#greek gods mentioned

[subcon-crybaby-charlie]

Ok so to understand my headcanon/ own version of Coreys parents and family tree I have to explain some Rocklympus lore first. So essentially I just did my own version for shits and giggles so there's a lot of lore involving how the Rocklympus gods came into power and what they are.

So we start with the Greek gods, Apollo and one of the nine muses had a daughter named Mousikí (Music in Greek according to Google translate. I call her Mou for short) Apollo does something that pisses Zues off so Zues turns him into the blue star (also called The Curse) as punishment and Mou ended up locking him away herself because she didn't like seeing him destroy what he once loved. I didn't know the music box was Trinas interpretation of the star at the time so oops but hear me out on my version: bros trapped in Greek pottery that just breaks one day and releases him onto the world. Was probably in a museum for a hot bit.

Anyway from there Mou, upset at her grandfather, decided to over throw him with help from the muses and the fates, she let him live though, cursing him the same way he cursed her father and turning him into the blight. Almost all of the Greek gods stepped down from there after that, bringing in a new age of creativity. Almost all of the gods, including the muses, basically went down to earth and lived the rest of their lives as mortals in the 1400s, EXCEPT for Dionysus because what are musicians without parties ;3

Mou had to struggle for a while to get any sort of worship, and it was a slow trickle as she was only a goddess of loving and appreciating music, but slowly as new genres popped up new gods formed to join her, i call them the genre gods and they're gods representing genres of music, obviously, and they're all basically her siblings. The most amount of worship and attention they got was in the 80s when the hair metal and rock scene was big, which is where the whole Rocklympus name comes from. It is around this time where Mou, suffering from burn out over being queen of the gods snuck down to earth for a break, this is where she meets Coreys father Keith. (Also yeah she's Corey and Trina's mom lol. Corey and Trina are directly related to Apollo, you're welcome)

Keith, though not the frontman, was a guitarist in his friend's metal band. It actually got very far, but his friend left and let the band go their own separate ways after he started dating Mou. I want this to be as clear as possible, Keith, in terms of personality is exactly like his son but an adult and Corey looks a lot like his mother, BUT Keith has an extra talent, fixing and building things. He likes to tinker, often fixing amps or making instruments. Infact, his guitar (which later gets given to Corey) is an instrument he DIYd. He called it MadJack. He's not stupid it's something he plays up to make people laugh, but people think that's all there is to him, except for Mou.

So unsurprisingly Mou stayed with him for years to be with him, getting married and having children with him. And then The Blight found them and burned the house to the ground. Keith died, going back inside to try to save her not knowing she wasn't in the house. Trina, at 3, witnessed it, having been handed her 6 month old baby brother while he ran back inside the house and perished. When Mou came back he was rightfully upset, driving back the blight long enough to put Keith in the stars Orion style and get away with the kids, wiping Trina's memory of the event because she doesn't want her daughter to have that kind of trauma ok. So Trina is now sleepy and on the edge of just passing out. Mou ends up running to Keith's best friend for help, unable to take care of the kids for fear she'd only put them in danger (she does come back later to watch them from afar, and the genre gods took turns watching them for her sometimes, which includes the genre god of Rock accidentally giving Corey divine inspiration when Corey was a toddler lmao), and because she feels like doesn't know enough about human children to raise them on her own so it would be better if a human raised them.

I may just leave explaining their adoptive father for my friend @funtimemichael , cause he's their oc lol have fun bro. I salute you.

Some art of Keith and Mou before they had kids, working on redesigning Keith a bit but just know he is based on concept art Corey/ Tre ;3

[gingermintpepper]

I think, perhaps one of the funniest things to come from EPIC popularising the Odyssey is that now a ton of people think Poseidon wanted to kill Odysseus.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon has no intention of killing Odysseus. In fact, part of the whole reason Zeus lets Poseidon do whatever he wants even though he thinks Odysseus is rad and should get to kiss his wife is explicitly because Poseidon had no intentions of killing Odysseus. Poseidon wanted to pay back the suffering/inconvenience blinding Polyphemus would have caused. It's a really abstract thing tbh. How do you pay back someone permanently disabling your son? Poseidon's solution was just to amputate Odysseus from his other half; i.e. Penelope. The end game was never murder, it was always an endurance race.

(Od. Book 1: Zeus reassuring Athena that he is not, in fact, a part of Odysseus Hater-Nation. Trans. Robert Fagles)

Also, for those wondering if there's any sort of in text reason for why Poseidon wasn't around in God Games - at the time in the Odyssey when Athena petitions Zeus to let Odysseus leave Calypso's island, Poseidon was -checks notes- on vacation in Ethiopia. Yep. He left to Ethiopia for a festival and thusly was very much absent for Athena's whole "please let Ody go? Please? 🥺" request.

(Od. Book 1: While Odysseus was suffering, Poseidon went to party in the east)

I am begging y'all to read the Odyssey. It's a comedy for everyone except Odysseus and Penelope who are, in fact, suffering 24/7 365.

[kashtanblu25]

God games during Apollo's part~~

[francarieq]

Phoebus Apollo! ꩜

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Started a new book series, and has been a journey...an Odyssey, if you will.

[koipalm]

in the myth of eros and psyche, her last task is go to the underworld and retrieve some of persephone's beauty. so here's her in hades, where zagreus hasn't found his mother yet. the 'beauty of persephone' she brings back are gifts from zagreus, as he's the last of his mother's beauty in the underworld

[pennysucks]

Have the gods being silly cuz I was bored during class 😘

Also an excuse to make a design for Artemis, Dionysus (even if they aren't in Epic) and Poseidon

@sewerpalette @your-ne1ghbor y'all might wanna see the designs, I like Artemis' personally 😜😜😜

[gotstabbedbyapen]

What if Apollo and Persephone fight over who is Artemis' favorite sibling?

Apollo: We were born in Delos together.

Persephone: We grew up and rule Sicily together.

Apollo: Artemis loves hunting with me more than others.

Persephone: She loves gathering flowers with me, too.

Apollo: We always dance together!

Persephone: I dance with her and Athena too!

Apollo: I fought the Aloadae giants when they tried to abduct her!

Persephone: I dragged a woman to the Underworld when she stop worshipping her!

Apollo: I'm her twin brother!!!

Persephone: We come from the same loin!!!

Artemis: Guys, I love you both! Now stop fighting like children, for Gaia's sake!

[vaguely-concerned]

...the 'almond room' thing in the unwanted guest IS a reference to/play on words on amygdala, right? (amygdala comes from the greek word for almond!) I didn't read that wrong? it is stupid sexy Ianthe coyly inviting Palamedes into a different chamber of her brain, as it were?

(also the pieces of meat -- the feeding or kissing, it's hard to say which of it all -- being present right from the beginning... ianthe DOES know exactly what has happened to her, doesn't she. palamedes is just cutting his way through her layers of denial and repression all merciless and scalpel-like to get her to admit it. or, she knows subconsciously at least -- each person comes in and feeds her something that she's helpless to stop from becoming a part of her even in her coffin, with bloody kisses. oh baby love is feeding me bad meat and I have no choice but to swallow it down. like yeah I suspect that is how human contact can feel when your sense of self and boundaries developed to be a specific kind of Fucked Up lol. that shit could make a person dream of being a diamond in a glass of wine; perfect, inviolable, untouchable, eternally separate and safe. In the words of Andrea Gibson in Prism:

They say the womb is where we learn love is knowing the cord that feeds you could at any moment wrap around your neck

that is quite literally ianthe's first introduction to love -- her sister, a cord around her neck. Corona is Ianthe's other self, a second soul running around outside of her body, and she seems to consider herself as responsible for (and entitled to) the preservation of Corona's soul as her own. the way this mirrors that growing up, Ianthe had to be two necromancers in one body to let them stay together. (twins and ghosts all the way down I guess.) she's still just trying to do the same thing, I think, she's simply put on some bigger boots about it. the central problem of lyctorhood, self vs. connection/love, rears its head once again -- Ianthe existentially wants total self-contained self-sufficiency, perfect control, sovereign sway and masterdom over her soul... but she wants that at the same time as being in uninterrupted (uninterruptible!), eternal and indelible intimacy with her sister, whose soul also cannot be allowed to change. which, you know. freedom and love don't coexist the way you want them to, Ianthe, no matter how clever you are there won't be a way to get what you want. (especially not with a sister whose idea of what love is seems to go more towards being consumed, made one, by whatever violence necessary -- 'she could have taken me'.) man. Ianthe is a spectacular and ongoing piece of work, but sometimes it's hard to see how she could ever have turned out otherwise considering the conditions she was born and raised under haha.

the two-way street of the horror of digestion, whether you're the devourer or the devouree. part of you in me, part of me in you, whether either of us likes it or not we're both changed by this. bad news: you can't get out of interconnectedness by finding the cleverest loophole around it, ianthe. nice try, though)

[bugwolfsstuff]

chat help I am plagued by the unfathomable rage I feel when I am reminded that some people think Odysseus wasnt faithful to Penelope

[my-name-is-apollo]

Why is Hera so hostile to Leto in a manner that she isn't with the other lovers of Zeus? I can't think of any other woman who was targeted so much by Hera. One could say she didn't want Leto to give birth because her children would be a competition to Hera's children, but why bother her even after she had already given birth? Is it because Leto herself is also a threat to Hera?

Sort of I guess?

I don't think Leto would ever be a threat to Hera's role as the queen of the gods but Hera might see her as a competitor for Zeus' affection, even though I think Zeus would not marry someone else and replace Hera.

The twins are definitely a big reason why Hera begrudged Leto - it is outright stated in the Callimachus Hymn to Delos that the reason Hera especially targeted Leto was because she was told that Apollo would be dearer to Zeus than Ares is. Zeus is very proud of Artemis as well. As he himself puts it, he doesn't mind facing Hera's wrath for children like her.

But the continued hatred even after the birth of the twins (like sending Tityus to rape Leto) could have been for different reasons. This wasn't like one of those affairs Zeus would have with mortal women where he'd leave them behind once the child is conceived. Neither could Hera, despite her many attempts, get rid of Leto like she did with the other lovers. Not only did Leto give Zeus children that he loves dearly, she also stayed on Olympus despite Hera's hatred towards her (which isn't directed to any of Zeus' other divine mistresses, btw). It might have also been because Leto herself is dear to Zeus, if the way she's treated on Olympus is any proof. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo, Leto stands next to Zeus - in the Olympian assembly - to welcome their son. Hera is completely absent from the scene, as if Leto had taken her place even if temporarily. Now you could say this is because Apollo himself is such a powerful and glorious son in a way that no other son of Zeus is, so of course Leto would get such an honor (the hymn itself presents it this way).

But here's another instance - in the Iliad, when Hera goes to seduce Zeus, he is obviously very smitten but before getting into the action, he lists some of his lovers (I believe these were his favorite lovers, as a lot of others are not mentioned):

"for never has such desire for goddess or mortal woman so gripped and overwhelmed my heart, not even when I was seized by love for Ixion’s wife, who gave birth to Peirithous the gods’ rival in wisdom; or for Acrisius’ daughter, slim-ankled Danaë, who bore Perseus, greatest of warriors; or for the far-famed daughter of Phoenix, who gave me Minos and godlike Rhadamanthus; or for Semele mother of Dionysus, who brings men joy; or for Alcmene at Thebes, whose son was lion-hearted Heracles; or for Demeter of the lovely tresses; or for glorious Leto; or even for you yourself, as this love and sweet desire for you grips me now.’ (Book 14, trans. A. T. Murray)

Notice how when talking about most of them, he also mentions the children they bore to him but when Demeter and Leto are mentioned, he doesn't bring up their children at all despite them being some of the most accomplished kids of his. What's more, he takes Leto's name just before Hera's. I mean, this is an interpretation but it looks like not only did Zeus love Leto the most out of all his mistresses - giving her a place second to that of his wife, but also his love for her wasn't necessarily only because she gave him two amazing children.

Nonnus does something similar in the Dionysiaca (but this time Zeus is enamored with Persephone instead of Hera) but more notably, when Typhoeus attacks Olympus and Zeus is discouraged, Nike takes the form of Leto to encourage him and it's pretty telling of what Leto meant to Zeus.

One interesting similarity between Hera and Leto is that they both had a giant try to rape them. Porphyrion tried to violate Hera (Zeus inspired him to do this) and Tityus tried to violate Leto (upon Hera's order). Though both of them were killed, only Tityus got an eternal punishment in Tartarus of having his liver/heart eaten out by vultures so Zeus seems to have taken a greater offense at Tityus trying to assault Leto.

Again, I don't think Zeus would ever take anyone other than Hera as his permanent wife - she is irreplaceable to him. There's an entire myth about Hera leaving him and Zeus winning her back. Their relationship is obviously complex and involves all kinds of emotions including love and hate. But Leto is continually dear to him as well and that's something Hera can't do much about.

[gingermintpepper]

So, one of the most interesting things that's come from my recent exercises in writing the Olympians as young deities is all of the very fun and somewhat painful conversations that come from the young deities acquiring and consequently settling into their domains.

Apollo and Artemis especially have been really fascinating under the microscope. They start off identically, with extremely similar interests and similar domains over the hunt and wilderness. They spend their days under the stars and foraging for fruit and dancing and singing in the fields, two rustic god-children exploring and learning together. Then Apollo goes off on his own to slay Python.

Now, a lot of things change when Apollo kills Python. That is the act which transforms the bow from a tool of survival and sport to an instrument of murder, bloodshed and ultimately war. It is Apollo's first act of wrath which separates him from Artemis - both spiritually because she has not yet shed blood herself as a goddess and physically because it leads to his exile. Most importantly however, the slaying of Python is the act that grants Apollo his knowledge.

If violence is what first separates Apollo from Artemis then it is knowledge which keeps them apart.

This can refer to a lot of things; that Artemis continued to be at home with the wild beasts of the forests and mountains while Apollo grew to prefer the domesticated sheep and cattle, that Artemis continued to avoid mortals while Apollo grew to know their ways and endeavoured to teach them more. The point that has been the most interesting to me however has been Artemis, who remains free of slaughter, and thus remains pure and Apollo, who becomes acutely and entirely too aware of it, and thus must be constantly purified.

Apollo's infatuation with medicine specifically is the place where this becomes most apparent. When he leaves for his exile to travel as a mortal, without nectar or ambrosia, without power, Apollo is without the privileges of the divine for the very first time. He sweats, he smells, he grows weary when he travels, he grows hungry and thirsty. He experiences fatigue and nausea, the fever of sickness, the chill of infection, the delirium of poison. The blood Apollo shed does not only make him impure spiritually, it strips him of the purity of his birth and station. Likewise, medicine is not a divine practice. What use do the unkillable immortals have for something as finicky as medicine when they have nectar and ambrosia? Apollo however, knows of the pains of the flesh and the suffering of the mortal coil. He pursues medicine in all its horrors and difficulties because of the knowledge he gained with blood.

Artemis then, cannot understand the medical Apollo. When her brother returns possessed by this spectre of ill-gained knowledge, she does not recognise him. Who is this boy who scores the deer and studies the shape of their intestines before he cooks them? What good is there in rescuing a chick with a broken wing? The Apollo-of-the-Wild in her memories would have done the correct thing and left the thing for dead - let the forest take what is its due. Who is this Apollo whose hands are always stained to the wrist in the blood and gore of the living? What is his fascination with the mechanics of mortal bodies? Artemis does not know and Apollo does not tell her.

That has, by far, been my favourite effect of the whole Python watershed moment to explore recently.

[ratatatastic]

the things ekky has done or said that i cant stop thinking about. the 4 minute cut.

[the-primordial-archivist]

we don't talk enough about meg planting geraniums as apollo hits people with his ukelele in the background smh

[averagecontentenjoyer121]

Vengeance saga summary

Not Sorry For Loving You

Dangerous

Charybdis

Get In The Water

600 Strike

[theoi-crow]

I keep seeing posts about people "needing" to cleanse before approaching the Greek gods and while those posts mean well I just want to remind everyone that:

Hygiene is VERY hard to keep up with when you're very depressed or having a very hard mental health day but that's when you need your gods the most!

And I know it's because a lot of ancient priests insisted people needed to cleanse themselves before visiting the temples and communing with the gods (they even banned people on their periods, or those who were about to have a baby or those who just had a baby or were just dealing with a dead body, or had blood on them, etc.) but, as the keepers of the temples, that's because the priests themselves would have to clean up after temple visitors so it makes sense they'd want to ban the ones they thought could potentially make a mess and make extra work for them.

The Iliad shows us the gods were in the battlefield! They fought right next to soldiers being slaughtered and killed. They were next to bodies that have involuntarily released feces and urine! They've been around soldiers who hadn't properly bathed in months, possibly even years!

You're allowed to seek the gods when you're not clean.

You're allowed to seek the gods when you haven't gotten out of bed in weeks.

You're allowed to see the gods when you don't remember the last time you showered or brushed your teeth.

You're allowed to see the gods when you really need help.

You're allowed to see the gods when you need them.

Athena and Ares are in the battlefield surrounded by dying soldiers.

Artemis hunts

Aphrodite also has a war aspect.

Hermes picks up souls from literal dead bodies.

Apollo has an aspect that prepares dead bodies for funerary rights.

The gods are surrounded by the unclean all the time!

Please don't let the rules of disgruntled priests stop you from seeking help when you need it the most!

The gods won't be offended if you haven't bathed in weeks because of your terrible mental state! That's ableism! They just want to help you through it!

Please reach out to them regardless of your condition!