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@justarandomsanenobody @x-kiwi-03
Reblog and put in the tags the meaning of your name (just the meaning, not your name)
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“I need to tell Pen about you,” Odysseus said, looking at his patron with puppydog eyes. “I know you training me is a bit of a secret, but I couldn’t keep anything from her, please, you won’t be mad, right?”
Athena raised her eyebrows, sighing. “You’ll be absolutely useless in training until I let you, right?”
A wide grin. “My grandfather didn’t name me ‘a pain in the ass’ for nothing!”
Athena sighed again. “Truly blessed with the gift of prophesy, that man. Fine.”
Your honor I love them
#ody's name is derived from the greek word for 'to make angry' apparently so that's the background here#also his grandfather was an absolute madman /affectionate#epic the musical#epic athena#jorge rivera herrans#epic odysseus#athena and odysseus#pre canon#etm#epic fanfic#epic fandom#epic penelope
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Ok I understand why sparkling ocs are so popular designing one is addicting
Alt forms/ adult designs under the cut
So when he's littler he can be a Nissan atla, they're pretty cute, but reaching adulthood he'd be a Nissan big thumb, and getting a mod to have a trailer too.
Optimus only has a flat bed so Im doing the old reliable transformer design of putting stuff u don't know how to fit into the back. If he diddnt have a trailer, the bed sides could just be a part of his legs but he modded to have wings so he can get used to the weight distribution easier.
Big thumbs are 12 feet tall, G1 Optimus is a Freightliner making him also 12 feet, and G1 Ratchet is a Nissan cherry vanette, which are almost 6 feet (5"10 to be exact)
I thought that the big thumb would be a bit smaller then Optimus but damn, Ratchet is gonna have to deal with 2 giant trucks.
#sorry nothing silly today boys i have a project due for my robotics class funnily enough#me drawing ratchet constantly challenge: IMPOSSIBLE#its the horns I love them but my god am i not good at drawing them#i was thinking about when starscream gets revealed in accidental war criminal acquisition Ratchet goes to Optimus and is like “hey#want a way to guarentee a sparkling isnt a decepticon stuck as one? Get me pregnant.“#I can name the kid something latin and from the Greek mythos or i can name him wretch#uhh Cygnus Aux??#I just googled latin word for healing and chose a constellation close to orion#the third drawing is really rough#i wanted to keep oc stuff in one post haha#im not really an oc creating guy#transformers#ratchet#optimus prime#optiratch#optimus x ratchet#tf fanart#transformer oc#tf sparkling#implied mechpreg#transformers g1
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Here is a little thing that came from the post of @deadbaguette which you can see here
Have you noticed how little dialog Achilles and Patroclus share in the Iliad? Achilles is a talkative man. He exchanges long and even philosophical dialogs with most people he encounters, with his peers and even his rivals and enemies. But his scenes that involve Patroclus hardly mention any dialog between them and yet their scenes are the most tender and most talkative.
They prepare food, they entertain their guests, they just sit by each other. They hardly speak. Homer was telling us all along; words were not needed between them. Their actions spoke for them; their closeness and their intimacy. Their scenes are peaceful amidst the war: silent amidst the loud noise and speeches. That is why the loss of Patroclus speaks so loud; the piece of peace in the flame of war was lost.
Which is why also Achilles found closeness to Antilochus next. Antilochus who also hardly exchanged a word with him and yet he was there in his lowest, just holding his hands to keep him alive out of fear that Achilles would try and kill himself. Achilles wanted someone to hold his hand. Antilochus did that both literally and metaphorically
They do not need to talk. Their closeness is enough. The absence of both of these silent yet close and intimate relationships so violently by war destroyed Achilles beyond repair. He lost Patroclus by violence and war while he was absent. He went on a lament and on absolute rampage by killing his enemies, performing human sacrifice and hubris against the dead. He lost Antilochus and he lost the last bits of his sanity, slaying Memnon and pushing carelessly the Trojans back uncovered and was killed by Paris. The strongest of Greeks fell from the hand of the arguably weakest Trojan because all that was left of his strength was gone; his strength, his will to live and his sanity. He was already tripping. At that moment he was beyond saving.
I am surprised I don't see more people talk about it
#katerinaaqu analyzes#greek mythology#tagamemnon#homeric poems#the iliad#patrochilles#patroclus#achilles#antilochus#achilles and patroclus#achilles and antilochus#rage of achilles#homer iliad#homer's iliad#the epic cycle#epic cycle#intimacy#loss#grief#food for thought#random toughts#thoughts from my brain#thoughts from the void#aristos achaion#achilles sorrow#lament of achilles#homeric epics#silence#silence is golden#sometimes silence speaks so much more than words!
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George Seferis, from Collected Poems; "Last Stop" (tr. Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)
#george seferis#selected poems of george seferis#last stop#words#poetry#typography#!!!#literally exactly exactly#unsayable#on fairy tales#the great wound#grief is a circular staircase#there’s no return from a red like that#on memory#on language#greek literature#id in alt text#breadcrumbs
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No but I gotta talk about Medusa for a minute actually.
It's been. A very long time since I read the PJO books so I don't exactly remember how Uncle Rick presents Medusa in the book. But the way the show introduces her myth? Fascinating. For me as a Greek mythology enthusiast, that is.
The show makes Medusa a victim of Athena. Of course, the show is mainly for kids, so they can't exactly say that, hey, kids, Medusa was Athena's priestess and she was raped by Poseidon, YEP, or protagonist's father, IN Athena's temple, nah, that's neither kid-friendly nor does it endears us to Poseidon. Not that Poseidon is very dear to us viewers/readers at this point, our narrator/protagonist can't stand his own dad.
But still what fascinates me is that even though they twisted the myth to ft the narrative they still managed to evoke Athena's curse as being actually a gift, and Medusa not feeling wretched over her condition but blessed.
Which is not a modern reading of the myth, actually. Saying that Athena couldn't punish Poseidon for his transgression and could only punish Medusa, but did so in a way that would give Medusa weapons to defend herself against whoever and whatever would try to harm her again, is a narrative that exists since Antiquity.
My point is that the re-framing of Medusa's myth, departing from the traditional, non-kid-friendly version while still incorporating both classic and modern elements, is a good frame of reference for the series (book and show)' entire approach to mythology. And I guess I'm saying that mostly for the non-book readers who are discovering this world, many of whom might be Greek mythology fans and might have gone "wait, why is Hades AGAIN presented as the bad guy when he's the chillest, most normal, most stable god in this entire pantheon", because that's a conversation the book fandom has been having (over and over again) for more than a decade.
Anyway, yeah. As a long time book fan and a show appreciative, here's my advice to anyone who knows WAY too much about Greek myths and still want to enjoy the ride without going every five minutes "wait, that's not correct": reframe. Contemporary rewritings, modern audiences and Fantasy genre.
#pjo series#pjo series spoilers#pjo#percy jackson#percy jackon and the olympians#rick riordan#medusa#greek myths#greek mythology#rapha talks#the funny thing is that one of the art exhibition i've been giving tours of these past couple of months is about goddesses#and it has some statues and objects about both athena and medusa so i've been talking a lot about these two for weeks now#so even though i still remember some from the books and i know damn well uncle rick's priority wasn't myth accuracy#i still got a bit floored by the planet-size holes in medusa's myth in the show#not enough to dislike the episode (au contraire i quite enjoyed it) but enough to feel compelled to say a word about it#(can you tell my special interest as a weird little girl was greek mythology and how it still is to this day...)
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can a brave soul with a m&g ticket PLEASE tell dan that the word monochrome means one colour and not achromatic colours (white, black, and grey). please. i’m begging you.
#the word literally directly translates to ‘one colour’#it’s greek morphemes#mr. english language and linguistics degree how could you let dan get away with this#dnp#dan and phil#phan#dan howell#daniel howell#amazingphil#phil lester#danisnotonfire#yeet my deet#dip and pip#d&p#danandphilgames#pp42??#terrible influence tour#dnptit#this is gonna be censored from myself bc i have any tags related to the tour filtered lmao#colour theory#for the record this user does not know shit about chromatics#but a lot about linguistics/language#phanology#lingblr
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Outfit breakdowns for all of my Kirby hero of yore ocs! I don’t know if I can count Galacta (or Papi) as ocs but my interpretations are rather far from the source material at this point ^^;
First is Galacta, the Hero of Heart, who is the hero among heroes of the four of them. The most honored, the most gallant, the light and hope of Halcandra.
Second is Nebula, the Hero of Dream, who is a laid-back, mostly relaxed figure who is calm and kind. Though they can often be found napping in various locations around town, in battle, they are a fierce warrior, and are very protective of Galacta.
Third is Papilio, the Hero of Soul, also known to many as Lio, or by their personal name, Anax. They are the smallest and the youngest of the heroes, a prodigy with the blade, and known as the fastest and most light-footed of the heroes.
And finally, the Hero of Dark, whose true name is only known to their friends. They are the quietest of the heroes, and wield a spear, though most of their powers are long range magic.
#kirby gijinka#kirby oc#heroes of yore#I have been having So much trouble naming them. my god#nebula was the easiest name because I wanted them to act as a foil to galacta but also a close friend who grew up in similar circumstances#their names are quite similar because of this: they both have three syllables and end with an a#but put emphasis on different syllables: gaLACta and NEBula#then papi is based on of course papi from the light novels#I wasn’t sure if I wanted to rename them but I definitely wanted their name to be a bit longer and have more gravitas#hence the genus papilio which also matches the naming pattern for morpho#the other name anax is based on a specific species of morpho butterflies (or subgenus? I forget) called anaxibia#the hero of dark is still a bit up in the air but I think their name is Koilos#based on the Greek word for hollow and also based on the deer genus odocoileus
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Day 4: Aristaeus
Interpretation notes and trivia below the cut!!
All rise for the entrance of my president !! Honestly, of all the figures and characters that were up for debate when I first started thinking about this story and who I wanted leading the charge Aristaeus was not one of them. Originally, I'd always known that Asclepius and Orpheus would be worked in somehow - they've always been favourites of mine in terms of children of Apollo (even if Orpheus as the child of Apollo and Calliope is less popular classically) and I expected my pick for the third child of Apollo to be involved to be similarly mortal like Iamus or Tenes but the more I looked into Aristaeus the more I fell in love with him! Ultimately, he's meant to be both a foil and a reflection of his father - a boy who grows up thinking his father's footsteps would always be warm only to realise that following in them would lead to death and destruction. While his status as a rustic and hunting god is still important here, Aristaeus' interpretation is much more focused on his connection to the Etesian wind and his quelling of the dog star Sirius which is why his hair in particular is so long and spiralling. All in all, more than any other figure I've chosen to interpret and represent in my work Aristaeus is the god I hope more people get interested in and research! I think there are a lot of important stories in his various myths and travels and I definitely want more people to discover and fall in love with them as I have!
Some fun trivia:
Apollo's firstborn son. Because he was born mortal on account of his very mortal mother, Apollo immediately took him to Olympus to eat ambrosia to begin his transition into divinity. Apollo would continue to feed Aristaeus small amounts of ambrosia and nectar for the next ten years until the child fully shed his mortal skin and was reborn as a god.
Due to the nature of making mortals deathless (namely the fun part of the process where they are completely remade and lose their mortal memories) Aristaeus spent most of his early life with his mother and siblings where they all pitched in to reteach him his family, his hobbies, his favourite things and ultimately how to live and love. Aristaeus was very attached to his maternal family because of this and his early acts of ingenuity were mostly born from his wish to make things easier for his family.
Aristaeus is the only one of his children Apollo hand raised full time. In those days, Aristaeus adored his father and believed him completely upright and blameless, the true face of a benevolent deity and the kind of man he aimed to be when he was full grown.
They would later have many bitter arguments and conflicts, the first and perhaps most impactful of all being their disagreement over Actaeon, Aristaeus' firstborn son. He wanted Apollo to teach him stating that it was a normal thing for a grandfather to do but Apollo vehemently refused to have any part of Actaeon's rearing, stating that he was not his child and that it was highly inappropriate for him to educate another god's son. When Actaeon later dies, Aristaeus blames a not insignificant part of that on Apollo - something that only worsens when he learns that it was Artemis who cursed the boy and that Apollo was always aware Actaeon would die young.
Spends most of his time travelling from place to place. Doesn't really like Olympus and prefers to spend his time minding animals or tending to fields. Is on wonderful terms with Demeter and Persephone and often makes decadent exchanges of olive oil and preserved meat for exotic flowers and fruit for his bees.
Big fan of wind and percussive instruments. Never liked the kithara because of how finicky it is and far prefers the hand drums and reed flutes of his mother's country. Exceptional dancer.
Will sell prized cattle for high quality and highly unique jewellry. Doesn't much care for gemstones but is an absolute gold fiend and has a massive collection of bracelets, anklets, nose and lip adornments and rings. Has never been north enough to hit India but got a ton of rare and different adornments from his Phoenician in-laws when he was married to Autonoë.
Hates dogs but doesn't mind wolves. Not a big horse fan either
Unlike other winds, he cannot transform into various animal forms. He's close enough to the Anemoi that he keeps up with the gossip but he's only really friends with Notos. Gets along poorly with Zephyrus whose preference for pretty youths has often led to them getting into physical altercations when they were younger. Aristaeus still holds a bit of a grudge about it.
Has a big stupid crush on Dionysus which is embarrassing because Dionysus also put him out of a job. Due to Dionysus' relative youth, he feels a bit conflicted about such feelings - mostly because Dionysus is on extremely good terms with Apollo and Aristaeus doesn't want him to get burned.
Despite kinda despising his father, Aristaeus is a pretty decent eldest brother and regularly keeps in contact with a lot of his siblings. He often delivers mead, flavoured honey and olive oil and uses it as an excuse to chat and catch up. Currently in a bit of a tiff with Asclepius because he's worried about him and his family.
Favourite colour is the rich gold of purified honey, favourite food is lokma and his favourite time of year is winter.
#ginger draws#pursuing daybreak posting#words cannot describe how much I love this man actually#other things Apollo has done that completely ruined his relationship with his firstborn include but are not limited to:#protecting and defending Aristaeus but letting Idmon die#giving Orpheus hope that he could recover Eurydice and not apologising for making Aristaeus immortal then raising him mortal#knowing how painful it would be to watch his siblings die#he firmly believes that Apollo knows a little bit of everything and could avert so much more pain if he just#warned people better#In a lot of ways Aristaeus still idolises his father - it's just that now he thinks of him as unfair and cruel instead of perfect#Apollo is content to let things be he's there when Aristaeus needs him but he won't force him to be around him#Aristaeus' intense reaction is why he started being more distant about raising his kiddos too btw#He can never detach himself emotionally but he tries not to be too permanent a fixture in their lives so they can learn about him#naturally from other people instead of growing up thinking of him as infallible or someone who would do things in their best interest#Apollo's beholden to Fate first and foremost - even his children can't change that#aristaeus#october art challenge#greek myths
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‘three fair-cheeked Kharites…from whose eyes as they glanced flowed love that unnerves the limbs’
- hesiod, theogony
The Three Graces - detail from La Primavera, Sandro Botticelli (Uffizi Gallery, Firenze)
#dark academia#dark acadamia aesthetic#poetry#art#beauty#words#light academia#mine#photos from pinterest#botticelli#greek myth#greek mythology#renaissance art#italian renaissance#italian art#hesiod#theogony#book quotes
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my favorite part of the Voynich Manuscript is this little nymph bathing in a pitcher plant and making a rainbow with the water spray
#i feel like that word could be rainbow who knows#i love the voynich manuscript its so fun to think about#i love the aqueducts or waterfall plumbing going on#my not real but funny theory is that this is tolkiens first attempt at cryptography#jkjk#its interesting because ancient greeks and romans had those public baths but they never had the layered waterfall pipes with draining basins#like built into the side of waterfalls#which is how i see it#i think the guy was trying to draw a top down view of some ladies bathing but he was really far away#you can see an inkling of perspective in somw of the pages not here but online of someone looking down at a waterfall from the top#in my. opinikn#the voynich manuscript
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I don't think Greek Mythology retellings/adaptions/inspired/etc. are necessarily "evil"...but I DO think people REALLY need to understand that there's a huge difference between the actual mythology and certain media.
I feel like people have to basically do a "Fandom ___" to say the different versions. Like "PJO ___", "Hades game ___", "TSOA ___". For it to be understood that these depictions are DIFFERENT. I'm saying this as someone who grew up reading PJO and still has a soft spot for it. But as someone who really loves Greek Mythology as well, I sometimes get really SAD.
I'm going to use the comparison of Howl's Moving Castle with it's Book Vs. Movie. I enjoy both!!! But they are honestly very different. In the movie there is no "sister swap", Markle isn't a young teenager, Sophie doesn't throw weed killer at Howl, and many more moments. But I enjoy both because even though there are changes they still keep components that are ingrained into the characters!
In some Greek Myth retellings/adaptations/stories/etc., characters are...SO different from the source material. That's fine...Choose what you want with your story... But folks should know that the modern adaptations are NOT the source material!!!
It bothers me that a lot of these wonderful myths and stories are twisted up and seen so differently because of a modern version of them. You can have that character be "awful" or a certain way in your story. But I almost feel that as fans, it's not good to generalize them or see it as "This is the truth". People are hating the mythological figure when it's only in that interpretation they are like that.
In PJO, Ares is "Zeus' favorite", isn't a good dad, a misogynist, etc. The actual myths? One of his Epithets is LITERALLY "Feasted by Women", in the Iliad everybody basically bullies him with Zeus literally saying he hates him. He cries when he learns one of his sons is killed in the war. He literally kills someone about to rape his daughter. Ares isn't perfect but it makes me sad with how he's viewed and talked about when it's only in PJO he's like that. Same with Dionysus. Read the Bacchae, you'll love it.
In Lore Olympus, Apollo rapes Persephone (noticing the fact that modern takes on the myths add rapes where there never were hmmmmm) when he never did in any of the myths.
In TSOA, Thetis is cruel when in the Iliad, she is such a loving mother to Achilles. She grieved alongside her son over Patroclus. Also with Agamemnon. In Ipheginia at Aulis, Agamemnon is a MESS. He adored his children.
In Circe, Odysseus is viewed as a selfish man who ONLY hurts others and doesn't care about his family when that is LITERALLY his one consistent character trait. HE is actually the one who is the victim of rape. Circe was never raped.
Medusa is only a victim in Ovid's, a Roman man, works. Not in GREEK mythology. She was just a cool monster. Leave Perseus alone. Poseidon and Medusa actually had a consensual relationship in Greek Mythology!
These adaptations/retellings/inspired by/etc. whatever anybody wants to call them, are not the real myths! They may be similar in some ways but to just generalize them or hate the deity/mythological figure because of something they did in the new media feels fucked up!
You can enjoy these new stories. There's nothing wrong with that!!! But know they're not the real myths. Maybe even label it as "I hate ____'s version of ____". As that makes it clear what version you're talking about.
#I'm probably wording this very weird. I'm sorry for that haha#idk I'm getting sad#I'm clutching the gods and my special lil heroes to my chest to protect them from the hate.#this is silly but...idk had to say it :(#anti circe#anti madeline miller#sorry but that book makes me the sad™#greek mythology#tagamemnon#Mad rambles#shot by odysseus#PJO is special to me but I'm protecting the Gods >:( They can suck in PJO. to say the suck in the myths when you don't know the actual#myths is...sad#tw rape#<because so many adaptations ALSO add them when they're not there!!!!#save me morally gray circe#essay
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I never touched it but I feel like i only ever hear positive things said about song of achilles.. in (rough strokes at least) what makes it dogshit to you?
Okay it's been a while since I actually read it so some of this might not be spot on accurate. Sorry if at any point I say 'the book never does xyz' and it actually does once or twice but I think my underlying criticisms are accurate
-Patroclus is made into like this soft gentle tender quivering little yaoi boy. In the source text, he's shown as compassionate and moved by the suffering of his own men (and apparently having some medical skill, tending to the wounded in the camp), but very much invested n combat and very, very good at it (pages worth of descriptions of the guys he's killing left and right). In this, the arguably more complex character from this 8th century BC text is flattened into Being A Healer, he doesn't want to go to war he just wants to help people, he only goes because Achilles has to but he doesn't want to fight he's a HEALER he's a gentle lover NOT A FIGHTER who just wants to help he just wants to help everyone around him he HEALS while Achilles is a doomed warrior who is so good at fighting and KILLING its a DICHOTOMY GUYS!!!LIKE THE BEAUTIFUL SUN AND MOON DOOMED LOVERS SO SAD patocluse HEALER . (I Think he's specifically characterized as being BAD at fighting but might be misremembering)
-I don't remember much about Achilles' characterization I think it just makes him less of a jackass while not adding anything of interest and levels out into being mad boring.
-Not getting into the literal millenias old debate whether the mythological characters Achilles and Patroclus were being characterized as some type of lover by the original oral sources of the Iliad or its Homeric writers. We will never know. We don't even know what (if any) culturally accepted conventions of male homosexuality existed in bronze age Greece (we know much more about their descendants). But there are some interesting elements of their characterization in this direction, with how unconventional their relationship is WITHIN the text itself- Patroclus is described as cooking for Achilles and his guests (very specifically a woman/wife's job), Achilles chides Patroclus like a father, but there's also scene where Achilles' mourning of him directly echoes a passage of Hector's wife mourning her husband, Patroclus is explicitly stated to Achilles' elder, and is overall treated as his equal or near-equal, closest confidant and most beloved friend (to the point that pederastic classical Greeks would debate over who was erastes (older authority figure lover) and who was eromenos (adolescent 'beloved')- many took it as a given that this text depicted their present-day cultural norms of homosexual behavior but it existed so Outside of these norms that it had to be debated who was who). Their relationship is non-standard both within the text and to the descendants of the civilization that wrote them.
Basically what I'm saying is this book had opportunities to like, explore the unconventionality of the relationship (being presented here as explicitly lovers), explore the dynamics of why Patroclus wants to do 'women's work' (besides being a tenderhearted softboy), the weird dynamics where they take on paternal roles to each other but also roles of wives, how they feel about being this way, and just kind of Doesn't. Which I guess isn't an intrinsic fault (because it omits much of what I just talked about to begin with). it's just like.... Lame. This book takes jsut abandons everything interesting about the source text in favor of flattening it into bland Doomed Yaoi.
-The conflict that sets off the core story of the Iliad is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, an enslaved Trojan woman taken by Achilles as a war-trophy, Achilles spends most of the story moping because he was dishonored by his 'trophy' being taken. Achilles and Patroclus and everyone else are raping their captives, all the women in the story are either captured Trojans (or in the case of the free women within the walls of Troy, soon to be enslaved, and are slave owners themselves). Slavery as an institution and extreme patriarchal conventions are innate to the text and reflective of the context in which it was developed. You cannot avoid it.
But obviously you can't have your soft yaoi boys doing this, so the author has them capturing women to Protect Them from the other men. Their slaves are UNDER THEIR PROTECTION and VERY SAFE (and they might even Like And Befriend Them but I might be misremembering that. Briseis does though). Our heroes have apparently absorbed none of the ideals of the culture they exist in and the author seems to think "they're gay and aren't sexually attracted to their captives" would translate to them being outright benevolent (also as if wartime sexual violence is just about attraction and not part of a wider spectrum of violent acts to dehumanize and brutalize an accepted 'enemy')
In the source text, Briseis mourns Patroclus as being the kindest to her of her captors, who tried to get her a slightly better outcome by getting her married to Achilles (which probably would be the Least Bad of all possible outcomes for a woman in that situation, becoming a legal wife instead of a slave), and wonders what will happen to her now that he's gone. This is a really really sad, horrible, and compelling dynamic which could be fleshed out in very interesting ways but is instead is tossed entirely aside in favor of them being Besties. Like brother and sister.
All of the above pisses me off so much. If you don't want to engage in the icky parts of ancient/bronze age Greece then don't write a retelling of a story taking place in bronze age Greece. I'm not gonna get mad at children's adaptations of Greek myths or silly fun stories loosely based on them for omitting the rape and slavery but it is SO fundamental to the Iliad. If you're not willing to handle it, either fully omit it or better yet set your Iliad inspired yaoi in an invented swords-and-sandals setting where you can have all your heartbreaking tragic doomed lovers plot beats and not have to clumsily write around the women they're brutalizing.
-The author didn't seem to know what to do with Thetis and she made her just like, Achilles bitch mother who spends most of the story trying to separate our Yaoi Boys (iirc her disguising Achilles as a girl and hiding him on Scyros is made to be more about getting him away from Patroclus than trying to save her son from his prophesied doom in the Trojan War) until she sees how much they loooove each other and I think helps Patroclus' spirit get to the afterlife or something in the end?
-This is more of a personal taste gripe but it has that writing style I loathe where the prose feels less like a story and more like an attempt to string together Deep Beautiful Hard Hitting Poetic Lines that will look great as excerpts on booktok (might predate booktok but same vibe). It's all very Pretty and Haunting and Deep but feels devoid of real substance.
I really like The Iliad and The Odyssey in of themselves. They're fascinating historical texts that give a window into how 8th century BC Greeks told their stories, saw their world, interpreted their ancestors, etc. And genuinely I think these texts have 'good' characters, there's a lot of complexity and humanity to it.
WRT the Iliad- all of the main Achaeans are pretty fascinating, the one singular part where Briseis Gets To Talk and laments her situation is great, Achilles fantasizing that all of the Trojans AND the Achaeans die so he and Patroclus alone can have the glory of conquering Troy (wild), Achilles asking to embrace Patroclus' shade and reaching out for him but it's immaterial (and the shade being sucked back underground with a 'squeak' (the squeak kinda gets me it's disturbing and sad)), Hecuba talking about wanting to tear out Achilles' liver and eat it in a (taboo, exceptioally pointed) expression of rage and grief for his mutilation of her son's corpse, just one tiny line where the enslaved women performing ritual wailing for their dead captors are described as using it as an outlet to 'grieve for their own troubles' is heartrending, etc. A lot of grappling with anger and grief and the inevitability of death, a lot of groundwork laid for characters that could be very interesting when expanded upon in the framework of a conventional novel.
And Song Of Achilles really doesn't do much with all that. I know a lot of my gripes here are kind of just "It's different from the Iliad", I would have thought of it as mostly mediocre and forgettable rather than infuriating if it wasn't a retelling (and I DEFINITELY have strong biases here). But I think the ways in which it is different are less just a product of a retelling (of course there's going to be omissions and differences) and more a complete and utter disinterest in vast majority of its own subject matter, to the book's detriment. I think a retelling has a point when it EXPANDS on the source, or provides a NEW ANGLE to the source. This book doesn't Really do either, it just shaves off the complexity of its source material, renders the characters into a really boring archetype of a gay relationship, and gives very little else. Its content boils down to a middling tragic romance that has been inserted into the hollowed out defleshed skeleton of the Iliad.
Bottom line: I definitely would not be as mad about it if I wasn't familiar with the source material but I think it's fair to expect a retelling to Engage with/expand on its source, and I also think it's weak purely on its own merits. This book was set up to disappoint Me specifically.
#Sorry this turned into a 100000 word essay on The Iliad it can't be helped#I read Circe by the same author and thought it was like.. better? Definitely not great just less aggravating and kind of boring#Just rote 'you heard about this villainous woman from a Greek myth... Here's the REAL story' shit#It did have a few things I thought were good I remember it starting kind of strong and then just going limp for the remaining duration#I think part of it is that in that case she's expanding on a figure that Didn't have a whole lot of characterization in the source so#like. She had to actually Expand The Character#Again Silence of the Girls is the only Greek Mythology Retelling I have like....positive?.leaning positive? feelings towards#I've got BIG issues with it too but it does pretty much the exact opposite of everything I'm mad at SOA for and in some very#compelling ways (it's just that the author seems way more interested in Achilles and Patroclus than The Main Character Briseis#to the point of randomly starting to have Achilles POV interjections (which I thought were Good in of themselves but#really really really really really really really didn't need to be there) and then get kind of lampshaded by Briseis narrating 'I guess I#was trapped in Achilles' story the whole time lol!!!!!!')#It undermines the book on both a thematic level and just like. a construction level like it's real sloppy at times.#Also the Briseis POV sometimes has these like really out of place Author Mouthpiece Moments where she's very obviously#Stating The Point to the audience and it's like yeah we get it. We get it.#Wow in the scene were our mostly silent enslaved protagonist removes the gag from the mouth of a dead sacrificed girl as a#small but significant act of defiance and grieving in a book called 'Silence of the Girls' you inserted an ironic repeat of the line#'silence befits a woman'. in italics even. Thanks for that. I could not possibly have grasped the meaning of this scene if you didn't#spell it out for me like that. Thank you.#Actually hang on the only Greek mythology retelling I have unequivocally positive feelings for are the 'Minotaur Forgiving'#songs on 'This One's For The Dancer And This One's For The Dancer's Bouquet'. Fully love it. Like not just as songs I think it#does function well as a narrative and engages with and expands on the source in really beautiful and creative ways
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bitches in ancient greece would do anything to get a date huh
#this is where the word jinx comes from apparently#which is neat#anyway who wants to give me a bird on a wheel#tagamemnon#greek mythology#queueusque tandem abutere catilina patientia nostra
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If no one else is going to give Corvo a crow- I will
#graedari doodles#dishonored#dh1#dishonored fanart#corvo attano#korákito attano#digital art#ipad#apple pen#procreate#incorrect quote: Mystery Science Theater 3000#korákito my beloved<3333#his name means little crow from Greek and Spanish (two of the inspirations for the culture of Serkonos/Karnaca)#And I'm sorta using Spanish as a stand-in for Serkonan words#please dont shoot me#but please accept and consider Corvo with Crow <333#graedari dh#graedari loves queue
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A daily life of Hebe + bonus
<page #1>
Hebe (to Hera): Mother, your chariot is ready! Hera: Thank you, sweetie. Hebe (to Zeus): Father, here is your cup. Enjoy! Zeus: Hebe, you are the best!
<page #2>
Ares: You don't have to help me bath, Hebe. You'll only get dirty with blood... Hebe: I don't mind Ares. Ares: Thanks sis ❤️
<page #3>
Eileithyia: Hebe, you won't believe what a fucked up day I had... Hebe: Another hard childbirth or mortal pregnant with out father? Eileithyia: Even better! Mom is pregnant and I'm pretty sure she got pregnant all by herself to spite father for Athena's birth. Hebe: Whoa...
+ BONUS
<page #4>
Hebe (in bad mood): FUCK, I'm so tired... concerned Zeus & Hera who heard their precious daughter said F-world: ...
<page #5>
Angry Zeus & Hera blaming Ares for teaching Hebe bad word(s): ARES! ⚡⚡⚡ Ares (who has no idea why this time his parents are pissed off at him): ...
Other "Greek Mythology" arts:
Kid Eileithyia, kid Ares and very concerned Zeus & Hera
Athena & Aphrodite (on battlefield)
Ares and his sons: Deimos & Phobos
The Gods of War: Ares & Athena
Persephone's reminder for Ares & Athena
#greek mythology#hebe#ares#Eileithyia#zeus#hera#cienie's art#let hebe say fuck she deserves it after all the work done for family#ares has never said a bad word in front of his lil sister but of course zeus and hera gonna blame him if hebe curse#but he won't rattle on eileithyia cause the zeus & hera's siblings stick together#hephaestus is still not born but maybe i shall draw him soon#i will never be over that hebe helped ares bath and change clothes after he returned from batte it is just too funny#tw: blood
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