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⏾ HYPNOS ⭒ .˚ — god of sleep ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

⋆˚࿔ To Hypnos, Fumigation from Poppies.

Hypnos, king of Gods, and men of mortal birth, sovereign of all, sustained by mother earth; ⊹ ࣪ ˖

⟢ for thy dominion is supreme alone, over all extended, and by all things known.

'Tis thine all bodies with benignant mind in other bands than those of brass to bind. ⊹ ࣪ ˖

⟢ Tamer of cares, to weary toil repose, and from whom sacred solace in affliction flows.

Thy pleasing gentle chains preserve the soul, and even the dreadful cares of death control; for Thanatos, and Lethe with oblivious stream, mankind thy genuine brothers justly deem. ⊹ ࣪ ˖

⟢ With favouring aspect to my prayer incline, and save thy mystics in their works divine.

. ݁ ˖ - Orphic Hymn 85.

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Lord Hypnos

Lord Hypnos, son of Nyx, god of sleep

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I find it so beautiful and comforting that the Gods are literally everywhere. It makes mundane life feel magical.

Hestia is in the warmth of my morning cuppa and the aroma of our evening meals.

Apollon is in the sunrise and sunset (whether hidden by the clouds or not), and in the sudden rush of writing inspiration I get at the most inconvenient moments.

Dionysus is in the sweet glass of wine I share at the end of a long day and in the small comforts that make 'off' days manageable.

Even the Gods I'm not devoted to. I see them everywhere.

Zeus and Poseidon are in the smell of much-needed rain after a period of heat, and the spectacular storms that bring me so much joy.

Aphrodite is in the mirror when I look at my reflection and think - for once - maybe I don't look so bad.

Hera and Eros are in the gentle kisses and sleepily whispered 'I love you's' shared each day with my girlfriend...the constant thought that one day, this incredible woman will be my wife.

Athena is in the determination I feel when working on my postgrad assignments, and when I submit something I'm actually proud of.

Hypnos is in the refreshing feeling of a good night's sleep.

Artemis and Selene are in the glow of the moon when the skies go dark - the assurance that they are present even if they cannot be seen, for just like the sun, the moon always appears.

They're all there. A constant presence. A constant comfort. And they love me. They love us.

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Hades Protects Pylos: The Evolution of a Myth

The myth of Hades at Pylos has always been one of my favorites because it’s so counterintuitive; having the god of the dead protect people from dying.

The folktale can be summarized as follows: Heracles wants to sack the city of Pylos, Hades exits the underworld to defend it, Heracles wounds Hades and conquers the city. This story was used to explain why the people of the region of Elis worshipped Hades—an unusual practice. Honoring Pluto, the agricultural deity, was relatively common, but having a temple dedicated to Hades, the dreaded king of the dead, was unheard of. I decided to compile all the sources that recount this myth.

1) "Dione, the majestic goddess, answered, “My child, be strong and bear your suffering. Many of us who live on Mount Olympus have suffered at the hands of men, when gods and humans have been injuring each other. […] Along with these, among the dead in Pylos, gigantic Hades suffered when that same Heracles, son of Zeus who bears the aegis, shot a swift arrow, struck him, and consigned him to pain. In his distress, pierced through by torment, he went to high Olympus and the house of Zeus. His heart was troubled by the arrow impaled in his strong shoulder. Paean smeared some anesthetic ointments over it and cured him—since of course he was not mortal.”" - Homer, Iliad (C8th B.C)

2) “For how could Heracles have wielded his club against the trident, when Poseidon took his stand to guard Pylos, and pressed him hard, and Phoebus pressed him hard, attacking with his silver bow; nor did Hades keep his staff unmoved, with which he leads mortal bodies down to the hollow path of the dead.”- Pindar, Olympian Ode 9 (C5th B.C)

3) "Homer says that even Hades (Aidoneus) was shot by Heracles, and Panyassis recounts that it was the Eleian Hades. And already this same Panyassis also recounts that Hera the consort was wounded by that same Heracles ‘in Pylos, bloodied.’"

“Is not Panyassis one of your own, who recounts that both Dis (Hades), the father, and the queen (i.e., Juno = Hera), were wounded by Hercules?”

-Panyassis Fragments (C5th B.C)

[Edit: For clarity’s sake, the original text is in the comments]

4) “He [Hades] who as king lords it o'er countless peoples, what time thou [Heracles] wast making war on Pylos, Nestor's land, brought to combat with thee his plague-dealing hands, brandishing his three-forked spear, yet fled away, with but a slight wound smitten, and, though lord of death, feared he would die.”- Seneca, Hercules Furens (C1st A.D)

5) “After the capture of Elis, he [Heracles] marched against Pylos. He took the city and killed Periclymenos, the bravest of Neleus' sons, who used to change shape as he fought. He killed Neleus too, and all his sons, except for Nestor, who was still a boy and was being brought up amongst the Gerenians. During the battle, he also wounded Hades, who came to the aid of the Pylians.”- Apollodorus, Bibliotheca (C2nd A.D)

6) “It is said that, when Heracles was leading an expedition against Pylos in Elis, Athena was one of his allies. Now among those who came to fight on the side of the Pylians was Hades, who was the foe of Heracles but worshipped at Pylos. Homer is quoted in support of the story, who says in the Iliad : And among them huge Hades suffered a wound from a swift arrow, when the same man, the son of aegis-bearing Zeus, hit him in Pylos among the dead, and gave him over to pains.”- Pausanias, Description of Greece (C2nd A.D)

7) “Heracles plunders Elis, then, and kills Augeas, and Cteatus and Eurytus, sons of Actor, he kills in treachery. And he has even plundered Pylos and wounds Hades; And he gives the kingdom of the Laconians to Tyndareus having killed Hippocoon, who was allied to Neleus.”- John Tzetzes, Chiliades (C12th A.D)

You can read more about Hades cult at Elis here

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Planning on making some picture books of myths of the Theoi for my son. If anyone has any advice or would like to see them as I make them id love to share.

I'm going to try to stay as accurate as I can while keeping it child-friendly since my son is still a baby. Probably going to start with Demeter, Persephone, and Haides. But if you guys have any myths you would like to see let me know!

Also, I'm going to do a couple of Nordic ones since my husband worships the Norse gods, but idk where to start there, so any recommendations would be helpful.

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I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on the hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery, own sister to Apollo with the golden sword. Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earth quakes and the sea also where fishes shoal. But the goddess with a bold heart turns every way destroying the race of wild beasts: and when she is satisfied and has cheered her heart, this huntress who delights in arrows slackens her supple bow and goes to the great house of her dear brother Phoebus Apollo, to the rich land of Delphi, there to order the lovely dance of the Muses and Graces. There she hangs up her curved bow and her arrows, and heads and leads the dances, gracefully arrayed, while all they utter their heavenly voice, singing how neat-ankled Leto bare children supreme among the immortals both in thought and in deed.

Homeric hymn to Artemis.

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Materialism is literally inextricable from Greek religious practice because the ideal relationship between gods and humans is one based on mutual gift-giving.

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I hope the week 15 is true because im in the week 1 trenches 😭

Breastfeeding: it's hard!

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Super happy to have the little one safe and at home, and super thankful to have an amazing husband to help me out♡

Postpartum is kicking me in the ass right now, but we're figuring everything out slowly.

(Censoring their faces because im not posting my baby's face online, and my husband isnt too big on posting online)

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Just had the fattest little cutie who's only an ounce away from being 10 lbs!!👶😌

Had contractions for 3 1/2 days, and was in labor for 3 hours 😭

Let me tell you once i decided the pain was worse than the anxiety, that epidural made my contractions disappear 💕

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Might not active for a little while.

About to have a summer solstice baby 👶 ☀️

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I saw this sassy little Hermes on a 5th century BCE kylix and had to draw him. The original piece, titled “The Embassy to Achilles” by the Tarquinia painter, can be found in its entirety can be found in the collection of the Louvre, G264.

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Hello! I love your blog :] it’s always nice to see someone more familiar with history than me involved in the worship of the Theoi. You made a post a while back I was curious about, about Apollo becoming associated with the sun during the Hellenistic period? This was surprising to me as someone very invested in Apollo worship, since it seems to be the first thing anyone mentions about him, & a lot of his epithets seem to have to do with light. May I ask why he was associated with the sun? & if sun relation is actually a more general aspect of several gods, why does Apollo seem to have so many names connected to light? Thank you in advance! <3

Apollo's epithets that relate to light do not inherently indicate a connection to the sun. Rather, people have read these solar associations into his epithets centuries after the fact. 

Truth be told, I don’t know why Apollo is associated with the sun. It’s not an association that appears in much secondary literature on Archaic and Classical Greek religion, so I don't know where it comes from exactly. 

In my comments, someone suggested that it could have to do with his conflation with the Egyptian god Horus, which makes sense, but it doesn’t explain his popularity as a solar god in the modern age. 

As for what Apollo’s light epithets indicate, they denote a number of things. First, they suggest that Apollo has a luminous appearance, which isn’t strange for a god. Just as Aphrodite is golden, Apollo is bright. Second, they refer to his associations with oracles and the art of knowing or learning. When we realize or discover something, we describe it as enlightenment, and the ancient Greeks were the same way. Apollo is responsible for that enlightenment. 

Another thing to note about epithets concerning light is that they aren’t specific to Apollo. Many gods have epithets that denote them as having to do with light, like Artemis, Hekate, and Zeus.

I really do need to study this issue further, but in the meantime, it remains a mystery to me.

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Fanfiction isn't a source. Please show me where you are finding versions of the myth where Persephone goes with Haides willingly. Also what need is there to trash on Demeter? A mother lost her child and was crushed by it. The myths were allegories for the culture and values of the time. The myths you are talking about is death taking someone's child from them, as well as how marriage worked in the culture of the time. Demeter if she were a mortal would have never had the chance to get her daughter back.

Myths were not taken literally. I repeat. MYTHS WERE NOT TAKEN LITERALLY! Why are we treating them like they were? Most myths go over some aspect of the god they represent and indicate some rule or societal standard of the time.

Zeus was not seen as a bad guy. He was literally the king of the gods, and fathered many gods. His myths are telling a story that fulfill his role, and also follows the culture and what was considered ok at the time.

Why are we having this Tictok-sounding misinformation being spread on Tumblr? I thought we were past that.

This isn't Christianity or any other Abrahamic religion where the gods are supposed to be seen as good and righteous. Please do some deconstruction of previous beliefs, and stop using fanfiction as a source if you do consider yourself a Hellenic Polytheist.

Can we like, stop making Hades out to be a bad guy in Greek myth and zues to be a good guy. Honestly Hades is like not even evil in most Greek iterations. Zues is the one who fucked everyone and caused issues. Zues is the fuckup, Hades mostly just wanted a wife. And in most iterations she willingly went no trickery and willingly wanted to stay. And after thousands of years Demeter is still upset about it. Persephone willingly stayed Hades isn't evil, and neither is the location known by the same name.

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Can we like, stop making Hades out to be a bad guy in Greek myth and zues to be a good guy. Honestly Hades is like not even evil in most Greek iterations. Zues is the one who fucked everyone and caused issues. Zues is the fuckup, Hades mostly just wanted a wife. And in most iterations she willingly went no trickery and willingly wanted to stay. And after thousands of years Demeter is still upset about it. Persephone willingly stayed Hades isn't evil, and neither is the location known by the same name.

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I wonder if Helpols who hate Zeus legitimately think they will have prosperous households