#the book of us: queue

[tiny-librarian]

When most people think of the Death of Cleopatra, they think of  something like the above pictures. Cleopatra lying on a couch, or standing there clutching a snake to her exposed breast. Or, as in some of the above cases, with the fabled serpent biting directly on to her nipple. She is almost always nude or nearly so, practically inviting everyone to gaze on her body as she lies there in her death throes. She is frequently delicately pulling her gown down to give the viewer a perfect view of her breasts. Often her equally unclothed handmaidens are falling over her in their own death throes, or gesturing dramatically to better showcase their nudity. There are also usually several other people portrayed there as well, staring down at the nude, or nearly so, Queen’s corpse.

It has been, and will likely continue to be, a popular theme in art to depict her that way. It used to be a titillating thing, an excuse to paint a beautiful nude/semi nude woman. She’s been immortalized as such in sculpture, paintings, wax figures, and everything in between.

This image of her though, is a myth. Pure and simple.

Stacy Schiff, the author of “Cleopatra: A Life” describes her death like so:

Cleopatra lay on a golden couch, probably an Egyptian-style bed with lion paws for legs and lion heads at its corners. Majestically and meticulously arrayed in “her most beautiful apparel,” she gripped in her hands the crook and flail. She was perfectly composed and completely dead, Iras very nearly so at her feet. Lurching and heavy-headed, almost unable to stand, Charmion was clumsily attempting to make right the diadem around Cleopatra’s forehead. Angrily one of Octavian’s men exploded: “A fine deed this, Charmion!” She had just the energy to offer a parting shot. With a tartness that would have made her mistress proud, she managed, ”It is indeed most fine, and befitting the descendant of so many kings,” before collapsing in a heap, at her queen’s side. Charmion’s was an epitaph no one could dispute. (Nor could it be improved upon. Shakespeare used it verbatim.)

Cleopatra went to her death as she’d lived her entire adult life, as the Queen of Egypt. She had her royal robes and ornaments on, and was thus fully dressed. She knew full well Octavian and his men were going to burst in on her, were going to find her and her ladies there dead. There is no chance she was going to be lying there undressed when a room-full of strange men were going to be looking at her. Cleopatra made sure she went first, so that her ladies could arrange her so nothing inappropriate would be seen. As far as we know, the only ones there at the time of her death were her and her two handmaidens, as they had barricaded themselves inside her mausoleum.

It’s likely all the nudity also stems from propaganda spread by Octavian both during her life and after her death, painting her as a whore and a seductress. Of course she would be naked she was the decadent Eastern Queen who seduced men with her witchcraft! It’s just one of the many, and increasingly ridiculous, misconceptions that’s been spread about her since her death and one that people should realize was certainly not true. The snake is now widely regarded by most scholars as a myth as well, since it’s far more likely she took some kind of poison to end her life instead.

[nostalgia-tblr]

there's something incredibly revealing about fandom's assigning of alternate jobs in AUs and how rarely this leads to Blue Collar Loki as opposed to Blue Collar Thor.

[writing-for-life]

Dream—Craig Hamilton

I can’t get over the symbolism in this one. The poppies stand for themselves of course, but the obelisk!

No matter if you look at ancient Egypt or Greece, it is so loaded with connotations to creation, gods and kings (especially sun gods like Ra and Apollo, and many pharaos and kings used obelisks as a symbol of divine power), connecting earth and sky, often symbolising a ray of sun. And that connection is also so beautifully mirrored in Morpheus himself, with his hair basically becoming one with the night sky.

The positioning of an obelisk was either east-facing (rising sun/rebirth) or west-facing (setting sun/death and afterlife). The capstone (the pyramidion/benben stone) stood for Ra’s first emergence because the original benben stone was believed to have risen from the primordial waters: a symbol for the literal birth of life/creation and renewal. And since the ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife, an obelisk also meant safe passage and ascension of the soul.

I particularly like the myth of Bennu (a heron-like bird) that would sit on the benben and cry/sing one last time when all Gods die (and it would be told to sing by Ra himself because it was basically connected to/a part of his soul). The Bennu might also have been the ancient inspiration for the legend of the Phoenix.

And while there are no birds to see in here, the mythology surrounding obelisks dnd their capstones is honestly so fitting—including the connections to sun gods and Phoenix-like birds.

And it is so interesting to me that the Sandman in general makes so many references to Morpheus/Dream getting mixed up with Apollo, be it by worshippers, be it as Calliope’s consort/Orpheus’ father, be it through Aristeas (who was Apollo’s raven), be it through putting Orpheus out of his misery (there’s that part of mythology, too—it’s complicated). There’s some strange balance in replacing the epitome of sun/light with its (seemingly) opposite. And of course an obelisk stands for balance, too…

[banditblvd]

We’re back with one called sumo.app!!

[piningpercussionist]

I d ont want to work on this anymore you can't make me,, sorry LisIm nation-

[falderaletcetera]

because I'm partway through a reread and queueing up a bunch of reblogs about it, and it seems only fair to recommend it first:

Jack Farris doesn’t want to save the world, just every person he knows, encounters, or hears of. It’s a bit of an issue. S. Grey doesn’t want to save anyone but himself. He wants to know everything and majoring in sagework at the Academy is the best way to do that. Laney Jones left her home to avoid the constraints there, only to find different barriers holding her back at the Academy. Eager to learn, to excel, to escape, she has far from given up. Rupert Willington Jons Hammerfeld the Seventh would just like everything to be orderly, thank you very much, but it seems the only way to make monsters and myths (and malicious but mundane men) stop rampaging through his world is to go out and do some hero-ing himself. They are put together as an unwilling study group, but they become something more.

this is Beanstalk. It's first in a trilogy, all self-published, all free on the author's website, and the series is one of my favourites. It has:

– found family, with platonic relationships front and centre

– an adventurer's academy with a complicated legacy, where "hero" means a coloured armband and a diploma

– worldbuilding (appreciative), featuring an interesting magic system and monsters of all kinds, many of them people

– a red-headed boy named Jack, seventh son of a seventh son, who left the forest and grew like a beanstalk. You may recognise parts of his story. You may recognise others down the line.

– there's a whole cast I don't want to spoil except to say I'm currently rereading the first book and really looking forward to reaching the rest.

– there's definitely casual queer rep though. what do you take me for.

– honestly the writer (hi @ink-splotch!) writes all these characters with a complexity and love that I really admire. Some of the chapters that affected me most aren't even about the main cast.

— you may know the writer from her fics, the interactive games Stay? and More a Haunting than a History, or the podcast Second Star to the Left which she co-created with Aysha Farah. I can highly recommend most of the above and will get around to MaHtaH eventually.

If anyone's interested, I'd advise you don't go looking for spoilers. There most definitely is angst, but less so in the first book - hit me up if you want content warnings!

[tricorderreading]

Star Trek 8: The Enemy Within (en)

ඞ

[necromycologist]

not to be sooo insanely sappy on main but there’s something so beautiful about the intergenerational life of stories. did you know their are fairy tales older than civilizations. my mother told this story to me and i tell it to you and off it goes forever and ever. there’s a thumbprint of you in every tale you drift through did you know that?

[throughpatchesofviolet]

I've finished Crime and Punishment ... now I must decide on a tag for Rodya. There's two I'm thinking of using--one of which I actually saw on my dash a few days ago, and saved to my drafts because I thought, "This sounds like a line from Crime and Punishment," and it turns out it is! My copy just translated it differently.

[lunaduskxo]

I just want this hostility in the fandom to end! 🥴 I hope sjm takes pity on us soon!

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hunxi, your The Disappearance of Rituals books sound fascinating! And it's using a lot of the terms and ideas (at least in the quotes you've out up) I heard in the theory of rituals class I took!

oh hah, it's a book that's been on my to-read list for ages! (like. I just checked. it was literally the second book on my spreadsheet hhh finally get to check that one off) I've been interested in ritual ever since I took a seminar on it back in the day, and this book finally came in through my library holds. it's been a hot second since I read anything that academic though, so it definitely made my brain stretch in ways I haven't exercised in a while

also, I am outraged that the translator's name was so hard to find!! brb putting Daniel Steuer back into the attributions because we appreciate translation as labor on this blog!

[crimezi]

okay so i was thinking about how the winners of the life series get assigned a celestial body that corresponds with their personalities

grian - the sun: the origin of life, an authority or divinity, that which everything revolves, light of the server, a ever burning source of shock and awe

scott - the stars: all the light that’s too far to reach, unchanging predictable path, always reliable, infinite and unattainable, a sort of destiny

pearl - the moon: that which inspires insanity, a constantly evolving and always present force, can change the tides, she’s got range <3

martyn - mars: the symbol of war for wars sake, rather easily manipulated despite his own knack for manipulation, ancient to the point of rusting, willing to betray everyone for a leg up in the terror

so i came up with at least my reasons for the rest >:3 i did my best to mix different symbolism and a few of them are more sound in their reasoning but i’m happy

mumbo - mercury: two sides of an extreme either too hot or too cold, constantly making insane twists in logic, a follower of sorts (he’s insane constantly in an out of control, seeks out information and spreads it around)

skizz- venus: the goddess of love <3, from afar a simple bright light but upclose the most volatile mix of elements, incapable of hosting life (he just wants to see everyone together but also he loves it when he’s given a reason to go a little crazy he’s so Aphrodite coded)

scar- earth: being returned to which sustains us, something something cycles and rebirth, potential, the roots that connect us, the feeling of stability and belonging, a strength that goes unnoticed (he is the flesh maggots adore, where would we be with out him)

gem- aurora borealis: the goddess of the dawn, circle of life, a connection to the dead, power and wonder (i only have so much to work with but also she is the embodiment of a spectacle the shimmering chaotic brightness and also dawn imagery is her thing)

bdubs- eclipses: a doom or foreboding sense of darkness, something so profound that can extinguish even the brightest light, seemingly inextricably connected livable chaos (bdubs is simultaneously very dark and very bright he’s always on edge and genuinely i think we should be more terrified of his ability to flip in a dime he’s very volatile and i love him)

jimmy - meteorshowers/shooting stars: gift from heaven, mystery beyond human comprehension, forces beyond control (boy falls so much, no but his brief but beautiful existence like transience, he moves so fast he burns himself always right before or at the beginning of the unravelling chaos)

cleo- ceres : the mother <3, death and rebirth, the rhythms of the seasons, fostering and adopting, unconditional love, all the issues of devotion, attachment, separation, sacrifice, loss and grief (big sad feelings every season, they always have a deep connection that’s brutally severed)

joel- jupiter: lonely despite all his efforts, all about improvement and good karma, lots of energy spent in forming relationships, calls forth miracles and changing fates, big eye for an eye vibes (he’s the big man!!, he’s always very focused on improving his game and making good deals but still incredibly stubborn)

etho- saturn: a very divorced married divorced planet, very focused in discipline and wisdom, lots of personal responsibility but can also represent shame and suffering (he’s got this very interesting balance going on between being very civil but also very anxious, i could study him for hours)

tango: uranus: hehehe, raw genius and eccentricity, upheaval and innovation hand in hand, out of balance a little rebellious!!! (tango is oops all unconventional ideas also he’s always better off in groups but his individuality and need to discover stop consistently leads him into unexpected sudden issues)

lizzie - neptune: the mystical realm the domain of dreams and delusions, always just a little to vague with intentions, idealism to a fault, a emphasis on creativity and intuition (she is confusion incarnate, listen everything about lizzie comes back to magic fairy shit)

bigb- pluto: a new approach and new perspective, the underbelly of emotions what lies beneath the surface, an unconscious mind exploring dark domains and cycles of harm, spirt over matter (listen bigb is the physical embodiment of ‘what happens if i exculswively go with the flow and just sorta stuble upon answers to questions nobody had?’ and i love him)

impulse- the void: all things ambiguous, the gap inbetween your real self and the replacement ego, incomprehensible emptiness (impulse always has like five facades up and behind all of that is nothing knowable there’s a gnawing sense of dread in all his seasons)

ren - supernova: an explosive transformation, change itself, unleashed potential, fusion in a strange and tragic ways, the afterlife, never ending chain of destinies (he’s just got so much energy he fucking exploded that’s why he’s not in the last 2 seasons he’s crazy powerful he’s just sets things in motion so often, he’s also very pretty <333)

okay i think all of that makes sense lmao

[writing-for-life]

Lyta and the Geryon’s Warning—Daniel Govar

I had this in my queue already but I brought it up to the top. Because I feel tickled to post more Lyta art now. Unsurprisingly, there is virtually none (apart from original comic panels)…

[ihavemanyhusbands]

Have to get my passport renewed today AUGHHHH 😩

[shimmerluna]

Alex is constantly staying so strong for Henry and being his rock, but never in a way that comes at the cost of his own mental health. He still gets angry when Henry ignores him and patiently coaxes him out of his comfort zone at the right times.

After seeing a lot of media where they give all their characters mental illness for plot just to deprioritize at least one person's symptoms within their relationship dynamic, it’s nice that this strikes a healthier balance where they help each other grow and change instead of enabling or ignoring their partner

[literallyjusttoa]

ngl, you seem like someone who would be into warrior cats. i can't explain it.

-sincerely, from the opposite end, a wings of fire fan

I have no idea what you're talking about /j