#classic myths

[bookloversofbath]

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[golyadkin]

Sons Of The Labyrinth or The Things Our Fathers Do To Us

[bebs-art-gallery]

Purgatory Canto 12, The Soul of Arachne (1867)

— by Gustave Doré

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Vlaho Bukovac (Croatian, 1855-1922) Andromeda, n.d. National Gallery of Slovenia

[tenoart]

Penelope and Ctimene because Ctimene angst almost made me cry

[vetyr]

Hades and Persephone

Recent commission! The details on this one were crazy fun to paint, I spent a lot of time on it but I'm really happy with the result :)

If you'd like to make an inquiry or get more information about commissions, feel free to email silverthegold@gmail.com.

[two-bees-poetry]

are you hungry? (medea, alone)

[doloneia]

we need to abolish the idea that ancient greek myths and legend have a coherent timeline. they do not. for any given myth there are like 10 heroes mentioned that feasibly could not have been adults or even alive. herakles keeps showing up in places where he should probably be dead. anyone could be a suitor of helen. even herakles. even theseus if you count that kidnapping stint he did. nestor is alive for 10 billion years. time is fake and anything beyond vague generational outlines is conjecture

[thereinart]

I could be a dick and call this " Andromache's dream"...But I 'd rather call it 'Andromache's life happy and unbothered forever"

Anyway, have a little Hector and Astyanax TvT

[1v31182m5]

On my planet, this is hilarious /starfire ref

Joke explanation in tags

[little-miss-sad-eyes]

Just here to publicly thank Homer for giving us the best homosexual love story ever written (the Iliad) and the best heterosexual love story ever written (the Odyssey)

[unbizzarre]

Young Odysseus introduces his son to the goddess Athena

(Alternative title: Telemachus meets his fairy Godmother)

Creator’s note:

Does this picture look blurry to you? Like even if you click on the image to enlarge it? I don’t know why but I can’t seem to get tumblr to show the full resolution image. I worked hard to make faces that actually look like faces for once but now they’re just blurry blobs 😭. Anybody know how to fix? EDIT: thank you all for the feedback! I’m glad it is not blurry for you!

[wordsmithic]

unpopular opinion but with the new tide of Greek mythology stories and retellings, Greek Cultural Sensitivity Readings are absolutely necessary. We are in 2024, with thousands of fics and retellings out there!! How is this not a thing yet?? There's vast improvement one can achieve by working professionally on their text with a Greek. I've seen it so many times!!

Also, duh, I'm offering the service BUT I want you to know that the situation with the inaccuracies of SERIOUS works is so dire that initially I didn't even do it for money. As a writer I just wanted to... fix things, to set a new standard for writers and the industry that sells us the most heavily Americanized pop-culture material and passes it as "authentic vibes of Greek mythology". (And of course there were writers who wanted to do right by their story and they had reached out to me. So kudos to them as well!)

Okay, but why does Cultural Sensitivity Reading make a vast difference and it's not just smoke and mirrors?

As a Greek, I am tired of well-meaning writers and authors butchering very basic elements of my culture. It's not their fault exactly, since they were raised in another culture with a different perspective. And nobody clued them in on how different Greek culture is from theirs, so writers sometimes assume that their culture is the default and they project that into ancient Greece. (Even published professionals like Madeline Miller have written "UK or US in antiquity" (with a very colonialist flavor) instead of writing "Ancient Greece". (Looking at you, Circe!)

Even writers who researched a lot before coming to me still had a lot of misinformation or wrong information in their text, easily verifiable by the average Greek. Again, not their fault. They can only access certain information, which does not include Greek scholarly work and scientific articles that DO offer valuable context.

Translation, accuracy, and meaning: If you ever wondered what a word means or how to pronounce it, here's your chance! There are Greeks like me who are knowledgeable and have a keen interest in antiquity and they will be able to read and compare ancient texts, and dive deeper into the work of Greek scholars regarding those texts.

If you want to create new words, you can do that as well! (It doesn't always work, but we can try. Greek is a really rich language and has a word about everything) If you use existing words, I can help you separate reality from fantasy in the context of your story.

(Do not assume we Greeks are ignorant of our heritage, or that we don't know how to research! Our archaeology sector is huge and archaeological museums are closer to most of us than your local Target is to you)

I guarantee there are things you never thought about Greece and the Mediterranean - from the ancient to the modern era. Sprinkling elements like phrases, types of interactions, customs, songs, instruments, dances, etc , into your text will make your text absolutely rich in culture.

Names matter!!! The genders of the names matter, diminutives matter (If I see one more "Perse" for Persephone I will claw my eyes out along with a few thousand Greeks), naming traditions matter!!! In many cases you should not even use a diminutive!!

You will be able to write about a foreign culture easily! Because of the continuity of Greek culture, you can even write a few more recent Greek elements to fill in the gaps. I can make sure they are not mismatched, and they will complement your ancient setting. I have observed a few things I didn't know we had since antiquity, but they make sense because our land has certain characteristics.

Non-Greek writers often miss the whole context of Greek culture! Do you know how Greek respect towards deities and parents looks like? What tones we use when we talk to our elders? When to use honorific plural - if your setting is more modernized?

Oh, and please let's avoid caricatures when describing Greeks?? (even fantasy Greeks) There can be heavy exotisation and odd descriptions of Greeks, as if we are another species. Even in published works. For many western writers it's difficult to catch, unfortunately.

The whole process is actually way easier than you think. You send me a text, I make notes and then we have some discussion on your vision.

It's always okay to seek guidance from the locals! You are not "guilty" when you admit you don't know! How can you know if you don't ask?? You can't imagine what relief and "πάλι καλά!!!" I read/see from other Greeks when I tell them another foreigner is using me for cultural sensitivity? Greeks want you to seek help and will NOT shame you for it!

(On the contrary, you have no idea how many eye-rolls Greeks do when they see a blatantly wrong thing in a story... Which has happened pretty often for many years now. Can we do better as an industry?? Please???)

You can send me a personal message to share your story, or ask what this whole cultural sensitivity thing is all about, or ask about what I have done so far and how I can help. But for the love of all that's good, don't let your story be another "generic greek myth retelling"! And don't let others sell you their generic greek myth retellings!!

[vetyr]

Already you will be covered in skin and sinews and you will live. Nothing is too late.

A personal piece in between commissions! If you'd like prints, here u go :)

[o1iveangel]

i present to you this

[dacenturion]

Helen of Troy/Sparta… They could never make me hate you. She’s portrayed beautifully in Paris the Musical