#melanippe

[jejesoso]

Poseidon: I'm starting to think people are sleeping with me just to get favors

Amymone, Pelops, Mestra, Caeneus, Aphrodite, Halia, Helle, Melanippe: where you got this idea?

[aliciavance4228]

Euripides wrote two plays based on Melanippe's daughter (also called Melanippe) titled Melanippe The Prisoner and Melanippe The Philosopher. Both of them survive only in fragments aaand... I don't have access to the Loeb Library.

[deathlessathanasia]

Hi! Do you have, by any chance, any informations about the child of Melanippe (Chiron's daughter)? Both Theoi and Wikipedia gave me a headache, especially because there are different figures with the exact same name, as well as figures with different names whom Wikipedia identifies with each despite the fact that the sources they give do not seem to suggest any connection between them?...

Ok, I tried to look this up and I got hopelessly confused. It seems that the source that provides most accounts of this particular Melanippe is Hyginus' Astronomy, where her child by Aeolus remains unnamed. However, there are too many women named Melanippe and waaay too many men named Aeolus. I mean, just in this account there are three guys whose name is Aeolus:

"In the times before that which we are discussing the rest of the sons of Aeolus, who was the son of Hellen, who was the son of Deucalion, settled in the regions we have mentioned, but Mimas remained behind and ruled as king of Aeolis. Hippotes, who was born of Mimas, begat Aeolus by Melanippê, and Arnê, who was the daughter of Aeolus, bore Boeotus by Poseidon. But Aeolus, not believing that it was Poseidon who had lain with Arnê and holding her to blame for her downfall, handed her over to a stranger from Metapontium who happened to be sojourning there at the time, with orders to carry her off to Metapontium. And after the stranger had done as he was ordered, Arnê, while living in Metapontium, gave birth to Aeolus and Boeotus, whom the Metapontian, being childless, in obedience to a certain oracle adopted as his own sons." (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.67.3-4).

I hate mythological genealogies! There is a Melanippe here as well, but is she the Melanippe daughter of Chiron? The first Aeolus mentioned here, son of Hellen, is the father of Chiron's daughter's child in the account of Hyginus, whereas this Melanippe mates with Hippotes, son of Mimas and gives birth to another Aeolus. They are likely different figures even though the theoi site suggests otherwise.

In Euripides' fragmentary "Wise Melanippe" it seems that the eponymous character is a daughter of Aeolus the son of Hellen while her mother is Chiron's daughter, here named Hippo. So Chiron's daughter, Melanippe/Hippo/Hippe/Thetis/Ocyrhoe or whatever her name may be, is the mother of another Melanippe.

[smww4ever]

Queen Hippolyta, her sisters (Diana’s aunties) and young Diana: Reimagined.

[sarafangirlart]

Hatred of womankind is a most grievous thing. Those who have fallen bring disgrace on those who have not, and the bad ones share their censure with the good; and where marriage is concerned men think they have no integrity at all

Euripides, Captive Melanippe

Well… not much has changed since then, concerning how men view women.

[aliciavance4228]

Melanippe, is that you?

this thing is nightmare fuel

[unknownjayyyyyyyy]

Amazon little sister shenanigans

Melanippe: This little snake wont stop squeaking

Penthesilea: Snakes don’t squeak, or are u just fucking high as hell like me

Menalippe: Wowza, must be the wind

Penthesilea:

[violetwolfraven]

Carmilla (2014-2017) really did have it all huh. Lesbians. Vampires. Cults. Mildly toxic main relationship. Canon nonbinary character. Most of the action happening offscreen. Shitty special effects. One (1) straight character and he was a himbo. Sponsored by a period products brand. Some pretty damn good costuming for that low of a budget. And it was all literally just a college au fanfic of a novel from the 19th century. Truly peak entertainment.

[overhatedcharacterspoll]

OVERHATED CHARACTERS POLL: Melanippe "Mel" Callis (Carmilla the Series)

Feel free to explain your position in the comments or tags, but any harassment, over-the-top fighting, or personal attacks will result in you being blocked. Do not attack real people, be they fans or creators, over fictional characters.

Mod note: Mel's redemption arc was so, so good.

[conjcosby]

Stardate: 2023.5.26 ▫ After over five years, Laura, Carmilla and the rest if the gang return to Silas and find it darker than ever before. 🖤🙏 natvanlis baumanelise anniemorganb realisticsay stampnicole stawalk18 carmillaseries kindatv_ #natashanegovanlis #carmillakarnstein #elisebauman #laurahollis #anniebriggs #lolaperry #kaitlynalexander #susanlafontaine #lafontaine #nicolestamp #melanippecallis #sophiawalker #matskabalmonde #carmilla #carmillaseries #carmillafan #carmillafans #carmillafandom #carmillafanart #fan #art #friday #fridays #fanart #fanartfriday #fanartfridays

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Con J Cosby (@conjcosbyofficial)

[brightdown00]

If You Want An ACTUAL 'Feminist Icon' Man With Depth, Then Ares Is Your Best Candidate (NOT Hades!)

He has been SEVERELY misrepresented. Wonder Woman, Percy Jackson, DC Comics ... why didn't God of War use Ares instead of Kratos who is just one of Zeus' lieutenants?

(Don't get too excited just yet, it's still a pretty low bar.)

1) Ares is quite literally the ONLY Greek God (sitting on the Twelve Olympians) who doesn't need to be put on an sex offender registry. (I won't speak for his Roman counterpart, Mars, however ...) The worst he ever did, was seduce Phylonome, an hunting companion of Artemis, in the guise of an shepherd. That's hardly comparable to Zeus seducing Callisto in the guise of Artemis, or Alkmene in the guise of her husband Amphitryon, or Poseidon seducing Tyro in the guise of the river-God Enicepus.

That's right, the 'sacker of cities' isn't a rapist himself. (If you don't like irony, then Greek mythology isn't for you.)

2) Not only is Ares the only one who isn't a rapist, but he has actually stood up for sexual assault survivors more than once (even if they're his mother or daughter!) Ares was famously tried (and acquitted!) for homicide by a jury of the Twelve Olympians, after he slew Poseidon's son for raping his daughter. In one version of the myth, he was found guilty and forced to serve among mortals (which was the same sentence Zeus gave Poseidon and Apollo for conspiring against him). The implication is that all the Goddesses voted to acquit, all the Gods voted to convict, and what with Poseidon as prosecutor, Zeus as judge, and Ares as defendant, there were more goddesses on the jury than gods. Even if Zeus cast his vote to convict, it would have come to a tie and the rule was that the defendant is to be acquitted if there is a tie. (This is what occurred in The Oresteia, the setting of which was also the Areopagus.) When two giant sons stormed Olympus with the intention of taking Hera and Artemis, Ares was trapped by them in a jar, and the implication was because he was defending his mother and he was only a child at the time. He was also present at the punishment of Ixion who attempted to violate Hera, alongside Athena and Hermes.

3) Ares is the father of the Amazons (you hear that, DC Comics?) The founder of the Amazons, Otrera (who, btw, is the mythological founder of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus), is either his daughter with the wood-nymph Harmonia, or his consort (if she is the daughter of Eurus, God of the North Winds) by whom he fathered Melanippe, Antiope, Hippolyta, and Penthesilea. Their nation's capital city is named Themiskyra in honour of Themis (Zeus' second wife and his aunt by whom he fathered three daughters), whom Ares is on surprisingly close terms with (see the Homeric Hymn to Ares), since he was also the patron god of the law enforcement.

4) One of Ares' epithets is 'feasted by women', in the ancient city of Tegea in Arcadia; during a war between the Tegeans and the Spartans, the women of Tegea defended the city from an invasion led by the Spartan king Charilaus.

5) Women abused by their husbands, as I've read online (but cannot verify), would have likely prayed to Ares for the strength to survive, which makes sense since he is the God of Courage (who else would they have prayed to?), which may have (sadly) further contributed to his unpopularity in Ancient Greece. Likely women also prayed that their abusive husbands would die violently on the battlefield in the next war ... He is, after all, the 'slayer of men'. It's not any different from how mothers would pray to Demeter to bring their daughters back alive, or unmarried girls would pray to Artemis to escape an unwanted marriage ... There's no 'protector of women in Greek mythology' because the Hellenistic religion worked through power bargains with the Gods and their respective domains ...

6) Aphrodite was forced into a marriage with Hephaestus in exchange for Hera's release (Hephaestus initially sued for the hand of Athena which ... didn't work out; see Erichthonius for more detail), Aphrodite expected that she would marry Ares. (They may or may not have been sleeping together before since Dionysus is the one who got Hephaestus drunk enough to do it ... Dionysus is the son of Semele, daughter of Harmonia, Ares and Aphrodite's daughter ... or maybe it's just the wonky timeline in Greek mythology ... ) Love and War. Their children are Eros (the literal Cupid himself) and Anteros (Unrequited Love), Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Panic), and Harmonia (Harmony). They have an open marriage (they are often acknowledged as each other's consort in mythology), despite Ares killing Adonis as a boar (although one version has Artemis killing Adonis as revenge for Hippolytus) and Aphrodite cursing Eos with insatiable lust. Spartans gave Aphrodite the epithet of 'Areia' (similar to how Zeus has the epithet of 'Heraion'). Note how Ares and Aphrodite are the only official couple, whether they're depicted as married or otherwise, on the Twelve Olympians (following her divorce from Hephaestus) besides Zeus and Hera themselves, which brings me to my next point ...

7) Even though Ares was not worshipped by many Ancient Greeks (just as they didn't feel comfortable even mentioning Hades by name), he was always depicted as an handsome soldier, which was the peak of male attractiveness at the time. Legally, he would have been considered as the 'legitimate' heir to the throne of Olympus as the only 'true' son of Zeus and Hera (since Hephaestus was conceived via parthenogenesis), given how the Ancient Greeks projected their own sociocultural norms onto their Gods. He is also one of the most handsome of Zeus' sons (along with Apollo, Hermes, and Dionysus). Bizarrely, he could almost be considered as Ancient Greece's cultural equivalent of Prince Charming in a roundabout way.

8) Ares is the son of Hera (the Goddess of Marriage, Family, and Childbirth, Patron of Women and Queen of Olympus) and the husband of Aphrodite (Goddess of Love and Beauty; Lust and Sexuality; Desire and Pleasure). He is also the rival to his half-sister Athena (Goddess of Wisdom and Reason; Strategy and Warfare; Arts and Crafts) for his father's affections, and shares jurisdiction with his half-sister Artemis over the Amazons. He's also on good terms with his grand-aunt, Themis, and I would assume his aunt Hestia. Zeus and Hera's other children are all daughters (Enyo, Eileithyia, Hebe, Angelos, Arge, Eleuthera), and a part of Zeus is concerned that Ares would overthrow him (more on that in another day, for another post). It's not hard to see why Ares drinks the Respect Women Juice unlike his father, uncles, or brothers.

9) People often use Ares persecuting a pregnant Leto at Hera's orders against him, disregarding that Hera is not only his mother but the Queen of Olympus. Even then, he never did anything more than deny her entrance to cities. The entirety of Ancient Greece itself was under orders to deny Leto sanctuary, and so are you really going to fault Ares for it? ZEUS didn't even hold it against Ares, even though he's his least favourite and Leto is his favourite woman ...

9) Ancient Greek mythology is largely passed through Athens, and they associated Ares with foreigners such as the Thracians (Thrace is said to be the God's birthplace) whom they regarded as stupid, uncivilized barbarians (see 6). His respecting women is likely meant to be seen as a negative trait, and highly correlated with how Ares was seen in general (see 3).

Note: I am NOT calling Ares an 'feminist icon' man, I'm just saying that he is the best possible candidate in Greek mythology.

[aliciavance4228]

Honestly I'm not sure wheter or not I should be glad that Melanippe isn't a famous figure from Greek Mythology. On one hand she's a complex character with a strong nature who not only that is described as wise and intelligent, but doesn’t hesitate to challenge the perspectives of those around her and even speaks in the defense of women. On the other hand she's a single mother who tries to protect her twin babies in the first play, and an older, enslaved one who will eventually reunite with her adult sons and marry a king.

So despite the fact that having such a main female character was surprisingly progressive for that time a lot of feminists would probably hate her (especially radfems) because she's both a mother and an older woman, and because she doesn’t hate all men from her life despite the fact that Poseidon raped her whereas one of her sons turned out to be the (possible) misogynist she argues with in her second play, before they found out they're related.

[littlesparklight]

If you're like me and sometimes gets strange ideas into your head and want to make little lists, here's the (maybe not exhaustive?) list of the mortal daughters of the gods:

Poseidon Eirene (daughter of Melantheia, daughter of Alpheios) - Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 19 Aithousa (daughter of Alkyone) - Bibliotheke 3.110, Pausanias 9.20.1 Evadne (daughter of Pitane) - Pindar, Olympian 6 Lamia - Pausanias, Description, 10. 12. 2

Zeus Helen (daughter of Leda) - lots of sources [Hierophile (daughter of Lamia) - Pausanias, Description 10.12.1 Keroessa (daughter of Io) - several post-0 sources] -I've put both Hierophile and Keroessa within square brackets because I'm half discounting them. Keroessa more so, considering her very late sources. Helen as Zeus' (only) mortal daughter has more relevance and is more weighted, I think, even if more than one source mentions Zeus' love of Lamia. Of course, one could keep that and discount Hierophile herself as a daughter of Zeus.

Apollo Hilaeira and Phoibe (otherwise daughters of Leukippus) - Kypria, via Pausanias, 3. 16. 1 Eriopis (daughter of Arsinoe, daughter of Leukippus) - Ehoiai 63; Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Ode 3.14 Melite (otherwise daughter of Myrmex) - Harpocration, possibly Hesiod Parthenos (daughter of Chrysothemis) - Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 25 Phemonoe - Pliny the Elder [Eurynome (daughter of Iphthius and mother of Adrastus)??? Pamphile???] -The square brackets here are because Wikipedia only listed sources to myth compendiums of 1800-1900's, and so I have no idea what actual ancient sources make these women daughters of Apollo. (The Leukippides are most usually daughters of Leukippos, but I've included them here for completeness' sake.)

Ares Alkippe (daughter of Agraulos) - Bibliotheke 3.180 Amazons in general/unknown number of general Amazons - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2.989 Hippolyte, Antiope, Penthesilea[, Melanippe] (daughters of Otrera) - Bibliotheke 2.98+Epitome5.1, Hyginus, Fabulae 30, 112, 223, 241, Aethiopis Thrassa (daughter of Tereine, daughter of Strymon) - Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 21

Dionysos Deianira (daughter of Althaia) - Bibliotheke, 1.64, Hyginus Fabulae 129

I rather expected Ares and Apollo to be at the top of this list. Ares in particular, even if we have only a small number of individual Amazons named as his daughters by a specific woman. But Apollonius' Argonautica is pretty clear and he must absolutely in general have fathered more than just a handful of daughters especially in the beginning, to "make" any Amazons worthy of a name as a people at all. I was surprised at the number of daughters Poseidon could have, honestly! Didn't expect that. But as we can see, the number of women here is very low - the absolute vast majority of demigods are sons, not daughters.

[smww4ever]

Royal Household

Orithyia

Melanippe

Queen Hippolyta

Young Diana

The Amazons:

Early Age

[aliciavance4228]

Decided to reblog this post because I realized Melanippe and Medusa have many things in common and could have some MILF Yuri potential as well, but people would completely rewrite their stories, erase Melanippe's personality, trauma and children and turn her into the generic blind woman Medusa is usually shipped with, and by extension turn everything into a disaster.

Does it have any mythological sources backing it up? No. Does it at least make thematic sense since Danaë and Medusa have SOME things in common with the added bonus of being milf yuri? Yes