#what a true pharaoh

[regulusrules]

how is the world not collectively going insane about the Egyptian pentathlete Ahmed Elgendy who literally just broke olympic and world record in modern pentathlon and got the first gold medal this year for his country looking like this

[stardestroyer81]

So @retrobee drew a Ruby Spears take on an absolutenutcase162 comic...

[specialagentartemis]

I get variations on this comment on my post about history misinformation all the time: "why does it matter?" Why does it matter that people believe falsehoods about history? Why does it matter if people spread history misinformation? Why does it matter if people on tumblr believe that those bronze dodecahedra were used for knitting, or that Persephone had a daughter named Mespyrian? It's not the kind of misinformation that actually hurts people, like anti-vaxx propaganda or climate change denial. It doesn't hurt anyone to believe something false about the past.

Which, one, thanks for letting me know on my post that you think my job doesn't matter and what I do is pointless, if it doesn't really matter if we know the truth or make up lies about history because lies don't hurt anyone. But two, there are lots of reasons that it matters.

It encourages us to distrust historians when they talk about other aspects of history. You might think it's harmless to believe that Pharaoh Hatshepsut was trans. It's less harmless when you're espousing that the Holocaust wasn't really about Jews because the Nazis "came for trans people first." You might think it's harmless to believe that the French royalty of Versailles pooped and urinated on the floor of the palace all the time, because they were asshole rich people anyway, who cares, we hate the rich here; it's rather less harmless when you decide that the USSR was the communist ideal and Good, Actually, and that reports of its genocidal oppression are actually lies.

It encourages anti-intellectualism in other areas of scholarship. Deciding based on your own gut that the experts don't know what they're talking about and are either too stupid to realize the truth, or maliciously hiding the truth, is how you get to anti-vaxxers and climate change denial. It is also how you come to discount housing-first solutions for homelessness or the idea that long-term sustained weight loss is both biologically unlikely and health-wise unnecessary for the majority of fat people - because they conflict with what you feel should be true. Believing what you want to be true about history, because you want to believe it, and discounting fact-based corrections because you don't want them to be true, can then bleed over into how you approach other sociological and scientific topics.

How we think about history informs how we think about the present. A lot of people want certain things to be true - this famous person from history was gay or trans, this sexist story was actually feminist in its origin - because we want proof that gay people, trans people, and women deserve to be respected, and this gives evidence to prove we once were and deserve to be. But let me tell you a different story: on Thanksgiving of 2016, I was at a family friend's house and listening to their drunk conservative relative rant, and he told me, confidently, that the Roman Empire fell because they instituted universal healthcare, which was proof that Obama was destroying America. Of course that's nonsense. But projecting what we think is true about the world back onto history, and then using that as recursive proof that that is how the world is... is shoddy scholarship, and gets used for topics you don't agree with just as much as the ones you do. We should not be encouraging this, because our politics should be informed by the truth and material reality, not how we wish the past proved us right.

It frequently reinforces "Good vs. Bad" dichotomies that are at best unhelpful and at worst victim-blaming. A very common thread of historical misinformation on tumblr is about the innocence or benevolence of oppressed groups, slandered by oppressors who were far worse. This very frequently has truth to it - but makes the lies hard to separate out. It often simplifies the narrative, and implies that the reason that colonialism and oppression were bad was because the victims were Good and didn't deserve it... not because colonialism and oppression are bad. You see this sometimes with radical feminist mother goddess Neolithic feminist utopia stuff, but you also see it a lot regarding Native American and African history. I have seen people earnestly argue that Aztecs did not practice human sacrifice, that that was a lie made up by the Spanish to slander them. That is not true. Human sacrifice was part of Aztec, Maya, and many Central American war/religious practices. They are significantly more complex than often presented, and came from a captive-based system of warfare that significantly reduced the number of people who got killed in war compared to European styles of war that primarily killed people on the battlefield rather than taking them captive for sacrifice... but the human sacrifice was real and did happen. This can often come off with the implications of a 'noble savage' or an 'innocent victim' that implies that the bad things the Spanish conquistadors did were bad because the victims were innocent or good. This is a very easy trap to fall into; if the victims were good, they didn't deserve it. Right? This logic is dangerous when you are presented with a person or group who did something bad... you're caught in a bind. Did they deserve their injustice or oppression because they did something bad? This kind of logic drives a lot of transphobia, homophobia, racism, and defenses of Kyle Rittenhouse today. The answer to a colonialist logic of "The Aztecs deserved to be conquered because they did human sacrifice and that's bad" is not "The Aztecs didn't do human sacrifice actually, that's just Spanish propaganda" (which is a lie) it should be "We Americans do human sacrifice all the god damn time with our forever wars in the Middle East, we just don't call it that. We use bullets and bombs rather than obsidian knives but we kill way, way more people in the name of our country. What does that make us? Maybe genocide is not okay regardless of if you think the people are weird and scary." It becomes hard to square your ethics of the Innocent Victim and Lying Perpetrator when you see real, complicated, individual-level and group-level interactions, where no group is made up of members who are all completely pure and good, and they don't deserve to be oppressed anyway.

It makes you an unwitting tool of the oppressor. The favorite, favorite allegation transphobes level at trans people, and conservatives at queer people, is that we're lying to push the Gay Agenda. We're liars or deluded fools. If you say something about queer or trans history that's easy to debunk as false, you have permanently hurt your credibility - and the cause of queer history. It makes you easy to write off as a liar or a deluded fool who needs misinformation to make your case. If you say Louisa May Alcott was trans, that's easy to counter with "there is literally no evidence of that, and lots of evidence that she was fine being a woman," and instantly tanks your credibility going forward, so when you then say James Barry was trans and push back against a novel or biopic that treats James Barry as a woman, you get "you don't know what you're talking about, didn't you say Louisa May Alcott was trans too?" TERFs love to call trans people liars - do not hand them ammunition, not even a single bullet. Make sure you can back up what you say with facts and evidence. This is true of homophobes, of racists, of sexists. Be confident of your facts, and have facts to give to the hopeful and questioning learners who you are relating this story to, or the bigots who you are telling off, because misinformation can only hurt you and your cause.

It makes the queer, female, POC, or other marginalized listeners hurt, sad, and betrayed when something they thought was a reflection of their own experiences turns out not to be real. This is a good response to a performance art piece purporting to tell a real story of gay WWI soldiers, until the author revealed it as fiction. Why would you want to set yourself up for disappointment like that? Why would you want to risk inflicting that disappointment and betrayal on anyone else?

It makes it harder to learn the actual truth.

Historical misinformation has consequences, and those consequences are best avoided - by checking your facts, citing your sources, and taking the time and effort to make sure you are actually telling the truth.

[johnbrand]

Little Brother

With @next-pharaoh

“Eh, dirty Arab,” Markus muttered to himself, squeezing into the aisle seat next to the younger brown man beside him. He could only hope his suit would not get filthy while next to the fellow. Markus was on his way to a meeting across the country, hoping to be promoted to an associate at his law practice.

“I’m sorry, what did you say, zalameh?” Markus’s new acquaintance asked innocently. Markus grimaced at the hair that seemingly covered every exposed part of the young man’s body, and the musk that naturally wafted off of it.

“Nothing, nevermind.” Markus did not want to get into an argument. He was not worried about the other passenger’s size–Markus's hobby of weightlifting would definitely make it an even match–but he was on a plane. They were going to sit together for at least three hours.

“Picking a fight with me is rather bold,” the man beside him warned. “Just because we are in public does not mean your big brother Khalil won’t put you into place. I’ve had no problem doing that in the mosque, remember?.”

The second half of the comment caught Markus off guard. “I’m sorry…what?”

“Do not play dumb, zalameh,” Khalil smirked. “Although I guess skipping that post-secondary education may have slowed you down.”

“N-no, I’m smart…and I’m not Muslim.” Markus struggled to regain his footing, which was surprising for the lawyer of almost ten years. But then, something else began to alarm him. “Wait, what’s happening to my suit?!”

Right before the pair’s eyes, Markus’s suit had begun to dwindle away, pulling back towards his core. The jacket disappeared completely, while the starched button-up softened into a basic graphic tee. Markus’s pleading eyes searched for help but no one seemed to notice his pant legs curling up, becoming sweat shorts that reached halfway across the thigh. Finally, as his premium loafers morphed into beaten sneakers, Markus switched to the offensive.

“You’re doing this aren’t you, you camel-”

“Shh, brother,” Khalil placed a brown finger to Markus’s lips, shushing him. “You don’t want to make a scene, do you?”

Recovering fast, Markus ripped Khalil’s hand away, but then he noticed a new problem. “My-my arms! Why are they…”

“They’ve always been brown,” Khalil stated as they both followed the wave of melanin that flushed over Markus’s arms. “They’re as hairy as mine, but if you joined me in the gym more often than they’d be as buff and strong as mine too.”

Markus’s arms shrunk under Khalil’s comments, now more toned than muscular. “Wha-” 

“And that runner’s build too,” Khalil commented. “Sure you have abs and that thick treasure trail, but it makes you more boyish than man.”

“No, stop it!” Markus exclaimed. And yet no attention was given to him from the other passengers as his frame thinned out into a figure appropriate for a runner.

“At least you have that fat, bushy, Arab cock our family name takes pride in!” Khalil suddenly grabbed Markus’s crotch, both of them noticing the heftier weight. Markus did not understand how, but he could feel his white sperm rapidly evaporating within Khalil's grip.

“B-but I’m not Arab…and I’m a lawyer…and I’m-”

“You're my little brother,” Khalil finished, grabbing Markus’s face. “Praise Allah I have patience for your misunderstandings.”

Markus was going to comment, but instead was distracted by a foreign feeling on his chin, “Since when do I have a goatee…?”

“Since you could grow one, zalameh. You’ve wanted to be like me ever since you were little.”

Markus groaned. “I don’t...ow, my head...”

“By Allah you practically are like me at this point,” Khalil chuckled. “One could even confuse us for twins.”

“No…that can’t be…true.” Struggling, Markus got up. To his surprise, Khalil did not stop him–nor did anyone else for that matter–as he stumbled towards the bathroom. He had to see if it was true. Markus had to know if…

“Subhanallah!”

With the mirror in front of him, Markus was able to witness what Khalil had meant. Reflected back was a young Arab man, no older than 25. Attractive in a boyish way, but still held that Arab hair and funk that many brown men were proud of. Markus’s eyes began to water, but before he could cry his phone received a notification.

“Marwan, what’s taking you so long! We are about to take off!!"

Marwan shook his head, what was he just thinking about? It probably did not matter anyway. Luckily his older brother Khalil was looking out for him once again. Admiring his own brown, masculine beauty and quickly thanking Allah for it, Marwan left the bathroom to return to his brother. Khalil was beaming from ahead, eagerly awaiting him.

[ckret2]

I saw a theory that the journal pages Bill shares in tbob are fake. Thoughts?

Don't buy it, not interested.

When Bill lies, the story finds ways to show us that he lies. The show doesn't let him get away with claiming he liberated his dimension without outing him as a liar by letting us hear the Euclideans' screams; the book doesn't let him get away with claiming the pharaoh was his bestie without outing him as a liar by including a quote from the pharaoh about how annoyed he was by Bill. Whenever Bill lies, it's not subtle, it's not secret, and the story around him makes a point of exposing his lies as blatantly as possible. He's not allowed to get away with it.

The idea that the journal pages are fake comes from readers going "but hold on, didn't we already see the fully repaired Journal 3?" "isn't Ford's hair slightly wrong here?" "doesn't this contradict the timeline in some places?" etc. Details you wouldn't know or notice unless you're armpit deep in Gravity Falls lore. If you have to think real hard to realize Bill might be lying about something... it's probably not intended to be a lie.

If it was meant to be a lie, the book would have showed us somehow. One of the letters from Ford would have blatantly contradicted the information we get in the journal pages; or, Bill would have provided fake pages saying such outrageous things that we'd KNOW Ford couldn't have possibly written them ("my muse is so wonderful and perfect and brilliant and I regret not joining him to conquer the world sooo much, if only my stubborn short-sighted human pride and dumb family loyalty weren't stopping me from making the right decision" etc).

My theory is that the guy who hasn't worked on the show for the better part of a decade, with a proven track record of accidentally making the main characters the product of two generations of teen pregnancies and sending the cast on a road trip the episode after building a magical barrier that will protect them only if they're inside the shack, decided to prioritize an interesting narrative over rigid adherence to timelines and 100% internally-consistent lore.

A theory is something you think might actually could be what's REALLY HAPPENING in canon; a headcanon is what you've privately decided is true solely for the version of the story that exists inside your own head. "The journal pages in TBOB are fake" is a perfectly workable headcanon, nothing wrong with it, you can fit it in and justify it with no trouble—but as a theory it holds no water.

[aestheticpebbles]

Saturday October 19th,2024 New York Comic Con

So I took a solo trip to NYCC and attended, let alone dressed up for such an event, for the first time. (I literally assembled my cosplay within a week bc I got my hair dyed the previous Friday, and my best friend pushed me off the ledge out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to dress up!).

Somehow, one of the absolute WORST weeks of my life due to major personal life issues between my car engine exploding in the middle of the woods in north carolina, being forced to stay in georgia until literally 5:30pm THE NIGHT BEFORE (FLEW up I-85N to the closest airport when I could finally leave. delta literally saved my life when I managed to catch a flight leaving at 7pm to go back home where ALL of my cosplay outfit pieces)straight up $🔥🔥🔥 hurt so bad but I was NOT missing this event for anything)) landed at 11:30pm and ended up just pulling an all-nighter to get ready and drive 3 hours back to nyc. my layover was in laguardia and it hurt so bad to know I had to turn around and drive right back past it LOL. however, the week I was PRAYING for to end, still ended off to be an incredible first-time experience thanks to these two, and everyone else I met who attended!

Someone sedate me. How am I supposed to sleep at night knowing the very first words he said were “wow, look at you”, and then “I’ll sign whatever you want” at the table? talk about giving me a free lobotomy on the spot bc I couldn’t formulate a single sentence. Matt was so nice too!! I wish I was able to interact w him more but im so thankful that I was able to get a duo picture.

tom autographed a copy of our solo pic together, and I didn’t even make it out of nyc on saturday night before running to the first target I saw to grab 4 8x10 photo frames.

I circled back around the line after realizing he was willing to sign my crown too and he had his white pen out and ready!! 😭😭 I was so excited and awkwardly laughing bc I was flustered as hell that I walked right by the swau booth. completely forgot that I added the up charge to have them authenticate it, but I guess it doesn’t matter all that much because this crown will only be pried from my cold, dead hands.

Jokingly told my mom to bury the crown with me and a few other trinkets like a pharaoh’s tomb if you will. I got an odd side glance from her. Reminded me of Penguins of Madagascar’s “smile and wave boys… smile and wave….😬😀”

I didn’t even realize Tom wasn’t feeling well and had to leave early because of how bright his smile was, and how responsive he was both when taking pictures and signing autographs.

Dream come true! 💚💚 blushing, giggling, swinging and kicking my feet.

gotta lock it in, im literally yapping right now… not done yet though :)

spay me for saying this— i cant tell what i enjoyed more about meeting him: seeing his toothy smile, or smelling his cologne, or learning what the IRL height difference is? 🤤🫠

okay yall imma shut up now but OMG!!! im obsessed with how good these pictures came out! im so excited to receive more. I hope everyone who attended had an amazing time!!

[amongemeraldclouds]

Mattheo’s Gamble

Anguished by your tragic passing in the Second Wizarding War, Mattheo makes a bet with the Grim Reaper to get you back (features different AUs)

Mattheo Riddle x Reader

Official entry for @thatdammchickennugget's Hogmarch challenge, prompt 3.

Author's note: Steering off the prompt a bit as I have no idea how to write sports so here's another 'game' I thought of. I usually prefer writing full fics but this idea is so complex, enjoy this bite sized version instead.

✿ Masterlist | 677 words

♡ They had no right to take you away from him, Mattheo seethes as he strides into the Grim Reaper's lair.

♡ He had sacrificed way too much in the war only to lose what's most important to him in the end.

♡ Mattheo pleads his case, the Grim Reaper has to revive you. You are meant to be together in every single lifetime, losing you in this one is a mistake. It was never meant to happen.

♡ Mattheo doesn't actually know if it's true, but he is desperate.

♡ The Grim Reaper agrees to his request, if he wins a wager. He and Mattheo will visit three different lifetimes to test his theory. If proven correct that you always end up together across different lives, Grim Reaper is ready to correct the mistake and revive you fully, as if you never left at all.

♡ But if Mattheo is wrong, he would have to spend a hundred years in damnation. Mattheo believes he has nothing left to lose so he agrees to the wager with no hesitation.

Ancient Egypt AU

⛺︎ In the first lifetime Mattheo and the Grim Reaper visit, you are the pharaoh's daughter, beloved by all people.

⛺︎ Mattheo is the high court magician, highly favored by your father.

⛺︎ You and Mattheo grew up together and eventually become lovers. Your father would not approve if he found out so you keep it a secret.

⛺︎ Meanwhile, your father is arranging a strategic marriage for you.

1800s AU

☾ You and Mattheo meet while taking an extended vacation with your family. He’s staying in the same hotel as you and you become fast friends.

☾ It doesn't take long for the two of you to fall in love and promise to write each other letters to stay in touch.

☾ After your departure, you send him a letter but never hear from him again, thinking he has moved on.

☾ Forty years later, a mailman takes his last shift before retirement. While clearing an old pile of mail, he finds your letter wedged in between cabinets. Mattheo never received your letter.

☾ The mailman takes it upon himself to track down Mattheo to deliver your letter, his first adventure after retiring.

Mafia AU

⭐︎ The final life Mattheo and the Grim Reaper visit. You and Mattheo come from two warring gangs. He's one of the leaders of his gang, whereas your father is the leader in their rival gang.

⭐︎ To keep you safe, your father hid his world away from you and the mafia doesn’t know much about your existence either.

⭐︎ One day, your father disappears. To investigate his whereabouts, you go undercover in the rival gang to gather intel. They assign you to the subgroup that Mattheo leads.

Between the Grim Reaper and Mattheo

♡ The Grim Reaper reveals he chose the hardest timelines for you and Mattheo to end up together. During their journey across the different AUs, the Grim Reaper throws in more obstacles on your path.

♡ "Filthy cheater," Mattheo accuses the Grim Reaper.

♡ "Did you think I was going to go easy on you?" he replies with a cold smile. "I thought you were so sure about this little connection of yours.”

♡ Mattheo grits his teeth but says nothing further.

♡ In the end, you make your relationship work and end up together every single lifetime, against all odds. Thus proving that love is its own kind of magic. And oh, it is one of the most powerful.

♡ The Grim Reaper is amused by the whole wager and holds up his end of the bargain by reuniting you back with Mattheo.

♡ "How?" you ask, looking into Mattheo's eyes once you get a moment to catch your breath from all the happy tears and the vice grip of his embrace.

♡ "Would you believe me if I told you it was the power of love?" he asks.

♡ You laugh, "who are you and what have you done with my Mattheo?"

♡ "I'm right here love and you're here," he says, pulling you back into another hug, savoring the moment. Just as it was always meant to be, he thinks.

Cue Taylor Swift's Timeless: 'Cause I believe that we were supposed to find this so, even in a different life, you still would've been mine, we would've been timeless.

✿ Masterlist

A/N: Changed the name to the Grim Reaper bc tumblr shadowbanned the original name starting with D.

Inspired by: The (Unalived) Hallows, Cloud Atlas, Doctor Who, Letters to Juliet, reading the Akashic Records.

[sarafangirlart]

Andromeda’s race/ethnicity and why it’s not inaccurate to interpret her as black/African

Now you’ve seen how I draw my babygirl as Afro Palestinian Egyptian so you know where I personally stand on the subject. However, my interpretation isn’t the only one, ancient authors, from mythographers to historians to poets to playwrights, have proposed various different locations for Andromeda’s homeland, often times contradicting each other, what I’m trying to do here is correct some misinformation as well as argue that even if Andromeda isn’t black/ethiopian, she still wouldn’t be considered white or ethnically European.

I would like to reiterate like I did with my Hephaestus/Aphrodite post that I’m not a mythology or history expert, I just read a lot. So do your own research and come up with your own conclusions.

Let’s go.

The etymology of “Aethiopia”

Aethiopia means "of burned face" which yes is pretty racist be modern standards but basically means that its inhabitants are dark skinned, so even if you go by sources that it isn’t in Africa, the inhabitants still wouldn’t be white or Greek.

Location of the Kingdom

You’d hear the statement that the Aethiopia in mythology is not the same as Ethiopia the modern country, which is true. You’d also hear that it’s a completely fictitious location, that’s only partially true, while Aethiopia existed mainly as a mythological location (mentioned as early as the Iliad) that didn’t stop ancient historians, mythographers and poets from placing it in real locations or calling pre-existing nations Aethiopia. It’s hard to pick which one is more “accurate” bc they all contradict each other, not only that, but these writers didn’t actually visit these locations and ancient ppl weren’t as well versed in geography as we are today so they’d be weirdly vague or confusing about these locations, I mean just look at an ancient map and you’d see what I mean.

So personally, I think you can go with any version you personally prefer, the options are quite limitless, she could be from the Arab peninsula, the Levant, North Africa, Persia, hell maybe even India if you are like Ovid.

Andromeda’s genealogy

(I just realized that these are the Waterson kids color palette while writing this lmaooooooooo)

Yes Andromeda is descended from Zeus (no family tree can escape that man lol) and she’s also the great granddaughter of Poseidon, which adds a whole new layer to the fact he tried to kill her.

Now for a bit of history: The Trojan war (which didn’t happen irl obviously) was dated as taking place in the 12th or 13th century BCE by some ancient writers, that war happens a few generations after Perseus’s story, which means that Egypt was in the New Kingdom era, also called the Egyptian Empire, when Nubians (who would be considered black by today’s standards) were a very important part of society, even becoming Pharaohs. Ancient Egypt was a lot more diverse than modern ppl give it credit for, there were multiple ethnic groups living there. Not to mention that you can’t get more Egyptian than being descended from the god of the Nile River lol

Libya is (obviously) the personification of the region of Libya, not the modern country Libya, but the general area in North Africa west of Egypt. The name Libya comes from the Libu, a berber tribe. So once again, even if Andromeda wasn’t black, even if you interpreted that her kingdom is placed in Asia, she’d still be of African decent.

Cassiopeia is a tricky one, her origins are obscure, she’s called a nymph by Nonnus, while Stephanus of Byzantium (a very late source) states she’s from Ioppa and that the city takes its name from her. However, Ioppa/Jaffa was identified as Andromeda’s home much earlier in Periplus attributed to Scylax, which was composed in the late fourth century bc.

Conclusion

You can make Andromeda black it’s ok. Ancient writers couldn’t agree on her country’s location but we can still speculate. Anyways ummm… I think that’s it? Maybe I’ll add to this if I find or remember more interesting information.

Have a great day.

[teamfreewill58]

As much as I love the Millennium World Arc it’s also incredibly heartbreaking to watch Atem go through that. He finally has all the pieces needed to open the tablet of memories and they were all sure that he would remember who he was and then he DIDN’T. Instead he goes through a repeat of what he did when he woke up in the Millennium Puzzle where he doesn’t know what’s going on or anything at all but instead of getting to try to piece things together he’s dropped right into the middle of huge dire events. And he does gradually start to get things back but for a huge chunk of it he’s completely in the dark AGAIN. He didn’t actually start remembering things until around where TKB dropped him in the river and his friends gave him his name. And it’s heartbreaking. It’s heart breaking how for the majority of the arc he had to just take people’s word for shit and just blindly trust that they were being honest and that what they were informing him was true. The fact that he spent a year and a half getting used to being with Yugi in his time period and then within two seconds of entering the Millennium World he’s barraged by his past at a million miles an hour, and its not even an everyday kind of day its his friggin -coronation-. So of course he can’t excuse himself. Like thank goodness for royal attendants so he could try and get information from Shimon who was more than willing to explain things to him and didn’t get mad or confused by him not knowing what was going on, he just was like “okay I dunno why the Pharaoh needs an explanation but I’ll explain.” And just look at him.

Like he’s so overwhelmed and its so sad because yeah he’s finally getting answers about his past but like at the same time he’s not. Just as he was a stranger in Yugi’s body and life now he’s a stranger in his own body and his own life. Unlike the people in his memories he feels out of place and he IS out of place sitting here where everyone knows him and he SHOULD know these people and he DOESN’T.

The scene on the balcony where Yugi can feel his loneliness and Atem is thinking about all of these new but familiar faces he goes, “Everyone here knows who I am. But I don’t know anyone. As a Pharaoh, did I truly understand them? And did they know the real me?” ( Ep 203 11:38) And yet in spite of that he still tried his absolute best to properly navigate being a Pharaoh and he nails it. He steps in himself to deal with Yami Bakura each time, and even though he hasn’t touched a sword in over 3,000 years we see he still knows how to use one just like he still knows how to ride a horse. Any time there is a battle in this arc Atem is front and center being a leader and protecting people or on his way to the battle.

Even though Mahad isn’t there for long (I mean I guess he kind of is because he becomes a card) the scene of him and Atem running into Mana is one of my favorites because that moment Atem realizes that these two were his friends and he did have friends he relaxes and starts flourishing as a pharaoh.

[talonabraxas]

“He, He is the God too great to have a name ! He is the inapparent and He is the very apparent. He who the intellect contemplates ! He is also the one seen by the eyes. He is the incorporeal, the multiform, better still, the omniform. Nothing exists which He is not, for everything that exist, everything is Him. From that comes that He has all names, for all things come forth from this unique father. From that comes that He has no name at all, for He is the father of all things.” (ibid)

Amun – An Aurora Filled Sky Talon Abraxas

Amun (Amen, Amon) was the king of the gods. The name means ‘The Hidden One’.

Amun is most commonly shown entirely in human form. Often he is standing or sitting on a throne wearing a red, flat-topped crown with two tall plumes and holding a sceptre in his hand. Amun can also assume the appearance of a ram, his sacred animal. His sacred colours were blue, red, yellow and green and his images are to be found throughout the Nile Valley.

The enormous temple complex of Karnak was the principal home of Amun where he was worshiped as the prominent divine entity. During the New Kingdom, his popularity eclipsed that of other major deities; he was the ‘king of the gods’. The warrior-god Montu was believed to be a manifestation of Amun. A Theban triad consisted of Amun, his wife Mut, and their offspring Khonsu, the moon god. All three had temples at Karnak.

Amun is a god whose attributes are so extensive it lacks the personality of other deities. His role as creator is emphasised in many hymns. He was believed to be self-generated. As a fertility god, he impregnated his mother, the Celestial Cow, to ensure the fecundity of animals and plants. He was closely involved with kingship, and many pharaohs regarded themselves as one of his incarnations and incorporated his name into their own (Tut-ankh-amun).

Amun was also seen as the divine consort of Egyptian queens (‘god’s wife of Amun‘). Queen Hatshepsut (right) presented herself as an offspring of the god during a visit to her mother. His virile strength made him an appropriate deity for ensuring military victory for the pharaoh. Amun was invoked for healing from the bites of dangerous animals and other illnesses. During the New Kingdom, he was a personal-saviour god of ordinary working people, as numerous devotional stele testify. Amun later became synchronised with Re to become Amun-Re.

Many catastrophist writers have attempted to give physical identity to Amun by placing him in the world of chaos. One of the most widespread identifications is the linking of Amun with Jupiter. This is because Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and, since Amun was referred to as the ‘king of the gods’, Amun must therefore be Jupiter. This is an unsatisfactory explanation and exhibits a lack of knowledge about the ancient world. How could ancient people possibly know that Jupiter was the largest planet? From Earth it is a mere speck of light in the night sky. It is not even the brightest ‘star’. Excluding the Sun and Moon, the brightest light in the sky is Venus – why wasn’t Venus deemed king of the gods? What of the bright star Saturn or even Mars? If Amun was Jupiter, how do we explain Amun’s tall feathery plumes, his sacred colours, his syncretism with Re (Amun-Re) and epithets such as ‘one whose true form could never be known’? How can any of these apply to Jupiter?

Egyptologists fair no better. They understand Amun’s role in connection with the monarchy, but what is the meaning behind his strange plumes and curious epithets? Their best explanation is to present him as a solar deity – once again they point to the Sun.

The key to physically identifying and understanding Amun lies with his unusual, tall plumes and the colours contained within. They were direct representations of magical celestial lights that were observed the world over in ancient times – a phenomenon we call the Aurora.

The Aurora

The auroras are the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights).

Auroras are striking displays of coloured lights that are often seen over the Earth’s magnetic poles. They occur when the solar wind particles are trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field so they collide with molecules of air in the upper atmosphere (ionosphere). They are a spectacular sight and take the form of rapidly shifting patches of colour and dancing columns of light of various hues. The colours observed depend on several factors such as atmospheric conditions, intensity of the solar wind, temperature and location. The Aurora is always present in almost every area of the sky, but it is usually too faint to be seen except near the North and South Poles. The main colours of the Aurora are blue, yellow, red and green, the very same colours attributed to Amun.

The intensity of the Aurora is dictated by the solar wind, a stream of electrically charged particles from the Sun. When the solar wind blows exceptionally strong, the Aurora increases. The periods of maximum and minimum intensity of the Aurora coincide almost exactly with those of the sunspot cycle, which is an 11-year cycle. When the Sun is in the active phase it can unleash powerful magnetic storms that disable satellites, threaten astronaut safety, and even disrupt communication systems on Earth.

In March 1989, the Sun unleashed a tempest that knocked out power to all of Quebec, Canada, leaving six million people without electricity. Such intense magnetic storms cause spectacular, widespread auroras, even at latitudes as low as Mexico, which is 23 degrees north (similar latitude to Egypt).

As mentioned above 3,000 years ago, at the height of planetary chaos solar activity was far more intense than anything experienced today. Cosmic catastrophe gave way to intense geomagnetic storms and global auroras – seen at all latitudes day and night. They were observed during the day courtesy of the red Sun which gave rise to a twilight world. These shimmering magical lights were personified in the great god Amun.

Hymn to Amun

“Amun, who developed in the beginning, whose origin is unknown. No god came into being prior to Him. No other god was with Him who could say what He looked like. He had no mother who created His name. He had no father to beget Him or to sa: “This belongs to me.” Who formed His own egg. Power of secret birth, who created His (own) beauty. Most Divine God, who came into being alone. Every god came into being since He began Himself. Every being came into being when His being began being. There is nothing outside Him.” (Praise of Amun in the Decree for Nesikhonsu) “None of the gods knows His true form, His image is not unfolded in the papyrus rolls, nothing certain is testified about Him.”

Hymns to Amun, Papyrus Leiden I 350, chapter 200, lines 22- 24.

[aziraphales-library]

Hi! Thank you again for all the work y'all do it's amazing!

I was wondering, is there any fic about the burning library of Alexandria?

Have a great day/evening!

Hello! We actually have a #the library of alexandria tag with a couple of posts, so check those out. Here are more to add...

That One Time in Alexandria by mageofthepeople (G)

A fun little fic in which Crawly has an assignment he needs some help with in Egypt and he makes Aziraphale an unwitting accomplice. Also they have dinner and a gift is bought.

A Gift, Long Lost by AirBlade172 (T)

'That was when Aziraphale collapsed. His knees hit the floor with a thud and he looked around as though a mortal man shown the divine. He was silent for so long that Crowley started to fidget.' After catching Crowley surreptitiously examining the walls of his shop for what must be the hundredth time, Aziraphale forces the demon to confess he's lost something that he had hidden there for the angel.

Into the Ashes by babyrubysoho, rainbow_salt (T)

As the Library of Alexandria is burning, Crawley spots a distraught Aziraphale and helps him out.

With The Roar Of The Fire by Eccentric_Grace (G)

Aziraphale’s shuffled off to the side, looking Crawly disapprovingly through a side-eye. “It would be a shame if the books all burned.” “What are you going on about?” Aziraphale squirmed around as if he was having a fit, scrunching his face up and nearly almost stomping his foot. “The burnings, Crawly! The fires!” or: the year is 48 b.c. and crawly is in a fight for life against his own pining and a burning hatred with julius caesar.

Papyrus, Parchment, & Paper by Sodium_Azide (M)

The Library of Alexandria is the jewel of the empire, and the pet project of the pharaohs. The head librarian is making it a true nexus of goodness and shared knowledge. Hell can't let that stand. They'll send their best demon to destroy it, and who is better at big wins than Crawly?

When The edges start to Burn by IcarusSoars (T)

Crowley never thought twice about anniversaries before; It was just another one of those silly things humans decided needed celebration one day. Crowley never really saw the point of it. That was until a bright card caught his attention while on a normal food run for the fussy angel. Aziraphale and him celebrated many things over the years, but the day they met was never one of them. Well, it wasn't like their old sides were going to stop them after that stunt they pulled. No, nothing was stopping Crowley from surprising Aziraphale with the last scroll from The Library of Alexandria over a candlelit picnic on their anniversary. Maybe except for the fact that he had to find the damn thing first, and lying to Aziraphale about the whole thing was even worse. Maybe Crowley should have known those old guardian instincts never went away. Alternately: Crowley goes on a wild goose chase to locate the last intact scroll from the Library of Alexandria and Aziraphale is beyond concerned when the demon starts reeking of desperation.

- Mod D

[aboardthescheherazade]

is it true that they removed mentions of tintin journaling/actually mentioning his job/etc when they redrew some of the older tintin comics? i swear i remember seeing examples of that once but i have no clue where to find them again

I definitely know which post you're talking about, but I can't find it either. I'll try to compile what I remember and/or know about offhand...

For the most part, the most references to Tintin being a reporter come early on in what are considered the "newsprint editions" of the comics. The first nine albums were serialized in Le Petit Vingtieme and Le Soir Jeunesse, and these pages were later re-collected and coloured (and occasionally cut down/rewritten) for what are now known as the "Casterman editions".

Tintin being a reporter is all over Land of the Soviets, and it's introduced as early as page 1. It's the silliest album, but it's also the only album thoroughly revolving around Tintin going on a reporting assignment.

(Soviets pg. 4. By God, look at that guard in the upper right. He looks like the RESPECT! butler)

Tintin is still a reporter in Congo, but it's scaled far back in the redrawn Casterman edition. In the latter, it's kept to one mention in the very first panel, which was also turned into the first appearance of Dupont and Dupond:

(Congo pgs. 1)

Meanwhile, the newsprint edition has a scene where newspaper agents try to scout Tintin as a reporter, I guess because his stories are just that good. He ultimately declines, claiming Petit Vingtieme is paying him way more than what they offer.

(Congo pg. 17)

Now, I'd had a theory that the series just became too plot-focused to keep pausing for references to Tintin's writing, but Reddit user XenophonOfAthens made a good point about Herge being forced to pause discussion of the press and current events after the nazis shut down Le Vingtieme, thus moving Hergé and many of the same staff to the nazi-overseen Le Soir and Le Soir Jeunesse. Tintin had been introduced as Le Petit Vingtieme's boy reporter who child readers could follow along with, but now with a new (heavily monitored) publication, mentions of the "boy reporter" slowly phased out.

One of the more significant edits to Tintin's reporting comes in Cigars of the Pharaoh. Sheik Patrash Pasha originally says he's followed Tintin's adventures for "several years" and presents a then-new Vingtieme publishing of Tintin in America.

In the colour edition, he instead presents Destination Moon. This album was in production at the time of the redraws, and it was one of the first albums to be published outside of Europe...but now Tintin's reaction is especially visceral, since that album involves him going to the moon with two people he hasn't met yet.

(Cigars B&W pg. 39, Casterman pg. 15. I also gave the Sheik's servant in the latter a quick edit because it was somehow worse than the 1933 version)

The last reference to Tintin's reporting for a long while was in The Broken Ear. We are now in the Soir era:

(Broken Ear pgs. 2)

This line never made it past the newsprint version. Tintin hears the news about the museum theft, and originally, he remarks that it'll make for a nice report...but in the reprint, he's just declaring that he'll go to the museum. I feel like the wording in the original could have referred to something specific about the comic's run in Le Soir Jeunesse, but it also could have been removed under the assumption that the reader would be going into this book knowing Tintin is a reporter. He does have a notepad with him through the rest of the page, but without that context, he just seems like a busybody.

I feel like there were a lot more references to his reporting in Le Journal Tintin, which is where the comic moved its publication to. This adds credence to the possibility that readers would be picking up these books knowing Tintin was a reporter, thus it being less of a focus within each album's plot. There do seem to be little hints throughout the albums about Tintin being a reporter...one of these is a moment in Explorers on the Moon where Tintin describes the moon's surface to ground control, and as a writer myself, this to me feels like him gathering his words for a future story:

(Explorers pg. 24)

However, Tintin's reporting is brought up in an album one more time, decades later, in Picaros. Tintin is referred to as a reporter on televised news, so this is at least some confirmation that he does submit journalist work, at least off-camera or between albums:

(pg. 47)

In short, Tintin's reporting started to fade off suspiciously during an era where nazis were breathing down Hergé's neck, then got a little lost in translation, and then ultimately came back.

My theory for Tintin's reporting slowly becoming less important in the albums happened either due to 1. Hergé and co. becoming more interested in writing about other things, 2. the series being moved to a vanity publication that discussed Tintin being a reporter outside of the canon comics, or 3. it got phased out during the Le Soir era because Hergé's supervisors didn't want to promote a gonzo journalist as a hero during a time with heavy political censorship and turmoil. It's completely up in the air.

[fuckingconversations]

This Egyptian statue dates to the 5th dynasty of the Old Kingdom, circa 2,500 BCE. It depicts Ka'aper, a scribe and priest-reader who had an official, but not very high-ranking role.

Sculptors and artists of the time would depict high-ranking figures like pharaohs, high priests, and members of the royal family with an idealized 'perfect' form, depicting broad shoulders, a muscled chest and a narrow waist. (no matter what they actually looked like irl)

But not for Ka'Aper! He did get some fuckin' AWESOME stone eyes, though. (The video shows how they were made)

BECAUSE he was not very high-ranking, he was sculpted as a regular-looking man, possibly true to his actual body instead of a 'perfect' figure. His statue depicts his double chin, round cheeks, and soft chest & belly.

He's also got a booty 👀

When it was discovered, the people excavating it nicknamed the statue "mayor" because his face bore a striking resemblance to their actual mayor at the time!

This statue is on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, along with many other gorgeous examples of Egyptian art.

Sometimes we get to see a delightful intersection between 'important enough to get sculpted' and 'not important enough to be given a god-like figure to spare their ego'

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Here we go, something I've been thinking about for some time now!

Thoughts on Moon Knight from the comics and his story: 

G-d said to Abraham, "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you." -Genesis 12:1 

Marc Spector fled from his father’s house. Depending on which time line you go off of, Zelenetz or Lemire, you get different reasons for him leaving. 

In Lemire, you can see Khonshu infiltrating Marc’s life little by little from childhood until he is an overbearing image. The main aspect being that you see Khonshu calling to him “Come to me.” 

Eventually, at his father’s funeral, Marc leaves his father’s house for a new land. 

There was a famine in the land --Aside from the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham--And Isaac went to Abimelech, King of the Philistins, in Gerar.  - Genesis 26:1

And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us." So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the wadi of Gerar, where he settled. - Genesis 26:16-17

Marc found war with the marines. He learned to fight and kill and he was good at it. Again, depending on if you follow a number of different versions of what happened: Attacked his commanding officer and was discharged, had a mental breakdown and was discharged, ran off on his own, or finished his term and left…. It really varies from run to run. 

Either way, Marc left the life of the marines and wandered off into the desert where he settled and found his way into the Mercenary life. 

"Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. Now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban." - Genesis 27:42-43

Marc Spector had a big brother, Randall Spector. Introduced in 1979 by Moench, he was the estranged brother of Marc who had followed him into the Marines and eventually became a killer. He held a bitter grudge against Marc that eventually came to a big battle that ended with Marc killing him. 

Again, depending on which run you follow, this has been re-written a few times and Randall meets different ends multiple times. Randall was later re-written to be Marc’s little brother, but this was probably just sloppy writing with a lack of editorial fact checking. 

Later on, Randall is depicted as being incredibly Jealous of Marc. He becomes Night Shadow, and later, Shadowknight as he attempts to become Khonshu's true avatar. He repeatedly tries to become stronger than Marc and to take position as head of the Khonshu cult and avatar. 

If we follow the storyline of Marc leaving the Mercenary business after he dies in the desert, he left Randall behind here. Possibly even before that when he joined up with Bushman’s group that eventually left him fleeing the desert to start a new life as Moon Knight. 

When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the pit. They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to Ishmaelites, who brought Joseph to Egypt. - Genesis 37:28

Marc Spector died in the desert and donned his white cape and cowl to become Moon Knight. Marc was revived by Khonshu and became his Avatar. Metaphorically, he had entered Egypt and would soon become the slave to Khonshu, who would then rule over his life and often make his life a living hell. 

When he left the desert for America. Here, he did his best to not be Marc, but to let Jake and Steven run the life when he wasn’t Moon Knight. 

When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well. - Exodus 2:15

Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Let me go back to my kinsfolk in Egypt and see how they are fairing." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." -Exodus 4:18

There was great unrest between Marc, Jake, Steven, and Moon Knight. Especially on the Khonshu issue. Many times, Marc tried to disappear. In various runs by various authors, you see him fake his death a few times… even actually die a few times, only to be revived many times. 

In Lemire, we find the trio coming together and rising up against Khonshu to become a working system. Khonshu demands that they continue to serve him and the three of them at last leave Egypt. 

But your carcasses shall drop in this wilderness, while your children roam the wilderness for fourty years, suffering for your faithlessness, until the last of your carcasses is down in the wilderness. You shall bear your punishment for fourty years, corresponding to the number of days-fourty days- that you scouted the land: a year for each day. Thus you shall know what it means to thwart Me. - Numbers 14:32-34

Despite the system coming together and the silencing of Khonshu, there was no peace in the system. Rather than work as one, they drifted and became more Mr. Knight than their own individual lives as they had once known. They fell again and again to Khonshu’s will, despite Marc’s intense bitterness towards the old bird. 

Eventually, when Khonshu was locked away in Asgard jail, we find Marc learning what it means to be not only himself, but to accept community. He forms a family and makes friends. He starts to let go of his past traumas that kept him away from people. 

It is this acceptance of community that re-awakens Steven and Jake and invites them (by force) to become a part of life again. They force Marc to start to take care of himself and they learn how to function as a united nation. 

The last name “Spector” is an Ashkenazi Jewish name taken from the original name of “Szpektor”, meaning “Teacher’s Assistant”. 

Now, the story goes that Moench met someone in the office with that name and he thought “Well that’s a pretty cool name!”. After he had created the character, he learned the Jewish origins and rather than ignore it, he let it play out. In my books, this put Marc up there with The Thing (Ben Grimm) on the list of very few original cannon Jews in the Marvel universe. 

What continues to amaze me is just how utterly Jewish the story of Moon Knight continues to be. Even without trying. 

Steven, who embodies Tikkun Olam (the act of giving in an effort to better the world). Jake, who has always been the heart of the system and the G-d Wrestler. Then we have Marc. The one who wanders the desert, rejects and questions everything, and who always returns. The one who carries the Trauma of whatever happened to him and the Trauma of his people deep in his veins. Not to mention, Moon Knight, who is a Golem in the truest sense. 

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that Moon Knight is not Jewish and that his comic is not one of a Jewish story. 

[whencyclopedia]

The Art of the Amarna Period

Of all the pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt, there is one in particular that stands out from the rest. Over the course of his 17-year reign (1353-1336 BCE), Akhenaten spearheaded a cultural, religious, and artistic revolution that rattled the country, throwing thousands of years of tradition out the window and imposing a new world order. After his death his name was omitted from the king lists, his images desecrated and destroyed. From the surviving fragments of evidence, Egyptologists have pieced together the story of his life and reign, a period of spiritual upheaval and experimentation unlike any other in Egyptian history. Under his supervision, Egyptian art underwent a monumental transformation, with centuries of rigid convention abandoned in favor of a new, highly stylized artistic approach imbued with divine meaning.

EARLY REIGN OF AMENHOTEP IV

The second son of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, Akhenaten (originally Amenhotep IV) was never meant to be king. His elder brother, Prince Thutmose, was heir apparent, but after his untimely demise, young Amenhotep found himself thrust into the political spotlight. Following a brief period of co-regency, Amenhotep III died in 1353 BCE, and Amenhotep IV ascended to the throne. With his Great Wife Nefertiti by his side, the new pharaoh began what appeared to be a conventional reign: he dedicated monuments to Amun, added to the temple complex at Karnak, and even held a Sed festival in Regnal Year 3. However, Amenhotep IV's rule was anything but ordinary, and before long the king began to let his true colors show. The pharaoh was a fanatical devotee of Aten, a deity representing the physical form of the sun disk. Unlike most other Egyptian gods and goddesses, Aten had no human characteristics and took no anthropomorphic form. Under Amenhotep's direction, this fringe cult soon became the largest religious sect in Egypt.

In Regnal Year 5, the pharaoh dropped all pretense and declared Aten the official state deity of Egypt, directing focus and funding away from the Amun priesthood to the cult of the sun disk. He even changed his name from Amenhotep ('Amun is Satisfied') to Akhenaten ('Effective for the Aten,') and ordered the construction of a new capital city, Akhetaten ('The Horizon of Aten') in the desert. Located at the modern site of Tell el-Amarna, Akhetaten was situated between the ancient Egyptian cities of Thebes and Memphis on the east bank of the Nile.

Continue reading...

[ckret2]

I've seen some people theorise that Bill is lying about what actually happened to his home dimension. But I can't find any evidence that supports this. Because he told Ford in weirdmageddon that he liberated his home dimension because it was boring and flat. So, since he knows he broke the 4th wall with tbob, he probably knows that he's a cartoon character and that we've—obviously, since we bought the book—watched the show. So why would he lie to us and make up some huge ass sob story? I want to hear your thoughts about this theory because you're the gravity falls nerd here (Compliment intended). But on another note, I've seen people theorise that he lied (for some reason specifically) about the younger Pine twins only surviving in one, aka this universe. Do you think he might actually be lying about that? Or something else, too?

P.S. Now I'm starting to question if theres a source that confirms that everything in tbob is true, or if this is all logical, and I'm just blind asf, but I'm gonna try and stay away from anonymous to face my fears. 😎

First off—Bill didn't tell the readers a sob story. Bill told us that he liberated his dimension and everyone loved him for it. That is the story he ultimately settled on as the truth.

Two things I think are important:

Bill is a liar; he's not an actor

Bill is not a person; he's a character.

Bill will TELL lies but he can't put on a convincing act. He told Ford he liberated his dimension, but we saw the burning and flames. He told THE READERS he liberated his dimension, but trying to talk about it made him swing into a dissociative state where another story poured out.

I do not think Bill would think to fake dissociating over a horror story, and even if he did try I don't think he could pull it off. Because he sucks at acting, and when he's telling a lie the only emotion he's capable of emoting is =]

Bill is a fictional character in a show where whenever the audience is told a lie, they're told the truth by the end of the episode, and usually within minutes (with the sole exception of Stanley's big secret, but we ARE told he's up to something shady from episode 1 and Stan & Ford's relationship was the one biggest ongoing mystery of the show). Ultimately, whether or not Bill as a person would try to fool us into thinking there's a non-existent sob story is irrelevant. The real question is: would Alex Hirsch?

And no. That's not how he writes. When he has Bill tell a lie, either he quickly unveils the lie or he leaves blatantly obvious clues in the area to reveal the truth.

Bill lies "I don't miss Ford," the blatantly obvious clue is his wild bender. Bill lies "the pharaoh loved me," the blatantly obvious clue is a quote from the pharaoh about how much he hates Bill. Bill lies "I liberated my dimension and everyone loved me," the blatantly obvious clue is his redacted story about the day.

There are no clues to suggest he's lying about his sob story. He tried to hide his sob story, and Bill's not subtle enough for the reverse psychology of hiding a sob story to make it look more true.

I figure the "they only survive in one timeline" thing is simply Alex going for something dramatic while not thinking too hard about how mathematically improbable it is.