#greek gods
“Each maiden representing a goddess was accompanied by her own escort … Aphrodite was surrounded by a throng of the happiest children; you would have sworn that those little boys whose skins were smooth and milk-white were genuine Erotes who had just flown in from sky or sea. They looked just he part with their tiny wings, miniature arrows, and the rest of their get-up, as with gleaming torches they lit the way for their mistress as though she were en route to a wedding-banquet. Next floated in charming children, unmarried girls, representing on one side the Kharites at their most graceful, and on the other the Horai in all their beauty. Behind the Kythereia , are Pothos (Desire), to whom nothing is denied, and the soft-lidded Peitho (Persuasion); and Harmonia (Harmony),who been moderately gracious to us all… They were appeasing the goddess by strewing wreaths and single blossoms before her, and they formed a most elegant chorus-line as they sought to please the Mistress of pleasures with the foliage of spring.“
Apuleius, The Golden Ass 10. 30 ff
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Yet how elusive the Mediterranean
Light on the limits of our imagining.
Our human
Thought and its vagaries attend forever the birth
Of Aphrodite. From the tumultuous blue,
Out of these waters at an early dawn
Earth
Received her, lusting with spring, and knew
Only the pleasure of the delighted lawn.
Signs might have cried: Keep off.-but the happy heart
Conceded the beachhead. We were insatiably lured,
And later, patched up by religion and art for art,
Falteringly inured
Somehow to manage again, except for the one
Haunted chamber opposing the regular commerce.
We are affected, incurably saddened and mad.
What’s done
Must be endured, no matter how you coerce
Past thunder’s shanty her smile in a tattered ad.
She won’t be mocked. The stunt once pulled has blunted
Only the agent. What lives in a farmer’s glance
Or a child’s as they look, the growth of wonder granted
Is in advance
Of salesmanship. Imponderable accounts…
Aphrodite and Ares by Herbert Schaumann
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Demigods be like:
Hades be like “I know a spot” and then take you to the underworld
Kronos be like “I know a spot” and then eat you
Eros be like “I know a spot” and take you to his fancy house
Greek myths are just a bunch of people getting vibe checked
Prometheus giving humans fire:
Someone narrating the dinner with Tantalus:
Sciron every time he forced someone to wash his feet:
People in ancient Greece making sacrifices to Demeter:
Zeus when he got control over the sky while Poseidon got the sea and Hades got the underworld:
Prometheus: *steals fire and gives it to humans*
Zeus: why would you give fire to humans?!
Zeus:
Prometheus: *steals fire and gives it to humans*
Zeus: *punishes him*
Prometheus:
I was of Okeanos, a strange hybrid of Olympian and Oceanid that bore no name, which none knew what to do with. Metis had given me their hair, their height, and long limbs, but pater had given me gold. He had given me precision with a sword, thunder, and thick ichor which the very world obeyed. But that was lost now, lost in a labyrinth, and I had not left a thread to find my way through.
- the gods were greek, wip
Circeby Beatrice Offor, 1911
//My photo//
Tilla Durieux as Circe by Franz von Stuck, 1912-1913 ca
//My photo//
This is untrue (and more than a little judgmental). By Ancient Greek standards, Hera and Zeus enjoy a very happy, albeit drama-filled, marriage. In Ancient Greece, husbands of high status were expected to have at least a a couple mistresses, and brides were groomed to function in pairs. The woman’s status was tied to that of her husband, and as long as he took care of her and treated her well, this was considered functional. And we know from the Iliad that Zeus desires Hera moreso than any conquest. We may see this as dysfunctional and misogynistic today, but placing myth in its original context is always important to actually understanding the myth, and by Greek estimations, Zeus and Hera had the perfect marriage.Quick reminder that Hera is the Goddess of Marriage. This includes all aspects marriage not just a certain kind.
- you want marriage equality? Hera does too
- are you single and like it that way? BOOM so does Hera
- she protects child-brides
- she protects abused spouses
- couples in need of counseling
- couples not in need of counseling
- single mothers
- poly-amorous marriages
- literallyanything to do with marriage. She’s on it.
For all her “bad reputation” when people learn the Greek myths, Hera was quite beloved and a popular goddess to appeal to back in the day. Thomas Moore also had a really cool perspective on her jealous nature as portrayed in the myths. (That, and who wouldn’t be pissed that their husband can literally sleep with everyone but her?)
It’s because our classics education is sadly lacking in this and other countries. I’ve made a few other posts about Hera before and in one of them, I mention the fact that nobody really thinks poorly of other Greek gods punishing humans for their hubris (e.g. Artemis killing those who claim they are better hunters than her, the story of Athena and Arachne). I mean, if Hera is the goddess of marriage, and a human sleeps with her husband, wouldn’t Hera consider that the highest hubris committed against her?
Also, people complain that she punishes the human offenders rather than Zeus, but in one of her myths, she tries to incite a rebellion against her husband, only to end up chained from the sky in punishment.
But people want to just paint her as a petty bitch.
What’s worse is, as goddess of marriage, Hera knows she’s in a bad situation, but can’t leave because people would see it as the goddess of marriage couldn’t handle it. It wouldn’t be zeus’s fault, it would be hers, because she is automatically looked to to bless a marriage and hers is probably the worst of all.
((I could read interpretations of the myths based off the societal context they were written in all day))
Les Amis Modern greek gods!AU where Jehan is Aphrodites, Feuilly is Aephestus and Bahorel is Ares, and they have a wholesome poly relationship and live happily ever after.
