#greek myths anthology

[gingermintpepper]

So, now that Blood of Zeus has also been given its chance to tell the Demeter/Persephone story (and also, similarly, fundamentally misunderstood the themes of the Hymn to Demeter) can we finally, finally talk about Mother Love?

Because I can scream until I'm blue in the face about how modern, popular interpretations of the myth have become so focused on being 'empowering' to women by fixating on giving power to Persephone in her marriage with Hades and, in turn, disparaging Demeter, another woman, - the mother who grieves her lost daughter - that they've some how spun all the way around and gotten back to being misogynistic and reductive, but I feel like talking nebulously about the fact that it's Demeter and Persephone's story and not Hades and Persephone's story never gets the point across hard enough. So:

Anyone who was upset about Demeter's demonisation in Blood of Zeus S2? Read Mother Love. Anyone who is ever upset that retellings of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter constantly demonise, belittle, accuse and insult Demeter and her grief while making excuses to redeem and forgive her daughter's captor? Read Mother Love. Anyone who likes Hades and Persephone as a romantic tale but yearn for complexity outside of arbitrary romantic antagonists impeding the happiness of the couple? Read Mother Love!! Everyone who has even a passing interest in this tale whether it is for the romance, the mother-daughter connections, the themes of grief and loss and eventual comfort and compromise, the wrath of the mother transgressed, the justice that is served due to a mother's insistence in an unjust society, READ MOTHER LOVE!!!

Because it pains me that such a perfect retelling of Demeter and Persephone's story exists, that it focuses on the mother-daughter relationship by comparing it with the poet's own relationship with her mother and it is nearly obscure in the greek mythology community.

[darkpoetryshop]

I could not stop producing madness

-Cassandra, Christa Wolf

[tootditoot]

"...the Chimaera--grim monster sprung of the gods. nothing human, all lion in front. all snake behind. all goat between. terrible, blasting lethal fire at every breath!"

- The Iliad, Book 6

[violent138]

Greek kings were such fucking morons. I wish someone had grabbed them by the shoulders and gone, "Control yourself bro, you know the Oracle of Delphi is one hundred percent inescapable, do not try to find out something stupid about the future because it's literally never good."

[cupioriot]

according to my classic myth textbook, this is a recurring element in myth and I CANNOT believe I didn't know until now

"brides being won in tournaments, children being assholes oh yeah and also dionysus getting zero bitches"

[alliwanttodoiscollectpoetry]

Persephone made me do it by Trista Mateer

[katherine-traylor]

I couldn’t breathe at first for awe. Lit by the moonlight and her own radiance, she crossed the stone floor almost as if floating. Her eyes were large and dark, her features fine. The delicacy of her mouth slightly softened the sharpness of her chin. Her graceful stance made her seem tall, though she was no larger than I. Like a queen, she wore a velvet mantle. Her veil was gauze of silver. Her silver jewelry gleamed. Her delicate slippers were covered in dark embroidery that seemed to have grown there like moss.

As she approached, I stood aside, yielding the space to her. Then she stopped, looked me over, and said, in a voice that rang like glass chimes, “Give me some water.”

I understood, then: this was the fairy Rose had met. She’d changed her guise, as fairies are known to do, and come again to look for another victim.

I couldn’t answer at first. I’d expected an old, ragged woman. I didn’t know what I could say to this lovely, queenly person that wouldn’t sound foolish. More importantly, I didn’t know if the fairy’s new appearance had changed the rules for our encounter. Rose had been rewarded for charity and compassion, but the lady before me was as high above me as the moon. I could offer her no charity, and she had no need for my compassion.

Above all, I didn’t want to be rewarded as Rose had been.

In the end, I decided to err on the side of coldness. “I didn’t come here to draw water for strangers,” I said. “But you may have some, if you like.”

From the flash of her eyes, I saw I had miscalculated. 

She didn’t speak. Taking the pitcher in her fine, slender hands, she drank long and deep. I felt as if I couldn’t look away, as if every sip she took bound me more tightly to her.

 Finally, she lowered the pitcher. “I came here prepared to be lenient for your sister’s sake. She told me about you—how you and your mother made her work outside all day with no help while you sat indoors. But I was ready to make allowances. A snake, after all, can’t help its bad nature—and perhaps you were good at heart. But I’ve seen enough.” Her ringing voice turned flat. “You’ve shown me what kind of person you are. And a rude, ill-mannered girl deserves exactly what she gets.”

“You think I’d want to deserve better?” I snapped, unable to restrain myself in the face of her prating. “For you to ‘reward’ me as you did Rose? For her kindness, she’ll be a target for every rake who passes through town and scarred and toothless besides. What a gift! What a reward. And all for a drink of water!”

Shock flashed across her face. Suddenly she looked younger, almost as young as I was, and very uncertain. But she recovered quickly. “You needn’t worry. You’ll receive no such gift.” Her mouth twisted into a smile.

Too late, I realized I’d overlooked an obvious danger. I’d been so worried about avoiding the fairy’s reward that I’d never spared a thought towards avoiding punishment.

I felt suddenly afraid.

 “Because your words are so low and poisonous,” she continued, “from now on, and for the rest of your life, every word you speak will cast from your mouth a serpent or a toad.”

As she spoke, I felt a burning in my chest, tingling quickly through the rest of my body. It lingered on my tongue, sparkling, dancing—then stinging, as if I’d swallowed a mouthful of ants.

She was turning to go. I held up a hand, imploring. “Please—”

Something was crawling out of my throat. I gagged as a great cool mass surged forward through my mouth, sliding slickly over my tongue and spilling from my lips. It fell, a dark, writhing tangle, onto the ground between us.

Read the rest of "Serpents," as well as eleven other dark fairy tale retellings, in the anthology Once Upon a Wicked Heart, available for sale now. Leave a review if you like. : )

[my-name-is-apollo]

Found a translation of hymns to Apollo and Dionysus where their epithets have been arranged in alphabetical order and this might be my new favourite thing because

- Book 9 of the Greek Anthology, translated by W.R. Paton

Look at the contrast between some of their epithets (Apollo and Dionysus respectively):

"hater of lies, giver of the soul" - "liar, tearer of the soul"

"soft speaking" - "noisy" (lol)

"sober" - "Deep drinker"

"Sweet-spoken, sweet-hearted, gentle-handed" - "Prone to anger, stout of heart"

"Gentle, sorrowless, giver of wealth, saviour from trouble" - "Jealous, very wrathful, envious, bestower of envy"

"father of fruits" - "eater of raw flesh" (BRUH)

"father of light" - "God of the night"

"Cheerer of the spirit" - "Disturber of the soul"

BUT they still have a lot in common:

"stiller of grief - healer of sorrow", "strong hearted - lion hearted", "soft haired - tender haired", "dweller on the hills - dweller in the woods" "thousand-shaped", "desirable" and my favourite, "common to all".

And it really does encapsulate the relationship between Apollo and Dionysus so well (and the duality of Apollo and Dionysus as individual gods too)

I'm also a sucker for epithets that describe appearance and I'm absolutely delighted with Apollo being "rose-coloured", "golden, golden-complexioned" and "glittering" (but is anyone surprised? XD)

Dionysus on the other hand, a bit concerning cause "slender, wrinkled"? And also he's "liquid"?? (idk what that's even supposed to mean. A reference to wine?) But "golden-filleted" and "Golden-horned" sound lovely <3

Also the fact that Dionysus is called "Satyr" and Apollo "Titan" is very interesting to me. Apollo - Titan makes sense when you consider the conflation between him and Helios. But Dionysus is a surprise. Are there any myths where he's syncretised/conflated with Pan (since he's the only Satyr god I can remember)? Of course it could be to show his chthonic nature, or that he's mostly around satyrs. But this piqued my curiosity.

[webweabings]

THE PLEASURE OF SIN IS SOON GONE, BUT THE STING REMAINS.

Saadi Shirazi; // "The Rumi Collection: An Anthology of Translations of Mevlana Jalâluddin Rumi", by Jaläl al-Din Rumi (Maulana). tr. Kabir Helminski and Andrew Harvey; // "Mind is a Myth: Disquieting Conversations with the Man Called U.G", by U.G. Krishnamurti; // "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom; // Roger L'Estrange; // "Suicide: A Study in Sociology", by Emile Durkheim; // "Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study", by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle; // "The Maze Maker", by Michael Ayrton

[baflegacy]

smosh #??? au: Anthony’s Funeral Roast as a Horror Anthology

(for Smosh Girlies Week Part Two Day Four: Free Day!)

The Hottest Horror Anthology: Smosh’s The Funeral Roast Now Streaming on Shudder (EXCLUSIVE LOOK & CAST INTERVIEW by Jacklyn Uweh)

Jackie: So what I’m hearing is that the first two episodes are every lesbian horror fans’ dream come true? Y’all have to spill the deets for us!

Amanda: Okay—okay, I don’t know how much I can say, but I can definitely confirm that our episodes in the series are gay as hell.

Angela: We had a wonderful time getting to read the script for The Fortune Teller & The Vessel and let me tell ‘ya—shooting that episode was fun!

Arasha: I’m still jealous that you guys got to have that homoerotic fight scene, hand around the throat and being on top of each other and everything.

Amanda: Boo, you got to make out with Courtney for your episode!

Arasha: I didn’t say I didn’t like that part!

Jackie: (Laughs) Back to the topic, y’all. What do you think sets your episodes apart from the other classic horror anthologies we’ve got like V/H/S or The ABCs of Death?

Angela: I think with The Fortune Teller & The Vessel, yes it’s still a paranormal horror but it’s also a tragic love story. We liked to describe it as The Exorcist meets Portrait of a Lady on Fire. It’s still scary; but when you really look at it it’s a love story between two people that can only meet halfway.

Jackie: And from what I’ve heard, The Coroner episode is a spin on the classic Frankenstein tale?

Courtney: Yup! Though I do think beyond Frankenstein the episode also pulls from films like Edward Scissorhands and even from the Greek myth Pygmalion and Galatea.

Arasha: We found it important that The Coroner wasn’t looking to defy science by creating Bikini Girl, but brought her to life because she felt shunned and unloved by society.

Courtney: Our episodes are kind of centered around the experience the sapphic community has when it comes to attraction and love—of feeling alienated and dirty because the rest of the world thinks that liking a girl makes you a monster.

Angela: And that’s the real horror story, am I right?

[gingermintpepper]

Mother Love - Demeter and Persephone in poetry

Alright, so, let's finally talk about Mother Love.

I've spent the past couple of weeks compiling most of the poems from my physical copy of Mother Love into a publicly accessible google doc because there is a quite frankly embarrassing lack of archiving of this particular anthology of Dove's work and I am genuinely and greatly saddened that it is not a work more commonly brought up when discussing Demeter/Hades/Persephone retellings and reinterpretations for modern audiences.

In order to speak about what Mother Love is, I first need to address what it is not. It's not a coming of age story which portrays Persephone as a caged bird under a too-smothering Demeter. It's not a love story where Hades is some valiant hero who rescues an innocent maiden and through his love empowers her to be her truest self. It does not demonise Demeter, who has forever lost her daughter, it does not demonise Hades, who took that daughter away.

Instead, Mother Love is, perhaps, the truest interpretation of the themes of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter that I've seen, down to the structure of the anthology mimicking the hymn's narrative structure. It is the story of a mother who loses her daughter, of the grief that ensues as she worries for her, of her being pitied and given empty words instead of help finding her, of her trying to soothe herself by filling the void with new children that are not her own. It is the story of a daughter who loses her way, who went seeking flowers and was unwittingly caught in the machinations of those in higher positions of power than her, of the kingdom she is promised and refuses, of the changes she goes through in this new, strange world without her consent and how those changes will define her the rest of her life. It is the story of a lonely king overrun with ennui who wants companionship but never asks, of he who tries in vain to tempt with wealth and land and must ultimately yield to the love of a mother. Not even the lord of the dread Underworld can escape that all-consuming mother's love and this was a theme found all over greek mythology and their literature, and it is also the theme that has been unfortunately and miserably lost as we've told and retold the tale of Hades and Persephone time and time again.

Please, please read this work, and if you enjoy it, do consider picking up an actual copy of the anthology. There is so much to be gained from speaking of the Demeter/Hades/Persephone myth as one of nuance and devoid of the unnecessary moralisations and accusations that we habitually foist onto cultural figures and heroes in an attempt to validate our opinions and interpretations to our peers. In my compilation, I did leave out three poems: Breakfast of Champions, Blue Days, Nature's Itinerary, mainly because I did not think they were relevant -- but I'm always open to requests for those poems to be added to the doc if anybody gets curious. Below I've also attached a few of my favourite short poems from this anthology so people can get an idea for the content that is included in the doc.

@gotstabbedbyapen who requested a way to read these poems but could not find them, I sincerely hope you enjoy them <3

[solar-acheron-zine]

Hello! This is Solar Acheron's FAQ page. - Submissions are open!

Submission guidelines - Designer/illustrator applications are closed.

What is this zine exactly?

Solar Acheron is a small-scale, chill zine meant to be an anthology of various works by writers of any experience level. It’s free to be printed by anyone. The theme is based in Greek mythology, so works must be inspired by or based off of existing Greek myths or stories. Artwork submissions are also accepted (see guidelines and more below).

----

What are the guidelines for writer's submissions?

Writing must be centered on a Greek myth-inspired narrative, and have to be non-fandom (no Percy Jackson, sorry :c). However, you can be as creative as you want with this, so you can totally write stories that, for example, take place in a modern setting, or explore relationships or happenings that aren't featured in actual myths. As long as the story is centered on a character, storyline or a setting derived from, clearly inspired by or accurate to a Greek myth (however obscure), it is definitely up for consideration!

Works can totally be previously published ones (whether on social media, AO3, blogs etc. or in publications, as long as you have the rights to them!).

As for word limit, there is a limit of 1600 words per work, and 4000 words for all works submitted.

What are the guidelines for artist's submissions?

Art must also be inspired by Greek myths. All forms of art (which can be printed) are welcome, however since this zine will be printable you must keep in mind that your work may be printed in greyscale, and so should be greyscale-friendly. You can submit photos of physical works, but please make sure they are high quality and/or scanned. The standard format for the zine is A5, so I heavily recommend making works that fit easily in it.

Works that feature both writing and art (comics, digital/physical collages, illustrated writing etc) are super encouraged!!!! I love these. There is a limit of 6 pages for full page works.

What is the policy on NSFW works?

Works cannot heavily feature NSFW, sorry. Nudity, foul language, violence and ludity are allowed, since they are featured in the myths to begin with, given they are not excessive. This is to ensure that authors of all ages can participate in this project safely.

-- AI IS STRICTLY NOT ALLOWED! --

----

What is the application process?

The application process applies only to those seeking to have their writing illustrated or to illustrate someone else's writing, and to editorial designers.

Submissions are spontaneous and should be sent to solaracheron@gmail.com. Before sending works in, please read the guidelines!

Is there anything I need to do before sending my work in?

Nope! Unless you have any specific questions or doubts, you can send your work in directly.

How many submissions will be accepted?

I'm happy to accept the maximum amount of works, but this depends immensely on the number of submissions. There can be up to 4 accepted works per author. As for art submissions, I don't want them to exceed the number of written works, so this will depend on how many stories and poems are submitted. You can of course send in works for both artist and writer.

Submissions will be judged more on creativity and overall story, rather than style, so artists and writers of any levels are encouraged to participate!

How can I apply to be an editorial designer?

Editorial designers must reply to the applications form, and will be contacted separately. You will have to provide at least a few examples of your graphic design (you do not have to be a professional).

----

Is the zine free, what are the rights and how will it be published?

The zine will be published as a PDF free and accessible to everyone.

As with a regular zine, anyone is free to print and distribute the zine as they wish. All contributors will keep 100% of the rights to their work.

----

Applications will open on the 17th of September, close on October 16th, and submissions will close entirely November 18th. Everyone who has sent in contributions will be notified as to whether their work will be included in this edition by November 24th. There is no exact projected date for publication yet, but hopefully the zine will be published before February.

Any other questions? Send an ask!

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Greeks excluded and rejected yet again from a Greek myth "inclusive" retelling anthology

(source) + a very insightful comment pointing out what Greeks have been saying forever

Then you other the Anglophones in the conversation who claim Greeks don't have a right to their heritage (which includes knowing the line of respect for their old gods) because today they are Christians, or claim we have a low literacy rate. This is untrue because most of us speak English very well since we are forced to be bilingual. Also, Greeks constantly win international awards in literary magazines and write in English quite often.

"Has to contend with the Greek literacy rate" FUUCK OOOFF! Greece has education issues but not literacy issues, especially in English spaces! As another Greek pointed out:

Judging from the excerpt, the accepted work is not of very high quality either. Oh, and it also has inaccuracies.

Part of the excerpt I want to comment on:

Writing of this caliber is just unreachable for the poor illiterate Greeks 😢 Also... cringe. Cringe statements about Zeus and feminism, as in, they feel preachy and on the nose. Stop reading the myths like they're kids stories! Give them the cultural nuance they deserve, and stop playing the card "omg i care so much about ancient Greek womeeeen". If you don't understand a cultural thing, don't alter it to fit your "feminine rage". Find other outlets ffs

[ambisun]

I've been working on this project with Sha for almost a year now and it seems unbelievable that we're about to launch so soon!!

I realized that I tend not to share a lot about my inner workings, as I'm so used to communicating via art, but there's so much I want to talk about in regard to the conception and process of TO11.

When I was a child, I had always been into mythology, fairytales and folklore from all places, especially Greek and Norse mythology as those were always popularized and easily accessible. Growing up in SEA, I was always told tales from Malaysia and the countries surrounding us, but as I grew older, I started to wonder why South East Asian folklore wasn't as popular as Greek or Norse myths even though we also had stories that were equally as interesting and captivating. 

This led me down a rabbit hole of learning about the history of S.E.A and how due to war and colonization, so much of our cultural history has started to disappear since most of our stories are passed down orally. This motivated me to start working on the development of Tales and Oracle of Eleven with my friend Sha Roose, who I asked to be a writer for the anthology. 

Collecting stories from different countries was quite a challenging task, especially since many of these stories were passed down through oral tradition and have been scarred by the painful effects of colonization. In some countries, we see local stories, once woven into the fabric of their communities, systematically erased and slowly forgotten. Despite facing resource limitations, Sha approached the research and writing with great care, making sure to select stories that were not widely known and focused on ones featuring diverse protagonists, intriguing outcomes, and meaningful analogies. 

I'm so happy to be able to invite 11 artists from these 11 countries as well to participate in this project. Besides making art for us, the artists also graciously allowed us to interview them and to get their lived experience of being SEA be it if they are still living there or living overseas as Diasporas. I've learnt so much from them, like did you know Timor Lorosa'e ( commonly known as Timor-Leste ) just gained their independence in 2002?

Anyways, this project has taken about 2+ years to make, and even now I'm still working on the art. ( 64% completed ) Sha and I have truly poured our hearts into this project and If you're still here, thank you for reading this all the way, I really appreciate it.

We're about 11 days away from the launch on Kickstarter, and if you can, please follow us there and share the project! Also, a quick reminder that we will be doing extremely limited quantities of early bird bundles so hit the notify me button on Kickstarter to be the first to know when we launch on the 11th of July, 11:11am EST!

Follow us here

[prismaticpichu]

One day, thinking it would help sharpen and enrich the minds of his SOLDIERs, Lazard pulls some strings and puts together a book club for the First Class quartet to attend. He also includes a small note in the mass email asking for each or the four to please bring in their #1 favorite book to share.

A couple days later, and in comes the first meeting!

• Angeal shows up with a copy of Penne For Your Thoughts: The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Pasta Platter.

• Sephiroth shows up with an advanced astrophysical theory textbook.

• Genesis wheels in a wagon containing a copy of the Iliad, The New Testament, 14 different Shakespeare titles, a book entitled How To One-Up Your Celebrity Best Friend, an anthology of Roman myths, an anthology of Greek myths, and a leatherbound copy of Loveless.

• Zack shows up with Pride & Prejudice

Angeal: …

Sephiroth: ….

Genesis: ….

Lazard: ….

Zack: What? Just because I’m stupid and derpy and cause spontaneous explosions doesn’t mean I don’t like to read.

Zack *waves around a thin strip of paper with gummy bears on it* I also brought scented bookmarks!

[alliwanttodoiscollectpoetry]

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon-

-don't be afraid of them:

you'll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high.

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon--you won't encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind-

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you're destined for.

But don't hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you're old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you've gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Ithaka by C.P. Cavafy; Translated by Edmund Keeley