#myth explaination

[the-banks-of-lethe]

Hypnos and the myth of Endymion

As voted on on Wednesday, today's topic is the myth of Endymion! If any of you have suggestions for next weeks poll, or anything you want me to talk about / research!

Apologies for any spelling, grammar, or general sentence fulidity errors. I've been tired and mentally / emotionally drained recently due to some personal happenings; but I still wanted to get this out on time. Let me know if there was anything you wanted me to elaborate on more or anthing I missed and I can try and get back to you as soon as possible! << Post under the cut >>

So, Who was Endymion?

ENDYMION was a handsome shepherd-prince loved by the moon-goddess Selene. When Zeus offered him his choice of destinies, Endymion chose immortality and youth in eternal slumber. He was laid out in a cave on Mount Latmus in Karia (Caria) where his lunar lover would visit him each night. In another myth--which contradicts the first--Endymion was a king of Elis in the Greek Peloponesse who founded the kingdom with a group of Aiolian (Aeolian) colonists from Thessalia (Thessaly). Zeus granted him foreknowledge of his own death and, when his time had come, he set up a racecourse at Olympia and commanded his sons compete for the throne. Endymion was afterwards entombed beside the starting gate. - theoi.com

There are many different variations of the myth of Prince Endymion, but they all hold the same basics; Endymion was a prince / king renowned for his beauty, so much so that he caught the eyes of various (due to differing sources) gods, and he, by one way or another, was succumb to eternal slumber with his eyes open.

Front of a Sarcophagus with the Myth of Endymion ^^

Variations of myth

In most myths, Endymion was beloved by Selene, the moon goddess. She was so enamored by his beauty, that she begged Zeus to make him and his beauty immortal in slumber - with his eyes open so that she may peer into them and bask in his beauty. Zeus agreed and let him lay upon Mt Latmos for eternity, allowing Selene to gaze at her lover each night.

In another retelling of the myth, it was Zeus who gave the King a choice to have anything he [Endymion] may desire; Endymion chosing to be cast into an everlasting sleep so that he might remain youthful forever. Then after he was bound to sleep forever did Selene fall in love. In both versions of these myths, Selene laid with Endymion one night and concieved 50 lunar nymphs called the Menae, whose number was said to represent the fifty lunar months of the Olympiad (the four years between each Olympic games). No sources tend to say whether the conception happened before Endymions eteneral sleep or after / during.

Again, in another version, the eternal sleep of Endymion was a punishment given to him by Zeus for falling in love with and attempting to have sexual relations with Hera - Zeus' wife.

However, in the earlier accounts of the myth by Licymnius (as shown below) it was Hypnos who had fallen in love with the beauty of the Prince. And some recounts say that both Selene and Hypnos fell in love with him.

Licymnius, Fragment 771 (from Athenaeus, Scholars at Dinner) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (Greek lyric C4th B.C.) : "[Endymion was a handsome youth loved by the moon-goddess Selene. He was granted immortality in a state of eternal slumber :] Likymnios of Khios (Licymnius of Chios) says the Hypnos (Sleep) loves Endymion and does not close they eyes of his beloved boy even while he is asleep, but lulls him to rest with eyes wide open so that he may without interruption enjoy the pleasure of gazing at them. His words are ‘And Hypnos (Sleep), rejoicing in the rays of his eyes, would lull the boy to rest with eyes wide open.’" - theoi.com

There are technically more versions of this myth, however that would be too many for this post to cover. Some are also just combinations of the different myths listed, in an attempt to fit all the variations into one.

How do people view the myth?

Despite the variations of the myth; the metaphors that it proposes largely all stay the same. One may view the myth as the ancients giving a reason for being comatose state; however most interpretations from what I could find, see the story of Selene / Hypnos and Endymion as a divine love story; showing how great of lengths one is willing to go for love. In Selene / Hypnos' case, casting their lover into eternal slumber, something many would consider selfish, but is a true testiment to what lengths one will go in order for them to feel love.

Little disclaimer!: This story, as all myths, can be interpreted in different ways - yours may be different to mine and that's okay. As mythic literalism does not occur in Hellenic Polytheism, the myths are open to interpretation from person to person; although their may be a consensus or a majority that interprets it one way, does not mean you must follow. That being said you can find truth / believe in multiple interpretation / variations. They are myths, not history bound by fact.

Photos / Art:

Sources used;

(not including the knowledge I previously had of this myth)

Khaire friends, and sweet dreams 💙

[sistersorrow]

Broke: vampires are real, and they act just like in the stories

Woke: vampires are real, but the stories are inaccurate

Bespoke: vampires are real, the stories are inaccurate, and vampires made up those stories to keep humans ignorant

Baroque: vampires are real, and the stories are inaccurate, but vampires reacted to things like Dracula and Masquerade the same way the mafia reacted to The Godfather and now actively try to play out the tropes

[emdashbitch]

the amount of people who don't realise even now, years later, that Peter was a scholarship student at Midtown, him dropping out of clubs for Spider-Man was potentially jeopardising his placement there (extracurriculars often being mandatory for ensuring continued sponsorship) which was why May was so concerned, and instead think he's some rich kid is astounding. There is NOTHING indicating Peter comes from wealth in the MCU, nothing that doesn't have an immediate explanation as a kid on full scholarship. Tony literally uses Peter's need for financial aid to get in the door with May

media literacy is dead

[szynkaaa]

my girl cries stardust

or that one time the Destined One was starstruck (literally?)

in my head this is after the Destined One and my OC have been traveling for a while and now and established a good form of communication too despite the Destined One being silent. He noticed that she never allows her herself to cry in front of him, figured it might be because she didn't want people to see her cry. And then something something happened where she reached her limit and broke down. Seeing her cry was simultaneouslythe most beautiful and heartbreaking thing he has seen.

[genericpuff]

I find something that annoys me is how people misunderstand why Persephone is considered the goddess of spring.

It’s because Demeter makes it spring when she returns. Not because Persephone has some awesome sick flower powers and she makes it all pretty before returning to her 10000/10 husband.

Agreed! But also, if I can offer up my own food for thought / interpretation: Demeter didn't necessarily create 'winter' as we traditionally perceive it, rather she created famine.

In that same sense, Demeter isn't even necessarily "making it Spring" when Persephone returns - she makes the land fertile again, allowing mortals to harvest their crops and thrive. Thus creating the "seasons" of harvest and drought.

Like many of the myths we've preserved and still read today, The Hymn to Demeter was a story created to explain natural phenomena that we didn't yet know how to explain. In Demeter's case, the story of her separation from her daughter explained the cycle of nature - why the clouds would no longer rain, why the ground would dry and crack, why the soil would become brittle, and why the crops would lose their will to live. It wasn't necessarily because she brought about 'winter', it was simply that she stopped performing her own duties, which were specifically dedicated to the harvest, especially that of wheat and grains (both of which are INCREDIBLY important foods that played their own massive role in the evolution of the human race - they weren't only essential to keeping both humans and livestock fed with their carb-heavy components, but could also be used to make fabrics and tools.)

Just as people prayed to Poseidon for safe travels across still waters, so too would people pray to Demeter for a bountiful harvest. Whenever there were droughts, you could understand it as the period when Persephone would return to the Underworld; or you could even blame it on yourself, or even your own fellow mortals, if you felt that perhaps Demeter had been disrespected in some way so as to bring about a drought as punishment.

This is why The Hymn to Demeter also functions as a foundational story for the founding of The Eleusinian Mysteries - a cult that worshipped Demeter, and other deities attributed to the harvest (ex. Dionysus) whose initiates were sworn to secrecy, never to speak aloud what practices were happening within the cult. And they did a damn good job of it too, because to this day we still don't fully know what went down in those cults. They're mysteries, after all :')

Demeter wasn't the only god who was attributed to the harvest and the weather patterns that would cause drought, but she's certainly one of the most popularly discussed, undoubtedly due to the fact that her story is one of the oldest and most well-preserved, and she was attributed to some of the most essential crops of that era.

But as it would happen to many myths over the centuries, the exact cultural contexts and intentions behind her original story have become either lost, or re-interpreted so many times that we can't even fully trust that Homer's version is "accurate", at least not without any way to retrieve those original oral stories that predated both him and other famous poets whose work we still study and analyze today.

But hey, that's just my own interpretation! One out of the thousands that have existed and the thousands that will undoubtedly go on to exist. I'm sure my own interpretation of it isn't perfect or foolproof, but I hope it offers up some fun food for thought!

[shinedoitsulikeabright]

If you really think about it, Tiresias suffered the most out of any other character from Epic: the musical/the Odyssey

First he was forced to live as a woman for 7 years, during which he married and had children. The reason for being forcefemmed? He saw two copulating snakes and struck them, thus pissing off Hera who turned him into a woman as punishment.

Of course, this isn't so bad. Still bad luck imo. Like imagine hitting two random snakes and boom! You're a woman.

Next, he got blinded by Athena because he saw her bathing. Athena, the virgin goddess, naturally didn't like this and took away his sight. Feeling bad for cursing him, she gave him the gift of prophecy.

Another myth, however, tells a differeny story. According to it, Tiresias was called by Zeus and Hera, who were in the middle of an argument. They were trying to decide who felt more pleasure during sex: the man (Hera's claim) or the woman (Zeus's claim).

Since Tiresias had lived as both, they decided to ask him to settle the debate. Tiresias answered the woman and that, of course, made Hera mad so she blinded him. Zeus could do nothing but compensate by giving him the gift of prophecy.

He died from being impaled by Apollo's arrow. As if that wasn't enough, he couldn't catch a break even after death. Our favourite captain just had to come and pester him for more prophecies (which he didn't even follow btw so thanks for making this dead man do extra work for nothing, you royal dipshit).

[gremling4mer]

me trying to explain MYTH to my friends: it's like- okay so there's this island, and a book of fairy tales about a forest, but there is no forest and- well no its not just about fairy tales, it's about the human experience and love and- no you have to listen to it in order, it's important, it's a narrative. what? no it's not a book it's an album. the ending makes me ugly cry every time i hear it. no it's not SAD- well it is pretty sad but it's more bittersweet? it hits an emotional bell I guess is one way to put it. listen dude i know im not making much sense you just gotta listen to it. no you can't listen while playing a video game you'll miss important bits. yeah listening while drawing will work. guys just trust me i can't explain it you just gotta listen-

[muirmarie]

tragic to be someone who deeply and irrevocably wants a very specific gifset, but also absolutely doesn't want to put the time in to learn how to make a pretty one lmao (years ago I tried to learn and y'all they're SO much work??? say thank you to your gifmakers) so anyway just hold hands and imagine this with me:

[two side by side gifs from the devil in the dark, the first gif is mccoy saying "I'm a doctor," the second gif is him saying "not a bricklayer"] [two side by side gifs from friday's child, the first gif is mccoy saying "I'm a doctor," the second gif is him saying "not an escalator"] [two side by side gifs from the doomsday machine, the first gif is mccoy saying "I'm a doctor," the second gif is him saying "not a mechanic"] [two side by side gifs from mirror, mirror, the first gif is mccoy saying "I'm a doctor," the second gif is him saying "not an engineer"] [two side by side gifs from the empath, the first gif is mccoy saying "I'm a doctor," the second gif is him saying "not a coal miner"] [two side by side gifs from star trek v: the final frontier. the first gif is SYBOK saying "you're a doctor," the second gif is mccoy saying "I'm his SON!"]

i think about this on a weekly basis, to be clear.

ETA: the absolutely amazing @majormiles made this into an actual gifset here!

[m00nbuggies]

artemis and apollo :3

[girlbob-boypants]

"Its weird that GameFreak made these stories with adult themes when it's a children's game series."

Yeah its almost like there's a reason it wasn't released to the public by them.

[mutedeclipse]

draw something out of context, it can be anything

go crazy

not quite what was instructed, but it did give me the opportunity to mess with a failed sketch from yesterday

[abyssconqueror]

crying through the hornyposting bc sylus is literally SO devoted i genuinely can’t even take it

approaching dusk spoilers under the cut!

i just . i don’t even… he’s so. he ‘s SO—

[sarafangirlart]

Another problem with retellings (as if there aren’t countless lol) is that most have the same “this male character was portrayed as a hero in ancient/modern times but he’s actually terrible” is that like… it ignores that the term “hero” has changed a lot from antiquity to the modern day, in ancient times it just meant an important person who did cool deeds, not necessarily a good/noble person like in the modern day. The ancients KNEW their heroes were horrible ppl, hell the Romans hated Odysseus for the Sack of Troy. These figures doing evil deeds is by design, they didn’t care about making “likable” characters, they cared about showing human complexity and flaws, they cared about creating cautionary tales or explaining history and nature, it’s why so many heroes get divine punishment.

The only reason these heroes are portrayed as “heroic” (as in the modern sense) nowadays is bc Hollywood and other adaptions just can’t help but take these stories and water down or remove all the gross stuff to make these heroes more likable to a modern audience.

[lady-of-the-spirit]

I was reading a book today and I think I've finally cracked the code of why I'm so invested and somewhat defensive of female characters of dubious morality and/or have been wronged by the narrative (and fandom).

Her

Reading about this goddess and her wrath and rage, both justified and not, often pointed at people who didn't deserve it but were the only ones she could take it out on, changed me forever.

[hecates-corner]

Y’all, the god of the sun is not Apollo.

Eurylochus “killed” the immortal cattle of Helios.

[likethexan]

I do wish we’ll get a Hades-Persephone-Zeus-Demeter “retelling” that also focuses on the sibling drama as well as it does the parent or lover aspect of it

Because if we really think about it, the myth boils down to two brothers doing severely wrong by their sister, and the actions Demeter had to take to make them listen to her. It’s interesting power dynamics, of course, but it does make me wonder what type of extremes Demeter would go through if her famine wasn’t enough. And that’s not even mentioning Poseidon’s assault on Demeter during her search and Hera’s loud absence from the myth in general