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I see Bradley James as Aegon the Uncrowned, but Dustin Clare would make a good Orys ...

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I see it as more Naerys and Aemon ...

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I think Annabelle Wallis would be a better Queen Alysanne ...

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Inbreeding Coefficients of the Greek Gods ...

I read an WIRED article on the subject, and just for fun, I decided to calculate the inbreeding coefficient of our favourite immortals ... Do note that I am not an expert in genetics, so I do apologize for any mistakes I have made.

(I may also decide to do one for the Egyptian Gods.)

Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus have an inbreeding coefficient of exactly 25%, as their parents, Cronus and Rhea, are full siblings. (I prefer the version in which Ouranos' parents are Aether and Hemera, instead of the version where Gaea is his 'mother' through parthenogenesis.)

Ares and Hephaestus have an inbreeding coefficient of exactly 50%, since their parents are not only full siblings and so are their grandparents.

Athena, Apollo and Artemis also have an inbreeding coefficient of roughly 50%, even if their mothers are their father's first cousins, because Athena's mother Metis also has an inbreeding coefficient of 50%, as does the mother of Artemis and Apollo, Leto. Keep in mind that their respective grandparents are also full siblings.

Aphrodite has an inbreeding coefficient of ... 0%, since her parents, Ouranos and Thalassa, are unrelated. (Unless you prefer the version which Zeus and Dione are her parents, which would give her an inbreeding coefficient of 50%. In that case, her children with Ares would have an inbreeding coefficient of roughly 100%. Which is why, I prefer the version in which she and Ares are *merely* grand-aunt and grand-nephew. Either way, no wonder why Eros opted to marry an unrelated mortal.)

I couldn't really calculate the inbreeding coefficient for Dionysus (his family tree is CRAZY), since his father is also his great-grandfather, but since his mother is an mortal whose parents are basically not related (though it gets iffy if you consider that Ares and Aphrodite are his maternal grandparents), he's probably in the lower percentile range.

I found Hermes is the most inbred of the Twelve Olympians, even though his mother is his father's first cousin-once-removed (which is perfectly legal in most countries, unlike the others). His mother Maia has an inbreeding coefficient of 75% (re: her mother and grandmother are full sisters, so her father and grandfather are also first cousins as well as father and son), and his father Zeus has an inbreeding coefficient of 25%, so Hermes has an inbreeding coefficient at an estimated ... 100%, considering that this family tree does not branch out. (No wonder why Hermes doesn't have any children with his wife, Peitho, and his son with Aphrodite became an hermaphrodite - he can only reproduce outside of the family!)

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The snack that smiles back ...

Cronus: *to Baby Hestia* You're so cute, I could just eat you up!

Rhea: Honey, 'bun in the oven', is just an expression ...

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... Get it?

Demeter is the first person with bi-polar disorder.

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This just occurred to me ...

If Odin and Frigg are the Ned and Catelyn Stark of Norse mythology, then Zeus and Hera are the Tony and Carmela Soprano of Ancient Greek mythology.

Hera: I BET FRIGG DOESN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS!

Frigg: You bet I don't!

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Every time a new demigod is born ...

Hera: ZEUS - WHOSE KID IS THIS?!

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Ixion: I bedded the Queen of Heaven! *laughs* She was putting out like a mare in heat! Strike me down, Zeus, you don't have the- *thunderclap and lightning incinerates him*

Zeus: I AM THE ONE WHO CUCKS!

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Tyndareus: WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT SWAN?!

Leda: I can explain - that's not a swan! That's ... ZEUS! I SWEAR I'M NOT WEIRD!

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I read that post. I also never claimed that he's the protector of women in Greek mythology (because there isn't one).

I never said that Ares was a 'feminist icon' (I would not look for one in Greek mythology), this post was written in response to the claims that Hades is a 'feminist husband' when in reality, his marriage with Persephone was the epitome of everything wrong with Ancient Greece (and elsewhere!) so Ares would be the best possible candidate for a male feminist since the bar is set so low, it's in Tartarus.

Even so, I will be editing my post.

Why does Ares get so much praise for killing his daughter's rapist (whereas the other Gods don't)? There are two reasons. One is that Ares has never raped anyone, and two, he was actually tried for it - even though his daughter and Poseidon's son were both demigods so such a thing should not even make it to a trial by the Gods.

There is a version of the myth by Panyasis where Ares was found guilty and forced to serve among mortals, so it was more of an exile (Zeus doled out the same punishment to Apollo and Poseidon for their attempted coup).

Yes, I know about Artemis and Apollo as children protecting Leto from Tityos (it's even on my Hera post), and the reason why I (and others) isn't so moved by it is because as adults, Apollo raped Creusa to conceive Ion (Euripides wrote a whole play about it) and Artemis set up Aura, one of her hunting companions, to be raped by Dionysus (which she mocked Aura about).

Now re-reading the myths, it appears that Ares and Aphrodite may have been together BEFORE she married Hephaestus, or maybe because the timeline of Greek mythology is wonky, but Dionysus is the son of Semele, daughter of Harmonia, which would make granddaughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Dionysus is the one who got Hephaestus drunk enough to free Hera. Yet, Hephaestus gave Harmonia a cursed necklace and robe for her wedding to Cadmus, as revenge for her parents' infidelity during his marriage. (Which, now come to think of it, would make Dionysus her great-great-grandson ...)

I knew that Spartans didn't care much for Ares, but I assumed that her Areia epithet was for him. Aphrodite was represented as an warrior goddess (something which is not at all present in the myths) in Sparta and Kythera.

I may have worded it wrong. What I meant is that Ancient Greeks would have perceived him as the legitimate son, given how they projected their sociocultural norms onto their Gods in their myths. While it's true that Ares is a loser both on and off the battlefield, we are talking about ZEUS here. Y'know, the same Zeus who swallowed his pregnant wife in fear that she would give birth to a son who could overthrow him, even though the prophecy explicitly states that Metis would give birth to a daughter and then a son? (I guess that he was paranoid that she might have carried twins ...) It's also not true that Zeus is incapable of being overthrown (Hera, Poseidon, Apollo and Athena very nearly succeeded had it not been for the intervention of Thetis). You have to take their sociocultural norms into consideration when reading the myths. The cliche of the king fearing that his legitimate son would someday overthrow him was a very real fear back in those days. Funny you bring up Orphism, because we both agree that Zeus would NEVER abdicate the throne to one of his sons, and Hera feared that Semele would take away her throne as Queen consort when she ascended to Olympus but she didn't.

Cronus swallowed Rhea's five children including three daughters, even though the prophecy plainly states that he would be overthrown by a son, and goes on to father three sons with his mistress whom he didn't swallow. Why did he do this? (Besides the fact that he's a dick?) The prophecy doesn't state anything specific. It's meant to be symbolic of the fact that Rhea is his legal wife and so her children (or at least her sons) have a legitimate claim to the throne.

Come to think of it, I think I might write a new post on this, and the true origins of the Oedipal Complex.

Ares and Apollo have next to no interaction in mythological canon, whatsoever. I can't recall one myth in which they do, since Ares doesn't show up a lot. (Ares persecuting a pregnant Leto doesn't count.) I can only think of him boxing Hermes for Tanagra, or the two of being present at the punishment of Ixion. Zeus' favourite child, irregardless of gender, is Athena. When Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, and Athena teamed up to put Zeus in his place, only Athena escapes any sort of punishment. In The Iliad, Ares accuses Zeus of favouring only Athena, and during the Trojan War, Hera asks Athena beat Ares up. Ares represents the hellish side of war, Athena represents the glorious side of war ... I'm surprised that you don't know of this very basic tidbit.

People use Ares persecuting a pregnant Leto against him, but there is no evidence that he ever touched her, only that he prevented her from setting foot in any city, and Hera is not only his mother but the Queen of Olympus. The entirety of Ancient Greece was obeying her whim, and so are we really going to fault her SON for it?

Interesting that he had a festival in which women couldn't attend, but if it was in Athens, then note that women could only attend women-only festivals.

If You Want An ACTUAL 'Feminist Icon' Man With Depth, Then Ares Is Your Best Candidate (NOT Hades!)

He has been SEVERELY misrepresented.

1) Ares is quite literally the ONLY Greek God (sitting on the Twelve Olympians) who doesn't need to be put on an sex offender registry. (I won't speak for his Roman counterpart, Mars, however ...) The worst he ever did, was seduce Phylonome, an hunting companion of Artemis, in the guise of an shepherd. That's hardly comparable to Zeus seducing Callisto in the guise of Artemis, or Alkmene in the guise of her husband Amphitryon, or Poseidon seducing Tyro in the guise of the river-God Enicepus.

2) Not only is Ares the only one who isn't a rapist, but he has actually stood up for sexual assault survivors more than once (even if they're his mother or daughter!) Ares was famously tried (and acquitted!) for homicide by a jury of the Twelve Olympians, after he slew Poseidon's son for raping his daughter. If he was found guilty, the sentence would have been Tartarus and/or losing his godhood. All the gods voted to convict, all the goddesses voted to acquit, and what with Poseidon as prosecutor, Zeus as judge, and Ares as defendant, there were more goddesses on the jury than gods. Even if Zeus cast his vote to convict, it would have come to a tie and the rule was that the defendant is to be acquitted if there is a tie. Ares was also trapped in a jar for protecting his mother Hera from an giant son of Poseidon who stormed Olympus, and he was only a child at the time. He was also present at the punishment of Ixion who attempted to violate Hera, alongside Athena and Hermes.

3) Ares is the father of the Amazons (you hear that, DC Comics?) The founder of the Amazons, Otrera (who, btw, is the mythological founder of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus), is either his daughter with the wood-nymph Harmonia, or his consort (if she is the daughter of Eurus, God of the North Winds) by whom he fathered Melanippe, Antiope, Hippolyta, and Penthesilea. Their nation's capital city is named Themiskyra in honour of Themis (Zeus' second wife and his aunt by whom he fathered three daughters), whom Ares is on surprisingly close terms with (see the Homeric Hymn to Ares), since he was also the patron god of the law enforcement.

4) One of Ares' epithets is 'feasted by women', in the ancient city of Tegea in Arcadia; during a war between the Tegeans and the Spartans, the women of Tegea defended the city from an invasion led by the Spartan king Charilaus.

5) Women abused by their husbands would pray to Ares for strength, since he is also the God of Courage, which may have (sadly) further contributed to his unpopularity in Ancient Greece.

6) Aphrodite was forced into a marriage as ransom with Hephaestus who petitioned Zeus to marry Athena, Aphrodite expected that she would marry Ares instead (since no one even knew about Hephaestus). Love and War. Their children are Eros (the literal Cupid himself) and Anteros (Unrequited Love), Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Panic), and Harmonia (Harmony). They have an open marriage, despite Ares killing Adonis as a boar and Aphrodite cursing Eos with insatiable lust. Spartans in particular worshipped their marriage, with Aphrodite receiving the epithet of 'Areia' (similar to how Zeus has the epithet of 'Heraion'), and we all know how Spartans treated their women compared to many other Greek city-states. Note how Ares and Aphrodite are the only married couple on the Twelve Olympians besides Zeus and Hera themselves, which brings me to my next point ...

7) Even though Ares was not worshipped by many Ancient Greeks (just as they didn't even feel comfortable mentioning Hades by name), he was always depicted as an handsome soldier, which was the peak of male attractiveness at the time. He was legally considered as the true heir to the throne of Olympus as the only legitimate son of Zeus and Hera (since Hephaestus was conceived via parthenogenesis) and one of the most handsome of Zeus' sons (which is why Aphrodite hoped to marry him). Bizarrely, he could almost be considered as Ancient Greece's cultural equivalent of Prince Charming in a way.

8) Ares is the son of Hera (the Goddess of Marriage, Family, and Childbirth, Patron of Women and Queen of Olympus) and the husband of Aphrodite (Goddess of Love and Beauty; Lust and Sexuality; Desire and Pleasure). He is also the rival to his half-sister Athena (Goddess of Wisdom and Reason; Strategy and Warfare; Arts and Crafts) for his father's affections. He's also on good terms with his grand-aunt, Themis, and I would assume Hestia. Zeus and Hera's other children are all daughters (Enyo, Eileithyia, Hebe, Angelos, Arge, Eleuthera), and Zeus is afraid that Ares would overthrow him (see 7). It's not hard to see why Ares drinks the Respect Women Juice unlike his father, uncles, or brothers.

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If You Want An ACTUAL 'Feminist Icon' Man With Depth, Then Ares Is Your Best Candidate (NOT Hades!)

He has been SEVERELY misrepresented. Wonder Woman, Percy Jackson, DC Comics ... why didn't God of War use Ares instead of Kratos who is just one of Zeus' lieutenants?

(Don't get too excited just yet, it's still a pretty low bar.)

1) Ares is quite literally the ONLY Greek God (sitting on the Twelve Olympians) who doesn't need to be put on an sex offender registry. (I won't speak for his Roman counterpart, Mars, however ...) The worst he ever did, was seduce Phylonome, an hunting companion of Artemis, in the guise of an shepherd. That's hardly comparable to Zeus seducing Callisto in the guise of Artemis, or Alkmene in the guise of her husband Amphitryon, or Poseidon seducing Tyro in the guise of the river-God Enicepus.

That's right, the 'sacker of cities' isn't a rapist himself. (If you don't like irony, then Greek mythology isn't for you.)

2) Not only is Ares the only one who isn't a rapist, but he has actually stood up for sexual assault survivors more than once (even if they're his mother or daughter!) Ares was famously tried (and acquitted!) for homicide by a jury of the Twelve Olympians, after he slew Poseidon's son for raping his daughter. In one version of the myth, he was found guilty and forced to serve among mortals (which was the same sentence Zeus gave Poseidon and Apollo for conspiring against him). The implication is that all the Goddesses voted to acquit, all the Gods voted to convict, and what with Poseidon as prosecutor, Zeus as judge, and Ares as defendant, there were more goddesses on the jury than gods. Even if Zeus cast his vote to convict, it would have come to a tie and the rule was that the defendant is to be acquitted if there is a tie. (This is what occurred in The Oresteia, the setting of which was also the Areopagus.) When two giant sons stormed Olympus with the intention of taking Hera and Artemis, Ares was trapped by them in a jar, and the implication was because he was defending his mother and he was only a child at the time. He was also present at the punishment of Ixion who attempted to violate Hera, alongside Athena and Hermes.

3) Ares is the father of the Amazons (you hear that, DC Comics?) The founder of the Amazons, Otrera (who, btw, is the mythological founder of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus), is either his daughter with the wood-nymph Harmonia, or his consort (if she is the daughter of Eurus, God of the North Winds) by whom he fathered Melanippe, Antiope, Hippolyta, and Penthesilea. Their nation's capital city is named Themiskyra in honour of Themis (Zeus' second wife and his aunt by whom he fathered three daughters), whom Ares is on surprisingly close terms with (see the Homeric Hymn to Ares), since he was also the patron god of the law enforcement.

4) One of Ares' epithets is 'feasted by women', in the ancient city of Tegea in Arcadia; during a war between the Tegeans and the Spartans, the women of Tegea defended the city from an invasion led by the Spartan king Charilaus.

5) Women abused by their husbands, as I've read online (but cannot verify), would have likely prayed to Ares for the strength to survive, which makes sense since he is the God of Courage (who else would they have prayed to?), which may have (sadly) further contributed to his unpopularity in Ancient Greece. Likely women also prayed that their abusive husbands would die violently on the battlefield in the next war ... He is, after all, the 'slayer of men'. It's not any different from how mothers would pray to Demeter to bring their daughters back alive, or unmarried girls would pray to Artemis to escape an unwanted marriage ... There's no 'protector of women in Greek mythology' because the Hellenistic religion worked through power bargains with the Gods and their respective domains ...

6) Aphrodite was forced into a marriage with Hephaestus in exchange for Hera's release (Hephaestus initially sued for the hand of Athena which ... didn't work out; see Erichthonius for more detail), Aphrodite expected that she would marry Ares. (They may or may not have been sleeping together before since Dionysus is the one who got Hephaestus drunk enough to do it ... Dionysus is the son of Semele, daughter of Harmonia, Ares and Aphrodite's daughter ... or maybe it's just the wonky timeline in Greek mythology ... ) Love and War. Their children are Eros (the literal Cupid himself) and Anteros (Unrequited Love), Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Panic), and Harmonia (Harmony). They have an open marriage (they are often acknowledged as each other's consort in mythology), despite Ares killing Adonis as a boar (although one version has Artemis killing Adonis as revenge for Hippolytus) and Aphrodite cursing Eos with insatiable lust. Spartans gave Aphrodite the epithet of 'Areia' (similar to how Zeus has the epithet of 'Heraion'). Note how Ares and Aphrodite are the only official couple, whether they're depicted as married or otherwise, on the Twelve Olympians (following her divorce from Hephaestus) besides Zeus and Hera themselves, which brings me to my next point ...

7) Even though Ares was not worshipped by many Ancient Greeks (just as they didn't feel comfortable even mentioning Hades by name), he was always depicted as an handsome soldier, which was the peak of male attractiveness at the time. Legally, he would have been considered as the 'legitimate' heir to the throne of Olympus as the only 'true' son of Zeus and Hera (since Hephaestus was conceived via parthenogenesis), given how the Ancient Greeks projected their own sociocultural norms onto their Gods. He is also one of the most handsome of Zeus' sons (along with Apollo, Hermes, and Dionysus). Bizarrely, he could almost be considered as Ancient Greece's cultural equivalent of Prince Charming in a roundabout way.

8) Ares is the son of Hera (the Goddess of Marriage, Family, and Childbirth, Patron of Women and Queen of Olympus) and the husband of Aphrodite (Goddess of Love and Beauty; Lust and Sexuality; Desire and Pleasure). He is also the rival to his half-sister Athena (Goddess of Wisdom and Reason; Strategy and Warfare; Arts and Crafts) for his father's affections, and shares jurisdiction with his half-sister Artemis over the Amazons. He's also on good terms with his grand-aunt, Themis, and I would assume his aunt Hestia. Zeus and Hera's other children are all daughters (Enyo, Eileithyia, Hebe, Angelos, Arge, Eleuthera), and a part of Zeus is concerned that Ares would overthrow him (more on that in another day, for another post). It's not hard to see why Ares drinks the Respect Women Juice unlike his father, uncles, or brothers.

9) People often use Ares persecuting a pregnant Leto at Hera's orders against him, disregarding that Hera is not only his mother but the Queen of Olympus. Even then, he never did anything more than deny her entrance to cities. The entirety of Ancient Greece itself was under orders to deny Leto sanctuary, and so are you really going to fault Ares for it? ZEUS didn't even hold it against Ares, even though he's his least favourite and Leto is his favourite woman ...

9) Ancient Greek mythology is largely passed through Athens, and they associated Ares with foreigners such as the Thracians (Thrace is said to be the God's birthplace) whom they regarded as stupid, uncivilized barbarians (see 6). His respecting women is likely meant to be seen as a negative trait, and highly correlated with how Ares was seen in general (see 3).

Note: I am NOT calling Ares an 'feminist icon' man, I'm just saying that he is the best possible candidate in Greek mythology.

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I know this is lame but ...

Demeter is the first person to have seasonal depression ...