzza, the mighty goddess who protects us all from harm and evil.

[fonemoretime]

Zarqa's Caravan Girl Lines by Darya color by me

[sarafangirlart]

Thoughts on arab paganism? Do you like it?

I’m Muslim and my religion exists bc tons of Arabs (including my ancestors) didn’t want to be pagan anymore so take a wild guess lol

[oncanvas]

Pegasus, Walter Crane, 1889

Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic on paper laid on linen 28 x 28 in. (71 x 71 cm)

[x-heesy]

𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚝, 𝚌.670 𝙱𝙲 🇪🇬

[losthopeinloreolympus]

LO in a nutshell

[astolfocinema]

Three Thousands Years of Longing (2022) ----------------------------------------------- dir. George Miller cin. John Seale cs. USA, Australia

[dkniade]

Casual analysis of graphic design and composition (ft. a bit of colour theory) since I’m a bit rusty and haven’t thought about them in a while

Hm? Some shots in Al-Haitham’s and Kaveh’s demos share a similar composition…

But it’s interesting that the more logical one uses informal symmetry in his character title card and the more emotional one uses formal symmetry… So many rectangles in Kaveh’s card (‘course it helps that hanzi characters are in squares)… It’s kinda surprising, but still it brings out the flow of the illustration well. (Of course, Chinese hanzi can be read horizontally or vertically, so they’ve more freedom in typography, but I bet they changed the graphic layout a bit for the English demo…)

hah, yeah, I thought so. See how Kaveh’s cape can’t frame the center boxes anymore, and how there’s no space to the right of the synopsis in the upper right, and most of all how the two squares on the bottom left is now a quarter of the original size, leaving an empty space there (though if they rotated the words vertically it could fit into the rectangular space well).

Al-Haitham’s English title card isn’t bad, per se, but they could’ve put some shadow on the left side of the illustration so the text could stand out, and move the three green lines to the right side a bit more, so not everything is slightly to the left side when there’s no reason to. (The negative space on the two sides in the Chinese version is roughly the same size.)

These two shots are both long shots that show the character’s full body, but Al-Haitham is in a slightly low angle, and Kaveh is eye-level with the “camera”

This one’s another low angle full shot with Al-Haitham’s lower body, with a bunch of analogous colours. Also this one’s background uses formal symmetry again (even reflecting off the ground) while the placement of the characters are in informal symmetry (the large image of Al-Haitham balances out the small figures near the fountain)

[laufey-delia]

New Ways To Dark Academia

In the dark academia side of the internet, there is an over-representation of Medditarrean + English culture/litterature, which saddens me. In most posts, as I think you’ve noticed, almost everything refers to English litterature, Italian painters, French architecture and/or language as well as Roman and Ancient Greek mythos. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love those aspects of history and culture, but I think there is so much more in other parts of Europe, Asia, America and Oceania. It is my goal to shed light on a different way to Dark Academia.

LANGUAGES

A big part of the dark academia aesthetic is on the learning of a new language. Most blogs/Pinterest boards/discord server say: French, Italian, Latin are perfect dark academia languages, and thus skip over beautiful languages with rich cultures. So here are two languages I find have deep dark academia values:

German • Deutsch • West Germanic Language

When I think dark academia, I think of German as THE perfect language for it. It is quite difficult, as they have a unique way of indicating cases and have a deep vocabulary with words indicating emotions in our life, that most country don’t bother adding to their dictionary. Allow me to demonstrate:

Torschlusspanik : “As one gets older, the feat that time is running out, and important opportunities are slipping away.”

Arabic • العربية •  Semitic Language Arabic sadly has a negative impression on most European countries and in the US, tied to unfortunate events. Despite this, Arabic is a beautiful language that holds a history with poetry and art. Historically, Arabic was considered a language of science, and art, as the first scientists spoke Arabic.  Even today, Arabic is a poetry language, and we can find a lot of beautiful poems which were written by Arabian poets.

Important Note on languages

It is crucial to note that you can learn any language that you want for a variety of reasons. What matters in the end is not if the language sounds dark academia-esque, it is how you link learning this language to dark academia activities: Go on, my friends, learn the language you like by writing a journal in this language, writing poetry, watching a play in your target language. At the end of the day, it will make you happy, and I am thrilled that it does.

THINGS TO LEARN

Mythology/Mythos

In most dark academia post, the number 1’s mythology recommended is the Roman and Greek mythology. It gives the idea that other mythologies are inferior, which is sad. Strictly speaking, a mythology was a way for our ancestors to explain the unexplainable, and to give morals and figures, heroes to look up to. In other words, a mythology is a religion.

Here is my personal favourite mythology to learn: Norse Mythology: despite the white supremacists who took the mythology to  “justify” their way of thinking, the Norse mythology offers a very interesting way of thinking. It is dubbed with realism, as the gods are not immortal, and have flaws.  A way of learning about said mythology is through Norse poems, called scaldic verses. If you’re lucky, you can find some explained for free on Internet. It puts violence on a pedestal though, but considering how Scandia was a very hostile environment where men had to fight for resources, it shows this tense climate very well. So go on, and don’t stop on Greek and Roman mythology. Learn about Aztec Mythology, Japanese mythology, African mythologies, Polynesian mythology etc…

What is important isn’t if the art is subjectively beautiful (like is often seen with Roman and Greek mythology in dark academia posts), it is how you can analyse it and use it to understand how the population used it and the traces of said mythology today in those country and culture. 

Poetry

I can’t stress this enough: Arabic poetry is beautiful, and talks of forbidden love, wine, and small pleasures in life. I also love an Arabic poet who wrote about death, and its sweet embrace.  It is quite difficult to find good translation of Arabic poems, especially of Abbasid poems, but I can provide a thesis on the translation of two Arabic poems.  Of course, I realize that strictly talking of Arabic poems is restricting diverse and important cultures as one. There is also Kurdi, Iranian, Turkish poetry that deserves to be read and appreciated. 

Poison and toxic gas

A big part of dark academia is the passion for morally grey things. One such things is poisons, or toxic gas. Of course disclaimer, do not use this knowledge to actually try and replicate it, it is very dangerous, and I do not condone the use for your personal ways. 

Either to survive in the forest or to learn about the limits of the human body, it can be interesting. Why does X react that way in contact to human skin? What molecules are to play? Why does X is denser than the air ? Does medicine against X or Y exist ?

When I was a younger lad, I wanted to be a forensic pathologist, learning about such things was fascinating and bought me a sense of accomplishment. Even though no one wanted to hear about the effect of chlorine gas on the human body. Bummer.

Here is the end of my little post about aspects of cultures the Dark Academia Community sometimes brush over. Of course, Dark Academia isn’t activities only, but also a way of thinking. And I think it is good to keep that in mind.  If you think I missed some parts that should be enlightened, don’t hesitate to tell me.

Laufey

[egyptianrenaissance]

Delusions of many Egyptian nationalists

I find it strange seeing a lot of Egyptian nationalists denying the fact that modern day Egyptians are heavily influenced by Arab culture through out the centuries, claiming things like Egyptians maintaining a huge portion of their indigenous Coptic culture(if not all of it). The first step of solving an issue is actually acknowledging it, which isn't the case for most nationalists due to their continuous denial of the issues in Egyptian society. Now we have modern day Egyptians, who name their kids Arab names, speak Arabic, not speak a word of Coptic, and with a fundamentally Islamic nature. So the question is; Where is the Egyptian culture in all of this? The oxford definition of culture is "the customs and beliefs, art, way of life, and social organization of a particular country or group." According to this very definition, there is vaguely any difference between modern-day Egyptians and their Arab neighbors in the Arabian peninsula. In fact, millions of Egyptians claim lineage to Arab tribes and to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through certificates made by communities here. Yes, those certificates are mostly inaccurate and do not prove anything, but still, the idea of claiming this makes it safe to say that most Egyptians for the most part identify as Arab culturally and ethnically. Sure, one can say that there are remnants of the old culture through some Coptic loanwords, using an Arabized version of the Coptic calendar and some holidays, but those tiny remnants are not an indication of a cultural continuity by any means. Genetically speaking, modern day Egyptians are descended from the ancients, but unfortunately this does not really play a major role in shaping one's identity, at least in the case of most Egyptians nowadays.

What nationalists should be doing now is Egyptianize Egypt by teaching people about their history, promoting the Coptic language by learning it and try reviving it like how individuals like Claudius Labib tried to. Some of them do that undoubtedly and I respect them immensely, but for the ones who are still in denial of the cultural issues surrounding Egyptian society, I hope they wake up one day to the ugly reality and start doing more.

[joelchaimholtzman]

Painting I made a year ago, depicting a Sub Saharan African tribal leader; Both a merchant and a warrior. Hope you like it!

Best, JCH

www.joelchaimholtzman.com

[jezzzebel]

PRAYER TO THE ARAB GODESSES : ALLAT , AL-UZZA AND MANAT.

Image source:

https://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/arabtriple.php

Mighty goddesses, you who have protected us from all harm through the centuries, please hear my prayers. Aid me in my hardest times, and look over me when i need you. I humbly ask you, great Al-Uzza , Al-Lat and Manāt , to protect me when i need it, and be there for me. May my life be as clean as a desert with yellow sand. May my future be as bright as the Sun protected by the goddess Shams. May my life be as abundant as Allat's grain fields. May my love be as gentle as Al-Uzza. And may the time of my death be as far away as time. Thank you, for everything.

Glory to you, great goddesses.

[fonemoretime]

Snake Deity Shahmaran, betrayed 3000 years ago, studious doctor, cave dweller. lines by Darya, colors by me

[sarafangirlart]

I can’t believe I forgot about this but in the Clash of the Titans remake they have a stereotypical Arab djinn character and he dies by exploding himself at Medusa, this movie started production in 2002, it shows.

[oncanvas]

Proserpine, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1878

Pencil, watercolor and body color heightened with gum arabic on paper 30 ½ x 14 ¾ in. (77.5 x 37.5 cm)