#ANCIENT GREECE

[kurzler]

a quick psa to anyone recently getting into greek mythology and is a victim of tumblr and/or tiktok misconceptions:

-there is no shame in being introduced to mytholgy from something like percy jackson, epic the musical or anything like that, but keep in mind that actual myths are going to be VERY different from modern retellings

-the myth of medusa you probably know (her being a victim of poseidon and being cursed by athena) isn't 100% accurate to GREEK mythology (look up ovid)

-there is no version of persephone's abduction in which persephone willingly stays with hades, that's a tumblr invention (look up homeric hymn to demeter)

-as much as i would like it, no, cerberus' name does not mean "spot" (probably a misunderstanding from this wikipedia article)

-zeus isn't the only god who does terrible things to women, your fav male god probably has done the same

-on that note, your fav greek hero has probably done some heinous shit as well

-gods are more complicated than simply being "god of [insert thing]", many titles overlap between gods and some may even change depending on where they were worshipped

-also, apollo and artemis being the gods of the sun and the moon isn't 100% accurate, their main aspects as deities originally were music and the hunt

-titans and gods aren't two wholly different concepts, titan is just the word used to decribe the generation of gods before the olympians

-hector isn't the villain some people make him out to be

-hephaestus WAS married to aphrodite. they divorced. yes, divorce was a thing in ancient greece. hephaestus' wife is aglaia

-ancient greek society didn't have the same concepts of sexuality that we have now, it's incorrect to describe virgin goddesses like artemis and athena as lesbians, BUT it's also not wholly accurate to describe them as aromantic/asexual, it's more complex than that

-you can never fully understand certain myths if you don't understand the societal context in which they were told

-myths have lots and lots of retellings, there isn't one singular "canon", but we can try to distinguish between older and newer versions and bewteen greek and roman versions

-most of what you know about sparta is probably incorrect

-reading/waching retellings is not a substitute to reading the original myths, read the iliad! read the odyssey! i know they may seem intimidating, but they're much more entertaining than you may think

greek mythology is so complex and interesting, don't go into it with preconcieved notions! try to be open to learn!

[ember-des-meeres]

@testicularmanslaughtrr is your name by any chance Pygmalion

Details of Michelangelo’s masterpiece “David” 1501–1504

[artschoolglasses]

Clay loom weight decorated with an owl, Greek, 5th Century BCE

From the Acropolis Museum

[lionofchaeronea]

Marble bust of the god Dionysus. While most deities in the Hellenic pantheon have fixed iconographic representations (e.g. Zeus is always bearded, while Apollo never is), Dionysus is represented by a variety of iconographic types, ranging from a beardless, androgynous youth (as here) to a mature man with a heavy beard and bull's horns. This likely represents the god's fluid nature and frequent transgression of boundaries (including gender boundaries, as a male deity whose devotees were predominantly female).

This bust was executed by an unknown artist in the 2nd century AD/CE (Roman Imperial period) and was found at Knossos, Crete. It is now housed in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete.

Photo credit: Zde/Wikimedia Commons/ Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

[margaretkart]

My experience when I went to see the Caryatid was one of eerie loneliness. There she stood, placed in a corner that dimmed her light, making her feel insignificant, stripped of her worth. It felt as though she didn’t belong, like an outsider, because she shouldn’t have been there in the first place. The Acropolis Museum in Athens still waits, saving an empty spot for her return. There’s a sense of longing for her home, she stands steady, waiting, looking, holding on to hope.

[themaskedmewtwo]

Pffffft

I disturbed her rest

[machetelanding]

[oldschoolfrp]

Not a Harlequin romance cover, but Zeus and Hera in Carol Heyer's full-page art from the "Greek Mythology" chapter of AD&D 2e Legends & Lore, TSR, 1990

[psalmlover]

skull of a young greek girl from 300 bc buried with a ceramic flower crown

[gavran-vrani]

Monarchs of the ruins

[alexandriad]

returning after a few months long break from drawing with the usual ancient greek ladies

[marcvscicero]

this youtube comment made me smile so i thought you guys might like it too :)

[charlesoberonn]

[memories-of-ancients]

Gold pendant with Nike, Greek, 2nd half of the 4th century BC

from The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

[phia-myth]

at what point do you just have to accept that your freak of a boyfriend is going to keep your corpse rotting in his bed for a socially and hygienically unacceptable period of time. like ‘yeah. i figured he’d do this. let me talk some sense into him he won’t listen to anyone else. trust me, how do you think i got here?’