#wise-girls greek myths

[wise-girl-official]

Hi everyone, I've been really busy with some stuff recently but I have some free time, so I thought I would do a retelling of an old Greek story now. I was thinking about which one I should do and I thought, I might as well start with the Greek creation story.

At the very start of it all, there was Chaos, and nothing else, but out of that nothingness came Gaia, the earth (and also beings like Eros, Erebus, and Abyss). Anyway Gaia is kind of our main girl, because she gave birth to Uranus, the sky, all by herself. And then proceeded to have kids with said sky. Her and Uranus brought the first titans into the world. Six guys (Coeus, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Oceanus, and Crius), and six gals (Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Themis, Tethys, and Theia). The youngest of these was Cronus (or Kronos, Cronus and Chronos because there's a LOT of ways to spell his name) and he's the dude who murdered and sliced up Uranus alongside the help of his mum Gaia. So Cronus and Gaia set up a plan where they lulled Uranus into a false sense of ease and then chopped his crown jewels off, threw them in the sea, and then probably exiled him to Italy. After this Cronus took over as the ruler of sort of everything, and married his sister Rhea, which is really super weird, but celestial beings don't seem to have a problem with incest. Anyway Cronus and Rhea started having some kids together (the gods), but Cronus was worried they were gonna overthrow him, because before they de-balled Uranus, he predicted that Cronus would be usurped by his own children, so to fix this Cronus had the amazing and probably consequenceless idea to eat all the kids his poor wife bore him. So the first kid he ate was Hestia, then Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, but then when Rhea had Zeus, the youngest of the Olympians, she took him and hid him away, and then presented Cronus with a boulder wrapped in a blanket, which he grabbed and ate right away, which was a bit stupid of him, but anyway, he didn't realise that the youngest of his spawn was actually being raised by some nymphs nearby. Fast foreword a bit and Zeus is all grown up and godly, he marched into Mount Othrys (which is like Mount Olympus but for the titans) and had a drink with his dad. Zeus spiked Cronus' drink to make him throw up, as all his siblings had been growing up, completely unharmed in Cronus' belly. I don't understand how this stuff works, but my mum came outta Zeus's forehead, so I can't really talk. Anywho, Cronus skulled the drink, and promptly regurgitated all of his kids, and then a really really long war ensues, which the gods eventually won, and Zeus became the new lord of the gods. So that's how the world was created.

The next story I'm gonna do is probably gonna be how the Olympians were decided and stuff

[aceofspades-11b]

*ahem* Hera

[dootznbootz]

Can i be honest. I don't get it when people try to use Antigone as a feminist icon or something, or that "She literally died because she didn't listen to man! That's just like us!" Because it's not and we're not living in the 16th century.

And these people are acting like Creon wouldn't have killed her if he was a man. Or that Creon wouldn't have killed her if he was a woman. Like guys, I'm sorry but "Girlboss" feminism is soo annoying.

I saw a post where it's like "Greek mythology male characters: 'He seems chill... Oh he's being a douche to women. Female Greek mythology characters: 'She seem cool... Oh she's getting revenge on the men that wronged her. She's so cool!!"

And in the tags they were hating on Ody for killing the slave girl and calling Medea an icon. Even though Medea killed her two young children just because she was salty at Jason... double standards at their finest, people

Real.

Also people better be mad at Penelope as well if they're mad at Odysseus for the slave girls. She hated them just as much.

Wise Penelope heard his words and rebuked Melantho, saying: “You can be sure, you bold and brazen bitch, that I have seen your shameless acts. You’ll wipe away the stain with your own head. You clearly know full well, because you heard me say it—I’m planning to ask this stranger in my halls some questions about my husband, since I feel such grief.”

(Book 19, Johnston)

People just literally turn a blind eye when the woman also does violence against other women. (Same with Clytemnestra. like sure, she killed Agamemnon but she also screwed up her kids. (one a girl so a lot of these "girlboss" types ideals are contradictory))

And it's really really tough enjoying Medea only to see people "girlboss" her. I love the play. It made me feel so many things but NONE of them were GOOD feelings.

Old meme from a post I made a while back but it sums up my feelings lol.

I think it weirdly comes from this awful wave of "I hate children. Horrible beings. Hope they suffer. etc.etc." bullshit and the girlboss wave :'(

Also um, yeah, Creon would've killed ANYONE who would have buried Polyneices. I've always seen Antigone more as a story of honoring family and a family's love for one another, not so much of a "feminist story". As Creon is like, the opposite of Antigone in how he does not wish to honor his family no matter what and will even have family killed for honoring family.

I weirdly think there's this phenomenon of people seeing stories/myths that simply have women in them, especially if they are "center stage" and then decide that they're feminist regardless of the context.

Like I guess you could say that these stories simply having complex and driven women is feminist (I mean...moreso than most booktok/modern YA novels ;~; where many female leads are very...bland imo) which is very sad that feminism is just the bare minimum of "Hey a woman is a person who is complex."

But it's also like, these women and their meaningful and HUMAN stories are LOST because they're just painted as "girlboss".

I think Antigone would be more like "I mean...I was just trying to bury my brother because I care about him and didn't want to see him left to rot. I would have done it no matter WHAT told me not to." and less about "YASSSS queen SLAY!" shit.

[whencyclopedia]

Achilles

Achilles is a figure from Greek mythology and literature and star of the Trojan War. Leader of the fearsome Myrmidons, sacker of cities, and slayer of Hector, godlike Achilles was quite simply invincible in battle. Only the divine intervention of Apollo finally put an end to his long reign as the greatest Greek warrior of them all.

The bravest, strongest, and even the best-looking hero of the all-star Greek army that went to Troy to recapture Helen, Achilles was also rather too proud and bad-tempered for his own good, and his reckless rage would cost both his countrymen and the enemy dear.

Early Life

In the Greek myths involving Achilles, the hero was born to Peleus and Thetis the Nereid. His mother, in order to make her son immortal and his body invulnerable, held him over a divine fire or in some accounts, the River Styx. However, the infant was suspended by his heel and so this part of his body remained mortal flesh and ultimately, this weakness would lead to Achilles' downfall. Thetis, knowing that her son was fated to a glorious but short life, sought to hide Achilles away from the world, and so the boy was raised on Skyros with the royal family of Lykomedes, even in some accounts disguised as a girl. Some accounts also credit the hero's education to Chiron, the wise centaur who also included Hercules in his roll of pupils.

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[evilhomoashell]

INTRO!! (You all cheer)

(Last updated 11/21/24)

current hyperfixation: david bowie, eminem, star wars

Yo I’m Starr (she/they) I'm bi? and autistic or something

I don't care who interacts with my posts (age wise) just please do not DM me if you are over 18, Im 14. DO NOT SEND ME DONATION OR CHAIN ASKS PLEASE moots can dm me tho

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____________

[gildeddlily]

can I say something?

something I've started to not quite dislike, but not appreciate much about pjo was the way rick riordan talked about and characterized some gods- like Ares (still understand why he did that tho).

personally, as a kid who grew up reading myth after myth, I've always loved Ares, and when I re-read after years the pjo books some months ago I noticed how some of the gods are kind of lazy-written, or simply treated badly- as characters ofc.

one of them is Ares.

Ares is kind of impossible to appreciate in the books.

the only good moment he has is the "that's my girl" with Clarisse (but it still happened after years of neglect so yeah, not so great at the end), and then it's all bad, and he kind of gets ignored in favour of other gods- like Poseidon, who does mistakes but still can be appreciated, and is someone we could even relate too. Hades, Persephone, Hermes, Apollo and Artemis, they were we can say well-rounded second characters.

Demetra, Dionysus (except for the "protect my son" bit in the fifth book loved him for that and in general him with pollux and castor) but especially Aphrodite and Ares are just there so symbolize something Percy and us readers dislike.

(this is about Ares, but I could talk ab Aphrodite for hours (another day bud))

Ares is fucking cool.

he's the god of war, so unlike some of his other relatives his domain can never get weak, because humans are always fighting, there's always a war somewhere- but the way rick wrote him kind of erased the part where people prayed to him in order to not only beat someone and win a conflict, but also to survive one.

who attacked first prayed for Ares to help them, who was attacked and fought back prayed for Ares to make them survive and exit the conflict as winners, because there are always two sides in a war, and Ares represents them both.

but I can understand why rick ignored this part of him and reduced him to an extremely strong god who loves conflicts- and why, as a 11ys kid I didn't really got that. I was just sad that my fav god wasn't a cool guy. now I'm older, and I notice that, but still I don't blame him for writing Ares like that.

it's a kids book, and I can't pretend from it to be the greatest thing ever written, and I can appreciate these books with ease.

(and yk, war may be natural, but it doesn't mean it's right, so it's normal that a kids book characterised the god of war as someone despicable.

every god is despicable (as it should be, not so strange from the god of death to steal from earth someone young and all springy and trap them in his realm, it's kind of how life works!!!), but it's hard to explain kids how sexual assault and murder were their breakfasts and lunches, while war=wrong is easy and right! so)

but the show changed that?

it's changing a lot of things, but first of all it's dealing with things about greek gods that were ignored or set to the side in the books- the way it so heavily say, again and again, how the life they expected demigods to live was wrong.

but, honestly, I simply loved Ares.

not only for the twitter fights, but for his talk with grover mainly.

and even though grover said those things in order to manipulate him into telling him what he wanted to know- it was more than nice to see how they fixed and perfected an almost ignored character (in the books a strong, too prideful and not-at-all wise god).

can't what to see what they'll do with aphrodite my wife and pride!!!!

[theoihalioistuff]

What do you think of Ovid?

Great poet, love a lot of his works. I really don't understand why this little corner of tumblr is so weird about him. TW rape

On one hand people think he was apparently some reviling bard who thoroughly despised the gods and purposely twisted the "orginal" myths to mock them, make them seem evil and behave unethically by modern standards (something no greek god would ever do). I've also seen people claim that his versions shouldn't be acknowledged at all because he was a roman author and not greek. While I do think it's important people bear in mind the different cultural context, place and historical moment when it comes to his writings, discrediting all of them because of his nationality seems absurd. It's very hard to distinguish between what is Ovidian invention and what isn't (he had access to countless works now lost to us that he drew upon), and though he most likely did come up with plenty versions of his own, so did literally every author who contributed to the corpus of mythological texts. Though I certainly wouldn't slap the label "greek myth" to every Ovidian narrative, I also wouldn't stricly discredit all of them (also context should be applied when reading every autor, e.g. Euripides' unsympathetic portrayal of spartan characters like Menelaos, Helen or Hermione in the context of the Peloponnesian War).

On the other hand (though not as frequently) I've seen some Ovid defenders hail him as some sort of amazing feminist icon because he's sometimes sympathetic to SA victims and "gives women voice" in his Heroides. He was a roman man in the 1st C. BC to AD. Appart from the fact that the term feminist wouldn't even apply to anyone in antiquity (proto-feminist at best), his "tips on how to get women" in the Ars Amatoria should cue people in as to how much of a "feminist" he was (the text that follows is really upsetting and disgusting so I've left it below the cut):

"And tears help: tears will move a stone: let her see your damp cheeks if you can. If tears (they don’t always come at the right time) fail you, touch your eyes with a wet hand. What wise man doesn’t mingle tears with kisses?

Though she might not give, take what isn’t given. Perhaps she’ll struggle, and then say ‘you’re wicked’: struggling she still wants herself to be conquered. Only take care her lips aren’t bruised by snatching, and that she can’t complain that you were harsh.

Who takes a kiss, and doesn’t take the rest, deserves to lose all that were granted too. How much short of your wish are you after that kiss? Ah me, that was boorishness stopped you, not modesty.

Though you call it force, it’s force that pleases girls: what delights is often to have given what they wanted, against their will. She who is taken in love’s sudden onslaught is pleased, and finds wickedness is a tribute.

And she who might have been forced, and escapes unscathed, will be saddened, though her face pretends delight. Phoebe was taken by force: force was offered her sister: and both, when raped, were pleased with those who raped them." - Ars Amatoria 1, Ovid.

[littlesparklight]

While Artemis being a misandrist has no bases in reality what do you of the claim that Athena is a misogynist I’ve seen many websites and videos claim that she is a pick me and that she never helps women and unlike man-hating Artemis it does seem to have more seem to have more bases in mythology like we see in Aeschylus’ Eumenides where she claims that she would support men over women no matter what and in mythology it doesn’t seem to show her being charitable to women even to her own priestesses(auge)

I really don't think one can say such a thing (or things, for the "man-hating" bit as well) about Athena in specific and in general about the gods. Aside from a general statement acknowledging the culture and attitudes the myths were formed in, or were treated in in various ways (tragedies, poems, prose stories, etc).

It's also not even true that Athena doesn't aid/show favour to women and girls, so such a claim that she never does so or is a misogynist isn't... even really true anyway. Like yeah, of course there's her statements in the Eumenides, but she is, after all, out to absolve Orestes (he's a suppliant at her altar!), even if she's the "neutral" deciding vote. She has Motives to be saying what she's saying, as much as Apollo does in that trial.

And when it comes to, say, Auge, there's very obviously some very strict rules and social mores of what is allowed to be done or left within a sacred precinct (regardless of the reason it's done or something is left there). And in the myths the gods can, provably and unlike in our "historical" reality, make their displeasure known when the purity of the temple grounds is being defiled.

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 25 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "In Boiotia Orion, son of Hyrieos, had as daughters Metiokhe and Menippe. After Artemis had taken him away from the sight of mankind, they were brought up by their mother. Athena taught them to weave the loom and Aphrodite gave them beauty."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 30. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The daughters of Pandareos . . . were reared as orphans by Aphrodite and received gifts from other goddesses: from Hera wisdom and beauty of form, from Artemis high stature, from Athena schooling in the works that befit women."

Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 7 (from Berlin Papyri No 7497 & Oxyrhynchus Papyri 421) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "Eurynome the daughter of Nisos, Pandion's son, to whom Pallas Athene taught all her art, both wit and wisdom too; for she was as wise as the gods. A marvellous scent rose from her silvern raiment as she moved, and beauty was wafted from her eyes. Her, then, Glaukos sought to win by Athena's advising, and he drove oxen [as a bride gift] for her."

Some myths of Athena showing favour to women/girls! Just because they're focused on teaching "womanly" domestic craft doesn't make it any less favour, being given directly by Athena, after all. (There's also two more when she, like many other deities, transform someone to help them avoid assault.) So yeah, those videos and websites are just wrong about such a claim!

[by-the-decree-of-my-crown]

I Need No Introduction For I Am Your King!

[Credits Unknown; Found On Google From "Zeus Aesthetic" Search]

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Name: Zeus Έξι Kronia

Age: Irrelevant.

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: Bisexual

Immortal Parents: Kronos Rhea Ourania

Domain: King of Olympus and the Deathless Gods; God of the Skies, Thunder, Lightning, Law, Order, and Justice

Abilities: Any I Wish To Have.

Married To: Hera Kronia, Queen of the Gods.

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Disclaimer Via The Mod

Zeus, within the Ancient Greek Myths, is a highly respected and considered The Ultimate King, and I will be treating His character on here as such. Yes, that comes with certain entitlements and a lot of threats, but I would like everyone to respect that it comes with a character such as His. I am very interested and in high awe of Him so please let us all respect the fact that He is a religious deity, outside of our respective characters in the PJO world <3.

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My Latest Subjects:

My Son, Jason Grace -> @thalias-amazing-brother

My Daughter, Thalia Grace -> @jasons-amazing-sister

Poseidon's Impertinent Son, Percy Jackson -> @totally-percy-jackson

Thalia's Favorite, Annabeth Chase -> @wise-girltm

Jason's... Friend, Leo Valdez -> @fire-boy-official

Jason's Ex, Piper McLean -> @miss-beauty-queen and @tis-i-piper-mclean (why must that girl have two accounts? It is confusing enough as it is without the demigods' meddling)

Jason's Friend, Nico di Angelo -> @king-of-the-ghosts

Jason's "Little Sister," Hazel Levesque -> @gemstonequeen

Jason's Second In Command, Frank Zhang -> @iguanaurwayoutofhandcuffs

That Huntress Thalia Misses So Much, Zoe Nightshade -> @i-can-see-stars-again

Jason's Ex-Best Friend He Does Better Without, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano -> @reyna-dontcallmerara

The Girl Who Foolishly Imitated Patroclus, Silena Beauregard -> @silenasblogies

My Son, Apollon turned "Lester" -> @ex-god-apollo

My Daughter, Artemis -> @my-sisters-and-the-moon

Poseidon's Wife. Amphitrite Nereidia -> @the-elegant-sea-queen

My Elder Brother, Hades Kronia -> @yes-im-hades (stupid name, brother)

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Tags:

The King's Decree -> Zeus RP

Please Unhire Me From Being The Secretary -> Mod Interactions

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<333. I hope we have fun! -Mod

[jeannereames]

Hero Alexander vs. The Real Alexander

Moving to the second half of a recent question:

And if I'm not wrong, you mention at one place that you don't "heroize" Alexander. That's interesting, since he's often worshiped as a mythical hero. Why did you move away from that?

As a writer (and a reader), I’ve always been intrigued by the challenge of humanizing the “inhuman” (which can also include the ridiculously talented).

When I fell in love with Tolkien as a girl, I wanted to know what it would be like to be an elf, to have magic, to live that long, etcetera. Maybe that’s also why I always preferred Marvel superheroes over DC. Their hallmark was to make the fantastic (mutants, etc.) more human.

Now, I love me some traditional mythopoetic fantasy, but I’m no good at producing it myself. What is mythopoetic style? Peter Beagle, Patricia McKillip, Nancy Springer, C.J. Cherryh’s sidhe novels, my friend Meredith Ann Pierce … and of course Tolkien himself, where magic is real and magical creatures are…well, magical. Inhuman. Elves … not hobbits. Like a fairy tale…a myth (hence “mythopoetic”).

Anyway, I love reading that, but can’t write it to save my soul. When I write epic/historical fantasy (and I do see SFF as my home genre), it’s closer to anthro SF than to any mythopoetic style. My current MIP (monster-in-progress) is a 6-book series set on a secondary world where two branches of humanity survived, one of which, the Aphê, have super-convenient prehensile tails. 😊 The character journey for one of the protags across the first three novels is to recognize the Aphê as human and fallible rather than as a “noble savage” wise people. (Yes, questions of “What does it mean to be ‘civilized’?” are among the series themes.)

When it comes to historical fiction, I take the same tack. Alexander is interesting to me because he was a real person who accomplished extraordinary things.* What might he have been like in real life?

Making him too perfect—good at everything, no/few mistakes (just misunderstood), always honorable, etc., bores me. That’s the Alexander of his own marketing campaign. (laugh) It was adopted and refined by some later historians such as Arrian, and Plutarch in his rhetorical pieces (less in the Life but still there). That’s why I’m not a huge fan of Renault’s Alexander, and generally prefer her other Greek novels. Manfredi and (sorta) Pressfield do the same. Tarr and Graham also keep him deliberately at a distance to allow him to remain heroized, but it bothers me less because he’s at a distance. (Btw, I do not dislike Renault's ATG novels; they're just not among my favorites, either on Alexander, or of hers.)

Yet I’m not a fan of the other approach, either: to “humanize” him by taking him down a notch—making him NOT all that, just lucky (Lucian, and Nick Nicastro). Or by upending the heroic narrative altogether and turning him into a megalomaniacal “wicked tyrant” ala Pompeius Trogus/Justin or Seneca (and Chris Cameron).

I want something (and someone) more relatable, even while letting him remain truly astonishing. To humanize the “inhuman.” I realize that’s a challenge as, the moment we do humanize him, it removes him from the realm of the hero, which in turn makes it harder to allow him to be “all that.” For some, any fault is “too much”—the proverbial clay feet—because they’re desperate to have an idol, a hero…not a person. So the haters come out when, for instance, Simone Biles pulled out of the Olympics for mental health and the Twisties. How dare she!

I’m interested in the person. Even if Alexander wanted to be Herakles Take II, he wasn’t inhuman (divine). He was just a guy, and for me, the fact he was “just a guy,” yet still accomplished all those extraordinary things, is the most remarkable part.

I’ll conclude with what I wrote at the end of the author’s note in the back of Dancing with the Lion: Rise (also available on the website):

In the end, whatever approach one takes to Alexander, whatever theories one subscribes to, more or less hostile to the conqueror, we are left with the man himself in all his complexity and contradiction. The phenomenon called “Alexander the Great” has evoked vastly different interpretations from his era to ours. It’s tempting to seek internal consistency for his behavior, or to force it when it can’t be found. Yet no one is consistent. Even more, history itself is distorted by those recording it in order to serve their unique political narratives, whether then or now. Conflicting politics create competing narratives, and histories of Alexander were (and are) especially prone to such distortions. That, in turn, brings us back to where we began: history (like historical fiction) is about who we are now, and what it’s possible for us to become. So Alexander was neither demon nor god, whatever he wanted to believe about himself. He was a man, capable of cruelty and sympathy, brilliance and blindness, paranoia and an open-handed generosity. As remarkable as he was, he was human. And that's what makes him interesting.

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* That some of these extraordinary things would be—and should be—reviled by modern standards is part of the uncomfortable contradiction, and legacy, of the ancient world. This is something I also try to depict in the novel. So there is never a “simple win” in a battle. There’s something ugly shown in or as a result of every single one. On purpose. Battle is, and should be, deeply disturbing.

[mask131]

Thinking about it, I do believe that the big misunderstandings of the Greek gods on the Internet today (or in media recently) is due to a problem of... let’s say “character VS personification”. 

People have grown too much accustomed to the consumption of Greek myths and legends as... not so much “stories” but... as fiction. Which leads them to treat the Greek gods as characters of tales and stories. Which leads people to treat them like... well, like people. Like full humans. Thinking about their actions only in terms of human/social/psychological reasons and consequences. And people forget the very essence and nature of the gods...

The Greek gods are personifications. They are allegories, and their actions always reflect their actual nature as a part of the world or a human phenomenon. It is true that when you read the Greek myths as they reached us today, you will read what seems to be stories about super-humans, because said stories were given to us through epic poems and theater plays. But there was a whole theology and religious thinking behind those myths (to the point some of the ancient litetature of the Greeks was criticized by religious authorities for deviating from their actual beliefs) ; and there was an entire philosophy surrounding those myths. Literal philosophy - with Ancient Greek philosophers not only re-reading and interpreting the myths in the lights of their teaching, but also inventing their own “philosophical myths”. The Greeks had time to read and rewrite and discuss their own myths and stories for centuries and centuries - and thus these stories ended up with numerous layers of meaning and interpretations woven through them.

Which is why to fully understand a myth, one must look behind the simple story. A god in the story is never just a character, but always something else. Poseidon is a grudge-holding, monster-birthing deity prone to mood swings which place him alternatively as an ally or an antagonist - but it isn’t just because “he is like that”. He is like that BECAUSE he is the god of the sea, and the Greeks, as sailors and explorers and island-dwellers, knew very well that the sea was a changing and treacherous thing, the sailor’s best friend and worst enemy at the same time. The fact that Apollo is at the same time the god of truth, the god of beauty and the god of art isn’t just because it’s his hobbies - it is because for the Greek all these concepts were inter-connected, art being beauty, the truth being beautiful, the best art being the truthful art, etc... And as a result myths are always about something else than their own story. The most famous case being Persephone’s abduction. People keep treating it as just being a love story - forgetting that, beyond the story of a guy in love with a girl and a mother worried for her missing girl, it is actually also a fable for the brutality anf unfairness of death striking young people, and how a mother can deal with her grief. It is literaly the story of “Kore” (which isn’t a proper name, but just means “maiden” or “young girl”), being ravished by Hades (whose name is ALSO the name of the Underworld), of a young girl plunged from the world of the living to the world of the dead, and a distressed mother crying for her disappeared daughter... 

I can list on and on the examples, but I think you get my point. Yes, it is nice to know the story. It is better to try to understand them. The topic came when I read something about Zeus recently... It talked about the gods embodying “order” - and it listed Zeus, for after all he was the ruler of the cosmos, punisher of wicked ones and fighter of monsters, the god of justice overseeing all oaths and the basic principles of Greek society... But this text added that however, his behavior character wise was “much more chaotic”. Notably pointing out towards Zeus’ wild behavior around females of all kinds. It is true that a serial cheater with a HUGE number of lovers of all kinds, and lots of “bastard children” everywhere seems to contradict his role as a god maintaining order and morals... But again, the key is looking beyond that. Yes, Zeus is massively unfaithful on his wife and seemingly can’t keep his thunderbolt in his pants - if you pardon me the expression. But the question that nobody asks is... Why is he like that? Why does he do that? Just because he is a horny guy? That’s the superficial explanation, that’s the joke explanation. That’s not what the Ancien Greeks would have answered you. This precise topic is one I like to reuse frequently because it illustrates perfectly something that feels natural to those that read about Greek mythology from experts, and yet can seem like a sudden mindblow for those that only know Greeks myths from popular fiction. 

I do not recall where exactly I read this explanation - but I am certain it was in one of the books about Greek myths written by famous French experts, so it was probably from Jean-Pierre Vernant or Pierre Grimal, or someone of those waters. Why is Zeus such a horny dog? We have to think about his titles. “Father of Men and Father of Gods”. It isn’t just a nickname or a title, it describes what he does: he birthed most of the major Greek gods, and he birthed many ancestors of humanity. It also makes you think: what was Zeus’ first action when he became king of the cosmos, when he took over the world after fighting the Titans? He married, several times, and had numerous lovers, with which he birthed some very important gods. Through sex he actually created important elements needed for the world. Not counting the other Olympian gods, he gave birth at the beginning of his reign to the Arts (Muses), the Seasons (Horae) and Fate itself (the Moirai), basis for the civilized world and an ordered, stable cosmos. And who are the other children of Zeus, all those “bastards” children he got out of being unfaithful? Heroes. Heroes who build principles of civilization, heroes who destroyed monsters, heroes who threw down criminals and tyrants. Good things. That’s the thing with Zeus: he constantly lusts after women, yes, and he constantly has sex, yes... but most of the time, if not always, it is to create something good. He keeps procreating beings, things and people needed for the universe to form itself, for civilization to form itself, for the world to get better and evil/chaos to be defeated. Herakles and Athena and Perseus... Even through his unfaithfulness, Zeus keeps creating new agents and champions of order, law and justice. 

It is in fact quite interesting to look at Tumblr here, because on Tumblr there are favorite deities who are depicted right because people love them enough to go dig into their symbolism and their religious festivals and their philosophical meaning. Dionysos is the one that comes to mind. And then other deities whose deeper meaning gets thrown out of the window. 

A good counterpart to Greek mythology, in the approach of “character vs personification”, is Norse mythology. Because the Norse gods, as depicted and represented in mythological texts such as the Eddas, are actually “characters before the personifications”, the reverse of Greek gods which are “personifications which were given character”. I am not saying that the Norse gods aren’t personifications, that would be a stupid claim. But what I am saying is... Often people try to enter Norse mythology asking “So, this god, what is he the god OF?” because they assume Norse gods are like Greek gods, defined by their field of action and what they represent or rule over. When in truth, the Norse gods are defined by who they are, not so much by what they are. Odin is the one-eyed wanderer, and the eight-legged horse-rider king of the Aesir, and the cunning rune-master ruling over Valhalla. Thor is the very strong god, and the hammer-wielding jötunn killer riding on a goat-chariot, and the red-haired hero of Asgard who fears nothing and fished Jormungandr out of the sea once. Everybody knows today that Thor is the god of thunder and lightning - but it isn’t said, or explicitely spelled out in most of the Old Norse texts. It is not like Zeus who is explicitely said to use thunderbolts on his ennemies - Thor’s hammer doesn’t have lightning shooting out of it. To get this, to get what a Norse god is the “god of”, there is a work of research that needs to be done. For a Greek god it can be obvious due to their attributes and names (Hestia for example - her name literaly means “hearth” and she started out as the hearth being venerated, before being personified). For a Norse god, to get the “what” of the deity, you will need to look at the archeological remains of the religion and cult of Norsemen, you will need to theorize based on the etymology of the deity’s name and its relationships, you will need to collect the kennings and local expressions and other folk-sayings and interpret them. It is a para-characterization that isn’t obvious, or sometimes doesn’t even appear, in the Norse texts per se. Because in the Norse legends as they came to us, the gods are mostly defined as characters - by their function (guardian, warrior, king), by what they do (power to see far-away, power to know the future), by what they look like (missing one hand, or golden hair)... For exampe, for a very long time it was thought that Loki was the god of fire. It was a strong, popular and famous interpretation - but research and experts have proven that it is a late re-interpretation of the deity, who originally probably didn’t had anything to do with fire and was just mixed up with other fire-figures (like Logi) with time, the same way Loki was mixed with Utgard-Loki as a “master of illusions”. 

This phenomenon of inversion can be summed up quite easily. In Greek mythology, we have TONS of secondary and tertiary deities who are basically personifications without any kind of legend or myth to them, uncharacterized allegories that sometimes are just a name appearing in a list of concept. In Norse mythology, you have tons of secondary and tertiary deities without myths or legends, who are just names in a list - but this time, we have their names, we have a basic characterization, we know who they are, and the problem is that we don’t know what they are supposed to represent. You have tons of small Norse gods about whom people keep asking and searching “What did they embody? What did they personify?”. The character without the personification. 

[thaliajoy-blog]

It is time to cross the Trident...

It's got to end even if it has to be with Fire and Blood.

🌟 Been thinking about comparisons between Asoiaf characters and greek gods. One of the most obvious to me, to compare to Daenerys, is clearly the goddess Athena. For one as a War goddess, since Daenerys becomes a very successful "conqueror & sacker of cities" (one of Athena's names is "Athena Nikè", the Victorious One). Up there ☝️ I represented her wearing the Aegis, Athena's famous mantle/shield (with the head of Medusa on it, hence the green snakes), as she's about to win arguably her most major battle against the slavers, sending the first blow & earning the trust, loyalry & love of thousands.

But Athena is also a goddess dedicated to peace ; like Dany when she takes Meereen, where she decided to learn how to rule & establish a healthy government.

Daenerys replanting olive trees (a symbol of peace & prosperity very much dear to Athena) is very telling ; it's related to Athena's role as a protector of "the city"...olive trees in mythology where given by Athena to the greeks (her favorite, the Athenians), and became a stapple of their culture & a great source of food & wealth.

She is essentially a goddess of the good government of the city, and famously a goddess of wisdom, and is connected to the usual institutions of government, to the good functioning of assemblies & tribunals. Similarly Daenerys isn't only a conqueror, she also does her best to learn to govern the cities she rules, and she has a certain preference for peace times. The episode where Daenerys reprimands & fines a former slave master for demanding money from weavers he had had trained by a slave of his, can also remind us of Athena as a protector of artesans (and she is herself a very good weaver).

One of Athena's most famous epithet is "Pallas Athena", which means "young girl", perfect for Dany who is often called a young girl or young queen. In that optic Missandei can be seen as an extension of herself or a a second Athena ; she's also called a very young wise girl, and her most defining characteristic, her golden eyes, can make us think of Athena's famously striking grey/silver eyes.

Another epithet of hers is "Hippeia Athena", the "protector of horses" which would relate to her Dothraki side. And, talking of subverted prophecies, a myth about Athena was that when she was in her mother's womb, it was foretold that she would be born a boy who would overthrow his father. But she wasn't, and yet regardless, was born as one of Zeus' most powerful & popular children. Like Daenerys is said to be subverting the Azor Ahai prophecy, which posits a male Targaryen to be the savior of the world.

So in any case, Athena is one of the best fits for Daenerys when it comes to greek myths comparisons ! Especially in the seemless fusion she makes of her war/peace attributes. She really only critically lack the "mother" aspect of Dany (who isn't a sacred virgin at all), but it can regardless be seen as symbolic (mother to her people - like Athena has many "protégés", proxy children or favorite people she fight for in myths).

[moobell55]

The Valor Families Name Meanings

I feel like we as readers don't talk about how cool the Valors are, they're the oldest and first ruling family or the North. Not to mention Wolfric ascended the throne without any violence simply because his wife asked him too. Not to mention have mythical powers and being apart of many Northern Legends. So here's a little Valor application.

Wolfric Valor- A German name in origin meaning "Wolf Power or Wolf Ruler." Wolfric is an imposing man, one of the most gifted fighters the North had ever seen and the first to reunite the fighting clans. Wolfric often disregarded the opinions of his family, which in turn led to terrible consequences for the family. He claimed his youngest child Aurora was "A silly girl who knew nothing of love," because she did not want to marry Vengeance Slaughterwood. He also ignored his wife's worries that betrothing Vengeance and Aurora was a bad idea, in return his son Castor and Lyric Merrywood died. However he cares deeply for his family and made sure they were protected once they awoke from their sleep, he also made quick work in taking back the throne from the Acadians.

Honora Valor- A name Latin in origin meaning "Honor or Women of Honor," often giving to babies as a sign of cherishment. Honora is a great health and one of the Greatest rulers of the North, Evangeline herself said that Honor carried herself proudly, and looked like she belonged on a battlefield more than a ballroom. She is a Wise woman and knew that the choice her husband made regarding Aurora betrothal was a poor one. She cares deeply for her children going as far as bringing Castor back from the dead. Evangeline says that Honora is an excellent Hugger.

Vesper Valor- A name Latin in origin meaning "Evening Star or Evening Prayer," Vesper is the Roman meaning of "Hesperus" which is Planet Venus during Sunset. Vesper has an ability to see into the future and provide prophecies but cannot fully understand what they mean.

Tempest Valor- Orgining from early Gaul languages meaning, "Stormy or Turbulent," Tempest is the twin brother of Romulus, both brothers are said to be the creators of the Valory Arches along with incredible inventors. It is my belief that Tempest and Romulus built Castor's helm to keep him from feeding.

Romulus Valor- Latin in origin, meaning "Child of Rome," in myth and historical beliefs Romulus was the first King of Rome, and was raised by the she-wolf Lupa, in myth he was the twin of Remus. Romulus is the twin brother of Tempest Valor, both are renowned inventors in the North. It is my belief that Romulus and Tempest built the Helm so Castor could no longer feed.

Dane Valor- English and Hebrew in origin, Dane means, "From Denmark," in English but in The Torah and Hebrew tradition means, "God is my judge." The Danes were an ethnic group that were Northen Germanic but inhabited much of Scandinavia. Dane Valor is a shapeshifter, he commonly took the form of a dragon and no other shifting forms were mentioned. In many forms of Dane history their versions of dragons were said to be long and serpent-like along with being incredibly venomous. Dane is shown to be a brute in the series, and Evangeline is confused on why Lala liked him.

Lysander Valor- A Greek name meaning, "Liberator." Lysander is said to have the power of "Memories," the full length or direct skill of these powers was never explained. He was never mentioned much throughout the series but seemed to have a close relationship with his brother Dane; the two of them together seemed to be fond of tormenting Jacks.

Castor Valor- A name Greek in origin, "Beaver," Castor in the Mythos was the twin brother of Pollux, both brothers making up the Gemini constellation. In the books Young Castor is never mentioned to have a direct power, but was described as being extremely Noble and Clever. Before he was killed he had a vast network of spies and assassins that worked for him; many of these now being his Vampire Clan. Castor is the twin brother of Aurora Valor but the two seemed to have a rough relationship as Castor thought her annoying.

Aurora Valor- Latin for the word "Dawn," in myth the Goddess Aurora announced the Dawn each day. The Tears of the Goddess Aurora were said to be the morning dew that fell to Earth. Aurora Valor is described as being the Most Beautiful girl in the Magnificent North, she was very aware of this fact. While her family believed that she pissed no powers Aurora taught herself Witchcraft, she cursed Jacks out of jealousy. Aurora is the Twin sister of Castor Valor and the youngest sibling in the Valor Family. Aurora believes that her father, Wolfric, likes her sister Vesper more since she wasn't forced into a betrothal to Vengeance Slaughterwood.

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Imagine Male Yandere Artists X Female Reader Creation. Obviously inspired from the Greek myth of Pygmalion…but think of how much worse and complicated it’d get if poor reader Darling was a project worked on by multiple men together…It’s almost as if this is now Greek Pygmalion myth X Helen of Troy myth. Let the war for love begin.

General premise…reader Darling comes to life through the power of the mens’ accidental prayers of love to the goddesses of love. She is everything the men wanted in a woman somehow (dare I say Mary Sue territory, and a sprinkle of Manic Pixie Dream Girl I suppose since she is still otherworldly just being born and all). Doesn’t help that Darling is also enchanting every man she meets across the city too. Her creators all get mad jealous, and fight over who has the true “rights to have her,” (cause we stan men who see women as their property *sarcasm). Climax…the creator men end up offing each other off in the art studio (battle royale style), and their blood mixes together into another art creation they had collaborated on together. And through the power of love and “friendship” (*cue jazz hands), the men are reborn into one, and can pursue Darling more easily. I’ll leave up to you if Darling is genuinely more pleased with this new outcome of the mens’ rebirth, or if she’s terrified to no end of what they’ve become. (I trust your writing skills as always). Either way, no escape for her. The power of love is a formidable foe…

A/N: Some of these asks might be late because I'm trying to brainstorm as for what to do character-wise. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Your body was crafted from clay and stone. Your hair and scalp are threaded from spider webs, horse hair, and human hair. Your body shines with the finest oil. You are the perfect woman. The name on your plague was...well, you didn't have a specific name, so per se. But your creators decided to name your statue Earth's Women. Your name was because of your magical abilities. In the morning sun, your hair is curly, and your skin is olive-brown. By the afternoon, your skin is dark brown, and your hair is so coily it sometimes is in an Afro. During the evening, your skin whitens, and your hair straightens out. By nightfall, your skin is an albino white, and your hair is bone straight.

Because of these abilities, you gained the love of millions around the world. Many prayed for you to be alive. For you to be their perfect woman. Then, one day, the sunlight shining on you made your body crack. Your creators were so upset that they closed the exhibit to fix you. When your creators touched your skin, your statue crumbled. Screams and dust fill the room. Suddenly, your human body rises from the rubble.

"Where am I?" You ask, dust covering your dark skin.

"My God, she's alive," An olive skin man with black curly hair says. "Stai bene?"

You try to move your naked body, but you fall. Your legs are too wobbly.

"Get her a towel, Leon! She's never used her legs before," Ciro commands, rushing to pick you up from the debris. "And bring some bandages and wound treatments too! She's bleeding!"

Several hours later, you are properly introduced to your creators. There are six creators, and they call themselves the Sexy Six. Each one created a body part for you. Leon DiCardio made your head, Ciro Nikolaou shaped your torso and bosom, Aoi Hiroshige crafted your left leg, Matias Dorado sculpted your right leg, Abe Okoro created your right arm, and Caspian Narain made your left arm. Together, six men from different continents made a woman representing every girl.

"So what are you going to do with me, now?" You ask, tightening your fluffy robe.

"We're going to have to hide you from the public. They can't know you've come to life. You're something a leader would start a war for," Ciro says, giving you a cup of water.

"That's a bit unfair, isn't it? If the goddess answered their prayers to have her come to life, shouldn't we introduce her to the public? If we don't, we'd be defying the goddess's will," Leon says, making Ciro think about his decision.

"True. I suppose we could take her out in public. But only if she wears a cloak to cover her face," Ciro says, making everyone happy.

When you walked through the city, you could understand every conversation. Turns out, you can understand every language known to mankind. It was overwhelming, but Matias helped you power through it by distracting you with clothing. Abe took you away from Matias soon after and showed you the foods of every culture. You tasted everything, and even brought back sweets. You hardly even noticed Caspian glaring at Abe before he snatched you away to learn how to dance.

You are simply beautiful to him, to everyone, really. Your skin getting darker and your hair becoming coils under the afternoon sun while you twirl in circles was a scene that magic could've created. In the sun, you are everyone's Cinderella.

"Let's go, Every," Ciro says, dragging you away from the crowd.

"Hey, I wasn't done yet!" You whine, trying to stop Ciro from moving.

"I don't care. You're drawing too much attention to yourself," Ciro replies, putting your cloak back on and walking you home.

When you arrive home, Ciro puts you in a windowless white room. You lay on your bed and stare at the white ceiling.

"It must be nighttime," You say, noticing your hair is straight. "I wonder what my creators do during the night? I wonder what humans do when the sun falls?"

You sneak out of your room and tip-toe to a room with the lights on. You hear arguing and hide behind the wall.

"You can't keep her to yourself!" Matias yells, breaking a glass.

"Says the man showed her clothes like it was a date!" Ciro hisses, making you flinch.

"Hah, please! If you want a date, try Mr. Prince Charming of Oceania! He was dancing and twirling with her in the middle of town!" Matias retorts, making Caspian stand up with fury.

"At least I wasn't trying to charm her with food!" Caspian yells, glaring at Abe.

"I don't see how you brutes made such a pretty thing," Leon remarks, looking at his peers fighting.

"Don't drag me into this, Mario," Aoi insults, making Leon grab his shirt collar.

"Don't call me that you piece of crap," Leon snarls, making Aoi smile.

"You know what, I have an easy way to settle this. Whoever is the last one standing gets to claim Every for their own. I always hated having to share credit for creating her, anyway," Aoi wagers, pulling out a blade.

"Fine by me," Ciro says, pulling out a dagger.

Everyone pulls out their blades, daggers, and knives and begins their battle. You try to stop them, but you get thrown to the side. Cuts and bruises are made, but no one is dead yet. A trail of blood leads to the art room, and you see Ciro stab Matias through the heart. The Spaniard falls to the ground and extends a hand as if he was reaching for you.

"Matias!" You scream, running to his body.

Leon's bleeding corpse is thrown onto you as Aoi is on a stabbing rampage. You glimpse at the hole in Leon's head and throw up on the floor. When you look up again, all is silent. The floor is painted red, and Aoi is the only one standing. He looks at you with a crazed smile and drops his blade.

"You're mine. My work of art. My woman," Aoi says, hugging you with his bloody body.

You can only hug him back in horror. A squelching sound comes from below you, and you see Abe stabbing a dagger into Aoi's back. Aoi slowly releases his hug, then collapses onto you. His blood has stained your whole being red.

"What am I going to do now?! You all were supposed to help me!" You cry, putting your bloody hands on your face as you weep.

You cry until morning. When you awaken from your exhaustion-fueled sleep, you find bloody footprints. Your former creator's latest statue, coined Luno, is missing.

"Where did it go?" You question aloud, getting up from the sticky floor.

"My love, you're awake," A naked man says, coming from behind a wall.

"Luno, you're alive?" You ask, backing away from him.

"Yes, the goddess of love spared mercy on us and brought me to life for you. Through the blood sacrifice of our masters, I am here to be your divine equal," Luno says, kneeling and kissing your hand. "I have all the traits our six masters did."

You snatch your hand away, and trip over Aoi's corpse.

"Princess, be careful. I don't want you to trip over anyone and hurt yourself," Luno says, his face shifting into something similar to Ciro's.

"I don't want anything to do with them! Not after how they killed each other!" You shriek, standing up and heading towards the secret entrance.

"My love, wait!" Luno yells, running after you.

You close the stone door behind you and pant, looking at it. Luno's muscular arm punches a hole through the wall, and his eye looks at you.

"Eve, don't run from me! We are made to be!" Luno yells, breaking more of the stone.

You don't waste any time running away, your feet leaving bloody footprints. You don't know where this passage leads to, but you don't want to be here. Not with him.

"Seafoam?" You question, seeing signs of the sea on the lower walls and stairs.

You get onto the last step and look at the blue water. Luno's heavy footsteps are getting closer, and you don't have time to think. If you were every woman on Earth, surely you could be a mythical creature as well. You dive into the water, swimming till you find the open sea. Your master's blood washes off of you, and you swim to wherever you want to go. Luno, arriving too late, stared at the bloody mist in the water at the bottom of the stairs. In his eyes, a vow to always be yours and always find you is made.

Thus beginning the never-ending cycle of you running from him. An everlasting, divine hunt for the woman with a thousand faces. Prey to be caught for the man with a thousand features.

[godsofhumanity]

Athena: I am wise beyond my years, and never once punished someone unjustly.

Medusa: B*TCH, WHAT?!

Athena: ... I may have accidentally punished one person unjustly.

hee hee u didn't ask for this, but this feels like a relevant time for me to post my idea of the medusa myth.

so, i know people hate Ovid, but i like his version of events, and i do like the idea that Medusa and her sisters were mortals...

this may be influenced by external reading that i have now forgotten, but i have this idea that Medusa and her sisters were priestesses (? idk if that's the right term) but they served Athena in her temple, and so, wherever Medusa lived, there would have been an Athenian temple right there.

now, as your usual greek myth goes, i do think Medusa must have been very beautiful, and i think she unwittingly attracts the attention of Poseidon.

but i don't think Medusa ever intends to have some affair with an immortal god; she's just a mortal girl... so when Poseidon first appears to her, he appears like a beautiful, pure white stallion in the fields, or maybe on a beach.

and Medusa, innocent at heart, sees the horse and is just delighted by the sight of this handsome creature. she's surprised at how well kept the wild stallion is and how friendly it is. and then the horse kneels and it allows her to climb on its back.. and Medusa rides for a long time in the wind.. and it's fun. i mean, cmon on, horse riding is fun!

but then it starts to rain.. a little at first, and then a lot. it's heavy. and the stallion immediately gallops into the closest shelter available.

Medusa is so lost in her own world, so marvelled by the "humanity" of this horse that it saw the rain and carried her to shelter that she doesn't realise where the horse has carried her; just outside Athena's temple.

after some time, when Medusa has built this sense of trust and companionship with this horse, she puts her arms around its neck and suddenly she feels arms like that of a man returning her embrace.. the horse's fur now feels like skin and fabric that wasn't there before...

when she looks up, it's Poseidon in a mortal form, and she's absolutely flabbergasted at where this man came from... then she learns that it is Poseidon and what he's here for, and at first she's frightened; she looks around and realises that she's in Athena's temple-- she cannot be here with a man. but then Poseidon charms her and convinces her how blessed she is to have earned the affections of an immortal god- this, of course, isn't a novel concept.

Medusa is manipulated by Poseidon into laying with him inside Athena's temple. At first she refuses because she knows it would be wrong.. but Poseidon convinces her it will be alright; after all, he's a god too- and then Medusa thinks, "well, if he's the one who led me here, i couldn't get into trouble for obeying a god" and so the deed is done.

and Athena, naturally, gets enraged when she sees the sacrilege being committed in her own temple by her own mortal servant and immediately, in a flash of thunder, appears. Poseidon bolts from the scene and only Medusa is left to face the wrathful goddess.

when Athena questions her, Medusa attempts to explain herself; how could she, a mere mortal, refuse a god like Poseidon? he would have killed her and had his way with her no matter what she did...

i like the idea of a rigid Athena. i don't think Athena is too sympathetic to Medusa... i can imagine Athena saying, "it would have been better if you died than lived and desecrated my temple"... i know that's extremely cold, but Athena, to me, does have a cold character. and i do think she is unforgiving.. not totally unforgiving, but she has super high standards and she doesn't really make compromises for mortals.

however, when Athena sees the despair of Medusa, i like the idea of her softening her tone and then saying something like, "if you had only called my name, would i not have helped my servant?" i don't think it ever crosses Medusa's mind to ask for Athena to defend her because Poseidon makes Medusa believe that she's "blessed" and that this is the will of the gods so Medusa hasn't done anything wrong..

now, i think Athena gives Medusa a double-edged sword-- her transformation is meant to be simultaneously a gift and a curse.. Medusa's beauty is what attracted the trouble that made her sin, so Athena decides to take away Medusa's beauty by transfiguring her into something so hideous and monstrous that no one will look in her direction.. but, at the same time, the transformation also ensures that no man, mortal or immortal alike, will ever touch Medusa again because they'll turn to stone before they ever get anywhere.

in this way, i like the idea that Athena grants Medusa protection. she'll be alone and monstrous- that's her punishment. but she'll also be safe and possess the ability to protect herself in a way she couldn't before- that's her blessing.

i don't believe Medusa ever perceives Athena's curse to be a gift, but i think that Athena means it as gift. it's one of those cryptic messages from the divine to the mortal that never really gets understood.

many years later, i like the idea that Athena sends Perseus to slay Medusa to free her from her curse; therefore, Perseus' slaying of Medusa is meant as a mercy from Athena. but anyways, that's another myth on its own.

now, you might ask, "why did Poseidon do it in the first place?" idk. i've heard a version where Poseidon does it to get back at Athena after she wins patronage over Athens.. this would make sense to me. or maybe it really was just that Poseidon had the hots for Medusa. i like the idea that it was some combination of both.

[xxdoubledaisyxx]

Clash of the Titans (1981) is one of the best movies ever made, and a personal favorite of mine when I was a wee lad under ten.

Just wondering if this is what is happening right now... I hadn't been thinking about it, but in the clouds of cosmic dust kicked up by Hermes on his godly business as he alighted by, there were reflections of the origin of this myth that could be seen. Myths like that of Perseus and Medusa were powerful and popular in ancient times because they tend to reoccur again and again in real life with new people as natural forces come into conflict with civilized forces and justice prevails one way or the other.

Just because the Greek gods (goddesses incl.) are not celebrated with temples and cults today, doesn't mean their cosmology isn't relevant or applicable. Gods do not need faith to exist or participate in worldly matters. Priests, priestesses, lay people, oracles, and believers of any sort are the ones who need faith to access divine power and revelation of the gods, and that is a big difference. Faith is for mortals to hold and the gods to acknowledge. Truth is for the gods to hold and mortals to acknowledge. For a priestess to perform a miracle of healing, the more faith in her cult and community, the better equipped she is to invoke the blessings of a deity.

Except if this is my story... I think I like Medusa enough to want to at least take her on a date first to see if we can be friends, instead of chopping her head off if I don't have to. That is of course if I won't turn to stone when I gaze upon her terrifying and fearsome beauty, crowned by vipers and rattlers as she is and killing with a single glance even the mightiest of warriors who think they will claim her as a prize. Maybe my eyes are already stone, replaced by special orbs crafted in the forge of Tartarus by Hephaestus after being born blind and learning how survive on my own anyway.

This was commanded to be done by Zeus as a boon after I helped tend his ailing, infirmed body when I met him in the form of a noble, calm, and dignified dog. He was a good dog, one who was not afraid to fight when the others did, the girls tearing at each other's throats over jealousy of who was loved more. Always most unwilling to be involved in such savagery, Zeus only evoked his mighty, thunderous bark and snarling the flash of his teeth if they tried to drag him into their vain and bloody struggle. That is why he was an indoor dog with a special bed like Croc, my own companion whose tireless patience, love, and wisdom has benefitted me more in life than I ever could have known as the blind boy I was in my youth. I was not there when he passed, but I am certain he passed with dignity and respect, loved like the good dog he was, wise beyond his mortal form.

Zeus in this myth was dying after a full and adventurous life that began long before we became acquainted. He enjoyed walks through the endless desert where he could roam free for a time while running with the others, swimming in the muddy waters of the Rio Grande with my brother and I as youth, and hiking the trails of the Sandia Mountains on the occasional expedition. At the end, he was suffering from a huge, cancerous tumor on his side like a softball stuck under his fur at the ribs after 100 years alive. When he gave up the ghost and passed on to return to Olympus on high above the veil of clouds that obscures the sight of men from seeing the divine affairs of the gods, I buried him under the yucca for the faithful mortal who was his keeper and caretaker to mourn his passing.

So... since I've got these fancy new eyes made by Hephaestus, I should be able to look at Medusa without needing to fear being turned to stone. Then, maybe, she will see me the way human beings do not.