#world mythologies

[red-moon-at-night]

okay the whole vase is great but something about Helen sitting on Aphrodite's lap as she wraps one arm around her shoulder and brushes her leg with her hand, staring into her eyes like that... as she is persuading Helen to go with Paris (while Peitho aka persuasion stands behind them) is so incredibly iconic.

and gay. toxic yuri, if you will.

[keferon]

Alright I finally made the ref sheet for them. Although I rarely follow their designs myself ahahfjvm

Also. This thing isn’t very precise and detailed. If you decide to draw them - feel free to slap more ornaments on any parts of them👍

[to-be-a-dreamer]

I can’t stand that TikTok trend that’s like “just saw Hadestown and my boyfriend is walking the entire way back to the hotel without looking back at me to prove Orpheus was a chump” because not only do they not get the whole point of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth they also Were Not Paying Attention to the musical they just saw.

Hate people who see WSS as “just a Romeo and Juliet retelling”. Hate people who see Hadestown as “Just an Orpheus and Eurydice retelling”.

Hate people who watch a musical that takes a classic story everyone knows and uses it to explore/critique our modern society and only see it as a funky retelling.

Not Getting The Point of WSS is one thing because it’s more subtle and it can be really easy to just see it as a modern R&J, especially if you don’t really know R&J.

How the fuck do you watch Hadestown and see it as just an O&E retelling? It is one of the most heavy-handed political musicals out there how are so many people missing the point?

Orpheus has to fail. Not because that’s how the Greek myth ends but because that’s the whole point of the message of Hadestown.

Social reform is hard. Changing the world is one of the most challenging things you can try to do. So often we see people try to make a difference in society, to change some kind of injustice in the world. And so often we see those people fail. It can feel so impossible to actually do some good in this fucked up world because we see these people who are smarter and stronger and more qualified than us fail over and over again.

Why do we even keep trying?

Because we have to.

Because one day, someone will try and they’ll succeed.

One day Orpheus won’t turn around.

One day the people of Hadestown will get to see someone escape and they’ll know they can escape too. Only then does the world get to change.

So we have to try. We have to keep singing the sad song, no matter how many times Orpheus turns around, because one day he won’t.

In the Greek myth, Orpheus fails because he loves Eurydice.

In Hadestown, Orpheus fails because we fail.

We try and we fail to make a difference. We try and we fail to change the world for the better. We try to see the world for what it could be and it keeps letting us down.

But we don’t give up. We don’t stop singing.

Hadestown is genuinely one of the best musicals ever. Full stop. This musical is one of the reasons i wish I was smarter because I would love to be able to do an entire thesis on this show and all the themes and messages in it. Some of them are subtle. Some of them aren’t.

It is not just an Orpheus and Eurydice retelling. I am begging people to hear the real message.

Never stop trying to change the world.

One day we’ll make it out of Hadestown.

We just have to keep singing the song.

[n0ahs-ark]

how the reunion in elysium looked like

[mask131]

Another reminder that Greek mythology is always somehow symbolic, metaphorical, allegorical, since we are dealing with anthropomorphic personifications and other embodiments of cosmic powers.

For example: Demeter has sex with both Zeus and Poseidon. Something-something about the relationship of the Earth with the Sky and the Sea (or the celestial and chthonian powers). ESPECIALLY since these relationships are said to happen at the beginning of the world, in the primordial times during which the world settled itself for what it is now.

Herakles' wedding with Hebe, the personification of youth, checks in with when he becomes an immortal god (aka, an eternally young entity). What better way to symbolize a hero escaping the clutches of death than by him becoming the husband of the spirit of eternal youth?

Why is Hestia never leaving Olympus? Something-something about her being the literal personification of the hearth, which is at the center of the house/community and does not move.

Why is Ares getting his ass kicked by Athena? Because Athena is civilization, and Ares savagery, and in the Ancient Greek mindset intelligence, wisdom and craft will always be above brutality, bloodlust and random cruelty.

Do I need to spell it out that the myth of Persephone-Hades-Demeter is about the cycle of the seasons, and how the earth renews itself and brings back life after a time of death?

And I wonder why Ares' companions during his mass-slaughters are called Phobos, Deimos and Eris - Fear, Panic and Discord... Why would the goddess that breaks harmony and sows feuds and chaos be depicted as the close sister of the god of the ravages of war and of the brutality of conflicts, what a strange mystery!

And I can go on, and on, and on. Remember, the Greek gods aren't just super-heroes or wizards (that's more in line with more "humanized" mythologies, like the Irish or Nordic ones). They are embodiments of concepts and ideas, personifications of natural forces and cosmic powers, they are living allegories and fleshed metaphors. Zeus wields the lightning because he IS the lightning and thunder. Dionysos is both the bringer of joy and madness because he IS alcohol. Hades is both the name of the god of the dead, and of the realm of the dead. Hestia's name is literaly "hearth" in Greek, Hebe "youth", Nyx "night", Gaia "earth", Eros "desire". You can write "Eris met Helios at Okeanos' palace" or you can write "Strife encountered the Sun at the palace of Ocean" and that is the EXACT SAME THING!

[Mind you to limit the gods to being JUST allegories is also a mistake not to make. Greek deities are much more than just X concept or X idea... But one part of the myths will always be, down the line, some weather metaphor or some natural cycle motif]

[avpol]

"There was a land The Lioness had conquered.

'Please, cease your marching,' Begged a wretch, 'I cannot bear to see my forests burned, my home razed, my people bled.'

The Lioness heard him, and considered. Her first and second fingers she pressed to her thumb. Her nails scraped, she had fashioned a beak from her claws. She plucked the man's eyes like worms from the earth.

'There,' The Lioness spoke, 'You will not see it.'"

[thoodleoo]

i cannot find a single ancient source that mentions this myth so i'm going to assume it's entirely made up. also all i can think of when i read it is this

[upon-the-snow]

a crossover absolutely nobody asked for!

[the-hearth-and-the-wild]

People think that it is strange to have a turtle ten thousand miles long and an elephant more than two thousand miles tall, which just shows that the human brain is ill-adapted for thinking and was probably originally designed for cooling the blood. It believes mere size is amazing. There's nothing amazing about size. Turtles are amazing, and elephants are quite astonishing. But the fact that there's a big turtle is far less amazing than the fact that there is a turtle anywhere.

Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero

[chromyo]

'Is Menelaus angry with me ?'

'Of course not. Be content. this will all soon be over.'

'Tell him how unhappy I am. I am unhappy with Deiphobus, who is a pig, but I was unhappy with Paris too. Tell him that.'

Odysseus squeezed her hand. 'He knows.'

(Troy, Stephen Fry)

[mcsiggy]

World Is Aphrodites <3

ive had this sitting in my folder for awhile because i have a constant pattern of World Is Mine brainrot every few years.

[bikananjarrus]

on the topic of how infuriating it is to read 300 pages of percy calling himself stupid, of other characters calling him stupid, of even the creatures/animals implying that he's stupid, a scene that really bugged me was when hecate checked in on percy while he was on the train, and it was such an effort for him to remind himself that he can’t lie, and he can’t tell her the truth, ie: he has to trick her and talk his way out of this situation.

(this is certainly not the most egregious example of percy's apparent stupidity in this book, but it allows me to talk about one of the ways in which percy IS, in fact, very smart!)

throughout the books, one of percy’s strongest traits is how clever he is! he is extremely good at manipulation (and he’s a bit ruthless in his manipulation too). he's an excellent swordsman and he's almost better at talking through a situation in such a way that he can exploit his enemies weaknesses.

example: at age 12, still very new to the mythological world, he manipulated procrustes into climbing into one of his own enchanted beds, used his own magical bonds to keep him there, and then cut off his head (while saying “i think i'll start with the top." he's so iconic for that). procrustes unwittingly handed 12-year-old percy everything he needed to turn the trick around on crusty. percy observed how he tricked grover and annabeth to getting close to the beds, listened for the magic word (ergo) he used to bind them there, and in the very short amount of time they spent around him, percy was able to get a feel for crusty's personality/ego well enough to know exactly what to say to trick him into getting into one of the beds so he could kill him.

there are SO many more examples of percy using tricks and manipulations to defeat his enemies. but all this to say: percy is clever and smart and thinks quick on his feet and he’s damn manipulative (the trickery is such a hermes trait, too, which makes for SUCH a nice foil to luke in the og series).

so for him to be breaking such a sweat trying to make sure he doesn’t spill the beans to hecate just rubs me the wrong way.

which! this could have been used to say something about percy’s newfound anxiety post-hoo. this could have been used to say something about his trauma from all those events and how maybe, right now, he’s not quite himself and so he’s not as quick on the draw as before. but rick absolutely did not put that much thought into it. It’s not about any of that, it’s just another moment played for laughs about how dumb and stupid percy is, and how he suddenly can’t handle himself in front of a god, even though he’s been getting in their faces since the day he learned he was a demigod.

[adelethecrow]

Anubis and his daughter Kebhut are embalming

[pankekochan]

World best tasting wine part 08 - CENSORED

Poseidon is in trouble...

Part 01 | Part 02 | Part 03 | Part 04 | Part 05 | Part 06 | Part 07 |Part 08 | Part 09

The uncensored version is already available im my patreon!!! patreon.com/pankekochan

I think maybe I will drop a version of this panel without the speak bubbles, what do you guys think?

Bonus:

My satyr ass drawing this panel

[nemfrog]

Lyre and cymbals.

Antiquités d'Herculanum. 1804.

Internet Archive

[cosmopoliturtle]

Chalkydri - Bringer of Dawn

Created for @13daysadvent