#pandoras jar

[wenwensart]

I’ve been reading some Greek mythology and how they have shifted over time.

Specifically pandora’s myth

Has some older connections to Demeter ( either it being her or someone close to her)

Her name meaning “all gifted” or “a gift to all”

Though people mistake that all the evils of the world came out of a box (which was a mistranslation) in actuality it’s pithos ( a very large jar mostly used for wine, oil or grain; usually half buried in the ground)

The myth most people are familiar with is pandora being made by the gods and sent as a “gift” to punish men for having received fire.

Here’s pandora as the more common interpretation

And here’s her with Demeter

[dilfaeneas]

Many complex thoughts to be had about her

[dognohair]

almost finished pandoras jar and now i’m back in my ancient history/mythology fixation from when i was like 8 so if anyone could send me some non fiction recommendations related to this it would be HIGHLY appreciated!!!!!!

[divinetoad]

How much do you value the lives of people you don’t know? We might think we would respond differently to the offer, but we all ignore the traumas of strangers every time we watch the news. How else could we survive? We can’t care as much about every single person alive as we do for our loved ones. And there is an ethical difference - isn’t there? - between ignoring a stranger who needs help, or money, or a kidney, and actively killing them. Neglect isn’t the same as animus. But to the person on the receiving end of no help (no medicine, no food, no kidney), the death they face is awfully similar to the one they would face if you deliberately assassinated them.

Natalie Haynes

Pandora’s Jar

[supitsgdo]

Book review: Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

Rating: 5⭐

I loved this book!!! It was the first time and only, that I had the urge to underline a lot of information with a pencil (and I did). This is the most legit and truest book where you can read about women in Greek myths because you can see that everything was researched to every detail (my TBR list about Greek mythology increased a lot) and also, Natalie shows us the different versions of the same myth, which is really interesting. And the writing... Gosh it was like I was hearing Natalie talking about these women next to me.

The conclusion for this book is that: ->most of the women's stories were ruined due to bad translation which consequently undermines the women's power and gloss over uncomfortable facts; ->due to oversimplification (e.g. children's book or general public) and bad research, in our modern days, of these stories which consequently turn these poor women into monsters when they are in fact the victims, or omitted information or just misinformation being shared and nobody cares to find the truth, and also these so called heroes and Gods that are in fact serial rapists and criminals; ->due to the gods, who "rarely cares who they hurt in their pursuit of vengeance" and consequently are the women who always pays the price ("The gods play multiple, layered roles in Greek tragedy, and one of those roles is essential psychological."); ->yes, not all men are villians and not all women are victims, but for the majority of these myths, it ain't always like that; ->and finally, the constant reminder that a woman can have no voice, can have no brain, can be no hero, and can find no justice at all in the world (we are always too much).

Quotes:

“When people ask why tell the stories that we know best from the Odyssey from Penelope’s perspective, or Circe’s perspective, they presuppose that the story ‘should’ be told from Odysseus’ point of view. Which means the answer to this question should always be: because she’s in the damn story. Why wouldn’t we want to hear from her?”

“The underpinning belief is that women are and always have been on the margins of these stories. That the myths have always focused on men and that women have only ever been minor figures. This involves ignoring the fact that there is no ‘real’ or ‘true’ version of any myth, because they arise from multiple authors across multiple locations over a long period. The version of a story we find in the Iliad or the Odyssey is not somehow more valid than a version we find in a fifth-century BCE play or on the side of a vase merely because it is older.”

“And if history has taught us anything, it is that women making a noise – whether speaking or shouting – tend to be viewed as intrinsically disruptive.”

“Every myth contains multiple timelines within itself: the time in which it is set, the time it is first told, and every retelling afterwards. Myths may be the home of the miraculous, but they are also mirrors of us. Which version of a story we choose to tell, which characters we place in the foreground, which ones we allow to fade into the shadows: these reflect both the teller and the reader, as much as they show the characters of the myth. We have made space in our storytelling to rediscover women who have been lost or forgotten. They are not villains, victims, wives and monsters: they are people.”

[metafucked]

Hey hey! here I would like to list some of Pandora's pronouns! These are good for folks who have a connection to being human, mortal, or godmade.

om/omen/omen/omens/omenself

"Yeah, om is nice. You should meet omen. Omen jar is full of evil. Yep, most of the world's evil is omens. Om spends most of omen time by omenself."

gift/gift/gifts/gifts/giftself

"Gift is my friend. You should meet gift. Gifts name is pretty, and that jar is gifts. Gift is nice but spends most of gifts time by giftself."

li/life/lifes/lifes/lifeself

"Li is cool. You would like life. Lifes jar is full of evil. Even though it's lifes, li isn't the one who opened it. Li couldn't release all this evil by lifeself after all."

fi/finit/finits/finits/finiteself

"Fi is godmade. Zeus made finit as the first woman. Finits jar was representative of the sun of womanhood. The jar was finits. It must have been lonely when fi was by finiteself."

There's no specific genders we associate with these pronouns!! Also anyone can use em :3. We technically made em but I doubt we're the first to think of a lot of the noun neos we make.

[doctorsiren]

“But at what cost?”

Available as a print on my Etsy Shop

[reddamselette]

i just remembered that when i was adding the relationship tags for the 5+1 riko and neil/nathaniel short story, i saw fucking barty crouch jr/neil josten😭😭and then barty crouch jr/neil josten/andrew minyard/evan rosier like HELLO where did they even come from

[newathens]

posally

[sprucestairs]

hhhhhh I need to properly reread Percy jackson again. This post brought to you by the fact I was about to make a post about a scene I very vividly remember of Will Solace trying to convince Pollux not to keep fighting with his good arm broken before Percy manages to convince him not to bc he promised Dionysus, then thought to myself "huh maybe I should fact check that- I mean I did also convince myself that Travis stoll died in this battle when he actually just went to college." And guess what? That scene ✨️didn't happen.✨️ Pollux was trying to convince Percy to let him rejoin the fight very half heartedly, while propped against a tree, and Percy was just like "hmmmm... no"

[korekiyoshusband]

[winterstarfall]

deeply obsessed with KAOS’ take on eurdiyce and orpheus. it definitely echoes natalie haynes section about her in Pandora’s Jar (great read btw really recommend). orpheus being too emotionally reliant and obsessed with her to the point she falls out of love but even in death she is trapped by him. even in death she does not get a choice. it always has to be about him.

[mordsfesch]

The past month in books (April '24)

[greenvertumna]

Okay fine I like Achilles

[pjoseries]

Literally shut the fuck up Alyssa Jesus fucking christ

About to copy and paste the entire fucking fic at this point I will NEVER not be absolutely insane about it ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

HELP... that fic was a slow banger

[jadelotusflower]

"And so we are left - as Ptolemy's curious list suggests - with an array of Helens, none of whom seem quite real, and all of whom seem to represent the desire of their creators. Look at the certainty with which Achilles is drawn - his speed, his anger, his love for Patroclus, his commitment to honour and immortality through fame: he is defined by what he wants, and strives for, and loses. And then we think of Helen, and how much harder she is to pin down: her confused parentage, her contested childhood, her multiple marriages. One of our earliest narrative traditions states the most notorious facts about her - that she elopes with Paris - is actually a lie: the real Helen is elsewhere, while a war is fought over an unreal creature, an image. In fact, the more we try to understand her, the more she eludes us: Helen of Troy, Helen of Sparta, Helen of joy, Helen of slaughter." - Natalie Haynes, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths