#fuck ovid all my homies hate ovid

[vulpixhoney]

What bothers me about people using the Ovid story of Medusa so much is the layers of misogyny around it. Like obviously Ovid was a pos and misogynist, obviously, we know this. But also like the people that prefer his version over the actual story. And I don't mean sexual assault survivors feeling connection with Medusa in the story, I think that's fine and is still fitting with Medusa's original mythos. And even if it didn't fit, I still think it's fine to find connection with that story bc it's fictional and you can feel connected with fictional characters, we do it all the time. my issue is with people that prefer Ovid's story over the actual mythos simply because they find it "more interesting", "it's a better story", "it gives her character depth".

Why does a woman have to be a victim for you to find her interesting? Why can't she be interesting as she is, happy and powerful? Why must we constantly subject women to horrors and brutality for the sake of a good story? Medusa, in the actual, original Greek myth was already an interesting character. She was already a good story. She was born a gorgon with her sisters, she was the only mortal gorgon of her sisters, she was powerful and strong and feared and revered, her visage is used as a symbol of protection and safety and strength. And continuing to perpetrate Ovid's sexist fanfiction takes away all of that to make her a subject to the wrath of the gods, to be punished for being a victim. And this isn't to say that victims are weak or can't be powerful. But why do we want her to be a strong victim when we can just not rape her in the first place.

[that-cunning-witch]

who wants to start an Ovid Hate Club™ with me?

[apollos-boyfriend]

what did Ovid do? I took a myth class and he was the first author we read so I’m curious what the argument for him ruining Greek mythology is

okay so first and foremost a quick disclaimer that i am like. not a historian in the slightest. i’m just autistic and have had a special interest in greek mythos since like. fourth grade.

ovid is like. one of THE major poets of greco-roman mythology. his works are what inspired a lot of extremely influential writers that came after him (shakespeare, for example) so he’s a pretty big deal in the grand scheme of things. being roman, his works came much after the original greek writing he based them off of, so while most greek mythos got lost/destroyed, his survived. because of that, and his overall influence, a LOT of modern takes/views of greco-roman mythology comes from his interpretation of things. a good comparison i’ve seen to him is that there’s a larger gap in time between the lives of homer (author of the iliad and the odyssey, famous greek works; 8th century bc) and ovid (43 bc) and the lives of snorri sturluson (icelandic historian and compiler of norse mythology; 1179) and jack kirby (creator of marvel’s thor; 1917), and yet no one claims marvel’s thor to be an important figure in norse mythology.

additionally. ovid’s works were nothing but personal bias and hatred. ovid fucking HATED authority. he was anti-authoritarian to a T, and greek gods were authority. he went out of his way to write them as cruelly as possible because of that, as he used his writing to vent his frustrations against the government. he’s most infamously known for this bastardization of athena. trigger warning for rape in the upcoming paragraph.

in the original greek myth, medusa was always a monster. she was born a gorgon alongside her sisters, and died as one to perseus’ sword. in ovid’s retelling (a retelling that has become ALARMINGLY popular recently), medusa was born a human woman who was a priestess at one of athena’s temples. after medusa was raped within said temple, athena punished her, turning her into a monster that would turn any man who gazed into her eyes into stone.

he’s not a reliable source for basing your knowledge of greek myths on, and a lot of people DO because his ideas are so popularized and widespread that they’re seen as the originals. which sucks! he sucks! if i could kill him again i would!

[enn-dio]

Fuck Ovid, all my homies hate Ovids stupid ass versions of the myths

Poseidon didn't assault Medusa she was born a gorgon.

Poseidon didn't assault Medusa she was born a gorgon.

Poseidon didn't assault Medusa she was born a gorgon.

Poseidon didn't assault Medusa she was born a gorgon.

Read the Hymns. Read the texts. Read the epics. But PLEASE do not believe the continued spread of misinformation from tiktok and people who only get their information from other people.

[percabeth4life]

I saw someone compare Greek Myths to DC comics:

Every one creates stories for the characters, even if that contradicts what was said before

That's not how the myths work. A lot of people had different beliefs and interpretations.

The Greeks did not have one unified belief across the city states, they were like a bunch of small kingdoms with the same general belief but different specifics.

So there are different myths from the different places and time periods because beliefs evolved differently over time and in different places.

Some of the myths we read were written literally thousands of years apart.

Greek existed for a long time so their beliefs varied over that time. If you want really complicated history check out the Egyptians, they were around even longer and their myths are even more detailed and complicated but also don't have nearly as much research put into accessible forms for us to learn more.

The Romans had a different religion altogether and they made new myths of the Greeks too (Ovid shut up) that mixed up people's beliefs even more.

[malewifekane]

-

just wanted to share my translation of one of ovid's works that i'm really proud of !! i've been studying this man for around 3 months straight and his ability to go from sweet to horny in a second flat still gives me whiplash

[wilberave]

if i have to translate another line of cicero i think im gonna go crazy anyways i made this

[prinxe-with-no-crown]

medusas story? you mean the version that Ovid, aka A Singular Dude made up in order to make the myth fit in with his view of "the gods are nothing but power freaks"? in all tellings predating his Metamorphosis medusa has Always been a monster

[jasper-the-menace]

Let's talk about Minthe from a mythological perspective!

The first written records of her myths were from about ~100 BCE, with Strabo's "Geography" and Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (the only Roman source). Another early source is from Oppian's "Halieutica" in ~200 CE. (For context, the Iliad and Theogony were both written around 800 to 700 BCE.)

So this is a myth that was written down relatively newer.

The only thing Ovid says is that "Persephone of old was given grace to change a woman's [Mintha's] form to fragrant mint."

Strabo has this to say:

Near Pylos, towards the east, is a mountain named after Minthe, who, according to myth, became the concubine of Haides, was trampled under foot by Kore (Core) [Persephone], and was transformed into garden-mint, the plant which some call hedyosmos. Furthermore, near the mountain is a precinct sacred to Haides.

And finally, Oppian rounds out the story and creates this full picture:

Mint (Mintha), men say, was once a maid beneath the earth, a Nymphe of Kokytos (Cocytus), and she lay in the bed of Aidoneus [Hades]; but when he raped the maid Persephone from the Aitnaian hill [Mount Etna in Sicily], then she complained loudly with overweening words and raved foolishly for jealousy, and Demeter in anger trampled upon her with her feet and destroyed her. For she had said that she was nobler of form and more excellent in beauty than dark-eyed Persephone and she boasted that Aidoneus would return to her and banish the other from his halls : such infatuation leapt upon her tongue. And from the earth spray the weak herb that bears her name.

(Source: Minthe's theoi.com article, check it out.)

Notice how the story changed and got more detailed over time? That happens with myths. And believe it or not, but this is a fairly consistent myth! Older myths don't have the pleasure of being this consistent.

(Also fuck Ovid, all my homies hate Ovid.)

[vulpixhoney]

ways they could've kept the theme of the gods punishing people labeled as monsters and it's actually more complicated then that" without including the bullshit sexist Ovid "myth" of Athena and Poseidon:

Athena is still the one that helps Perseus slay Medusa, so it would still make sense for her to hate Athena and by proxy Annabeth. To Medusa she was just out here living her life, her and her sisters were just existing. And then the gods suddenly decided she deserved to die. And in most versions of the myth Perseus was just after her essentially as a spoil of war, to offer her head to a king. Or, as a tool to kill said king. She could be angry about that, angry at Athena for helping a couple of mortals kill her, angry at demigods and men for using her as a tool or prop for their own selfish reasons. Angry that she's still considered a monster in need of slaying, and not a woman, a person. Gorgons were considered powerful, revered even. Their visage in Ancient Greece was used above doorways, on coins and jewelry, as a symbol of protection. Like there's such good material here, that's actually accurate to Greek myths and doesn't perpetrate the writing of some misogynistic Roman poet.

[apollos-boyfriend]

my roommate is the strongest person alive for sitting through my like half an hour rant about greco roman mythology modernizations and the rampant misconceptions that have been spread in the recent years, partially from people unwilling to accept that no actually, these myths were Not originally feminist scripture that got rewritten by the man, they just really fucking hated women back then

[prinxe-with-no-crown]

not just that, it was a retelling by a guy that overall retold myths in order to paint the gods as out of touch power hungry evil people in charge. fuck ovid all my homies hate ovid

Okay fuck it if this post reaches 666k notes by the end of 2023 I'll practise basic self care

Why 666k? Because it's funny and impossible so good fucking luck

[architectureenthusiast]

This scene pissed me off so much

ways they could've kept the theme of the gods punishing people labeled as monsters and it's actually more complicated then that" without including the bullshit sexist Ovid "myth" of Athena and Poseidon:

Athena is still the one that helps Perseus slay Medusa, so it would still make sense for her to hate Athena and by proxy Annabeth. To Medusa she was just out here living her life, her and her sisters were just existing. And then the gods suddenly decided she deserved to die. And in most versions of the myth Perseus was just after her essentially as a spoil of war, to offer her head to a king. Or, as a tool to kill said king. She could be angry about that, angry at Athena for helping a couple of mortals kill her, angry at demigods and men for using her as a tool or prop for their own selfish reasons. Angry that she's still considered a monster in need of slaying, and not a woman, a person. Gorgons were considered powerful, revered even. Their visage in Ancient Greece was used above doorways, on coins and jewelry, as a symbol of protection. Like there's such good material here, that's actually accurate to Greek myths and doesn't perpetrate the writing of some misogynistic Roman poet.