#persephone was probably the mycenaean equivalent of hades?

[aliciavance4228]

Rambling about Despoina, because I have a lot of questions about her and my brain is broken.

Despoina is probably one of the most obscure Goddesses from Greek Mythology. She's considered the Goddess of Arkadian Mysteries, yet at the same time people doubt wheter or not she's a stand-alone deity or just another epithet for another goddess (usually Persephone). To make things even more complicated now, her name isn't actually one. It's an epithet, and "her true name and function were revealed only to the intitiates". "Despoina" was also an epithet used for Demeter and Persephone as well.

Now, there have been made a lot of speculations and assumptions based on the few things that we know about her. The most common theory is that Despoina was in fact the Arcadian equivalent of Persephone, and that Mycenaean Poseidon later got divided into Poseidon and Hades. On short: many people believe that back in the Mycenaean Greece there were Two Goddesses worshipped together as the Two Queens, later refferred to as the Two Mistresses: Demeter and Despoina. It is very likely that both of them are two later versions of two pre-Greek Goddesses of Arcadia. At the same time we have Mycenaean Poseidon, who was not only the god of the sea, but had strong associations with the Underworld as well. He also seemed to be in close connection with the Two Queens and form some sort of a divine trio with them, since he was refferred to as the King. Later, Despoina slowly became Persephone, whereas some of the attributes that were initially associated with Poseidon were taken away from him and used in order to create another god, Hades, because ancient people considered that it's better to have two separate deities for these two different realms. Finally, we're reaching Classic Greek Mythology, where Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, Hades is her husband, and Poseidon is the only one of the Big Three who didn't bang her.

This theory is highly accepted because it seems the most plausible one (plus the fact that there aren't enough surviving sources from that time leaves an open door for whatever thoughts could cross people's minds), yet at the same time highly criticized for rightful reasons, such as the fact that there's a chance that Hades might've been an already existing deity in Mycenaean Mythology, but because there are no surviving written works about him from that time there's nothing certain. Another reason is because not everyone considered Despoina to be just an epithet or an older version of Persephone. And by "not everyone" I mean Pausanias:

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 25. 5 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :

"When Demeter was wandering in search of her daughter [Persephone], she was followed, it is said, by Poseidon, who lusted after her. So she turned, the story runs, into a mare, and grazed with the mares of Onkios (Oncius) [in Arkadia (Arcadia)]; realising that he was outwitted, Poseidon changed into a stallion and enjoyed Demeter. At first, they say, Demeter was angry at what had happened, but later on she laid aside her wrath and wished to bathe in the Ladon . . . Demeter, they say, had by Poseidon a daughter [Despoine (Despoena)], whose name they are not wont to divulge to the uninitiated, and a horse called Areion (Arion)."

According to him Despoina and Persephone aren’t the same goddess, but two different deities. On top of that, Despoina was conceived during the time when Demeter was searching for Persephone, being youger than her, and has a horse twin brother. Which is very weird, considering the fact that Pausanias wrote this about 800 years after Homeric Hymns to Demeter, and this is the only source that states that Despoina and Persephone are two different goddesses.

Here's another fragment:

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 37. 1 - 8. 38. 2 :

Despoine the Arkadians worship more than any other god, declaring that she is a daughter of Poseidon and Demeter. Despoine (Mistress) is her surname among the many, just as they surname Demeter's daughter by Zeus Kore (Core, the Maid). But whereas the real name of Kore (the Maid) is Persephone, as Homer and Pamphos before him say in their poems, the real name of Despoine (the Mistress) I am afraid to write to the uninitiated.

Here he states that Despoina is her surname (just how Kore is a surname for Persephone). But while we do know that Kore is Persephone, Despoina's real name still remains a secret. What is really weird here is... why would they be afraid to say her real name in the first place? We know for a matter of fact that Ancient Greeks were usually scared of saying the real names of the Underworld deities. Hades for example is always refferred to by lots of epithets and euphemisms, because people believed that by saying or writing his real name they would arouse his wrath. In this case then Despoina could be a chtonic deity as well, yet her affiliations with the Underworld are unclear, if they really exist.

But then, if Despoina would be a chtonic goddess, and she isn't Persephone, then who else could she be?

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 37. 1 - 8. 38. 2 :

"From Akakesion (Acacesium) [in Arkadia (Arcadia)] it is four stades to the sanctuary of Despoine (Despoena, the Mistress). First in this place is a temple of Artemis Hegemone (Leader) [probably Hekate (Hecate)], with a bronze image, holding torches, which I conjecture to be about six feet high. From this place there is an entrance into the sacred enclosure of Despoine.

[...]

Demeter carries a torch in her right hand; her other hand she has laid upon Despoine. Despoine has on her knees a staff and what is called the box, which she holds in her right hand. On both sides of the throne are images. By the side of Demeter stands Artemis [probably here identified with Hekate] wrapped in the skin of a deer, and carrying a quiver on her shoulders, while in one hand she holds a torch, in the other two serpents; by her side a bitch, of a breed suitable for hunting, is lying down.

Judging by these two experts, there is a small, vague chance that Despoina might be strongly identified with Hecate. Besides the fact that Despoina was one of Hecate's epithets as well, she was sometimes considered to be the daughter of Demeter. Hecate also plays a major role in Homeric Hymns to Demeter, and near the end of the myth she becomes Persephone's attendant and substitute queen. On top of that, Hecate shares some similarities with Poseidon, especially in Hesiod's Theogeny: ". . . and to those whose business is the in the gray discomfortable sea, and who pray to Hecate and the loud crashing Earth-Shaker, easily the glorious goddess gives great catch and easily she gives it away. . .”

Another possibility is that Despoina was supposed at one point to have a symbolic value above it all and/or to be a concept rather than a physical goddess, since "Despoina" literally means "Mistress", Persephone was refferred to as Kore ("Maiden") during her time with her mother, and while we don't know for sure what is "Demeter" supposed to mean, the "'-meter" part most probably means "mother". Which suggests that Persephone, Despoina and Demeter were probably supposed to be some sort of a Maiden/Mistress/Mother trio.

[sparrovv]

Hello! Just discovered your blog - love your fanart! Keep it up! I especially like your AC/Hades AU! Hope to see more if you ever get back to it…

Also, what about adding Isu lines to the characters in the Hades AU? Like in Odyssey, where the Ancient Greek Pantheon is depicted with these lines and much brighter colored-eyes…

From, master-hekates-ceremonials

holy fuck i never even thought of adding the isu glowy things. I'm definitely planning on continuing it when I find the time

Here's basically what to expect from the rest of that tho!

Ezio as Hermes

Connor as Demeter

Edward as Poseidon

Shay as Thanatos/Achilles

Haytham as ??? (I'm still working on this one.

Arno as Dionysus

Jacob as Apollo? (I might take inspo from the internet here)

Evie as Artemis

Bayek as Hades

Aya as Nyx

Kassandra as Athena

Alexios as Ares

Evior??? Persephone

but yep, i'll probably continue this maybe...next weekend at the earliest? Glad you like my art!

[chasing-sirius-in-circles]

Some syncretism bullshit comparisons* bumping around in my brain whom I must write down to make room in there, though further research and probably many corrections are still in order:

Ra and Osiris > Indo European creation gods (Horus as the warrior would make sense, Set unclear if this is the comparison we go with), maybe similar to the mycenaean conception of Zeus/Poseidon (who back when was also the underworld deity)

Osiris Set and Horus > Cain, Abel, Seth (hilariously, Horus is Seth, not Set), proto Indo European twin gods and warrior

Osiris > Hades (you cannot take this from me idc if the Greco Roman Egyptians didn't roll with it) and Dionysus (on Earth, this also makes for a Horus and Dionysus connection), and, I'm gonna say it based on comparisons in antiquity of Isis and Demeter, Persephone. Also Hel (regarding early conceptions of a dreary but mostly neutral afterlife for most people who weren't a king or elites). See also Proto Indo European Manu. Husband of Innana/Ishtar (who apparently the greeks placed between Persephone and Aphrodite which would track with the myth of Osiris fathering Anubis with Nephthys and his being a god who must spend time in the underworld)

Set > Loki, Proto Indo European Yemo, Typhon (I guess?) and, getting crazy here, ancient/archaic conceptions of Eros (it's the vigorous coition), Ares

Isis > Demeter (makes things be alive?) possibly Hestia, maybe aspects of early Despoina/Persephone (yes I realize this seems contradictory) though I'm gonna be honest I don't think I've come across a good comparison for her anywhere, you could imo also argue elements of Hera and Frigg or Freya, but I think she also could be called a rare example of a trickster goddess/a check on and director of divine willpower which is why she maps onto tons of other kemetic deities (an eye of Ra for ex), also any mother of god archetype like Mary (which I realize is odd when I just compared Osiris and Set to Eve's sons but fuck it, mother of god who is also your ticket to the afterlife/salvation, it tracks), maybe even SOME elements of Hermes (who is incidentally somewhat akin to elements of Loki which brings me back to my fringe tinfoil trickster thing again), Innana/Ishtar (who I guess brings us around to Aphrodite!?) with echoes of Neith she shares with her sister

Nephthys > Hecate (cares for shades entering the underworld/afterlife, associated with Isis and therefore some degree of magic or proximity to it, and Isis and Osiris do hold traits also present in Hades and Persephone though not necessarily in that order), Ishtar's husband's sister Geshtinanna, echoes of Neith

Osirs, Set, Isis, and Nephthys re: each other > Isis and Set feel like counterbalances to each other to me (he is basically raw power and Isis is legendary for holding the power of Ra's name, some generational repeating themes there maybe?) while Isis and Nephthys are extremely complimentary to the point where I'd look at them as a unit/two sides of one coin/two modes of being for a same force, which would suggest the same of Osiris (Osiris-Horus? I'm making that up but you know what I mean) and Set, two sides of kingship and complex and ergo heirarchal civilization

Nut > Nyx

*In my head gods are the faces humans can even begin to comprehend for all but unknowable infinite 4 dimensional tessellations of the many natures, laws, forces, and patterns of the universe so I'm pretty open to the idea that any given deity can be reflected many times in many others and vis versa. mythological chronology and circumstances don't have to be perfect matches for me to consider them comparisons worth noting.

This is my personal take and I'd love to discuss all of this with the understanding that this is just my worldview that helps my puny human mind conceive of these things and it is therefore equivalent to a theoretical framework of choice, I'm going to default to it but that does not mean I think all other views are incorrect--this is just the conception that I'm starting from.

[lesserfandomappreciation]

Ariadne and why the Mycenaeans can fuck right off

Warning: Includes brief mentions of r*pe, cultural destruction, ancient patriarchy reminding us why no woman would ever time-travel more than 5 years into the past if that and a great deal of spite for male historians/public education history/mythology classes. 

Possible side effects may include a sudden intense rage for an ancient society equivalent to the innate rage one has for the Romans burning the library of Alexandria, a distinct hatred for ancient men not being able to let anyone have nice things, and a sudden fascination for Minoa. 

Usually, I stick to writing imagines and being happy with that. It’s fun! I love it! But every now and again, in an attempt to escape the crushing forces known as reality and responsibilities I’ll put on a few cutscenes from games I’m: A) Too lazy to play B) Too broke to play C) Too unskilled to play D) All of the above

because cutscenes are free and why torture yourself with impossible levels when its free on Youtube?* *In all seriousness please support video games and video game creators, but no shame to those of us who prefer cutscenes to gameplay.  A few weeks ago I added the game Hades made by Supergiant to the list because the cutscenes were bomb and the characters are so much fun! Intricate as all hell! Hella cute too but that’s unrelated! Now my pretty little simp patootie is especially a big fan of Dionysus and his gorgeous design so the cutscenes with him are my favorite.

I’m re-watching his cutscenes a few nights ago for fun as background when he has a certain line about Theseus. Don’t quote me on this since my memory is foggy at best but roughly it was: Dionysus: Good job with Theseus. Never cared much for him- what he did to that girl was just horrible.*

*I know that’s not his exact line but this is clearly a rant post fueled by spite and ADD-hyper-focused obsessions with ancient civilizations so let’s not worry too too much about the semantics here. 

Now, I like mythology! Personally, I prefer the Norse mythology due to the general lack of very very gross dynamics that several other ancient mythologies seem to include, but I’m decently familiar with Greek mythos. Enough to go - “Why does the God of Wine give a single fuck about the frat bro of Greek heroes being a dick to a woman? Grossness is embedded into the very DNA of all distant relatives of Zeus, a woman being harassed by Zeus or his bastard army is a typical Tuesday in ancient Greece.” 

Wikipedia confirms that Ariadne is the only woman in the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, which I kinda knew already so unless Theseus did some f’ed up shit to some other princess of Minos, Dionysus could only be referring to her. Disregarding what I know about Wikipedia and how it can suck you down the rabbit hole of rabbit holes through sheer fury I stupidly clicked the link to Ariadne’s article. 

By the time we get to the end of this shitstorm, I will have two separate plotlines for two separate stories based of Ariadne, 2k+ notes (and going) on an ancient civilization prior to a week ago I didn’t know existed and within me there will be a rage towards a different ancient civilization I vaguely recall learning about in high school. 

Here’s how this shit went down. 

First of all, apparently after Theseus abandoned Ariadne on an island to die (yep! He did that! To the one person who is the only reason he defeated the minotaur! Fuck this guy.) there are multiple storylines where Dionysus takes a single look at Ariadne and falls in love. 

“A god falls in love?” you say, aware of how most love stories in Greek mythos can be summed up with Unfortunately, Zeus got horny and Hera is a firm believer in victim blaming. “This poor woman is about to go through hell!” I thought so too! And in one variation of the story, Dionysus does his daddy proud by being an absolute tool to Ariadne. In the majority though? He woos the fuck out of her, and ultimately marries her by consent!

Her consent!

In ancient Greece!

The party dude of the Greek pantheon knows more about consent then his father and modern day frat brothers!

Okay! That’s interesting, so I keep reading. 

Ariadne getting hitched to Dionysus is a big deal in Olympus, to the point of getting a crown made of the Aurora Borealis from Aphrodite who is bro-fisting Dionysus, beyond glad she didn’t have to give him the talk about consent. The rest of the gods are pissy especially Hera who doesn’t like Dionysus much since he is the son of Zeus and Semele but they don’t do much. Ariadne ascends to godhood, becomes the goddess of Labyrinths with the snake and bull as her symbol and that’s that on that. 

Colorin, colorado, este cuento se acabado.  And they lived happily ever after. That’s the end of the post right?

NO! Because curiosity has made me their bitch and there’s more to this calling me. 

Also, I was pissed! Still am! Why the fuck-a-doodle-do did I have to learn about the time Poseidon r*ped a priestess instead of the arguably healthiest relationship in the entirety of the pantheon? Why is Persephone and Hades’ story (which has improved since it was first written and I like more modern versions of it, no hate) the only healthy-ish Greek love story I had to learn when Dionysus and Ariadne were right there? The rage of having endured several grade levels of “Zeus got horny and Hera found out” stories in the nightmare of public education led me to keep looking into this. 

There’s this wonderful Youtube channel called Overly Sarcastic Productions that I highly recommend that delves a lot into mythology, and I have seen their bombass video about Dionysus and how his godhood has changed since he was potentially first written in a language we comprehend. 

Did ya’ll know this man is the heir apparent to Zeus? ‘Cause I didn’t know that!

YEA! Dionysus, man of parties, king of hangovers and inducer of madness, is set to inherit the throne of Olympus! Ariadne didn’t husband up the God of Wine, she husbanded up the Prince of Olympus and heir apparent to the throne! Holy shit! No wonder some of the gods were against her marriage to Dionysus - can you imagine the drama of an ex-mortal woman sitting on the Queen’s throne of Olympus? Hera must have been pissed.

BUT WAIT.

There’s more.

The reason we know Dionysus is a very important god and is possibly even more important than we think is because of a handy-dandy language known as Linear B, otherwise known as the language of the Mycenaeans!

For those of you fortunate enough to have normal hobbies and interests, the Mycenaeans were the beta version of the Greeks. Their written language of Linear B is one of, if not the first recorded instance of a written Indo-European language. This language, having been translated, gives us an interesting look at what the Greek gods were like back in their beta-stages before they fixed the coding and released the pantheon. 

Interesting side facts of the Mycenaean Greek gods include:

Poseidon being the head god with an emphasis on his Earthquake aspect, and being much more of a cthonic god in general. 

Take that Zeus, for being so gross. 

The gods in general being more cthonic, as Mycenaeans were obsessed with cthonic gods (probably due to all the earthquakes and natural disasters in Greece and Crete at that time)

Several of the gods and goddesses that we know being listed, alongside some that we don’t consider as important (Dione)

The first mention of Kore, later Persephone, but no Hades because since a lot of gods were cthonic, there would be no need for one, specific cthonic god to represent the majority of death-related rituals.

That’s not what we’re focusing on though! What we’re focusing on is a specific translated portion of Linear B that we have. One of the translated portions of Linear B that for the life of me I can’t find (someone please help me find it and send the link so I can edit this post) says an interesting phrase. “Honey to the gods. Honey to the Mistress of Labyrinths.”

One more time. “Honey to the gods. Honey to the Mistress of Labyrinths.”

Mistress of Labyrinths. 

Now wait a gosh darn minute. Isn’t there a goddess of labyrinths in the Greek mythos? Why yes! Yes there is! Ariadne!

Here’s a question for you. If Ariadne is but a minor god in the pantheon, a wife to a more predominant god, why is it that while all the other gods and goddesses are bunched together in a sentence of praise, the so-called ex-mortal gets a whole-ass sentence to herself singing praises?

And thus, we have arrived to Minoa!

What is Minoa, you ask? Minoa is to Rome what Rome is to us. An old-ass civilization either older than or younger by a hundred years to ancient Egypt. Egypt, that started in 3200 B.C-ish depending on who you ask. That’s old. Old as balls. They were contemporaries to their trading partner, Egypt until 1450 BC-ish. A 2000 year old civilization.

Minoa was founded on the island of Crete, and was by what artifacts we have found a merchant civilization with its central economy centered on the cultivation of saffron and the development of bronze/iron statues of bulls. Most of what we know about them comes from artifacts and frescoes found on Crete that managed to survive everything else I will mention later, but what matters is that we know a few things about them. 

Obsessed with marine life for some time, given their pottery. 

Had the first palaces in all of Europe, some of them ridiculously big. 

Wrote in Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphs, both still untranslated languages. 

Had a ritual involving jumping over a bull, for some reason. 

Firm believers in “Suns out, Tits out.”

You’d think I’m kidding on the last one but no! No no no! All the women apparently rocked the tits-out look in Minoa!

^^^^One of many, many Minoan works featuring women giving their titties fresh air. ^^^^

“Wait a second Pinks! What does this have to do with Ariadne being the Mistress of labyrinths?”

Well you see dear wonderful darling, while we know very little about Minoan religion because Mycenaeans (we will get to those bastards in a second), we do know this:

All the religious figures appear to be exclusively women.

The most important figures of their religion seem to be goddesses as there are few artifacts featuring male gods.

Because of the religion, the culture may have been an equal society or even a matriarchy! Historians who are male aren’t sure. 

A frankly ridiculous amount of their temples, including the ones in caves in the middle of fuck-all feature labyrinths. A lot of labyrinths!

Their head god is a goddess! Whose temples have labyrinths and whose main symbols are snakes and bulls. Who do we know is a) the mistress of labyrinths and b) is symbolized a lot by snakes and bulls?

ARI-fucking-ADNE THAT’S WHO!

Ariadne didn’t upgrade by marrying the prince of Olympus! Dionysus wifed up possibly the most important goddess in all of Crete and becoming her boy-toy! 

I’m not even kidding, most Minoan depictions of the goddess’ consort features a boy/man who cycles through the stages of death. Dionysus himself in several myths goes through the same cycle - life, being crushed, death, rebirth, repeat.  Cycles the consort goes through in Minoan legend depictions too!

Okay, that’s great, but what does that have to do with the Mycenaeans? Why do you want to single-handedly go back in time and strangle the beta-Greeks with the nearest belt?

Everything I just said about Ariadne being a Minoan goddess, the Mistress of Labyrinths being hella important on Minoa, is all theoretical. The Mycenaeans are partially to blame for making it theoretical. 

Minoa thrived for 2000 years but it had a lot of issues, mostly caused by natural disasters. Towards the end of their civilization (1500 BC-ish), the nearby island of Thera, today known as Santorini, decided to blow up. The island was a hella-active volcano that when erupted, destroyed a lot. 

How big was the eruption? Well when Pompeii was wasted by Mt. Vesuvius, the blast was heard from roughly 120 miles away, 200 km. 

The blast on Thera was heard from 3000 miles away. 4800 km away.

Fuck me, the environmental effects of the explosion were felt in imperialistic CHINA.

Holy shit that would waste anybody! And it did! Minoa went from being a powerhouse in the Mediterranean to scrambling to recover from losing 40,000 citizens and who knows how many cities. Tsunamis may have followed the blast, further destroying ports which for a navy-powerhouse of an island nation is a bad thing and the theorized temperature drops caused by a cloud of ash lingering for a while would have destroyed crops for the year.

Minoa was fucked. 

The Mycenaeans and all their bullshit made it worse.

Up until a few hundred years prior to Thera’s explosion, Minoan artifacts don’t depict much in terms of military power. Why would it? Crete is a natural defense post. Sheer cliffs, high mountains and a few semi-fortified areas would make it pointless to invade. It’s only when the Mycenaeans in all their bullshit decided to attack/compete that Minoa really needed any army to speak of.

Guess who decided to invade while Minoa was reeling from an incredibly shitty year? Mycenaea!

Guess who won?

Also Mycenaea!

Nobody knows how this shit went down though because wouldn’t you know it, the Mycenaeans in all their superiority-complex glory decided to destroy most written accounts about Minoa, a good junk of the temples and culturally eliminated most of Minoan beliefs. 

Minoa isn’t even the real name of the civilization! It’s just the name Arthur Evans, the guy who re-motivate interest in Minoan archaeology, gave to the civilization because the writings that would have included the name of the civilization were destroyed.

“That sucks!” Fuck yes that sucks! “What does that have to do with Ariadne though?”

Oh ho ho. Strap in because you’re about to be pissed. 

Those of us unfortunate enough to be aware of all the bullshit the Christians pulled on the European pagan belief system are familiar with the concept of cultural, religious destruction. There’s a special name for it I don’t know but if I did I would curse it to be absorbed by the horrendous will of fungi. 

An example: Christianity was not the most popular of religions amongst the Vikings. A monotheistic religion that is heavily controlled did not strongly appeal to anyone with a pantheon as rad as the Norse one. 

In order to appeal to the Vikings, what monks would do is they would write down traditionally Viking stories which up until that point were orally passed down. Beowulf, the story of the most Viking Viking to have every Vikinged, was one of these first stories. 

However! Did these monks write Beowulf as closely to the original oral transcript as possible? Of course not! They took liberties! While Norse features such as trolls and dragons and all sorts of Norse magic occur, there is a lot of Christian features added in. 

This happened across all Pagan religions that Christianity came into contact with in Europe. Stories would be altered when written down to be more Christian (this happened to the Greek Pantheon too btw), holidays that were Pagan magically lined up with ones the Vatican just happened to suddenly have. Even names of mythological figures were taken and added onto Christian figure names. Consequently, a lot of pagan religions they did this to got erased over time, with many of their traditions and details being lost forever, and the details we do know being tinted by Christianity.

The Mycenaeans were likely no different. 

Minoa and Mycenaea were as culturally opposite as can be. Minoa is theorized to be a matriarchal or equal society*. Mycenaea and most of early Greece absolutely was not. In fact, during early stages of their religion where they believed in reincarnation, the Mycenaeans believed the worst thing to come back as was a woman. 

Did you get that? With your options ranging from man to ever single animal on Earth, a woman was ranked as beneath literal animals in Mycenaean society.

Fuck the Mycenaeans.

* This is not to say Minoa was without fault, as a society that is matriarchal or equal can still have rampant issues such as privilege, classism, racism, sexism and more, but when history has a shortage of civilizations that didn’t treat women like shit, you find yourself rooting for them more. 

 What do you do then, when you take over a society that is very much the opposite of a nightmare of a patriarchy? You fold their beliefs into your own to bait them into yours. Going back to the Linear B line about “Mistress of Labyrinths” that line would/could have been an early tactic of incorporating Minoan belief into Mycenaean belief. Other goddesses and gods were made into aspects of Mycenaean gods. Bristomartis, the Minoan goddess of the hunt, would become Artmeis. Velchanos, a god of the sky, would become Zeus. 

With more time, the religion shifted more into Mycenaean and eventually into ancient Greece as we know it. Through trade other gods and goddesses would continue to shift and change, some being straight up imported (Aphrodite for example). Dionysus himself changed a lot too, going from a God representing freedom and attracting slaves, women and those with limited power into his cult, to a God of parties for the wealthy. 

Theseus and the Minotaur was a myth likely based on a Mycenaean myth based on a Minoan myth that changes Ariadne from an important, possibly the important goddess of an ancient religion and relegates her to a side character in a pantheon so vast that she would be lost within it. 

All of this brings us to today. Today, where as soon as work ended I spent most of the day, as well as the past two days, looking up everything I can on Minoan civilization and added it to my notes. Spite is fueling me to write two possible different stories for two different fandoms where Minoa dunks of Mycenaea and it is giving me life. Expect an update within the next two weeks folks as I lose control of my writing life once more. 

In summary: Ariadne deserves more respect, fuck the public education system for skipping over the good parts of Greek mythology instead of the r*pey as shit parts, the Mycenaeans can eat my shorts, and a world were Minoa became the predominant power instead of Greece would be an amazing world to live in.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. Pink out.