#The Bacchae? “Where is she?”

[dootznbootz]

Me, anytime I consume any Greek Mythology/Tagamemnon content and there's no mention of Penelope:

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Dionysos Loves His Mom(s), a very long essay

Going to just preface this by saying that I may/may not have gone a bit overboard, but I hope everyone enjoys reading my rambles on how amazing it is that we still have this message even through to day, how important this is for our understanding of Dionysos, and also just a little bit of (what I hope will come across as) Semele appreciation :) Also, I did write this during finals week, so if it seems rambly, please bear with me ;-;

And for clarification, I'll be referring to Semele with capitalized pronouns because even though She was human, mythologically, while carrying Dionysos, She was also deified by Him after He brought Her up from the Underworld.

The first interesting thing is that we get our description of Dionysos, as well as the love he shows for His Mother, in Greek mythology. While myths are usually pretty good resources for understanding the Gods, they are also usually written by the people who are in power at the time - which would be specifically older men who were not slaves. Because of this, a lot of myths tend to trend towards the "male" perspective of the Athenians. Also because of this, women are frequently represented in a very negative light, or at least as being relatively unimportant.

There are no Gods who have quite a relationship with Their Mothers like Dionysos has of His. Some of the Gods technically have no mother, like Aphrodite and Athena, and others just... don't seem to have much of a relationship at all. And this isn't necessarily to say that the Gods that we worship don't love Their Mothers, but more that the popular attitude of Greek society was simply to push women off to the side, and let the men take the glory.

And then, strangely, we have Dionysos, He Who Takes No Shit When It Comes to Women, as well as Him Who Has Two Moms. He's already something of an anti-Athena in Greek mythology, for while She was born of Zeus's head, and Metis was a sort of mother-base, Dionysos was born of two mothers, and from Zeus, in a way that echoes an intimate, "maternal" sort of birth, instead of the detached birth of Athena. And we know full well that Dionysos did not forget about either of His first two mothers. Persephone and Him famously get along well enough that they shared a rite in the form of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and it is to Persephone that initiates go, telling Her that the Bakkhic One Himself has freed us!

And we haven't even touched on Semele! It's one thing to have a divine Mother to welcome us to the afterlife. It's another thing to have a once-human-become-Goddess Mother in the form of Semele-Thyone. And Dionysos loves Her as well, very much so as well! Even though He never met Her as a child, He still very clearly has a lot of love for Her. At the start of the Bacchae, when Dionysos first arrives in Thebes, you will notice that one of the very first things He mentions in His monologue is that His mother is being disrespected by King Pentheus, and that this disrespect is part of the reason why He has driven the women of the city mad, as well as the sisters of Semele, who also were disrespecting Her.

This loyalty is only further emphasized by the fact that even though Semele is dead at the time of the Bacchae (and obviously after it as well, as the myth of Dionysos traveling to the underworld is an entirely separate story). And yet we must once again emphasize that this was written in a time where mothers were so often thrown under the bus (or horse-drawn chariot), and all of these myths were notably written by men, as far as we know. It seems that there is an inherent thread which ties Dionysos to the world of women, or at least has Him incredibly sympathetic to it, and one which could not be broken with all of the hyper-patriarchal nonsense that was woven deep into the cultural fabric of ancient Greece, especially Athens.

And to finish this fun little rant off, I want to offer two significantly longer ideas than the initial thing that I wrote! One for reflection on how we relate to Dionysos (and how He relates to us), and another as a reflection on Semele-Thyone and how She relates to us, and how we should relate to Her.

To start, this sympathy that Dionysos shows with women does, in some ways, hits culturally closer to a sisterhood than to the way that a man would have been encouraged to act towards women in ancient Greece. Dionysos as God understands His band of madwomen's own self-worth, and does not question their autonomy. Instead, he seems to encourage it, especially with all of the sassing he gives Pentheus while being grilled by him. This is such a good thing for all of us. Not only is Dionysos a friend of humanity, but He is specifically a friend for the marginalized. Whoever finds themselves marginalized in society will be His "favorites", so to speak, because that is where He truly finds His followers. It's almost as if He naturally finds where there is a power imbalance, and jumps on the other side to even things out, even if it is a little bit. I also think that this same "purposeful marginalization" is something which adds further theological credence to Dionysos being also validly a trans woman and nonbinary, as He does not sit within a patriarchal "Him"-ness, but rather within a "Him"-ness that refers to a more equal world.

Moving on to Semele-Thyone, we have a wonderful ally in a divine woman, sympathetic to humans, who knows full well not only the sufferings of humanity, and the pain in disrespect, but also the importance of kindness and respect towards others. In Greek mythological and religious canon, Semele-Thyone became the Goddess of the Bacchic revel, which, if you really think about it, isn't just about the Bacchic revel (it's never "just about the Bacchic revels"). This also tells us that Thyone, like Her Son, is also a God of the marginalized. Like Dionysos, She oversees the safety and wellbeing of the community which Her Son has founded. In some way, Thyone has become a Mom to all of us, through Her assistance with the divine inspiration that strikes frenzied devotees. It's a caring thing, too!

Anyways, the long and short of this is - Dionysos loves His Mom, Semele-Thyone is an incredibly underrated Goddess, and Mother's Day was yesterday. So hug your mom if you've got a good relationship with her, and if not, we can all borrow Dionysos' Mom :)

[i-spilled-my-soup]

Top 5 fav characters in the whole percy jackson series?

in no particular order. and biased with my personal headcanon cooking

nico di angelo (to the surprise of no one) cause he's got that inferiority complex and hero complex and that unreliable worldview. he's incorrect about everything. i do wish he was unhappier though

clarisse la rue cause pjo show direction goes CRAZY for her introduction (whole new perspective honestly) and her character arc is gas, she's like achilles without the woman-hating

dakota (no last name???) he was there for like five minutes but he's so chill it's crazy. i always imagined him with long dreadlocks in a medium-high ponytail for some reason

will solace (also to the surprise of no one) cause he's the opposite of the "hates everyone but you" trope. i imagine he is very kind and patient except when he is with close friends. like the kindness increases with closeness until a point where it turns into strong negative correlation. also inferiority complex and medicine is cool

ummm dionysus is pretty cool, loved when he drove those guys to insanity. real bacchae moment. also pjo show character direction for his introduction goes crazy

also just cause these were off the top of my head... and i am oftentimes far more invested in the character's narrative than actual plot points... this is not reasonable or defendable in any sense of the word so i apologize

shoutout to pjo show direction though. love that narratology. grover is just like me fr. annabeth's lack of any explanation goes crazy she is just like that one smart kid in class whose thought process no one can understand. clarisse direction goes crazy she is actually so intimidating. percy is just a funny guy who loves his mom (dionysus moment). yeah that's the brainpan emptied thumbsup emoji

[the-witchhunter]

Phantom Bacchanal Prompt

Content warning mention of underage drinking. Could age them up, but this felt right. 

After Mr, Lancer assigns his students a project on Greek tragedy, Sam gets into the Bacchae. Like, really into the Bacchae. Specifically, the maenads, the wild female followers of the god Dionysus. Inspired, she talks Danny and Tucker into having a bacchanal, just one night of nothing but cutting lose and having fun in the woods together, No worries about parents, school, or even ghosts.

Sam nabs some wine from her parents. Something red and probably very expensive, but she doesn’t know enough about wine to say. Night falls, the fire is lit, and, there is those woods, Sam invokes Dionysus, god of wine and ritual madness, the liberator, then takes a swig straight from the bottle. Danny hesitates before chugging a third of the bottle and the wine, and the ritual, start to have an effect,,,

Skulker can’t believe it. He, the ghost zone’s greatest hunter, is running from the welp. Danny, feral, draped in purple and leopard skin stalks him through the woods after the hunter crashes their bacchanal. He’s not sure where the chiton (ancient Greek tunic) and skin came from when he transformed, or the ghost leopards, but he didn’t care. He felt wild, free. He felt good.

Aka Danny get’s influenced by the spirit of Dionysus and can have little a divine wrath, as a treat. Skulker is not having a good night.

[hinsaa-paramo-dharma]

Storytime:-

So, when I had recently shifted to south delhi, our colony only had like 5 houses (abhi 20-35 se jyada honge) and out of them 4 were rich 2 storey houses while one was a jaisa-taisa rented apartment ghar with 4 floors (where I lived). So, sabse gareeb log apartment me rehte the and others were so fucking rude to us like- gajab insaan the. I and other children of the flat would be playing outside and they will be shouting at us to go to home and to get disciplined and other nonsense. Auntyji I am literally 5 what do u expect? The worst one was this woman who loved to call us "uncultured" (in a time i didn't even knew it's meaning) (she was A TEACHER i feel bad for her students). She had 2 sons like 5 yr older than me and at first we used to play together then vo bhi apni maa ke disha mein chale gye. That woman made kid-me's blood boil. The Adults were also tired of her (she would throw literal tantrums if a cow enters our gully and then would fucking hit the poor animal with a broom cuz she can, like Bhai itne laadsahab ho toh society me raho gully mein toh Aisa hi chalta hai). I am usually a nice obeying kid but I started insulting her in HER face. One time she told the baccha party "Shoo! Shor machate rehte hai, headache kar ke rakha hai" and I replied with "Aapke papa ke Ghar mein khel rhe hai jo aapki baat maane?" (Yeah, that is the most rebellious I can get). Her sons specially didn't like my new self and started y'know gaaliyaan aadan pradaan karna. I didn't even knew most of their meaning, I was literally 8 that time. Though, ek baar mera sar aisa ghooma ki I literally slapped one of them. MAHABHARATTT. Yeah, i fought with 2 boys ages older than me all alone (still one of my proudest moments, specially since meine ek ki shirt faar di thi ha vo alag baat hai ki mujhe sprain ekdum ganda waala aaya tha). After that, that aunty went around trying to blacken my name (that worked greatly) uss ne yeh nhi bataya ki uske ladko ne Jo shabd bole the. For the next few years, I was the infamous ladaku ladki of my gully. Which I loved and hated at the same time.

[jennyandvastraflint]

Xena Reactions S2Ep4

Can I just say, nature is beautiful. So gorgeous

WOLVES? Hunting after some guy

Oh that was a trippy shot.

Gabrielle!!! She is my beloved

Ah shit, girls kidnapped... I don't like it

Oh no, Bacchus... 😂 Not ready to meet THAT guy

SHDJDD TEEFS 👀 Not to be a lesbian but women with fangs...

Uh oh, these wolves are Bacchae

Oh not THAT guy... Please 😭

Gabrielle staying behind Xena having her hands on her sides 👀🏳️‍🌈

Joxer... Argh.

"I had them right where I wanted them" "Uhu..."

OH FUCK A SEVERED HEAD....

... "Speaks for itself" oh Joxer is SO proud of that joke... 😑

Please. Joxer gently fixing his hair 😂 And now carrying him

"Wait a minute, what did she mean presentable?" "She doesn't want me to look like you." THE SASS SJFHSH

Orpheus's wife? So... Eurydice?

Ngl Vampire women kinda 😳

JSHFHSHDHD "Guess we know who's winning this year"

Ohgreat, they strung up Melodus

Gosh, Gabrielle has to protect them...

"You can be a warrior and a musician" "Yeah right. And a hydra makes a good house pet."

That's very... interesting choice of music.

Gabrielle on a party with presumably the Bacchae?

OH YEAH SHE IS TOTALLY ENTRANCED BY THESE HOT WOMEN. She's just like me fr

AND BITE. I'm not a fan of long nails for sensory issues reasons, but the teeth kinda...

Sjfhshd they're flying around

Was she trying to bite Xena 👀

"With two women" Hey Gabrielle has two hands

AHFHSHSH NOT THE HEAD ON A STICK

"Jaxer what are you doing" Let me stay with the lesbians

Ahddhs Joxer is so incompetent

"I guess you don't want someone who PLAYS THE LYRE"

XENA WAS BITTENNNN

Is vampire Xena gonna try and bite Gabrielle 👀😏

Gabrielle, please cut this another way...

Yeah yeah, Orpheus

"Nobody sleeps soundly tonight" Cut to Joxer sleeping

He looks very much like a devil. It's fascinating prosthetics.

Dryads

"Well they're not gonna jump out at us" Oh they will, won't they

Sucking people into the ground is giving very much Hungry Earth/Cold Blood from Doctor Who

Xena just rolling her eyes

Well they look... Interesting. CGI wise

This fight looks a bit clunky

And the Dryad fell apart

Joxer fuck offfff

ARGO EATS THE HAY SJFJSD

GABRIELLE??? Was she bitten???

Omggg my poor Gabrielle. But she kinda

(Head in bag... Husbands of River Song core)

"Forget the girl" "I can't do that."

MY GIRL CAN CLIMB WALLS NOW! I love that in a woman

JOXER DON'T! Don't hurt my gf

Noooo, Gabrielle :(

Phew, Xena saved her

I predict Xena's gonna hesitate hitting Gabrielle

SHE'S SPITTING FLAMES AGAIN

Oh that woman just exploded

I can understand the headache coming from that

Joxer don't STOP-

Love Xena just stabbing a god with a bone

I mean, obviously he's not DEAD

"Only a Bacchae can kill me"

"Gabrielle. Do it" Ajfhdhshdhshdhf UH UHHHHH, Xena is lowkey enjoying being bitten by her gf

Funky camera movements

And he exploded

Oh all the girls turned back.

And Orpheus got his body back

Was he like. Dead all along?

They're like Oh no do we have to take this guy with us now.....

"I just remembered, it's my mum's birthday" shfhshdh

"You nearly died saving me, I really wanna do something for you" Joker: "Farewell my warrior chums" Xena, looking back: "You just did..." shfhshdf

Yeah of course Bacchus isn't DEAD dead, he IS a god

[scarlet--wiccan]

what did you think about issue #3 of Scarlet Witch?

I haven't really shared my thoughts on the the series yet, so I guess this is a good time to check in. Issue #3 definitely highlighted all of Scarlet Witch's strengths, but I think it also brought some of its weaknesses, and directions that I wouldn't personally choose, into focus.

First of all, the artwork was the real star of this issue, and I have to say that Pichelli, D'Amico, and Wilson are doing amazing work. Going into this series, I was worried that the artistic sensibility was going to be a little too "superhero" for my taste, but this issue blew me away. Pichelli's fluid lines are complimented perfectly by the painterly, organic finish that D'Amico and Wilson bring to the colors and inks. This journey through the fantasy world of Subatomica was a great showcase, compared #1 and #2. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this vivid magic as we enter into the Bacchae storyline.

Composing an issue almost entirely out of montage can be tricky, but Orlando took advantage of the extra page space to tell a story while also delivering his thesis on Wanda's character. This issue nails down who Wanda is, where she's at, and what she wants moving forward. Orlando has really imbued her with grace and wisdom from all of her experiences, but he also allows her to be vulnerable, and arrive at these moments with a very human touch. I think that's important, and it's something I've been a little worried about, because it would be easy to overcorrect with Wanda and make her too infallible. I appreciate that she has really complex emotions and personal reactions, which is something I find missing in a lot of comics these days.

I've said it before, but Wanda's affinity for chosen family is a core aspect of her character, and I think it was smart to illustrate this with Viv and Lorna in the opening arc, because those two are the least obvious choices. Bringing Tommy or Billy in would be great, but it wouldn't necessarily allow Orlando to say anything new. I appreciate that Viv challenges Wanda and creates a sort of tension, just as much as I appreciate Lorna for accepting Wanda as a sister in a way that she hasn't done much before, showing that Wanda is more well supported now and her family is stronger than in has been in years.

Having said all of that, there are some things that I am struggling with.

As I've said, I don't love Orlando's approach to writing magic. Previous Scarlet Witch stories have made the effort to distinguish witchcraft from other forms of magic, and the current developments with Agatha are promising to expand its role in the Marvel world. So far, Orlando has ignored all of that, and is just defaulting to a very Doctor Strange sensibility-- mostly invocations of fictional entities and whimsically named artifacts. That's annoying, but I'm more frustrated by the lack of internal thought and effort behind Wanda's spellcasting. This is her book, and she's the POV character, so I think there needs to be more detail and intentionality with her powers.

I really liked the scene where Wanda and Lorna forge that sword together-- Wanda didn't just conjure a sword, there was thought and detail put into how it came together-- and I just wish we were seeing more of that.

Issue #3, for me, also called attention to the glaring lack of Romani perspective. I love the way Wanda and Pietro are being drawn, and I love the inclusion of cultural food in #2, but this is surface-level representation, and it's not enough to balance the decades of flawed material. Don't get me wrong, these changes are huge, and they're going to make a difference, and there's just no excuse at this point for the lack of Romani contributors. I literally know people who would take the offer, myself included.

Anyways, I was thinking about it a lot when Mardj was describing hte nomadic marauders that have invaded her home. I was uncomfortable with the language Orlando used in that scene, and I just don't think that very many Romani writers would choose to characterize a displaced people as unquestionably evil.

This lack of authenticity comes up a lot in Wanda's language, too. Orlando's research is still faulty at best, and again, there are a lot of people who could've been paid as a consultant. Mostly, though I'm just disappointed by the fact that Wanda is a small occult business owner, and there's been no acknowledgement of the complicated history Romani people have with magic/fortunetelling as businesses and cultural trade work-- or the very real discriminatory laws and policing of fortune teller businesses and "scam artists," which are designed to target and profile Romani families.

[titanofthemoon]

Were Donna in the MCU, would she find herself in the Avengers, Xmen? Or another team?

Oh man... This question genuinely stumped me. As cool as I think it would be if she could be the Avengers or Xmen, I don't think really see her as being more than a reserve member. Also, I don't think she'd get on with Hank McCoy or Logan so that rules out a lot of the more mutanty lineups. Not sure why I feel this, way, just a gut reaction, I guess. I think she'd get along with Nightcrawler like a house on fire, though! She'd love to be in Excalibur. In my heart of hearts though, I don't see her in a team per se. I'd love an AU where she came across Marvel's Hippolyta, only to discover how DIFFERENT she is, and how diametrically opposed most of their beliefs are. Maybe Donna usurps that Hippolyta to rule the Amazons/Bacchae, and joins the Fearless Defenders

[dootznbootz]

I don't think Greek Mythology retellings/adaptions/inspired/etc. are necessarily "evil"...but I DO think people REALLY need to understand that there's a huge difference between the actual mythology and certain media.

I feel like people have to basically do a "Fandom ___" to say the different versions. Like "PJO ___", "Hades game ___", "TSOA ___". For it to be understood that these depictions are DIFFERENT. I'm saying this as someone who grew up reading PJO and still has a soft spot for it. But as someone who really loves Greek Mythology as well, I sometimes get really SAD.

I'm going to use the comparison of Howl's Moving Castle with it's Book Vs. Movie. I enjoy both!!! But they are honestly very different. In the movie there is no "sister swap", Markle isn't a young teenager, Sophie doesn't throw weed killer at Howl, and many more moments. But I enjoy both because even though there are changes they still keep components that are ingrained into the characters!

In some Greek Myth retellings/adaptations/stories/etc., characters are...SO different from the source material. That's fine...Choose what you want with your story... But folks should know that the modern adaptations are NOT the source material!!!

It bothers me that a lot of these wonderful myths and stories are twisted up and seen so differently because of a modern version of them. You can have that character be "awful" or a certain way in your story. But I almost feel that as fans, it's not good to generalize them or see it as "This is the truth". People are hating the mythological figure when it's only in that interpretation they are like that.

In PJO, Ares is "Zeus' favorite", isn't a good dad, a misogynist, etc. The actual myths? One of his Epithets is LITERALLY "Feasted by Women", in the Iliad everybody basically bullies him with Zeus literally saying he hates him. He cries when he learns one of his sons is killed in the war. He literally kills someone about to rape his daughter. Ares isn't perfect but it makes me sad with how he's viewed and talked about when it's only in PJO he's like that. Same with Dionysus. Read the Bacchae, you'll love it.

In Lore Olympus, Apollo rapes Persephone (noticing the fact that modern takes on the myths add rapes where there never were hmmmmm) when he never did in any of the myths.

In TSOA, Thetis is cruel when in the Iliad, she is such a loving mother to Achilles. She grieved alongside her son over Patroclus. Also with Agamemnon. In Ipheginia at Aulis, Agamemnon is a MESS. He adored his children.

In Circe, Odysseus is viewed as a selfish man who ONLY hurts others and doesn't care about his family when that is LITERALLY his one consistent character trait. HE is actually the one who is the victim of rape. Circe was never raped.

Medusa is only a victim in Ovid's, a Roman man, works. Not in GREEK mythology. She was just a cool monster. Leave Perseus alone. Poseidon and Medusa actually had a consensual relationship in Greek Mythology!

These adaptations/retellings/inspired by/etc. whatever anybody wants to call them, are not the real myths! They may be similar in some ways but to just generalize them or hate the deity/mythological figure because of something they did in the new media feels fucked up!

You can enjoy these new stories. There's nothing wrong with that!!! But know they're not the real myths. Maybe even label it as "I hate ____'s version of ____". As that makes it clear what version you're talking about.

[nysus-temple]

Your Dionysus posts are amazing. He is really an underrated god and for some reason not many pay attention to him even though like all the other Greek gods is complex and has both a good and bad side. Now they mostly associate him with him being fun and looze in parties, but do you know any cases he showed his "wild side" like anger etc?

Thank youuu !! Glad i can actually help people out with the things i share <3

But, oh boy, indeed i do have. He shows it more than people think he does, just like any god, he has a scary side, you could say. And i'm more than glad to show that side of him people usually don't talk about.

Apologies in advance if the post ends up being long, i really like this topic xD 💖

1. The Bacchae, Pentheus and hubris:

The first and the most well-known example i love to give, is The Bacchae. Euripides' did a really good job showing this side of Dionysus, and, being totally honest, Pentheus had it coming.

Dionysus' went to his mother's city ( Thebes, in this play, Semele is his mom ) in order to see how were things going around there after she had passed away, and in order to see if they cared about his own existence at all. To his surprise, people like Tiresias did! But oh boy, Pentheus and the Theban women ( including Semele's sisters ) were... Not respectful. And that's when his anger begins:

He made the Theban women go insane, VERY insane, and submitted them to him; Why? They weren't being very nice to his deceased mother, saying things like her and Zeus being lovers was a lie, that she probably died due to hubris and not due to an accident, they mocked her and refused to believe her son was Zeus' son as well. So, yeah, Dionysus didn't like the whole "mocking my dead mother" shenanigans, neither him being considered a non-god.

Then, Pentheus! Damn, this dude didn't know when to shut up. What i love about his situation is that it shows how much PATIENCE Dionysus has. He didn't mind his mockery, hi didn't mind him imprisoning him, he didn't mind any of that, he even invited him to join the cults with Tiresias and the rest! But when after all of these redeming chances, Pentheus still had the audacity to say that Dionysus was no god and therefore deserved 0 respect, is when he got way too mad to be able to forgive him.

In summary, he, well, he made the Theban women, including Pentheus' own mother, to dismember him and decapitate him with their bare hands. And after they had done that, he made them go back to their senses, so the image of Pentheus' mother holding his head between her bare hands covered in blood... Yeah. That was a big lesson for all the Theban citizens to not piss off the god of madness.

2. Epithet used in the Bacchae:

We're still with this play, because Tiresias said once that Dionysus "has a part of Ares". And this... Is actually very true.

Orphic Hymn XXX, the epithet Ἀρήιος is used in it, in Spanish it's translated to "bellicose" and in English it's probably "war-like".

Don't get the wrong idea, Ares is no bad guy, neither is Dionysus. This comparassion and epithet is probably made in order to remind people that he has a violent side, that you shouldn't piss him off, because he's still a god. If it was used in a hymn, it's for a good reason.

3. Keeping up with the hymns:

In this same one, Orphic Hymn XXX, it is said that Dionysus likes raw meat. I mean, sure, this might sound dumb to us, meaning only that people had to sacrifice animals like with any other god, but remember his connection to Zagreus? Well, no, not a connection... He is Zagreus. Wether people like it or not, it's his epithet ( and sometimes Hades' epithet too... ), Ζαγρεύς Διόνυσος; now, what does 'Zagreus' mean if it's not only a name, but an epithet? Yeah, well, i haven't finished my philology studies yet, so i can only rely on other scholars. And i have NO idea where they get their theories from, and as you know, i don't like saying things without sources. But according to them, Zagreus is something like "sovereign hunter", so, yup, Dionysus apparently is a hunter... A hunter of sanity? Perhaps?

4. Homeric Hymns time:

Do ya'll remember that myth regarding him turning sailors into dolphins? Yeah, it comes from the Homeric Hymn VII. Dionysus, when being younger, was kidnapped by some sailors who wanted to sold him as a slave... And other... Unholy stuff. They didn't know he was a god, of course, but they were still being pricks.

Dionysus got mad, obviously, but he stood there, waiting for the perfect time to act. WELL the captain of the crew went "hey, i think he's a god, we should free him. What if he's Zeus? Or Apollo?" yeah, that apparently wasn't very nice to hear for him. He then turned the ropes imprisoning him into snakes, as well as other parts of the ship. He also started a sound that drove the sailors mad, making them jump into the sea and turning them into dolphins.

What have we learned? Don't kidnapp a god. And don't compare him to other gods.

5. And yet ANOTHER dude disrespecting him:

Lykurgos is a less-known figure from the folklore, i mainly known him thanks to this pic:

He's attacking his wife while being under Dionysus' insanity thingy and all that. How did he get there? Wellp, he was a Thracian king, and when he heard that Dionysus was in there, he ordered to trap all of his followers in a prison. Dionysus got angry ( what a surprise ) and sent a drought towards Thracia, making people get mad at their king and killing him for provoking such a thing in their town. Dionysus then stopped the drought, he kept his word.

6. Honorable mentions of the Orphic Hymns:

Orphic Hymn XXX: Dionysus is called "of dual nature", could mean to him being born twice or to him being both a savior god and a dangerous god.

Orphic Hymn XLV: It says that Dionysus enjoys swords and blood, and that whenever his holding the thyrsus, he's VERY mad

WELLP that's all for now! There's probably more that I haven't mentioned, probably, either because i don't have the soruces or because i need to organized my ramblings again. Hope you like the few things i showed tho! Sorry this got too long, couldn't help it.

[if-i-had-a-voice-i-would-sing]

Since my 7th show I’ve had brainworms about potential future Punchdrunk shows based off Greek myth & literature (there’s SO much to work with!!) and here’s an idea that I jotted down and now can’t get out of my head:

The Burnt City is based off Agamemnon and Hecuba, what if their next show was based off Medea and The Bacchae?

One show about female grief & women sacrificed for men, and the next about female madness & mothers killing their sons

- parallel scenes of Medea murdering her sons (who’d have to be aged up somewhat into adults, due to the nature of most punchdrunk productions) and Agave murdering Pentheus.

- Parallel scenes where the crimes of the women are exposed to the men in their lives (the reveal to Jason vs the reveal to Cadmus)

- Influence of Hecate vs influence of Dionysus, lots of fun contrast & similarity to be played around with here

- Reoccurring theme of women’s freedom from oppression being in the rejection of the role of ‘mother’

- Both plays are very centred around the patriarchal fear of women banding together - both choruses are female peers, as opposed to the judgemental old men of Mycenae in Agamemnon. They are people who can be confided in and relied upon by our female leads. A linked theme again of female solidarity, community organisation & radical action against the oppressor.

- Two cities again - Corinth and Thebes ; could divide them by the forest, in which bloody rites for chthonic gods take place

- Could choose to continue the Hades & Persephone lore by having them present - if tbc is her welcome home, could this be her goodbye gift? Imagine having proper Persephone/Hecate interactions. Imagine!

- The murder of Pentheus could very well be the classic punchdrunk rave scene, a lot like the blinding of Polymestor with a touch of the witches’ prophecy in Sleep No More

- Dionysus as a presence would allow for some really fun & creative setpieces - a club? A bar? A rave in the woods? All of the above? We all know how good punchdrunk’s bartender characters are!

- Because of the heavily gendered nature of the texts, the forest as a midground for gender binaries too would be so cool. In the cities there are binary rules and gender roles to be played, but in the forest gender boundaries blur and become unimportant. See: Pentheus’ crossdressing, Dionysus’ androgyny

Not really an idea or note, but I can imagine the loop for Glauce being really heartbreaking, a lot like Iphigenia’s. A young girl excited for her wedding to a famous hero, only to be horribly murdered to serve the goal of another. She was innocent in all of this, but Medea casts her aside all the same, as Clytemnestra does Cassandra. Also imagine how creative they could get with Glauce’s (and Creon’s) death! Melting & then catching on fire doesn’t seem in any way possible, but that frees up room to choreograph around the feel of the text instead, with a lot more freedom of interpretation.

Imagine being able to just follow the Maenads in the woods for a full loop. I can’t even begin to think of all the wild shit they could get up to - think of the choreography!! The ritual! The blood!!

Punchdrunk historically have portrayed complex women well - look at Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth. These women are morally dubious and they get their hands dirty (very literally), but there is also so much compassion to the way they are shown in their more vulnerable moments, they are human and flawed yet still worthy of our attention and care. This is an approach I would really love to see for Medea, who I think is such a difficult character to get right in terms of not shying away from her more reprehensible actions, whilst still understanding her pain and turmoil.

Agave is given a lot less to do in the source material, but the great thing about the immersive format is that it allows for each character to become their own fully fleshed out person. Maids and oracles, waitresses and witches, they all get their own story *within* the greater narrative. This also goes for Cadmus and Creon, the father figures, who I think could both be really fascinating to flesh out, and of course Aegeus, whose only primary in the source is being childless and wanting to be a father. The contrast of the would-be parent vs the actual reality of parenthood.

Potential for a sick ass finale with the women of Corinth and the women of Thebes coming together in combined ritual power, the workings of Hecate and of Dionysus side by side, contrasting and connecting…

I am heavily biased because these are my two favourite Greek tragedies, and my favourite plays in general, and I would love nothing more than to see my favourite theatre company tackle them next!

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Dionysos Kolotes

Early in January, when I was in the deepest throes of my hyperfixation on researching everything about Dionysos, I found this post by @bacchant-of-dionysus with a nice, neat list of epithets of Dionysos, with their Greek spelling (much appreciated), meanings (even more appreciated), and small prayers you could say with the epithets (I was about to weep tears of joy). As I was reading through it, I saw the epithet of "Dionysos Kolotes", Kolotes meaning "spotted gecko", which gave me serious pause. It almost seemed comedical - where in Dionysos' mythology were geckoes of any kind even mentioned, especially spotted ones? And why the specification?

When I came back around to this epithet while working on my series of prayers, I decided to take to the internet to see if I could dig up any more information on why Kolotes was an epithet of Dionysos. After a few searches, I came across this page on Theoi.com about Asklabos, who had been turned into a spotted gecko. I'll copy it down below, it's not very long:

"Askalabos was the son of a peasant-woman named Mimse who the goddess Demeter visited upon first arriving in Attika during her long search for Persephone. The woman offered her a drink of barley-groats, and the goddess hurriedly quaffed it down to relieve her thirst. The boy rudely mocked her as a glutton and in her anger she cast the drink at him, transforming him into a spotted gecko."

This is interesting, because, while Dionysos was mentioned nowhere here, the story of Demeter looking for Persephone was in fact a part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which He does have some connections to. But that still begs the question - why is it Dionysos who is given the epithet of Kolotes, rather than Demeter, who it would seemingly be more fitting to?

In my own opinion, this epithet is one that seems to connect to Dionysos' habit of being, in some ways, a God of hospitality. Frequently, when He appears in myths, He is seen judging people on their hospitality (usually lack of). For example, in the Bacchae, one of Pentheus' greatest evils was his lack of hospitality towards the maenads, and he was ripped apart. Lykurgous, too, attacked Dionysos and His maenads, and was punished with madness. And the Tyrrhenian pirates, who kidnapped Dionysos to sell him to slavery, found themselves turned into dolphins. In all of these examples, Dionysos is the one who carries out the punishment of those who have violated Xenia. The spotted gecko, meanwhile, was once a boy who mocked a Goddess as she quenched her thirst after frantically searched for Her missing daughter.

So in my opinion, Dionysos holds the epithet of Kolotes not because He is someone who would also mock Demeter on Her worst days, but because He reminds others not to do the same, as a God who seems to oversee Xenia. Just as we see dolphins not as an inspiration to go out and kidnap someone, but rather as a reminder to not take advantage of others, the spotted gecko is a reminder to always be courteous to other people, even when their actions seem strange or desperate to us. We do not know what they have undergone.

[princessmacabre]

day 17/100 days of productivity

still working on my final assignment (in case anyone cares: its a comparison/contrasting essay on The Bacchae by Euripides and a play by Alice Birch called ‘Revolt. She said. Revolt again.’)

cleaned all floors

homesick for the french west coast (and isn’t it curious how there are so many coastlines in the world yet my heart just longs for the one?)

managed to eat something delicious every day (in this picture you can’t see it but theres actually a piece of bread under the egg… also, the lilac flowers are chives flowers which are incredibly tasty 🍳)

home is where the heart is xx

[callixton]

hello theo tell me abt one of your current wips! 💜

hi maya !!

hmm i will talk a little bit abt a fic and a play that i wanna start working on more seriously soon!

anyway i have this merrily fic that i desperately want to finish which jumps around chronologically and explores a version of events where frank and charley have been sort of hooking up platonically since college and mary is still in love with frank and she doesn't know and it all comes out like. wayy too late for it to be okay and it's a mess. and nobody really gets resolution but hopefully i get a little catharsis

and then! i'm working on an explicitly queer bacchae retelling that i've been turning around in my head for a good while now but am having trouble getting to shape. i want it to be at least partially set in a gay club and pentheus' repression is a huge component and there's gonna be some sort of parallel w the whole agave thing with a drag mother..... idk i have very clear aesthetic and thematic ideas for it and now i just need to make it Work. luckily! i am in a playwriting class this semester and one of the prompts happens to be about writing an adaptation so i am going to take advantage of that to get the first 10-15 pages in place.

[ptolomeas]

CLOSED STARTER .ᐟ @ AMPHITHEATER with @bloodymiinded, BEFORE THE BONFIRE, ON THE SEVENTH.

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‏‏  A LESSON BEST LEARNED AT camp: if she gets here while chiron and the apollo cabin is setting up, they won't miss her when she leaves early. bunny did show up, they'll say, i remember seeing her near the back where she always sits —  and then they'll point to the vague section nearest the exit where they saw her earlier. her skin has been covered in gooseflesh since she woke up, even through the drinks and the cigarettes and the  ...  other extracurriculars that happened about the dionysus cabin. this bonfire is making her shoulders stiff, just like dinner did, and oh, yes, the policeman visiting camp; if she has to listen to the apollo cabin's rendition of down by the aegean, she'll induce her own madness. "oh, eli," bunny drones as he walks by, lifting her foot to wave. "my father was asking for you, but i told him that you were reading — which," she says, cutting her glare upward toward them. "were you? the bacchae, the thing i told you about."

[clementinatehasperdido]

My 2023 in books. Part IV

October

Big Swiss - Jen Beagin ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5

It is a witty, funny, very clever novel. It gives us the troop of messed-up female protagonists and I think it is very important to be able to empathize and love this type of protagonists. It is a book that you have to pick up and read at specific moments in life.

 “It takes an enormous amount of energy—and courage—to free yourself, to follow the path of transformation without abandoning yourself, without fleeing from your pain and all the loss you’ve experienced.” 

A visit from the goon squad- Jennifer Egan  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5   

I liked. It has a strange structure. It's not exactly a novel, it's several stories intertwined with each other. You live, you get old and you die. It breaks your heart a little but at the same time it's beautiful. If you like music you will also enjoy it.

“There's a fine line between thinking about somebody and thinking about not thinking about somebody, but I have the patience and the self-control to walk that line for hours - days, if I have to.”

The Candy House - Jennifer Egan ⭐⭐⭐⭐4/5

It's a difficult book to describe, it's good. They are intertwined stories. It's about technology, very black mirror. It serves as a sequel to “A visit from the goon squad” but can be read on its own. What I like about Egan is that she takes the time to give each of his characters independence. This book shows that as humans we have the need to connect with each other and I think that is beautiful.

“Who could resist the chance to revisit our memories, the majority of which we’d forgotten so completely that they seemed to belong to someone else?”

Bakkhai - Translation Anne Carson - Euripides - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  5/5    

I'm going to say it again... Anne Carson was born to translate Euripides. I read in a review “Anne Carson and Euripides where born for eachother” I love it. The Bacchae is a beautiful tragedy, even subversive I would say.

“Beginnings are special because most of them are fake”

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories -Howard Phillips Lovecraft ⭐⭐⭐  3/5 

It's a reread, spooky october. Love it. I don't have much to say about it, I read it little by little before going to sleep every day to get in the mood. I would like to say that it was more transcendental for my life.

Orpheus & Eurydice: A Lyric Sequence - Gregory Orr ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  5/5 

A beautiful collection of poems. It destroyed my soul. It is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. I know the story by heart, even so every word hurt me. I loved it. I don't really read poetry, but this was a nice surprise.

“To guide someone through the halls of hell is not the same as love”

Electra- Other Version Translation by Anne Carson -  Sophocles  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  5/5 

Lines above I already declared my love for Anne Carson. I will declare my love for Electra by Sophocles. It is a wonderful tragedy. It shows that when injustice persists, when the laws do not work, there, within one, the most human thing that exists is born: resentment.

“As for me- what harm can do it do to die in words?”

“I live in a place of tears”

November

We Paint - Chloe Ashby ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5   

So sad. Written in a very beautiful way, another book about grief. But this time it is the grief of having lost a best friend. Somehow it brought back memories of the past. Heartbreaking.

“Better to be strangers for life, she must have thought, than to pick each other apart, one long, slow day at a time.” 

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous- Ocean Vuong ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  5/5 

Another of my favorite books I read this year. Damn Vuong writes with immeasurable talent. Gentle but strong. At times raw but at others soft. With such detail that each word is well calculated. I shed tears all the time. It is a perfect book.

“Sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you've been ruined.” 

“When does a war end? When can I say your name and have it mean only your name and not what you left behind?”

“I'm sorry I keep saying How are you? when I really mean Are you happy?”

Lanny - Max Porter ⭐⭐⭐⭐  4/5 

A fucking weird story. But I liked it. Max Porter has that power to leave me surprised every time. It was a quick read, I enjoyed it. It's like a fable. It reminded me of Latin American magical realism.

“False things, endings. Sustenance for fools and never what they claim to be.”

All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr ⭐⭐⭐  3/5

When I read it I gave it 4 stars, in retrospect I give it 3. I did enjoy it a lot. I think it does a lot, it says a lot and it's a nice story, very sad tho. But I was left with a strange feeling, as if a piece was missing. It has very descriptive and beautiful prose. 

“You know the greatest lesson of history? It’s that history is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides the history. We act in our own self-interest. Of course we do. Name me a person or a nation who does not. The trick is figuring out where your interests are.” 

When all is said - Anne Griffin⭐⭐⭐⭐  4/5 

Another sad but intricate book. Precious. It is narrated by a dying man who decides to talk to five important people in his life. Full of regrets and reproaches, the book presents a nostalgic story. I cried. I felt it very close to my heart.

“I’m here to remember – all that I have been and all that I will never be again.”

A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  5/5  

Is it really any surprise that this book gets a 5/5? It's Suzanne Collins, it's THG. I think Collins knows how to write about his characters very well and knows how to write what is precise. That's why there are 4 books and no more. This book is exactly what it should be, the villain origin story.

“You’ve no right to starve people, to punish them for no reason. No right to take away their life and freedom. Those are things everyone is born with, and they’re not yours for the taking. Winning a war doesn’t give you that right. Having more weapons doesn’t give you that right. Being from the Capitol doesn’t give you that right. Nothing does.” 

White nights- Fyodor Dostoevsky⭐⭐⭐⭐  4/5 

Did i had to do this to myself? No. But I did it. Depressant. It's so…heavy. White Nights is a short story, quick to read but damn it leaves you paralyzed.

“I don’t know how to be silent when my heart is speaking.” 

December

A Pale View Of The Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  5/5

Beautiful story by Ishiguro. Again, Ishiguro knows how to write stories that break your heart. It is the story of a mother and her youngest daughter who talk about the suicide of their eldest daughter. A beautiful text. Worthy of shedding tears.  

“As with a wound on one's own body, it is possible to develop an intimacy with the most disturbing of things”

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love- Raymond Carver  

Raymond Carver, terrible human being. There is no review about it for that reason. But good stories.

Cathedral-Raymond Carver  

Raymond Carver, terrible human being. There is no review about it for that reason. But good stories.

The Burning God- R.F. Kuang ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  5/5 

The end. It destroyed me, there are no words. I closed the year with this book. It's a strange mix of relief and sadness. It is the devastation left by the acts of war but also the self-realization of what one has done. How are actions justified? It was a great closure to the saga.

“Take what you want. I’ll hate you for it. But I’ll love you forever. I can’t help but love you.” 

“It doesn’t go away. It never will. But when it hurts, lean into it. It’s so much harder to stay alive. That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to live. It means you’re brave.”