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Taking a quick break from my hiatus in order to share this photo. The other side is just an innocent scene of people making music I just can't

#classics #tagamemnon #ancient greece

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Found it! It was good old Thucydides himself:

“In the funeral procession cypress coffins are borne in cars, one for each tribe; the bones of the deceased being placed in the coffin of their tribe. Among these is carried one empty bier decked for the missing, that is, for those whose bodies could not be recovered.” (Thuc. 2.34)

🤔

Could you put two coins in the dead’s mouth, and then they use that to pay for the passage of one who wanders the shore?

I mean, there must be loads of people who died without coin or burial without “deserving” it.

The poor obviously, sailors lost at sea, hunters who were mauled and eaten, people like that.

#reblog #greek death #greek afterlife

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Hey! Ancient history student here! I’ll try to answer this question as best as I can. Mind you, I am nowhere near an expert on this subject, so if someone wants to add something to my post (or correct me), please do!

Making general statements about ancient Greek beliefs on death and the afterlife is basically impossible since ancient Greek religion was very diverse. The most information we have is about the Athenians of the 5th and 4th century BCE. To my knowledge, a proper burial was essential in the Athenian belief system so that the spirit of the deceased can pass on but this didn’t necessarily have to include a coin.

As you’ve pointed out, what about the people who died at sea or whose bodies were never found for whatever reason? The Athenians, of course, were well aware of that problem. In the 5th and 4th century, they were at war almost constantly with at least one other Greek city (or the Persians) and sometimes, not all bodies of the fallen soldiers could be found. Once a year they held a funeral oration for the ones who had died in battle the previous year and if I remember correctly, they also carried with them an empty urn that stood for the  dead whose bodies couldn’t be found (I can’t remember where I read this but if I can find the source, I’ll add it in the comments). As I’ve said above, this seems to indicate that they believed a spirit could move on as long as the proper burial rites have been observed.

Another example that brings light to this questions is the Battle of Argenusae. It was fought between the Athenians and the Spartans in 406 BCE. The Athenians won but soon after a great storm arrived and many of them drowned. The rest of them returned but the generals then had to stand trial because they were accused of not trying hard enough to save their fellow countrymen from drowning and retrieving the dead. They were eventually found guilty and executed. It seems that while a (cremated) body wasn’t always necessary for a proper burial, it was indeed seen as a citizen’s duty to try all they can to bring the bodies (or ashes) of their fellow countrymen back home for burial.

Since I’ve already started rambling, here is a photo that really moved me. I took it 2 years ago at the National Archeological Museum in Athens and it shows the tombstone of a young man who died in a sea battle. It is made clear by the shield and helmet lying to his right and the ship’s prow to his left. You maybe can’t see it because of the photo quality but he is crying:

🤔

Could you put two coins in the dead’s mouth, and then they use that to pay for the passage of one who wanders the shore?

I mean, there must be loads of people who died without coin or burial without “deserving” it.

The poor obviously, sailors lost at sea, hunters who were mauled and eaten, people like that.

#reply #greek death #greek afterlife

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tagged by @hiddenlookingglass, thank you! I haven’t done one of these in a really long time!

indoor plants or gardens // cloud-watching or star-gazing // water or fire // paperback or hardcover // running or hiking // sleeping with socks or without socks // fruits or vegetables // hanging plants or succulents // dark wood or light wood // handwritten or typed // instagram or pinterest // dc or marvel //books or movies // oceans or meadows // forests or fields // sweet or salty // ice cream or chocolate // hoodies or sweaters // piercings or tattoos // summer or winter // boots or sneakers // house or apartment // cars or motorcycles // curls or straight hair // castles or cottages // sunny days or storms // reptiles or birds // disney or nickelodeon // strawberries or watermelon // essays or posters // phones or laptops or desktop // glass or stone // dark or light // photos or paintings // circuses or theaters // reading or writing // dogs or cats // poetry or novels // monsters or ghosts // thrift shops or libraries // fiction or non-fiction

#personal

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Ah, my favorite Greek myth: Pygmalion ais Spsthlptthre

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina S03E06 (All of Them Witches)

Book title: a book of spells

#i actually quite liked the show #but this just made me giggle #pygmalion #caos

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Everybody is all about “Come and get them” and “We will fight in the shade” but this is hands down the best Spartan reply ever:

“The doctor Menecrates, who had been hailed as Zeus because of his success in a number of desperate cases, used this nickname with such vulgarity that he even had the impertinence to begin a letter with ‘Menecrates Zeus to King Agesilaus, greetings’, to which Agesilaus [a Spartan king] replied, ‘King Agesilaus to Menecrates, sanity’.

Plut. Ages. 21, 5 (transl. by Ian Scott-Kilvert)

#sparta #all about sparta #plutarch

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“We women are the most miserable species:

We must buy a husband with abundant goods

and, an evil even more hurtful than the initial purchase,

take him as master of our body.”

Medea (Eur. Med. 231-234, transl. by Diane J Rayor)

“Cool girl. Men always use that, don’t they? As their defining compliment. She’s a Cool girl. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun. Cool girl never gets angry at her man. She only smiles in a chagrin, loving manner and then presents her mouth for f*cking.”

Amy Dunne (Gone Girl, dir. by David Fincher)

#medea #gone girl #quotes

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“A corruption of astra - another word for star -”

Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree, p. 462

So, obviously, this is a fantasy book so it doesn’t count as a mistake but man, as an Ancient history student it took all my willpower to not immediately fetch my red marker.

#priory of the orange tree #classics #ancient greek #let's awkwardly pretend i never left

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2020 tag

I was tagged by the wonderful @hiddenlookingglass! Thank you!

Rules: answer the questions about 2020 and tag some people to pass it on!

Favorite films you watched in 2020? Waves, Phoenix (2014), 1917

Favorite TV shows you watched in 2020? Unorthodox, The Good Place, The Queen’s Gambit, and just finished and loved The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. I also watched Barbarians. The plot is only meh imo but the spoken Latin is excellent!

Favorite songs you listened to in 2020? I don’t really have any because I hardly ever listen to songs, I much prefer soundtracks. I‘ve already mentioned it but this piece from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack has helped me a lot lately. And I really like this remix of the Vikings intro song.

Favorite books you read in 2020?

 -Fiction: Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (really anything by Le Guin is great, Lavinia is one of the best myth retellings I’ve read so far!), Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, Der Tag, an dem mein Großvater ein Held war (The Day my Grandfather was a Hero) by Paulus Hochgatterer

-Non-Fiction: Big Gods by Ara Norenzayan, Ghost on the Throne by James Romm (about the years following Alexander the Great’s death - it reads like a novel!), Ordinary Men by Christopher R. Browning, Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt

How did you spend your birthday this year? My birthday is in June and since we didn’t have any special restrictions during that time it wasn’t different from any other year, which was nice.

What was your most memorable day this year? One was definitely the day of my oral exam for a class where we translated a song from Homer’s Iliad. I feel really honored by the feedback the professor gave me. They told me that they can’t give me the best grade because I wasn’t as good as the others (most of the other students were from the Classical Philology department, which focuses heavily on Ancient Greek and Latin. I’m from the Ancient History branch which focuses on history and culture and has very few mandatory language classes. I’d love to do both but I just don’t have the time). But they also told me that I was the only non-Classical Philology student that didn’t drop out at some point during the semester (I had no idea because everything was online) and they really appreciated all the honest and hard work I put into my translations.

I just appreciate it so much that this professor gave me honest feedback but at the same time saw my love and ambition. I know it will take me a much longer time than others to be able to reach a really good level of Ancient Greek reading comprehension but I am as determined as ever!

What was the most memorable meal you had this year? Eating pizza on a roof terrace in Naples on a warm summer night.

Did you find any new hobbies or interests in quarantine? I started doing yoga. I took a break later on but a friend of mine is giving online lessons now so I started again.

What was the last big thing you remember doing B. C. (before Covid)? I was at a good friend’s birthday party. A lot of nice people and great food, what more could you want?

Positive things that happened to you/biggest lessons learned in 2020? These are actually two separate questions but I want two answer them as one because I think in my case it makes more sense. It’s also the reason I’m doing this ask meme. I’ve already done quite a few of these and I don’t want my blog to become too monotonous but I think this is an important lesson to learn that I want to share.

This year really sucked. One big setback was that my landlord decided it was a good idea to terminate the lease of my roommate and me during the pandemic (class act). I first wanted to move in with a friend but this didn’t work out so I had to move back in with my parents.

And now I’m just ... so thankful it turned out that way. As I’ve already mentioned, my guinea pig Mia had to be put to sleep on December 25th. The last few years, I always left in the morning of December 24th (after filling the cage with veggies and hay of course) to go to my parents and returned in the evening of December 25th. This year I didn’t and so I immediately noticed in the morning of the 25th that something was wrong with her and took her to the vet. If it had been like the years before, she would have had to suffer a whole day and I would have had a huge shock when coming home and probably wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself. But this way I was able to get help as quick as possible and had someone there to give me a hug.

I still think 2020 sucked. But this way I can make my peace with it a little bit and that is the lesson I take away from it: There are still things to be thankful for even in dark times like these.

What are you most looking forward in 2021? Things returning to (somewhat) normal and me continuing to improve my French skills (I’ve been doing French on Duolingo for a few months now and I hope I’ll stick with it)

#personal #long post

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I made this post in July 2019. The vet back then asked me if I wanted to go through with an operation or not. Since it would have been a very invasive surgery with small chances of success I decided not to. I chose to let her be put to sleep should her health deteriorate.

Today, December 25th 2020, this day has come. She suddenly became very listless and stopped eating so I took her to an emergency vet since most are closed because of the holiday. The (very kind) vet there then put her to sleep. We buried her in our garden.

She was my little fighter. Two vets back in summer 2019 told me that she wouldn’t outlive the following weeks. She lived another 1 1/2 years. She had a very strong personality and I enjoyed every second with her. Her friend (my other guinea pig) Rita and I will miss her a lot.

Hey! I’m uncomfortable because I’ve never done this before but I have a request. Could you maybe cross your fingers/send good thoughts/pray for my guinea pig Mia? She has been diagnosed with a tumor a few days ago. I’m going to the vet again tomorrow and I strongly assume that an operation is inevitable. I’m very scared for her because she is only 2 years old. She has always been sickly, though you would never guess by looking at her. She is very curious, loves to explore and has a very strong personality. And I want her to live a long and happy life!

#personal #i guess this is a grief blog now #tw grief #animal death

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the sea, the sea

#can't pass by another xenophon reference #i mean

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I can’t read this passage from Xenophon’s Anabasis (7.3.39):

“Then they gave out “Athena” as the watchword, on account of their kinship.”

without thinking of this:

#xenophon #anabasis #classics #ancient greece

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Best professor comment so far: "Let's kick this annus horribilis in its anus horribilis"

#i mean #they did say sorry #tagamemnon #latin #2020

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Rules: tag 9 people you would like to know/catch up with

Thanks, @hiddenlookingglass, this is a nice distraction! As I’ve already mentioned, November 2020 was the worst month I’ve head in a long time and I didn’t have much energy for anything besides reading and watching Netflix so this is perfect.

Last song: The Lord of the Rings has been my comfort food recently. I’ve especally been listenting to this piece from the soundtrack because it’s also in one of my favorite scenes! (0:43 - 1:28 is just ❤️❤️)

Last movie: Exodus: Gods and Kings. I mean ... the special effects are very impressive but besides that ... eeehh. (and anyone who’s following @sisterofiris should be horrified by that Hittite scene haha)

Currently watching: I just finished watching Blood of Zeus (which was meh imo) and The Queen’s Gambit (which was great!). Currently watching The Haunting of Hill House because I love some good old fashioned horror.

Currently reading: I’m always horrible with this question because I have zero self restraint when it comes to books and am basically always reading, like, 20 books simultaneously. Among them are Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree and Courtesans and Fishcakes by James Davidson.

I also just finished Lust by Elfriede Jelinek. I had to read this for an extension curriculum class and otherwise probably wouldn’t have picked it up but I’m glad I did. It’s definitely not an easy read: It’s about a woman who is in a very abusive marriage. She starts an affair only to have her lover treat her just as horrible as her husband. The class provides a lot of background information on the author and knowing what the author’s goals were (e.g. that you are supposed to be frustrated by this book) definitely helped.

Another book I recently finished was The Persian Boy by Mary Renault. It’s about Alexander the Great’s life told from the point of view of his lover Bagoas. I do like Renault’s writing style and she is really good at capturing the strangeness of ancient Greek culture. The only downside is her portrayal of women imo. Olympias’ (in the first book) and Roxane’s prime motivation for anything seems to be jealousy.

Tagging: anyone who wants to participate!

#about me #personal

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cant stop thinking abt ursula k. le guin’s essay abt the carrier bag theory….. she’s like, maybe the first human tool was not a weapon, but rather something that holds, a bag, a pouch, a vessel, something for gathering and storing and sharing. let’s shift the narrative of humanity from that of violence to that of safekeeping. and i’m like

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Take your time to get back on balance <3 I took some months off social networks and my mental health improved a lot. I hope it'll be the same for you. Good luck!

That is very kind, thank you! ❤️

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I’m taking a break from tumblr.

I know this doesn’t come as a surprise, since I’ve been pretty absent for the past few months but I didn’t just want to quietly fade into oblivion but give an explanation.

2020 has been a really bad year for me (well, it has been for almost everyone) and November has been especially hard. I’ve already made a post about the terror attack in my country on November 2nd. The day after that my country went into a 2nd lockdown (and that had already given me a lot of anxiety because I was very worried about losing my job - again) and just a few days after that my grandma was sent to hospital because she was tested positive for Covid. She died a week later.

I’m just so exhausted. I’ve been sleeping between 9-13 hours a day these past few days and I’m still tired all the time. And I’m way behind on my uni homework. Right now I just need to focus on the important things and take a break from everything else. Fortunately, I have very good friends who take care of me so I’m not feeling like falling into a big black hole.

I definitely want to come back to tumblr, I just don’t know when that will be. I might still reblog things from time to time but I won’t make any original posts.

Take care everyone! ❤️

#personal #tw death