dionysianlove7

[dionysianlove7]

But....I can't chooooooseee!!!!! They're all so good (I do own Hamlet, Macbeth, Dracula, and the Divine Comedy and Frankenstein tho....so) take from that what you will lmao 🥲 I'm actually reading my copy of Frankenstein as I type this lol

Asking the real questions!

[dionysianlove7]

I know I'm late but noooooo why is this literally me???? 😭

"fuck you my child is completely fine"

your child reads classic literature for fun

[dionysianlove7]

“The entire British museum is an active crime scene” - John Oliver

[dionysianlove7]

saw someone misspell "stochastic terror" as "socratic terror" so I'd like to clarify that stochastic terror is the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act that seems random but is not, while "socratic terror" is what every athenian felt when they went down to the agora in the 5th century and saw an old man with a beard approaching them

[dionysianlove7]

even if you can't feel your deities, they are still here, and they still love you.

[dionysianlove7]

Hey can we talk for a second how genuinely funny the beginning of Ajax (the play) is??

I can literally see Odysseus flinching and going "oh shit" when Athena calls him. It's like when your mom calls you by your full name and you think of every single thing you've ever done that might have gotten you in trouble

Sucking up to mom. Trying to win her mercy with flattery.

Odysseus literally shits himself and Athena has to reassure him.

Odysseus is sweating and Athena is trying so hard not to grin or laugh.

Once again, Athena is like a pissed off mom who just decided to say "I'm counting to three." Alarms blare.

[dionysianlove7]

it's always a joke i see passed around, but it's also based in a misconception of it, but roman and greek mythology are vastly different.

roman gods and goddesses were named after objects and did not possess a gender, whereas greek gods were decided by human characteristics and traits.

2. greek gods had heavy emphasis placed on their physical appearance, both beauty, and unsightliness. the description of their physical appearance would come from the myth itself. greek mythology would describe the gods and goddesses as having strong characteristics. these characteristics would have a direct impact on the physical appearance they were given, while roman gods were not described in such a way. roman gods had less emphasis put on their characteristics; therefore, their physical appearances were less strong if there was a physical depiction of them at all.

3. many myths are told differently like the trojan war and odysseus' return.

4. in greek mythology, mortal greek heroes were just as important as greek gods and goddesses. greek heroes often had roles that taught life lessons that were just as important as the myths that were told about greek gods and goddesses. greek mythology emphasized the importance of good deeds mortals performed on earth. roman mythology was different in this way. roman mythology did not put emphasis on the works of mortal heroes in regards to their life on earth because roman mythology believed in an afterlife (greeks did too but not in a strong way as romans did).

5. the greek culture viewed deities as an unattainable being. this means that mortals would never be able to reach deity status and have a place among the gods they worshipped. instead, they would have to do good works on earth to have the honor of the gods during their time on earth. roman culture was different. romans believed that mortals should try to aspire to be like the gods they worshipped. part of the reason is that they used the roman gods and goddesses as an inspiration to live life the right way. the other reason is that they believed in an afterlife that they would attain when their life on earth was over.

6. the gods had much different attributes differing from greek and roman; ares was the unpredictable spirit of war, and he wasn't the most popular god, but in rome, mars was hugely popular and was worshipped much more than the greek ares. demeter was the goddess of the harvest and grains, while ceres was those things as well plus art and culture.

7. in greek mythology, the afterlife does not hold much importance. in fact, gods and mortals are regularly snatched from the afterlife and brought in to the present showing no concern for the afterlife. the greek perspective is much more concerned with the physical life on earth as opposed to the afterlife. mortals are remembered and rewarded for their good deeds on earth. in contradiction, the romans did good deeds to secure their place in afterlife. they could even earn a place among the gods and through their life on earth strove towards this goal.

i know it's funny to be like "romans copied greeks," i don't view it as copying and pasting, i view it as the being inspired by greek gods and greek mythology and applying it to their own religions, and that's not a weird, uncommon thing. greeks also borrowed from other cultures to form their own gods. ancient greeks borrowed from minoans, mycenaeans, egyptians and phoenicians. THAT IS NOT A BAD THING! greek language also helped expand the italian language as well, they expanded their own knowledge with knowledge they learned from greeks, and other cultures they came across.

another complaint i see is "they conquered greece, so greeks didn't have a choice." i don't know how to tell you this in the most polite way, but conquering land in this time was gigantic and very common and normal! how do you think the mongolians became so powerful, they didn't do it through peaceful encounters. everybody did it, it's how culture spread so rapidly through the ancient world, not to mention through trade.

i know it's funny to say the italians copied greeks, but get over yourself, it's not funny nor is it correct.

[dionysianlove7]

had a conversation with one of my professors about achilles's physical description in the iliad and she said that the word used to describe achilles's hair, ξάνθος (xanthos, lit. "yellow"), is often translated as golden, tawny or auburn, but it can also mean "shining." we've talked in her class about how divinity in mortals is represented through their physical appearances. achilles's shining hair, then, is a representation of his demigod status: his divinity is literally shining on his head and flowing down his shoulders.

and i've been thinking about that a lot, and i realized that when achilles cuts his hair at patroclus's pyre, the narrative recognizes it as a signal that he will die soon. (he promised not to cut his hair until he returns to his homeland; when he cuts it at troy, we know that he will never go home.) but if his hair represents his immortal blood, then he is literally cutting away the divine parts of him before he dies. and it's interesting that xanthos signifies his demigodhood, because ichor runs gold.

(you may also recognize xanthos as another name for the river scamander, or as the name of that one horse that talks to achilles. it was a pretty versatile word.)

[dionysianlove7]

I've just re-read the short lived duel that Aeneas and Achilles have in Book 20 of the Iliad and it's actually the most hilarious fucking thing.

So it starts out with Apollo disguising himself as Lycaon, one of Priam's many sons, and telling to have a go at Achilles. Keep in mind that this is post-Patroclus Achilles. Aka: berserk Achilles. Aka: so fucking mad he would fight a literal river Achilles.

Aeneas, who is capable of critical thinking, says he doubts he can actually take him on. He also references a time when he was herding cattle on Mount Ida and Achilles ambushed him, adding that the only reason he survived then was because Zeus gave him enough strength to book it (cracking up the official times that he's been saved by a god from certain death to 3, you go dude!).

However, after a bit of back and forth and a ton of hyping up on Apollo's part, Aeneas decides to try anyway.

Like, what could possibly go wrong?

Achilles notices Aeneas charging at him and he begins to taunt him. It's something among the lines of: "I'm sorry, are you, background trojan character #61, actually gonna try and beat me? And then what? Do you think that Priam will reward you in some way? Maybe making you king after him? Well it's BULLSHIT, because Priam fucked so much that your chances of succeeding him are basically 0. Ahah. Loser."

Now, you'd think that maybe Aeneas got enraged at the comment and attacked him, or maybe he even got scared and backed down, but NOPE. What does Aeneas do?

Well, first of all, he insults Achilles' insults, comparing his bickering to that of a child. Literally, "I heard third graders do better than that." And then he decides to list his and Hector's entire fucking family tree.

You know that part of the Bible that's like "this guy sired this other guy, and this other guy sired yet another guy" and so on? It's basically that.

So after he's done with all that, Aeneas states that while he'd love to have a battle of insults with Achilles, because according to him he's actually very good at insulting people (his words, not mine), they should probably throw hands now. Achilles agrees.

The duel is shortlived and Aeneas gets his ass handed to him. Badly. As expected. And he's about die when ✨️POV shift✨️ we're not on Olympus where Poseidon, Hera and Athena are watching this absolute train wreck go down.

Poseidon, pitying Aeneas, suddenly goes on a rant. It's something among the lines of: "come on guys, look at him, he's just a little guy! He literally has no stakes in this war, he doesn't deserve to die here! He even gives us lots of gifts and sacrifices, he's literally such a nice guy. How can we do this to him!?

...oh and also he's part of some prophecy, Zeus would get mad if he died."

The fact that the way it's worded makes it sound like Aeneas being part of a literal prophecy is an afterthought to him absolutely floors me, Poseidon is literally just attached to a random dude that's fighting on the opposite side to his because he thinks he's nice.

After all that Hera is pretty unimpressed and states that she really doesn't care if our man lives or dies as neither her or Athena have ever saved a Trojan from death, she however adds that Poseidon is free to do whatever he wants.

The literal moment Hera stops talking, Poseidon lunges down from Olympus and onto the battlefield to look for the two combatants. When he does, he saves Aeneas like only he can do.

You know how when Diomedes first tries to kill Aeneas, Aphrodite gently folds her hands around him to shield him? There's none of that here. Poseidon just runs up to him and literally flings the motherfucker.

It literally says that he flies "high in the air". It's like a Looney Toons sketch.

So Aeneas lands and, while he's obviously a bit dazed, Poseidon proceeds to call him a madman and essentially tells him to never do something stupid like that again and just wait until Achilles is dead, then he'll be able to murder Achaeans to his heart's content. Aeneas is fine with that.

Achilles, who just saw his opponent just get yeeted into the fucking sky, just shrugs and goes "welp, guess that guy's off limits, I'm gonna go kill someone else now I guess lol".

This entire scene is pure fucking gold and the fact that I've literally never seen anyone talk about it just breaks my heart.

[dionysianlove7]

[Text from Anne Carson’s Bakkhai:] Bakkahi: Holiness is a word I love to hear, it sounds like wings to me, wing brushing the world, grazing my life. Pentheus has a harsh sound a negative sound He’s a negative person. He’s against Dionysos against rejoicing against laughter, against flutes— not to mention the transcendent gladness of grapes and wine so beneficial to body, soul, and psyche’s interior design.

[dionysianlove7]

descriptions of dionysos in the bakkhai (tr. anne carson) that make me lose my mind a little

[dionysianlove7]

Take it from me, Hellenic polytheists:

Don't join TikTok.

[dionysianlove7]

Hey, does anyone know if you can ask for religious absences in college for pagan holidays?

[dionysianlove7]

Provence Vineyard ~ Leon Roulette

[dionysianlove7]

Asexuals were always part of pride and it really fucking shows when people think it's a recent term.

[dionysianlove7]

Well, everyone. It turns out Christians have been lining their Bible pages with washi tape to create tabs that make it easier to find the different books and sections! Gasp! I just found out because my YouTube recommendations are 99% bujo supply videos. Naturally, pagans and occultists need to steal this idea for our notebooks immediately.

I already did this to my reading journal, dividing out the sections, and it works incredibly well. I didn't even use different varieties of washi, just one (matching) kind, which was what I had on hand, but it still made it much easier to find things. Depending on how many sections your book has, you could use different colors of washi tape, though.

[dionysianlove7]

Juuuuust before the pandemic hit I used to go to the Walters and sketch every week; this became a regular series on my Patreon called Trove. I want to finish this sketchbook and reboot the series this year!