#dares Phrygian

[dilfaeneas]

Apollo leading Helenus away from Troy

[sarafangirlart]

I know that DARES OF PHRYGIA's History of the Fall of Troy is a late Roman story but I like that there is a version where Cassandra wasn’t taken by Agamemnon and got to stay with her family, then I got mad again bc apparently the Greeks were never specifically told they needed to kill Polyxena but Neoptolemus (the bastard) wanted to kill her anyway.

[katerinaaqu]

According to Dares the Phrygian Helen has a beauty mark between her brows! What do you know? Greeks possibly considered moles attractive from that time hehe 😜 but now I remember this amazing mycenaean female head from around 1300 BC

And now I imagine Helen when doing her makeup instead of painting the usual sun on her forehead she just draws the dots around her beauty mark instead! 🤔

[kaleb-is-definitely-sane]

I love Uncle Rick. He's a great dude (I think lol). But I will NEVER forgive him for how he wrote Achilles in The Last Olympian. If you know, you know.

[1taliart]

My brain is too full of Mycenaean/Minoan frescos, I just had to create something. And what better than a first attempt at the face that lunched a thousand ships.

[multifunctionalnitroglycerin]

The Locked Tomb Series Names and Symbolism #4

Hiya folks! Hope you are all doing fine and dandy. This series ofc couldn’t be complete without our beloved Sex-Pal in the count. Now according to wiki there are two figures that inspired the Master Warden, Παλαμήδης, the Greek mythological hero that took part in the Trojan war, and Palamedes the Arthurian knight. I am more well-versed in the Greek myths than I am in Medieval plays, I admit, but I will do my best to do justice by both these inspirations.

            But first things first, some etymology. There are two most prominent versions for the etymology of the name Palamedes or well, Παλαμήδης. In the first one, it’s a derivative of the verb παλαμάομαι meaning devise/contrive and invent. Aka the inventor that devises plans (Or concocts schemes, depending on how you want to see it). In the second one it is believed to derive from the verb παλαίω => παλεύω aka fight and μήδομαι => σκέφτομαι, συμβουλεύω aka think and advise. So, Palamedes would be the one that thinks abt the battle and gives advice for it. Both etymologies I feel fit our inventive strategist, The Master Warden of the Sixth, to a t.

Let us now begin with the Greek hero from the Trojan war. And no my pals, this is not yet another Iliad reference, for our proclaimed hero does not actually appear in the Iliad. His first appearance is in what has been known as the Κύπρια, a well-known epic of the ancient Greek literature that despite being quite famous during the classical period, has been lost to the sands of time. Long story short, this epic is a part of the Trojan circle and follows the conclusion of the Iliad. Palamedes’ story is one of many included in the epic that counts I think 11 books.

            Truth to be told, Mythological Palamedes did star in quite a few epics, tragedies and other works that refer to the Trojan war or the time after it, but for the sake of keeping the post relatively short, and since I do not quite have the time to hunt down every ancient text reference and draw a parallel to the Master Warden, we’ll mostly reference the most relative ones and I’ll leave a list in the end, in case some of you do want to go hunting ancient texts.

            I’ll start with a fun fact. According to a Trojan priest of Hephestus, Dares the Phrygian, Palamedes was described as tall, slender, wise, magnanimous, and charming. Now I cannot speak for everyone, but well, to me that sounds like Palamedes Sextus.

            In general, there are not many direct parallels that I can make between Palamedes the Euboian and Palamedes Sextus, bar for the most obvious one, that they are both ingenious. Palamedes the mythological figure was accredited with inventing part of the Greek Alphabet, lighthouses, navigation, coins, the division of time into months days and hours and a few board games, with κύβοι being one of the most prominent (to my understanding it’s the equivalent to dice). Palamedes Sextus on the other hand, figured out the secret to Lyctorhood, necromantically bound his soul to his skeleton, saw through Cytherea’s ploy, exploded himself, created a bubble in the River in which he persevered until Camila could glue his skull back together and he figured out a way to co-exist with her, in her own body, without killing them both, plus the Grand Lysis and Paul’s creation.

            What mostly sticks with me from the above, among others, is navigation. One Palamedes is the inventor of it, and the other, though by that point is Paul, seems to know a way to the Tomb via the River. The river that even God struggles navigating – at least with other people on the way. So, could it be, that Palamedes -that beat even Cassiopeia in time survived in the River – figures out a way to truly navigate this sea of the dead?

            Two smaller parallels we could draw from mythological Palamedes are 1. Pal seeing through Cytherea’s ploy, the same way that Palamedes the Euboian saw through Odysseus’ ploy when he wanted to avoid fighting in Troy and played mad, plowing the earth with a horse and an ox throwing salt in the holes.   2. The syphoning challenge. This story also includes Palamedes butting heads with Odysseus – not going to lie to you, they were evenly matched in genius – although according to some accounts it’s Palamedes who was the brightest and most ingenious of the Greeks - , but Odysseus never forgave him for uncovering his ploy and may or may not have orchestrated Palamedes’ murder – only in this analogy Pal is Odysseus. In a time of great hunger for the Achaeans, Odysseus was sent to Thrace to find wheat and returned empty-handed. Palamedes mocked him, and Odysseus replied that for all his ingenuity he too would return emptyhanded. Palamedes did embark on the quest and was successful, returning with shiploads of supplies. In the syphoning challenge, Pal is Odysseus, the one who turns up empty handed, refusing to risk Camila’s well-being once he figured out how the test worked. And he is also the one that tries to talk Harrow out of completing the challenge. Harrow much like the mythological Palamedes jumps in the opportunity to prove herself – through the challenge’s objective had little to do with proving one’s self, as we saw – and succeeds, obtaining the key.

            All in all, the biggest parallel’s we can draw here, is that Pal like his mythological namesake is a genius inventor and strategist, a bright necromancer and brighter scholar still. He is the Odysseus in Harrow’s Palamedes and vice versa.

            And now that I drew the parallel with Odysseus I cannot unsee it. He made his body the Trojan horse that exploded in Cytherea’s face. He was stranded in the River – the sea of the undead, of the souls and corpses and all that nice stuff – for however long it took Camilla to piece the skull together, like Odysseus lost in the seas. He found his Ogygia in Camila’s mind where he stays safely stored until his stop in the island of the Phaeacians – Naberius’ body. A brief stop gathering supplies, gathering courage before going home. Back to Camilla, but now as one. There is no him and her anymore. They have had a home in each other, and it’s time he returned to it, burning down the ruins of the past, and getting reborn as something new, together, as one. (Cam and Pal are a phoenix metaphor if I have ever seen one.)

            Onto the Arthurian Palamedes now, our friend was a knight of the round table, and makes his first appearance in an expansion of the Tristan and Iseult legend, as a knight vying for the princess’ hand, much like our beloved Sex-Pal wanted Dulcinea’s affections. There are no Trsitans in this world however, merely Cytherea as an imposter.

            Now what is interesting about the Arthurian Palamedes, is that according to various tales he is the hunter of the Questing Beast – a multi animal snake like monster that he, Percival and Galahad are tasked with exterminating. In most versions the hunt is futile and bears no results. After Palamedes converts to Christianity however, releasing himself from the worldly entanglements, he is finally able to slay the beast after the other two trap it in a lake. My theory here is that the Questing Beast, Beast Glatisant or whatever you want to call it, is a Resurrection Beast, perhaps even Varun the Eater. And the Warden has “converted to Christianity” by ascending, aka completing the Lyctorhood process. He shed his mortal shell, disentangled himself from the coils of mortality and worldly needs, becoming very much the equivalent of the “converted Palamedes”.

 Practically, to sum up, Pal through Lyctorhood and Paul could be the one to slay the Resurrection Beast that is Varun the Eater. With the help of two other individuals – for some reason I feel one of them would be Pyrrha – they trap Varun in a “lake” – could be the Tomb, could be the First, could be yet another metaphorical body of water – and he is the one who end the RB that allegedly killed and consumed Cassiopeia the First.

That’s the post folks, now the list of ancient Lit that I promised:

Ἀπολλωδώρου, Βιβλιοθήκης Ἐπιτομή, 3.7 /  Apollodorus, library epitome 3.7 (But he, not wishing to go to the war, feigned madness. However, Palamedes, son of Nauplius, proved his madness to be fictitious; and when Ulysses pretended to rave, Palamedes followed him, and snatching Telemachus from Penelope's bosom, drew his sword as if he would kill him. And in his fear for the child Ulysses confessed that his madness was pretended, and he went to the war)

Ὑγίνου, Μύθοι, 105/ Hyginus' fabulae 105

Παυσανίου Ελλάδος Περιήγησις,/ Pausanias' guide to Greece

Γοργίας, Υπέρ Παλαμήδους Απολογία / Gorgias Palamedes’ Defense

Ovid, Metamorphoses pp. 13.34-60, 308-312

Virgil, Aeneid pp. 2.81-85

Plato, Apology 41b

Take care of yourselves! See ya on the next one!

[babyrdie]

how about trojans? i don't think you've ever posted a art with them

Details:

I'm obviously not drawing everyone here. There are a lot of people!

Hecuba and Priam are both in designs where they definitely weren't young newly adults, but they also aren't elderly like they should have been in the Trojan War. The reason is that then I would have to draw them with white hair and that would prevent me from properly seeing who pulled who. So here are Hecuba and Priam definitely pre-Iliad.

Too lazy to draw feet.

Hector

He's the firstborn son of a shocking number of children, so I'm going to let the guy have at least a few frown lines alone, because this man must have frowned a lot throughout his life. In this house, we give AT LEAST an eternal frown!

I imagine him being the same height as Patroclus and Achilles because the three of them wear the same armor. Now you might say “but Birdie, that physique is CLEARLY bigger than the other two” and I agree! My excuse for this is that there's a part that says Zeus changed Achilles' armor when Hector put it on, and I always figured that was about the width. Reason: Achilles is a warrior focused on speed, so I don't imagine him being the width of a refrigerator, so to speak, and on the other hand Hector and Big Ajax seem to be somewhat similar in fighting style, so I think Hector and Achilles had a difference in size in subject width. I also made him quite tan because he was one of the main warriors.

So he decreed and the son of Cronus bowed his craggy dark brows. fitted the armor tightly on Hector's body and Ares surged in his heart with awesome force, filling his limbs with power and fighting strength.

The Iliad, XVII, 240-244. Tranlstion by Robert Fagles.

Hecuba

Hecuba has more than one attributed father, but I decided to go with the Phrygian king Dymas, described in The Iliad as Hecuba's father.

[...] Asius, an uncle of stallion-breaking Hector, a blood brother of Hecuba, son of Dymas who lived in Phrygia near Sangarius' rapids. [...]

The Iliad, XVI, 837-839. Translation by Robert Fagles.

I won't lie to you: I was unsure about how to draw her. Phrygians are a very uncertain people in terms of information, and this definitely didn't help make the whole thing easier since I was following the version where Hecuba is Phrygian. I have researched for a long time, and yet the Phrygians remain a very obscure people. And I couldn't draw Paris and Laodice before her because I wanted them to look specifically like her, so my delay was holding those two back. After much consideration, I decided to simply go with these two (both late) descriptions of Hecuba:

Hecuba: dark, good eyes, full grown, good nose, beautiful, generous, talkative, calm.

Chronography, 5.106, by the byzantine Ionnis Malalas. Translation by Brady Kiesling.

Hecuba was beautiful, her figure large, her complexion dark. She thought like a man and was pious and just.

Dares Phrygius, 12, uncertain author. Translation by R.M Frazer.

I also wanted to make Hecuba beautiful. Not only because she' s usually described that way, but also because there are myths in which she's Apollo's lover. I think that to have attracted Apollo Hecuba must have been really beautiful, as well as calm and thoughtful. And it's precisely because I wanted to follow the idea of Hecuba being beautiful that I wanted to make Paris (generally described as one of the most beautiful Trojans in myths in general) and Laodice (described as the most beautiful daughter of Priam by Homer) take after her.

[...] Afterwards Hecuba bore sons [...] and Troilus: this last she is said to have had by Apollo.

Library, 5.12.5, by Pseudo-Apollodorus. Translation by J.G Frazer.

Deiphobus

Honestly, I don't have much to say. He's a typical warrior and looks more like Priam. And yes, it's on purpose to make him look like my Menelaus (although there's a chance I might redesign Menelaus).

Laodice

Laodice is described as Priam's most beautiful daughter, which is why I made her look like Hecuba. Among the princes and princesses, she's the most physically similar to Paris, as he's also one of the most beautiful and also looks like Hecuba. She's not a very prominent character in mythology, but I don't know… there's something about her that interests me, so I put some effort into trying to make her design look good.

[...] looking for all the world like Hector's sister wed to Antenor's son, Helicaon's bride Laodice, the loveliest daughter Priam ever bred.

The Iliad, III, 147-149. Translation by Robert Fagles.

And there at the palace Hector's mother met her son, that warm, goodhearted woman, going in with Laodice, the loveliest daughter Hecuba ever bred.

The Iliad, VI, 298-300. Translation by Robert Fagles.

I like to think that she partially understands Helen, knowing what it's like to have so much attention that it's negative because of her appearance, but in the end she's not really close to her (I'm going with the versions where Hector and Priam are the only ones who treat Helen really well. I don't think Laodice was the type to be actively mean to her, just the type to avoid interaction).

Priam

Priam actually participated in wars, so don't think I made him smaller because he's horrible at fighting. He simply has these genetics and, at the specific age I chose for him here, he's already at least around fifty years old. Additionally, I made his eyes look like a golden honey as a reference to Apollo, because of the god's association with knowledge. I could have made it gray in reference to Athena's wisdom, but I don't think it would fit. And yeah, specifically Polyxena, Helenus and Cassandra having this eye color was on purpose!

Paris

He takes after his mother Hecuba, and is beautiful like her. He is usually portrayed in antiquity as blond, but I REALLY wanted to make him look like my Hecuba, and if I followed that description, he would look like my Priam. So that's why I'm taking creative liberty here, but know that I KNOW he was usually blonde. I must be honest in admitting that my Paris is also very slightly inspired by Enrique Simonet's, because El Juicio de Paris was one of the first paintings referring to Greek mythology that I saw and that's why it left a strong impression on me. Even from the back he looks really handsome, so yes, I'll be using it for inspiration even though it's definitely not an ancient Greek source.

Normally Paris is drawn without any muscle and I understand why! In myths he's often considered effeminate, and he's sometimes reputed to be weak. BUT I personally can't see him being like that, and I think it would be perfectly possible to balance a slightly more feminine appearance with an athletic physique (I did this with my Achilles, after all). And now I'm going to do a kind of dissertation on why my Paris's physique is like this, even though you, dear anon, didn't ask!

Archery itself doesn't need to change the physique exceptionally, and you can see this by analyzing photos of Olympian archers (they, at most, have athletic arms). I literally even know someone who does archery and they don't have a Green Arrow-esque physique. Generally, archers with more developed physiques are those who use very heavy bows, as they require greater strength from the muscles used to pull and release the string, and who place some additional effort in other physical activities besides archery (for example , bodybuilding). In other words, Paris being a good archer wouldn't necessarily make him have to be super muscular, although it could give him good arms (and back, I imagine).

There is another however. Paris is a prince, but he wasn't raised like a prince. The opposite, actually! He was raised by a commoner shepherd, and I really doubt that Paris spent days of his life lying around just eating grapes given to him, he certainly did some physical work. I tried to imagine more of a farmer vibe, because they're the type of people who do manual work every day. If you notice, being a farmer doesn't necessarily make you an aspiring bodybuilder, but in many cases it makes you stronger. Even in cases of farmers who have a pot belly, you've probably seen one who had at least some semi-impressive biceps. In other words, Paris doing manual labor doesn't necessarily make him Big Ajax, but it really gets in the way of the image of him being like my Helenus.

Polyxena

Polyxena is mainly remembered for being a kind of Trojan Iphigenia, in the sense that the Greeks at a certain point are in one place because the wind is paralyzed by a greater force and this greater force will only allow them to go to their goal with the sacrifice of a young virgin, who is portrayed as courageously accepting her sacrifice. She also plays an important role in the later versions of the myths regarding Achilles' death, taking advantage of his passion for her to deceive him in order to lead him to his death (I say later because in fact it is later. The older versions didn't include Polyxena having that role). Despite being a later version, I based her intelligence on the versions where she plays a role in Achilles' death and gave her more knowing eyes.

Interestingly, I found her described as tall in two versions (Malalas and whoever wrote Dares' account. Though it's interesting that one specified black for her hair and the other said blonde and in response, I did it...brown), but I really wish Laodice's height was more detachable, so here my Polyxena isn't tall. Although described as tall in both versions, both versions find a way to say that something about her is small (in one, her feet. In other, her fingers), so I made her physique more similar to Priam's genetics than to Hecuba's.

Helenus

Helenus is Cassandra's twin brother and is capable of prophesying like her. While they are not identical twins, they look very similar. Even though he also didn't believe in Cassandra like everyone else, I like to think they were still close. Helenus purposely avoids cutting his hair so that they look even more alike and as children they could be a pain in Hector's ass for swapping places with the intention of tricking their older brother. The myths don't tend to highlight him for any athletic or warrior ability, but more for his prophetic or intellectual ability, so I really didn't make a point of giving him muscles (I know he fights in the Iliad, I just don't think it's the most interesting part of him. Let's face it, no one remembers him because he picked up a spear or a bow or something like that, people remember him because he prophesied). Helenus looks a lot like his father Priam, who is short and has a thin physique genetics. The reason he seems more “brilliant” than Cassandra is precisely because the difference in treatment given to the two certainly affects the way they live and think. Suffice to say, Helenus is less anxious and frustrated.

Cassandra

I want to make something clear right away, because I've seen a similar misunderstanding happen before: my Cassandra isn't thin because she isn't well fed in Troy. She's a princess and a prophetess, she IS well fed. She just has a really thin physique, just look at Helenus and Polyxena. I like to make characters look different from each other, and I noticed that, with the exception of Penelope (who I didn't even post in full body), I was lacking in female characters that were very uncurvy. So here's Cassandra.

She's Helenus's twin sister, although they aren't identical twins. However, they're still similar! They both mainly take after their father Priam, and the reason I specifically chose blonde for them is because I had the interpretation that Cassandra was blonde when I read The Iliad. They actually have the same eye color, I just prefer to make Cassandra's look darker because there is a difference between the treatment given to the two. Helenus's prophecies are believed, which allows him to be a more hopeful and calm person. Cassandra isn't believed and is often seen as crazy (just look at the treatment given to her in Alexandra and The Trojan Women, for example), which makes her seem less like she's smiling 24 hours a day and more like she's constantly frustrated.

Cassandra is indeed pretty, but I didn't try to exaggerate her too much because I don't want to give her the vibe of untouchable beauty. I think Cassandra's emotional aspect is infinitely more interesting, and I tried to convey that in the design. I like this kind of complicated relationship with Apollo, in which she's bitter for Apollo having cursed her (as seen in The Oresteia) and at the same time admires him as her god (as seen in The Trojan Women). She feels frustrated by feeling helpless, knowing that she can't do anything to stop what's going to happen. The reason she has dark circles under her eyes is because, honestly, I can't imagine being her without eventually developing anxiety. And one of the characteristics of anxiety is precisely these piles of terrifying thoughts about the future that absolutely prevent you from getting a decent sleep. In this specific drawing I didn't draw nails, but I imagine she bites them too.

Height Comparison

[artofmilankovacevic]

A new cameo from our forge - Trojan prince Paris (also known as Aléxandros), who was dragged by gods into initiating the Trojan war by abducting the most beautiful woman of Antiquity, Hellen of Sparta, under auspices of his immortal benefactrice, the very goddess of Love, Aphrodite. I based the portrait on a speculative account of Dares the Phrygian, who described Pars as "fair, tall, and brave. His eyes were very beautiful, his hair soft and blond, his mouth charming, and his voice pleasant. He was swift, and eager to take command." However, it is possible that I will return with an alternative version based on the account of the Byzantine chronicler Malalas, whose Paris is "well-grown, sturdy, white, good nose, good eyes, black pupils, black hair, incipient beard, long-faced, heavy eyebrows, big mouth, charming, eloquent, agile, an accurate archer, cowardly, hedonist".

[local-queer-classicist]

In another installment of “Semi-Obscure Greco-Roman Trojan War Fanfiction from Antiquity that the Middle Ages Took Way Too Seriously”, I present Dares the Phrygian absolutely thirsting after Hector.

“His eyes would blink attractively.”

“His eyes would blink attractively.”

For class I’m currently reading the 4th book of Dictys of Crete’s totally first-person account of the Trojan War (definitely not a Roman-era fanfiction about the Trojan War that the Middle Ages took way too seriously), and let me tell you it’s a hoot.

Just got to the part where the Trojans are super bummed that the Greeks killed Troilus because he was a real cutie.

We also had to contend with the devastating loss of Budget Patroclus Antilochus, son of Nestor. RIP. We appreciated you, king. Definitely as more than a replacement Patroclus. Definitely.

[dilfaeneas]

It's a murder on the dance floor 🕺

Or why does someone always die on Achillies' wedding day

[a-gnosis]

Apparently the account of Dares the Phrygian is not certain whether it is of Latin origin or whether it came from a Greek original. Do you know if Dictys Cretenses is in a similar situation or is it possible to be "sure" if it's Greek or Roman?

I was honestly not familiar with this text at all, but I did a quick search on jstor out of curiosity. Apparently a fragment of the original Greek text was found amongst the Tebtunis papyri and published in 1908. The question was then seen as settled ("The Greek Dictys", Nathaniel E. Griffin, The American Journal of Philology, Vol.29, No.3, 1908).

Now that was a long time ago, so I skimmed through an article from 2012, "Diktys of Crete", Peter Gainsford, The Cambridge Classical Journal, Vol.58. He mentioned that three other fragmentary papyri of the original Greek text existed, two of which were published in 2009. So at least then there seems to have been a consensus that there was a Greek original which dates to the late second century CE?

If anyone has more updated information, feel free to add.

[katerinaaqu]

Helloo I hope you're doing well :) I was reading about Hector and realised I've never seen him outside of the Iliad. Does he appear in other texts ?

Hello and thank you very much for your sweet words and your ask! Oh yes of course. Hector appears in a plethora of ancient Greek and Roman texts but the real test is to see him outside the context of the Trojan war! Hahaha!

For example Hector appears in plenty of texts by Apollodorous in various contexts and he even mentions how Hector was the one to kill Protesilaus and that is mentioned in several sources more I believe Hyginus included as well as a writer called Philostratus mentions the death of Protesilaus by the hands of Hector. Pausanias mentions Hector in one painting or image sitting in a mourning manner next to the Ethipian king Memnon after the Thracian Thamyris. Plutarch also mentions Hector in various of his texts in the context of Trojan War. Eurypedes mentions Hector in many of his tragedies. Strabo makes mentions to Hector during his geographical expeditions. Plato mentions Hector a lot in his work (even in Apology), Pindar as well as Diodorus Siculus. Last but not least we have Aristotle who mentions Hector in various of his works.

For other roman sources we have of course the Aenead by Virgil and Ovid. Even Pliny the Elder makes mentions to Hector and of course P. Virgilius Maro as he makes commentary on Virgils' Aenead. P. Ovidius Naso also mentions him in his work among other written roman sources including Horace

For his physical description we again have the classic cases of Malalas and Dares the Phrygian. And of course again we have kinda contradictory accounts on him:

Dares the Phrygian: Hector spoke with a slight lisp. His complexion was fair, his hair curly. His eyes would blink attractively. His movements were swift. His face, with its beard, was noble. He was handsome, fierce, and high-spirited, merciful to the citizens, and deserving of love. Malalas: dark-skinned, tall, very stoutly built, strong, good nose, wooly-haired, good beard, squinting, speech defect, noble, fearsome warrior, deep-voiced.

To name a few writers who mention him! Happy to provide the passages you want in the future. Most of the contexts in which Hector is being mentioned is around the trojan war and the epic cycle or used as an example for rethorics. ^_^

And of course do not forget how Hector's name is being mentioned to Linear B tablets! ;)

I hope this helps!

[eclecticopposition]

tagged in six sunday by @grand-magnificent! we are tragically unable to post any Phrygian things today, as all of our Phrygian things are going In The Fic and we have no ideas. except for chapter six, and a little phrygian/corrasion bonus action thing on the side. but those have to wait.

instead you get to read one of our backdated snapshots of Kalrin Pyrhis, the fifth(??) worst motherfucker in clown school. Welcome to Havenfree!

(tagging if you want to join in: @aurochsent, @andromedasea, @circuitousmoths)

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You take two and a half weeks to execute your revenge.

Royvin likes to stand in the same spot. She claims her place in every class, her massive bulk and leering face just daring someone to try and take it. No one ever does. 

It would be easy to trap her desk. Glue on the seat, bees under the table, acid on the pencil case, spikes on the roof. People do it to people who aren’t Royvin all the time. 

But that would be pedestrian, forgettable. No style at all. This requires artistry.

You are looking for a class that both of you go to, where everyone stands, and where Royvin has carved out a spot with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. Of those there are six. Gym class, theater, art and sculpture, food preservation, the debate side of debate and history, and sometimes (but not always) home economics. Also sometimes band, but you’re not doing this in band class. Out of the question.

Out of all of them, food preservation is the only one where the floor is made of the right material, and she happens to be standing exactly on the end of two long, wooden boards.

If this were a game of clue, then this murder is taking place in the wine cellar. The culprit: yours truly. Now you just need a weapon.

You creep out during the day to make your preparations. First, you examine the boards themselves. They are wide and thick, but they are also old; they won’t hold up to what you need them for. Improvements are needed.

You pay a little weirdo to get you a piece of metal that is exactly two boards long and two boards wide. 

Then you consider the matter of mass. Royvin is heavier than you; it will not do to balance this straight down the middle. The hinge will need to be much closer to her than to you. There is a space under the floor (this whole building is raised slightly off the ground, much to the pleasure of all the clowns who like to scurry beneath it) and the old floor rests on a perpendicular set of support beams. When you check, you find that the beams in question rest unfortunately right down the middle. 

You also pay the little weirdo to make a metal hinge attached to the piece of metal, about three quarters of the way to the top. You have them drill some holes in the corners while you're at it. Sawing through the support beam will have to come as a later step.

After some frank discussion about what exactly you want this thing to do (and no small amount of exasperation at your lack of understanding of basic mechanics), the weirdo gives you a hinge with two parts. The first is the part that is already affixed to the plate. A long, flat metal bar is now extending out to either side, with instructions to attach this to several planks that you don’t want moving – that will keep the whole thing braced with the floor. At the heart of it, there is the familiar shape of something like a door hinge. 

The second part is a metal rod. The weirdo shows you how to fit it into the hinge, so that relative to the metal bar, the original piece of metal turns. You ask if they can make it so it only moves if you step on it from one of the two sides. They give you a look like you are the biggest moron on Alternix, tell you that you should have asked for that in the first place, and say it will cost you extra.

You agree. They say they’ll have it by tonight.

You can barely wait.

It is with incredible, quiet care that you remove the boards and punch holes in the wood. You fit them with screws and affix the metal plate to the bottom of them, and then put them back.

This is the key to a good prank: doing all the steps that can be hidden first. The floorboards do not move at all; they sit there like nothing happened. Royvin stands right on top of them, none the wiser.

You are nearly caught, once, by Hanque and Ishaza. For a panicked moment you think that they are using the cellar as a place to conspire, but then you hear giggling, and – after another moment of confusion, you realize they snuck out together because they are looking for a place to make out, and cannot seem to keep their hands to themselves. This is a stupid and incomprehensible reason to sneak out, but whatever.

You scare them off by making a little noise before they can do anything gross. 

Your preparations continue. You make a little hole in the wall of the adjacent closet, carefully placed to give you a view of the scene of the crime. You enlist an accomplice (one of the students in the age group below you; for subjects like this, you often share a class.) on the promise that you’ll protect them, both generally and from consequences. You put a box of salt and pickling supplies (a wide one, one that can rest four boards across) on the other side of your contraption-to-be, one week before its fruition is due. This is to ensure that people are well-accustomed to not stepping there long before there is any risk of wobbling. It works; nobody moves them. They part around your plan like a river around a boulder. The food preservation room is always full of bullshit, and everyone just picks their way around it.

And then, with trepidation, you sneak in and finally put in the hinge. 

You are not the handiest of trolls, but it is a simple enough job that you manage. The hinge itself only goes one way, and was made by someone far more clever than you. You carefully push down on your side of the boards, making sure that it goes down while the other side rises. It works like a charm. 

You drag a bag of funky flour over to Royvin’s side of it. You leave it on where you like to imagine a big red X. 

You mostly manage to catch the bag out of the air before it breaks and gets bright orange flour everywhere. It wouldn’t arouse too much suspicion – this is a clown church, weird shit happens sometimes – but Royvin might get pissy if there is a cheeto crime scene directly on top of her spot. 

Great news: it works.

The only thing left is to wait. And oh, you wait with such delicious anticipation. You have some very stupid wheels that will be turning for a decade; this will happen so soon that you can hardly sit still. It takes all of your willpower not to burst out laughing in every class you have, thinking of exactly how funny this is going to be. Curse your incredible gift for visualization! 

You are ready three days before you do it. You wait in the empty closet and watch her like a hawk. The first day, she isn’t standing right; the second day, someone else is in the way. But the third day is perfect. 

You give a tiny nod to your accomplice – Candio, you think. He nods back, and once everyone else has filed in, quietly drags the box out of the way.

The teacher calls attendance. You wait. 

“Ishaza Ailmar,” says the teacher. Pretty girls always get their full names read, you think; pretty girls and teacher’s pets. That, or having the first name on the list. Or maybe this teacher is just weird. Being a pickler might do it to you.

“Present,” she says, sweetly. You roll your eyes.

“Jaipes.”

“Here.”

(Ohnyxx isn’t in this class, unfortunately; the list skips over the letter B entirely. Neither is Valope. You know Ohnyxx would fucking love to make terrible pickles in a cellar, but no dice. You hear it conflicts on the schedule with some sort of advanced math.)

“Garlad.”

A grunt.

“Gar-lad,” enunciates the teacher, icily.

“Here,” Garlad mocks back. He’s in the age group below you, too. You like this kid.

The teacher clicks their tongue and then clicks their pen, but moves on. “Jrapes,” they say.

“Present,” says Jaipes, or someone who sounds exactly like them.

The listing continues. You quietly open the closet door and slip out into the hallway. Slowly you creep up to the doorway, letting yourself feel the excitement pounding through you as you wait for the alphabet to tick down. So close to showtime. You know the order these names will go in. It won’t be long now.

“Hanque.” Ah, right on cue.

“Here,” drawls the jock.

“Candio.”

“Here,” says your accomplice. He sounds nervous.

“Olives.”

“Present,” whispers a girl you don’t know.

“Royvin.”

“Here,” Royvin says, sounding bored. She often sounds bored. 

Boy, that sure won’t last long.

“Rajole.” 

“Here,” he mumbles. It’s a funny coincidence, that you are right next to each other, you think, not for the first time. The alphabet itself contrives to keep you together.

Ugh. He’s rubbing off on you.

“Kalrin,” says the teacher. Curtain call.

You wait.

A silence.

“Kal-rin Pyr-his,” enunciates the teacher, clicking their pen. The disapproval is audible. Skipping class is even worse than grunting during attendance. 

You wait.

“Hm,” says the teacher, and makes a mark.

You sprint into the room at full speed. Everyone startles. A few people scuttle out of your way; Rajole is one of them, looking like a deer in headlights, and then looking like a deer looking at another deer in headlights once he realizes it’s you. Royvin’s head snaps around and her fists come out of her pockets, but she does not move.

“FORSOOTH!” you holler at the top of your lungs as you leap, and you stomp with both feet on the other end of the boards, launching Royvin into the fucking roof. You hear her shout.

She punches clean through the shitty wooden ceiling, hornsfirst, and gets stuck in the rafters.

You laugh so hard that you fall on your ass. Everyone loses their minds. Even the teacher.

Prying your legs out from the hole beneath the floor, you catch a glimpse of Rajole giving you a pained look. You are not fooled for a second; you can also see him trying to hide his mouth twitching. 

“I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!” Royvin roars. Her horns are stuck, you realize – even with her whole weight dragging down on them, they’re too huge to come back down through the holes. That has to hurt. You see her flailing her legs, trying to knock herself loose to beat you to hell. Her fists pound on the wood until it cracks.

You lose your shit laughing again. 

She falls back down as the old wood gives way and breaks the floor with a massive crunch. She is covered in splinters and dust and seething, embarrassed rage. Everyone has cleared well away from the impact. You leap to your feet, still wheezing, and nearly slip again in another fit of cackles as you start to run.

Royvin snarls, punches the ground, and gets up with the violent, unstoppably building momentum of a steam train that hates you. Her eyes have already gone from yellow to wrathful orange-red. 

You get the fuck out of there, trying not to let your cackling slow you down. She chases you down with another roar.

It takes half an hour to lose her, when Regius finally stops her in the hall. You can hear her voice, strained from cursing you out non-stop, protesting as you make your getaway.

You love it here.

-:-

Royvin is merciless in picking on you for the next two months. You break five teeth and three thumbs in the first two gym classes. You could not care less. Victory is irrevocably yours.

The story is still being repeated and laughed about. Royvin punches anyone she catches telling it. Everyone has started yelling FORSOOTH! before throwing things. It caught on like wildfire. Your fingerprints are on their souls.

You have never been so satisfied. This is your legacy, you think. You never assumed you’d have a long life; this is why you’ll never die.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Γεια σου θείτσα! Λίγο από το πουθενά θα είναι αυτό που θα ρωτήσω μα έχω μια απορία: γιατί όλες οι μεταγενέστερες απεικονίσεις της Κασσάνδρας την παρουσιάζουν ως κοκκινομάλλα; Η παλαιότερη αναπαράστασή της ως κοκκινομάλλα που μπορώ να βρω είναι από Ρωμαικό ψηφιδωτό στην Πομπηία που αν δεν απατώμαι χρονολογείται κάπου στα μ. Χ. Οι πιο παλιές δε αναπαραστάσεις της Κασσάνδρας την απεικονίζουν ως μαυρομάλλα, όπως βέβαια απεικονίζουν και όλους ή και τους περισσότερους χαρακτήρες επάνω σε αγγεία, όπως και τον Αχιλλέα, που τα μαλλιά του παραδοσιακά είναι ξανθά. Μήπως μου ξεφεύγει κάποια πηγή ή υπάρχει κάποιος συμβολισμός πίσω από αυτή την επιλογή που μου διαφεύγει; Ευχαριστώ πολύ όπως και να χει! 😊

Νε καλησπερα σας, ξερω οτι αργησα εναν μηνα και βαλε να απαντησω και ελπιζω η πληροφορια αυτη να ειναι ακομα χρησιμη 😄 Θα συνεχισω στα Αγγλικα αν δε σε πειραζει, για να το βρει ο οποιοσδηποτε αυτο το ποστ και να μπορεσει να το διαβασει.

I think there's a wide range of hair colors Cassandra could have.

Cassandra's beauty was even compared to that of Aphrodite* and Helen of Troy. Aphrodite has been depicted with blond, brown, orange, and black hair by the ancient Greeks, so Cassandra could have any of those colors too.

*The Iliad, Book 24 "Neither was any other ware of them, whether man or fair-girdled woman; but in truth Cassandra, peer of golden Aphrodite, having gone up upon Pergamus, marked her dear father as he stood in the car…."

Then we have this Etruscan fresco of the Francois Tomb, depicting her with black (or at least dark) hair.

The names are Etruscan and mirrored in the picture (Caśntra is Cassandra).

Cassandra was also described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the Chronography as "shortish, round-faced, white, mannish figure, good nose, good eyes, dark pupils, blondish, curly, good neck, bulky breasts, small feet, calm, noble, priestly, an accurate prophet foreseeing everything, practicing hard, virgin".

Meanwhile, in the account of Dares the Phrygian, she was illustrated as ". . .of moderate stature, round-mouthed, and auburn-haired."

Soooo... anything goes, really 😂

[littlesparklight]

A not fully exhaustive list of rewards offered to Paris in various sources, partially from my own checking and partially taken from Cristian Mancilla's thesis Artistic and literary representations of the Judgement of Paris in antiquity. They're roughly ordered from earliest to latest!

The Iliad ; -- / -- / "the lust women feels"/furnished him with most griveous lust/"maschlosyne" [no mention of other potential gifts, not even Helen, but she might be implied as in some other cases, two gifts were included; or, like in Dionysalexandros, the gift was used to seduce Helen into leaving with him]

Cypria ; -- / -- / Helen [we don't know what, if anything, the other two goddesses offered, as Proclus' summary doesn't mention this and there are no surviving fragments otherwise]

Cratinus, Dionysalexandros ; unshaken sovereignty / courage in war / becoming the most beautiful and beloved by all [+Helen? or does Dionysos simply use his gift to seduce Helen into leaving with him?]

Euripides, Trojan Women ; king of Europe and Asia / command of all Phrygians and destruction of Hellas / Helen (as told by Helen)

Isokrates, Encomium of Helen ; rule of all Asia / victory in battle / Helen

Ovid, Heroides ; "thrones" / might in war / love + Helen

Hyginus, Fabulae ; rule all lands and dominate the rest in wealth / strongest among mortals and know all skills / marriage with Helen

(Pseudo-)Apollodorus, Bibliotheke ; king over all men / victory in war / Helen in marriage

Apuleius, the Golden Ass/Metamorphoses ; kingship of all Asia / prowess in war / "a bride unmatched in beauty, one like [Aphrodite]" = Helen

Lucian, Judgement of the Goddesses ; lord of all Asia / great conqueror, always given victory / Helen

Dares Phrygius ; -- / -- / "the woman deemed most loveliest in Greece" = Helen [only, no other gifts offered, the Judgement is also a dream]

Dictys Cretensis ; -- / -- / -- [no judgement at all?]

Colluthus, Abduction of Helen ; king of all Asia / prowess in war/victory / Helen

Excidium Troiae ; multiplication of his flocks with each birth (twin calves each time) / victory in battle / Helen

After this comes the more allegorical takes, usually omitting gifts and merely talking about what the goddesses "represents". A small number of these come from before 0 CE, but most of them are post 0, and the further we get into Christian cultural domination, the more... forced and out there the allegorical interpretations become.

As you see, most of the gifts have "practical" application and effect on both Paris' life and the lives of everyone around him. And since the gifts are given to Paris, you can't judge the quality of them without the context of who he is (a prince of Troy) and what that means in effects on Troy.

Hera's gift(s) 99% of the time means a majority of the part of his family that would be eligible to take the throne after Priam (as well as Priam himself) would have to be done out of the way with for Paris to get what she's promising him. -In a way, choosing Hera might leave Troy itself standing, but the royal family (the source of Hera's ire) would mostly not be. This leaves out accounting for the losing goddesses' feeling of offense and their potential retaliation.

Athena, basically every time we're not talking in an allegorical application (Hyginus stands out), does not offer "wisdom" or "skill in crafts" or similar; she is a war goddess and offers him a gift commensurate with that. -A gift, I'd like to point out, that while it would undoubtedly look the best initially, means there needs to be war. And if you're conducting war on your neighbours, they might get... cranky... and come to make you unable to continue to wage war on you. Whether this would be a deadlier version of a Trojan war than the one where Helen is taken we can leave open. This again doesn't account for inclusion of retaliation from Hera and Aphrodite.

[intermundia]

Hi. Seeing your post about the parallel between Obi-Wan and Odysseus has made me wonder if there could be a similar comparison between Anakin and Diomedes. After all, they were inseparable and they stole the Palladium together. I know that the consensus here is that Anakin is Achilles but does it really fit as a comparison? Diomedes was described by Dares the Phrygian as stocky, brave, dignified, and austere (not really Anakin, maybe, if I am not being gaslighted by fandom). He was loud at the war-cry, hot-tempered, impatient, and daring. What do you think?

I think one of the best things about analyzing a piece of media through a classical reception lens, you are able to see that characters like Anakin aren't one-to-one rewriting of specific heroes like Achilles, but rather draw from a wider set of lore about classical heroes in general. I do think that the Achilles influence is strong, the importance of his Wrath, etc. but I do love the Diomedes comparison as well, especially when it comes to the period of the Clone Wars and the dynamic of the paired exploits of heroes. Anakin and Obi-Wan together echo the missions of Odysseus and Diomedes, working together in a covert way, stealthy and cunning, both favorites of Athena. They're kind of a package set in the same way haha able to accomplish tasks that a large army could not. So I think it's perfectly good to consider Anakin a kind of cocktail of a lot of different heroes, Diomedes included, especially as he goes through so many phases of life during the entirety of the Star Wars saga. Like Anakin is not the same man exactly during the Prequels as during the Clone Wars, there are moments where he is more and less like any particular hero, so his influences can shift too depending on context, so imho yeah dude there is definitely a bit of Diomedes in his story!!