#greek mythology

[wolfythewitch]

Painting practice

[the-evil-clergyman]

Leda and the Swan by Jean-Baptiste Paul Lazerges (1879)

[eiririnn]

The witch of the crossroads

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Lord Frederic Leighton (British, 1830-1896) Helios and Rhodes, n.d. Helios fell in love with the sea nymph, Rhode, daughter of Poseidon, and they lived together on Rhodes as protector god and goddess, with Helios naming the island in her honour. They had seven sons, known collectively as the Heliadae, and a daughter, Electryone. Mycenaean Greeks and Minoans generally depicted women with pale or white skin and men with tanned skin. Male warriors like Odysseus were usually described as having sun-browned or bronzed skin.

[justvea18]

Some Patrochilles sketches from my sketchbook

I usually use them when I want to practice anatomy 😭

[mcsiggy]

No real joke I just enjoy this Vine a lot

Non blurry version under the read more!

[the-oddest-inkling]

Odysseus, you're drunk, go home.

[percabethownsmybutt]

annabeth: this is a bad idea

percy: then why are you coming along?

annabeth: someone has to get your injured ass home

[godsofhumanity]

Dionysus: Apollo diagnosed me with divine madness. Athena: Any other diagnosis you'd like to share? Dionysus: autism.

[incorrecthomer]

Cassandra: Why did you guys dress up as each other for Halloween? Paris: Hector is the scariest thing I could think of. Hector: Paris told me I should pick the dumbest costume possible.

[pelideswhore]

Achilles: Why does everyone assume the worst of me?

Odysseus: It saves time.

[sarafangirlart]

I think “Athena represented generals and the strategic side of war and Ares represented the chaos and soldiers” is a weak interpretation of them, both Athena and Ares are shown as violent and cruel, with both enjoying war and the horror it causes. I think it’s that the Greeks favored Athena bc she’s the Greek and “civilized” version of the brutality while Ares represented the foreign and “barbaric” version, hence why he was always identified with foreigners like Thracians and Amazons.

[flaroh]

Aphrodite Emergent 🫧🐚🌊

[eiririnn]

Scylla is one of my favourite characters. Her voice just tickles my brain🫶

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Vlaho Bukovac (Croatian, 1855-1922) Andromeda, n.d. National Gallery of Slovenia

[katerinaaqu]

So how old is Odysseus exactly?

A small Odysseus age analysis based on a description in the Iliad

Many make speculations of his age, me included. Interestingly we have several hints in both art and the scripts but is hard to pinpoint. In general Odysseus is considered old or one of the oldest generations among the poems.

In art he is always depicted bearded which is something only men in maturity have in ancient greek art (somewhere between the late 20s early 30s) and his beard is full indicating that he is at least in his 30s. Most art of his, ranges from the events of the Trojan war till his journey and the murder of the suitors. In all cases we see him having a full beard. So it is pretty hard to determine his age but we know he was at least 30 in the war making him at his final 40s or early 50s when he comes back home depending on interpretation.

In the Iliad in the 23rd rhapsody/book we have an interesting description by Antilochus

"And this one (Odysseus) is of an earlier/previous generation of earlier men; we call him "omogeronda" (early-old man, green old age); yet he is really hard to be competed against in speed (lit: his feet are troublesome to compete) by the Achaeans, except from Achilles"

For starters he clearly states that he is "one generation older" (προτέρης γενεής) but he also calls him with the interesting word "ωμογέρων" which means "raw old man" literally aka "not ripe old age". The word has two possible interpretations; one that he is a "green old man" aka he just began to grow older or to pass to old age and two "a vigorous and lively old man" 😉

Now it could be a tender nickname that they call him "old" but I think the first interpretation fits better to the description. So we know that Odysseus was already mature man when he entered the war (bearded=somewhere in his early 30s and above) and he spent 10 years in the war. We know that he is "one generation older".

The age of marriage differs in ancient greece (for example in 5th century BC Athens, 300 years after Homer's time and almost 1000 years after the time Trojan war took place, the age of marriage for men ideally was 30 years old when they had served their dues although it is unclear how often it was being done this way) but we are to expect that a man in his middle 20s was expected to have at least considered marriage if not already have a spouse and kids. So if Odysseus is "one generation older" on average he is around 20 years older than younger individuals (anywhere between 15-20 years could be closer) such as Diomedes or Antilochus here or Aias. Nestor who was considered an old man was in his 60s. He was still active on the field just not the same way as characters like Odysseus were.

Given the characterization "ωμογέρων" in the Odyssey and the description of him being a generation older than many young heroes I should calculate Odysseus is in the same age group as people like Agamemnon, making him older than other characters like Patroclus who was also generally older (closer to his early or even middle 30s if we assume that Achilles who was repeatedly said to be very young he was in his middle to final 20s during the war). That would make Odysseus a middle aged man and therefore closer in his 40s at the final year of the Trojan war.

My rough estimation is that he is in his early or mid-40s when this conversation takes place. He is middle-aged and yet he is vigorous, sportive and fast (so much so that only Achilles is said to be easily competing against him while most achaeans have hard time to), he is also strong given the many times his strength in spear, sword or bow were praised but at the same time he is obviously past the age of youth. That would make him in his early 50s at least when he arrives in Ithaca.

But what do you guys think? Agree or disagree let me know to the comments below! ^_^