#so I take my cue from the Bibliotheke | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

littlesparklight · 4 years ago

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I can’t let go of the fact that for all the divine punishments of various acts of hubris and sacrilege in Greek myth, Neoptolemus gets to go home apparently scot free, after murdering an old man taking refuge at Zeus’ altar (in at least one version apparently using Astyanax’s body to club him to death??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS BOY????)

Athena gets to punish both Ajax the lesser and the whole rest of the Greek fleet for Cassandra’s rape at her altar, but Neoptolemus can’t even get a fucking spanking or something?? Just because he’s at most 15-18 doesn’t mean he can just get away with this!

This is an outrage and I demand answers.

(unrelated but related; Cassandra herself isn’t specifically punished, so for Ovid’s version of Medusa’s myth you either have a misogynistic asshole, and/or have to remember that the rapist in that case is Poseidon, Athena’s uncle and the ruler of one third of the world - not someone she can punish for the sacrilege and thus only Medusa is left. I am so tired of Ovid’s version of the myth and everyone beating their chests raw over it, but there you go.)

#the iliad #trojan war #neoptolemus #medusa #even if he's only 10-12 you can't just get away from committing godcrimes!#but a fucking ten year old can't wear his father's armour #so I take my cue from the Bibliotheke #and add 5-8 years between the first and second muster #yeah either Orestes or a priest of Apollo kills him later #this is not clear enough to me #WHY DOES HE GET TO GET AWAY WITH THIS??#just because Achilles is his dad or what #we can't make Thetis even more sad??#bah #hound the boy with lightning bolts all the way home at least

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