#ancient greek culture in media

[gemsofgreece]

I don't think there is issue in say Circe or LO existing, they're allowed to exist, but I do think the issue is more the fans of these products (and the creators) want to claim authority over the culture and stories over actual greeks. They are allowed to be fans and retell it as they please, but them wanting to be THE voice of greek culture while huffing about how they're both allowed to change whatever they want but also they did so much research you don't you dare critique them is ... yikes.

Key phrase in your ask: the parenthesis (and the creators). The reasons such fans exist are because this is the kind of readers targeted by these creators. I don't know much about any of these works but if we suppose Circe is a retelling to redeem Circe as fighting against the patriarchy of ancient times and being painted as the villain because of that, who do you think is the target group for this?

a) people with genuine interest in Ancient Greek literature, either for educational or entertaining purposes,

b) sjw or radfems who need to find one more way to get across the message that a female character can't possibly be a villain unless she has been critically traumatized by an evil man which justifies her violence and vengeance against all men.

The correct answer is b, this is the target group. These people don't care about the Ancient Civilization itself. The book has nothing to do with the civilization. What these readers care about is to find more fields to demonize and apply their rhetoric to, which they find endlessly entertaining. The creator either enjoys the same things or profits from the raging trends of the times.

A person with genuine interest simply reads Homer, consumes media loyal to Homer's tellings and then maybe reads studies on Homer and the times he was describing. They are not interested in what would Odyssey be like if written by a WASP woman with an agenda in the 21st century because Odyssey simply wasn't written by a WASP woman with an agenda in the 21st century.

That's why I don't like a "retelling". What is a retelling supposed to be? Does it change anything in the ancient society? No. Does it risk being taken as gospel from people with otherwise minimum exposure to how things like ancient cultures are approached? Yes. Is it artistically enrapturing? Almost never, from whatever little excerpts I have seen. These are just rhetorics or half-assed storytellings where the creator was too unimaginative to make their own worldbuilding.

On the contrary, it would be so easy and fascinating to create original stories within the Greek mythological worldbuilding. Something new and fascinating that simply is part of that world without changing established elements, dynamics and figures so much they become unrecognizable. One of my favourite fics is a Sherlock/John Watson Ancient Greece AU (Mind you, I almost never like AUs, maybe unsurprisingly!). It was wonderfully written, very detailed and rich in content without needing to change anything that's been scientifically established as a reality of the Ancient Greek civilization. Now, that is true skill. That's worthy of your time, if you ask me.

A retelling of a cultural monument is problematic most of the time. It has no use and it can confuse when spread by the wrong person. That being said, I dislike a retelling coming both from foreigners and Greeks. I don't think Greeks have more authority to modify. The difference is that Greeks do not modify anywhere near as much as foreign Westerners do, simply because they do respect more, and that’s why they also complain more.

#greek mythology #ancient greek culture in media #opinion #ancient greek retellings #anti lo #anon #mail

[bad-artist-non-historian]

no one come after me but i wholeheartedly believe that the whole dynamic between sokrates and alkibiades would be 100x funnier if alkibiades was pining for his teacher but was never reciprocated, and would have moments where on his end he was obviously flirting, but sokrates seemingly never noticed

#but ofc he noticed he just pretended otherwise #im not explaining this properly #but think of AC Odyssey #kind of like that #but like if alki was actively his student #idk im reading abt sapphism in ancient roman media and it just came to me #so tired #ancient greece #ancient rome #greek history #gay #sapphic #wlw #wlw love #queer #ancient history #history #culture #women in history #archaeology #world history #anthropology

[godblooded]

if you write a greek muse, meanwhile, i am kissing you on the forehead with enthusiasm and thanking you for your contribution.

#ooc. o kaptain. #[gods. Greek peeps. anybody Greek adjacent. it brings me such joy to see my culture like. actually celebrated?? I’m gonna binge pjo this #weekend and it’s brought me a renewed sense of joy that I don’t often get to feel. seeing people respectfully handle Greek gods and #goddesses. seeing people discuss mythology with nuance and the nuance as it ties into modern tales. this is the stuff we have always wanted #in a society as a culture — the intelligent way that even something as ancient as what is and was a religion can have an affect on culture #and the way culture interprets media. religious stories and mythology as a tale. pjo is some good modern mythology as a discussion and i #seriously love that. if you ever want to have a conversation with a 🇬🇷 I would be overjoyed to talk about anything. recipes. tradition. #language. I just want you to know in any capacity if you write a Greek you bring me joy. I know it sounds silly because… it’s Greek so it’s #different but I’ve never gotten to see myself represented enough (Wonder Woman brought me joy as a kid) and this new pjo renaissance is…. #so warm to me. idk if anyone in pjo IS explicitly Greek (THOUGH DIONYSUS IS PLAYED BY A GREEK) or if culturally it’s explicitly explored but #just know: a little Kat is so so happy to have you here in every capacity. it’s healing to my heart. σαγαπο πόλη. #(fuck me I hate conjugating) σ’αγαπώ*]

[aspectabundgaze]

Activism : The Play, Scene II

Activism has always been around for such a long, long time. However, not a lot of people are aware of how people back in the days used to use their voices or influence in the acts of activism. Which brings up to the question I have in mind, "What was activism like in the days of Ancient Greece?" "Now I know they have protests too, but did they incorporated it into their entertainment? Entertainment has always been a tool to advocate for changes. Right?"

I've always been a huge fan of ancient Greek history, mainly mythology but sometimes, I do dabble into their philosophical and political sides. To answer my own question, I've decided to do a slight dive on Aristophanes.

First thing's first, what is activism? Nolas, S.M., Varvantakis, C. and Aruldoss, V., 2017 defines activism as an act that could be driven by the intentions to challenge social norms, practices that holds back and oppresses, suppresses identities that does not conform to the values of a society. Now activism can happen anywhere and any time, from a playground where both genders can play together without being judged for being a girl or a boy, a dinner table where discussions from studies, work, world issues can happen. Nolas, Varvantakis and Aruldoss, 2017 have also stated in their papers activism can also be a response to changes and events within the society, such as the rise of new social movements and the need to do a dive in onto political participation in the face of unexpected political outcomes. So how does this relate to Aristophanes?

Now according to an article published by Columbia College, Aristophanes was an ancient Greek playwright and comedian who lived in Athens, he was born somewhere around 446 BCE and died around 386 BCE. He was best known for his comedic plays, wrote roughly around 40 plays, where only 11 of his works survived to this very day. The reason why I found that his work is related to activism, particularly political activism is because his plays were known for its satirical and political nature. He incorporated humour, an exaggeration towards contemporary issues, philosophy and social trends into his work, making him known as one of the first people to be a public relations activist. Using political satire was one of the Ancient Greek's way to perform activism and public relations. (Bisbe, M., Molner, E. and Jimenez, M., 2019).

An example that can be taken from Aristophanes' play called "Lysistrata" written in 411 BCE that depicts the Peloponnesian war between the Athens and the Spartans. As known with his knack for satire and comedy, he wrote this as a portrayal of a fictional attempt by women from Ancient Greek to end the war by withholding sexual privileges with their husbands in order to stop the war until a treaty was signed. Albeit the play talking about a woman's needs with her spouses, the dialogue. talked about how men who focused on the war has been nothing but wasteful of the tax payer's money that women and the society contributed to, going back to Aristophanes' way of addressing the the financial effects of war, showing the frivolous nature of war and also the effects of wat on families.

Another example would be one of his well known plays "The Clouds". The Clouds was written as a political and philosophical satire on Socrates and his institution, which is also known as "The Clouds" Aristophanes used humour and exaggerated language to caricature Socrates' methods of inquiry and the perceived consequences of philosophical education. For example, here is a small dialogue from the play I read.

SOCRATES

Well now! what are you doing? are you reflecting?

STREPSIADES

Yes, by Posidon!

SOCRATES

What about?

STREPSIADES

Whether the bugs will entirely devour me.

SOCRATES

May death seize you, accursed man!

He turns aside again.

The play suggests that the pursuit of abstract knowledge and intellectualism can lead to moral and societal corruption, as The Cloud is about a man named Strepsiades who enrolled himself to Socrates' institution in order to avoid getting caught for his financial debts instead of trying his best to work things out and ethically clear out his debts. And in my opinion, activism doesn't always have to be something we do as a form of protest (physically done with marching), or an online post, or a drawing or photos but it could also be done in a form of writing. A script, a play, a book or a poem.

Refences

Nolas, S.M., Varvantakis, C. and Aruldoss, V., 2017. Political activism across the life course. Contemporary Social Science, 12(1-2), pp.1-12, viewed 22 November 2023.

Bisbe, M., Molner, E. and Jimenez, M., 2019. Public intellectuals, political satire and the birth of activist public relations: The case of Attic Comedy. Public Relations Review, 45(5), p.101790, viewed 23 November 2023

Foley, H.P., 1982. The" female intruder" reconsidered: Women in Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae. Classical Philology, 77(1), pp.1-21, viewed 19 November 2023

The Internet Classics Archive: The Clouds by aristophanes’, The Internet Classics Archive | The Clouds by Aristophanes, viewed 24 November, 2023, <http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/clouds.html>

#mda20009 #social media #blogging #digital communities #week6 #activism #aristophanes #ancient history #ancient greece #ancient greek literature #ancient greek culture #ancient greek

[persephonaae]

Beepbeepbeep

#this is just me rambling in the tags just about whatever lol you don’t need to pay attention but #tumblr really has the most tepid takes on Greek mythology 😭 #and adaptations thereof. like. especially lore Olympus is soooo polarizing fjsjjsjdjjsjsjdjf #girl it’s fine if you don’t like it! it’s a very specific genre comic inspired by myth! but so many people on here make hating LO their #entire personality it’s like so funny. they act like it’s some evil piece of media destroying the ‘Greek canon’ or whatever when it’s just a #cute little romance genre that literally states it’s not trying to say that it’s really canon to Greek myth #so many people saying it’s problematic when rlly they mean they don’t like romance genre and that specific interpretation isn’t their jam! #that’s all you need to say and be done with it! it’s just not your jam and leave it be #Greek myth canon/interpretation is also something so subjective anyway. to really start getting a grasp on it you need to #really study Ancient Greek culture and their myths and the conventions of mythological storytelling and even different storytelling historys #you’ll find that interpretations are a mess and they’re simultaneously all true and none true. they’re about human experience: #simply put: take the meaning that matters to you/resonates with you #and cheers if you accept different interpretations as well! you’re allowed to like and accept multiple views on the same myth! #anyway if you ARE reading these tags and want to fight me on this! do remember: #I’m Greek myself and I’ve also done a bit of studying on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter at a university level #(as well as general Greek mythology too but relevant to this topic is the hymn to demeter)

[kefnut-the-gweilologist]

there’s this greek guy on tiktok talking abt how greek culture and identity is represented (or more accurately, not represented) in media that’s decidedly set in greece and its really interesting and also says a lot abt what whiteness does to a culture

#granted he’s not actually saying whiteness directly #but like im watching it and its very clear that whiteness is whats going on #like he’s talking a lot abt how greek gods/myths in western media r devoid of greek identity/culture #and im sitting here musing on the ways whiteness maes arguments abt its supposed superiority #and how it simultaneously claims that its the inheritor of the classical greek tradition #while also having to ignore the fact that greece was and is constantly interacting with with w asia #because such acknowledging the reality of modern and ancient greekness would weaken those arguments #he also goes into some detail on how greek identity (outside of classical greek shit) is like laughingstock in western media #and im sitting here nodding along going ‘in part because ur historic and contemporary connection to w asia put u at the edge of whiteness’

[demonicseries]

Reblog for sample size. I’m multiple of these, but pick the one you resonate with most.

#poll #tumblr

[creature-wizard]

Is the spiritual person a conspiracy theorist? A list of red flags

They talk about a shadowy group of people supposedly manipulating everything behind the scenes. They might refer to them by terms such as globalists, bankers, international bankers, secret rulers of the world, the elite, the cabal, Kabbalists, Talmudists, satanists, satanic pedophiles, pedophiles, generational satanists, satanic bloodlines, the Illuminati, the Babylonian Brotherhood, lizard people, Reptilians, Orions, regressives, regressive entities, Khazarians, Marxists, cultural Marxists, or leftists. Sometimes, very rarely, they'll just come right out and say "Jews."

They claim that the conspiracy has been working to conceal historical and spiritual truths from humanity.

They claim that the conspiracy uses stuff like food, entertainment, and medicine to control the masses. For example, "additives in food suppress our psychic abilities" or "Hollywood films contain subliminal messages" or "COVID vaccines were actually created to alter your DNA to make you more docile."

Also, claims that the conspiracy controls people via spiritual or technological implants, 5G, or alter programming, with or without explicit mention of Project Monarch (a conspiracy theory promoted by far right cranks such as Mark Philips and Fritz Springmeier, who used hypnosis to respectively convince Cathy O'Brien and Cisco Wheeler that they'd been put under mind control by a global satanic conspiracy).

They claim that this conspiracy is controlling the media, has fingers in every institution they disagree with, and is generally behind everything they disagree with. (EG, the conspiracy created the Catholic Church; that other New Ager they disagree with is actually controlled opposition, etc.)

They claim that the conspiracy is trying to keep people in fear.

They claim that the conspiracy harvests something from people. Blood and adrenochrome are common ones. Loosh is somewhat less common. Expect to see something else pop up eventually.

They claim that the conspiracy practices genetic engineering; EG, creating animal/human hybrids, using vaccines to genetically sever people's connection to God, etc.

They claim that true spiritual wisdom can be traced back to places like Atlantis, Lemuria, or Mu.

They claim that world governments have secretly been in contact with extraterrestrials for years.

They appeal to known frauds and cranks, including but not limited to Erich Von Daniken, Zechariah Sitchin, David Icke, David Wilcock, Graham Hancock, Jaime Maussan, Bob Lazar, Steven Greer, Richard C. Hoagland, Fritz Springmeier, and Drunvalo Melchizedek.

Appeals to forged documents, including but not limited to the alleged diary of Admiral Richard Byrd, The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean, and The Urantia Book.

Appeals to channeled information, such as that provided by Edgar Cayce, Carla Rueckert, or George Van Tassel.

"But all of this has to come from somewhere, doesn't it?"

Oh, it all comes from somewhere, all right, but the where isn't what most people imagine.

A lot of the stuff above is just a modern spin on the content of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a Russian hoax created to justify violence against Russian Jews. The Protocols itself was plagiarized from a political satire and incorporated a lot of the post-French Revolution conspiracy theories about Freemasons and Jews being behind the French Revolution. I wrote a summary of the conspiracy tropes found in The Protocols over here.

The stuff about Satanic sacrifices and the consumption of blood, adrenochrome, loosh, or whatever are simply just variations on blood libel, an antisemitic conspiracy theory that claims Jews practice ritual cannibalism. Blood libel can be traced back to ancient Greece. (With the Greek version, I really can't help but notice the similarity to modern urban legends of gangsters kidnapping random people for initiation rituals.)

Many of these tropes can also be linked back to the early modern witch hunts. It was believed that witches sacrificed babies to Satan, practiced cannibalism, and put people under mind control by way of diabolical magic. It was also believed that some witches didn't even know they were witches; they'd go off to attend the Devil's Sabbath at night and come back in the morning without remembering a thing. In the late 20th century, this witch hunter's canard would be reinvented as the alter programming conspiracy theory when media such as the 1973 book Sibyl and its 1976 television adaptation put DID (note: the woman who inspired Sibyl did not have DID) into the public consciousness. For a more complete list of witch panic and blood libel tropes, I wrote a list over here.

Lemuria was a hypothetical landmass proposed to explain the presence of lemur fossils in Madagascar and India while being absent in continental Africa and the rest of Asia, because if lemurs evolved naturally, they wouldn't be in two separate places with no connection to each other. The discovery that India and Madagascar were once connected not only made the hypothesis obsolete, it precludes the existence of Lemuria.

The whole notion of Mu began with a horrendous mistranslation of the Troano manuscript. A man named Augustus Le Plongeon would link the mistranslation with the story of Atlantis, and use it to claim that Atlantis actually existed in the Americas. (For Plongeon, Mu and Atlantis were one and the same.) And then other people (like James Churchward) got their hands on the whole Mu thing, and put their own spins on it, and the rest is history.

Le Plongeon's ideas influence modern Atlantis mythology today; EG, the idea that it was in the Americas. Another guy who helped shape the modern Atlantis myth was Ignatius L. Donnelly, an American politician. Dude claimed that Atlanteans spread their oh-so-superior culture far and wide. He also claimed that Atlantis was the home of the Aryan people, because of course he did.

The idea that all of the world's wisdom can be traced back to Thoth/Hermes goes back to Hermeticism, a product of Greco-Egyptian syncretism. Hermeticism produced a fascinating body of mythology and an interesting way to consider the divine and its role in shaping human history, but that doesn't mean it was right. And the Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean is a modern text that has fuck-all to do with ancient Hermeticism and more to do with HP Lovecraft.

This idea that the conspiracy uses pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines for evil also has roots in Nazi Germany. The Nazi government, wanting to reserve real medicine for their soldiers, told the general populace that said medicine was the product of evil Jewish science and prescribed alternative healing modalities instead. (Said alternative healing modalities did not particularly work.) It also echoes the old conspiracy theories about Jews spreading the Black Death by poisoning wells.

The idea that the conspiracy uses genetic manipulation to create subhuman beings or sever humanity from the divine is a permutation of the Nazi conspiracy theory that Jews are trying to destroy the white race through race mixing. The idea of evil reptilian DNA goes back to the ancient serpent seed doctrine, which is indeed old, but no less pure hateful nonsense for it.

"But there's got to be somebody up to something rotten out there!"

Oh sure. But these people aren't skulking around in the shadows. They're acting pretty openly.

The Heritage Foundation has been working to push this country into Christofascism since the early 1970's. They're the ones responsible for the rise of the Moral Majority and the election of Ronald Reagan. They're also the ones behind Project 2025, which intends to bring us deeper into Christofascism. (Among many other horrible things, they intend to outlaw trans people as "pornographic.")

The Seven Mountains Mandate is another movement pushing for Christofascism. They intend to seize the "seven spheres" of society, which include education, religion, family, business, government/military, arts/entertainment, and media.

There's also the ghoulish American Evangelicals who support Israel because they think that current events are going to bring about the Second Coming of Jesus and cement the formation of a global Christofascist empire. Don't let their apparent support of Jews fool you - they believe that the good Jews will become Christians and the bad ones will go to hell.

All of these people are working toward monstrously horrific goals, but none of them are part of an ancient megaconspiracy. In fact, these are the kinds of people pushing the myth of the ancient megaconspiracy. From the witch hunts to Nazi Germany to the American Evangelical movement, if history has taught us anything, the people pushing the conspiracy theories are always the bad guys.

#conspiracy theories #conspiracy theory #conspiracism #conspirituality #conspiracy theorists #conspiracy theorist #spirituality #spiritual community #red flag #red flags #spiritual red flags #spiritual red flag #atlantis #lemuria #antisemitism #witch hunts #history #pseudohistory #religion #witchblr #paganblr #occultblr #discernment

[cryptotheism]

why is latin the language you summon demons with???

Oh fun question!

Basically, it's not. Damn near every culture on earth has their own Malevolent Spirits who are invoked in any number of ways. For most of western occult history, there were basically two big magic languages: Classical Greek, and Hebrew.

The current media tropes about summoning demons goes all the way back to Sumer, but it bottlenecks in the Jewish Tanakh. The whole "elaborate ingredients and rituals you gotta do to summon the demon" thing is pre-semitic, but the that demons can be bound with holy symbols like the name of god is hella Jewish, and the idea that one can drive off demons with nothing but overwhelming faith in God is hella Christian. Current attitudes towards Demons are a big old blender of all of these things.

But, the reason Church Latin is so common, is because it's the Official Language of the Catholic Church.

You gotta understand that back in the 1960s, very few people knew what an exorcism was. Things like summoning demons and exorcisms we're the sort of thing you barely heard about, the realm of abandoned ancient traditions and rumored fringe practices like snake handling and speaking in tongues.

But then, I shit you not, in 1973 the Exorcist movie came out, and Catholic priests kinda became superheroes. Father Karras reciting Latin Scripture to do battle with a demon is evocative, and frankly pretty badass. It helped that The Exorcist was an amazing movie.

That date is important. 1973 was at the tail end of a big Hollywood crash. All these big studios had to back off for a bit, which led to the boom in the B-Studio system; make it cheap, sell it wide.

The Exorcist hit this cultural bullseye; it was a really good movie made when people were about to make a thousand shitty knockoffs of everything. Also the Moral Majority was barely a year away.

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

I'm not into Batman or comics at all, but I feel like there's a real and tangible difference between saying you have to engage with The Hunger Games to get Katniss Everdeen and saying you have to engage with comics to get a comic book character. The Hunger Games is a completed series of books that can be read in an attainable amount of time, and the characterization is easy to understand and consistent because it was all written by one person. Most media was written by one person or team of people and therefore has a certain level of consistency. Even if there was a reboot of The Hunger Games, it would either be characterized very similarly to the first one in which case the distinction would be irrelevant or the fans of the original and the fans of the reboot would be totally distinct fandoms and bodies.

Comics are almost completely unique in that any given run could have been written by almost anyone and characterization fluctuates wildly between runs. That person cited a specific run to read to understand Cassandra Cain, but there are probably dozens, maybe even hundreds of other series that deal with the character very differently and all of them have the same authority as canon. Saying that one is the best one is just another type of fanon, where the fans decide what the best representation of the character is -- or maybe that's the first one she appeared in (?) in which case there's some merit to adhering to the original version of the character, but it's still a community choosing to ignore a lot of canon material in favor of a preferred interpretation.

The closest equivalent to the way comics are produced today is, like, Arthurian legend and ancient Greek tales of the gods and heroes. These stories were made up by hundreds, maybe thousands of people over the years -- are still being made up in some cases -- and any individual's characterization fluctuates wildly between them. There are preferred versions and compilations of these old stories, but people aren't generally judged for liking to talk about the widespread cultural understanding of them, rather than citing a specific ancient Greek playwright or Shakespeare adaptation that they're adhering to and basing all their headcanons off of.

I wish you'd put your name to this, because it's a good take.

#I need a general ask tag #fandom #fanfic writer problems #fanfic reader problems #batfam

[pray4saint]

Hello! Currently thinking about dteam and chuckle sammich honeymoon hc's! Where you'd go, what you'd do, how was IT was mm

dteam & chuckle sammy on their honeymoons

dteam masterlist & chuckle sammy masterlist & descrip. pg. 13+. gn!reader.

a/n. omg bae, i've got you! also thoughts like these are gonna be rotting my brain for the next month / nsfw versions: dteam / chuckle sammy

dream

either hawaii or france.. idk what to tell you he's a cheeseball, sticks with the classics OR on the complete opposite, somewhere thailand (but for the sake of my sanity and writing ability we're going with kona, hawaii)

definitely picked a b&b over a hotel, he wanted the privacy for that first night as a wedded couple

leaving around 11am to go to beaches all day or go shopping

when you're out shopping, he always finds a way to not-so-subtly mention that you guys have just gotten married / he thinks he's subtle

standing in a pacsun, the cashier scanned the tags of the clothes you were buying, asking the usual customer service questions, ”how are y'all doing, did you find everything okay?” and you look up at your husband before nodding, but he still spoke up, ”doing good, we just got married, this is spouse, and yeah,” he turns to you, ”i think we found everything okay.” ”mhm.” you smile at his incessant need to announce that you're married.

tbh powerbottom!dream but in an absolutely sfw, fluffy way / how he looks at you with, essentially, heart eyes when he says something begging for your approval but also making it widely known that you're his and that you're married every chance he gets

dream most definitely has that 'nothing can bring me down' mentality while on your honeymoon

also in the evenings when the sun sets and you're sat next to him or on his lap, he thanks any and every higher power he's ever heard of that you came into his life because you're stunning and he loves you so much and can't imagine his life without you

doesn't even register if fans come up and ask for a picture until you point them out, he's just so invested in you

he also doesn't get on any of his social media except to post the occasional instagram story despite how much you told him it was fine and you didn't mind if he checked twitter or updated his snap story

”clay, aren't your fans gonna worry if you go MIA from twitter?” you set your notebook aside, turning to face him. ”no honey i'm gonna spend time with you, they can wait.” he smiles at you. ”yeah i know but-” ”no buts. they can wait.”

also he inevitably gets sick on the last day of your honeymoon, which is fine because you were getting tired of going out every day / you made him soup with the small amount of food you'd bought at the local costco and he finally took to twitter to tell them how wonderful you were being

sapnap

i think he's taking you on 2 honeymoons, the first is for two weeks in texas to spend time with his family, just so you know you can always depend on them when you need them

the other is for three weeks in greece; the people, the culture, the food, he loves it and he wants to surround you in it

probably picked a hotel over a b&b

also on all the flights, during airport security, in taxis/ubers, when waiting for flights, in the hotel, he kept repeating the same words

mrs./mr./mx. armstrong, he just loves saying it, SO MUCH

”i love you, [mrs./mr./mx.] armstrong.” your newlywed husband spins you in his arms, pulling you flush against his chest. ”i know mr. armstrong, and i love you.” you press a kiss to his lips, trying to get out of his arms to get back to unpacking your suitcase

i think for activities, lots of lunches out and dinners in

also a whole lot of museums and art galleries and ancient ruins, spending time talking about greek mythology and your own theories and opinions on it

sap also sometimes calls you bro on accident and you sometimes call him dude still and all you guys can ever say about it is 'it is what it is'

”what are you gonna get, bro?” he asks as he closes his own menu. he didn't even realise what he said, but the waiter did, and he just watched with intent, unsure of what was happening. ”i don't know dude, whatever you're having i guess.” you close your menu. the waiter speaks up, ”i'm sorry i know it's none of my business but uhm- are you two not, married?” he sounds nervous, as if he thinks he's interrupted some secret affair. ”wh- what? we're married. we've been married.” sap is the one to point it out, taking your hand in his. ”ah, it was just how you called each other 'dude', and 'bro'.” the waiter laughs nervously, walking away with the order written down. in unison, ”it is what it is.”

i also think he takes you shopping because he believes the people who gave you the best wedding gifts should also get a gift in return in addition to a thank you card

lots of hand swinging with your left hand to show off your ring, and hugging in lines, and kissing-bordering-on-making-out in public, he just has no reason not to anymore, you're married

george

george couldn't decide where you went for awhile, so he asked of your friends and his friends and ended up at first with iceland (this is george guys remember) but then changed his mind and picked italy and romania, one week in each

b&b >>> hotels with george, he prefers the privacy

he spent months before the wedding trying to learn the basics of the italian and romanian languages despite how widespread english is

definitely takes you out to eat A BUNCH, except for two nights in each country where you and him cooked dinner for yourselves

you can expect lots of late mornings and late nights with george, he just can't get enough of his new spouse

definitely emphasises your last name being davidson whenever there's a reservation or when he feels the staff is being a little too forward

”last name?” the host asked, eyes glued to the kiosk screen in front of him. ”mr. and mx. davidson.” your husband smiled at you, giving your hand a gentle squeeze.

takes you to a store at the start of the trip so you have food where you're staying / bonus if you convince him to go to a farmers' market

every day of the trip you and him have set aside an hour to talk to your respective friends on the phone (he's louder)

also forgets to tell you that he booked a redeye for the first flight out of italy/romania because when he booked it he forgot he was planning for two people instead of just himself / he apologised a lot for it

”y/n i'm sorry, if i had been paying attention i would've booked it for later in the day tomorrow.” ”george, baby it's fine. i really don't mind. it's not like i'm going anywhere.” you flash him your ring with a smile to emphasise you point, to which he returns the smile before looking at his own ring.

he apologised again when the plane was about to take off

ted

i think ted takes you to japan for your honeymoon, at least for a week to try those capsule hotels that you and him been dying to try for months

i think he wants to go see all sorts of attractions in japan; theme parks, cat cafes, boardwalks, boat tours, and maybe take you to see an anime film (my brain is rotted from wanting to see an anime film in japan im sorry)

he booked a hotel because in the moment, it felt the easiest

even in japan he would get recognised, but not nearly as often as he did in the states and he would kindly turn down any fan who wanted a picture because he was busy on his honeymoon

lots of small kisses; at the end of a boardwalk, right before you sit down at restaurants, when you get back to the hotel room, when he brings you coffee, tea, or water in the morning, just outside the restaurant when you're leaving, when you two depart in a mall for a set time of 20 minutes

i think he likes seeing the trending tags on twitter surrounding your wedding

”what'ya smiling at, like an idiot baby?” you ask him, drying your hair with a towel from your recent shower, as you walk around from where your suitcase was to where he was stood in the mini kitchen. ”'the nivisons,' we're trending honey, that's all. i think it's sweet.” ”you know coming over here and giving me a kiss is even sweeter.” his phone is on the counter and he's encasing himself around you so fast.

he definitely texted his married friends for ideas when he started to run out / also before you left he logged into your pinterest on your computer and looked for anything he could use as an idea

you guys start binge-watching a new show while on your honeymoon and made inside jokes about it (yeah you became that couple)

holds your hand when you're walking around and getting into taxis and doing pretty much anything in public because he's scared he'll lose you in a crowd

he talks to you like he would a child. ”don't let go of my hand.” ”i won't ted, don't worry.” you shake your head at his antics once he turns away.

books a later in the afternoon flight out so that you can sleep in and he can pack for you and wake you up and get you out the door slowly, without a huge rush and stress

charlie

charlie takes you to 2 places, to start, you get 3 weeks in bali plus a week in new zealand (jrr tolkien/hobbit/lotr fans are gonna love this one)

in bali, he rents a whole house, 1 bedroom & 1 bathroom with a rate of $110 (usd) a night

while you're there, he takes you to sightsee places like gunung kawi temple, pura lempuyang luhur, ubud monkey forest, tukad cepung waterfall and holy spring (tirta empul)

of course wherever you go he insists on holding your hand, just to keep you close by

”baby you gotta let go of my hand i wanna take pictures.” your husband huffs a small, ”fine.” he releases your hand, but his hands find perch on your waist while you take pictures of the water, or the shops, or the wildlife, whatever.

definitely asks if he can use some of the pictures you took for his instagram story (it's the most he's ever used his insta story) and you tell him yes but only if you get to pick them / also on the same note, if either of you snap anyone during your honeymoon or just take selfies in general, they're always of you two kissing or giving each other cheek kisses in the house or at a restaurant or at a location you're visiting

he spends a lot of time just looking at your ring and how the ring on your finger looks against his fingers and vice versa with his ring against your fingers

”charlie?” he looks up from your intertwined hands in surprise. ”hm, what?” ”whatcha thinkin' about?” ”mmm, nothin', just admiring you.” he pressed a gentle kiss to your cheek, making you smile and a small tint to cover your cheeks.

in new zealand it's a hotel but it's a hobbit hole hotel, complete with tours of everything new zealand could offer about the tolkien's lord of the rings/hobbit universe

more eating out here than in bali despite how much more expensive it is

(if you're not a huge tolkien fan:) lots of thank yous from him for putting up with the trip so he could enjoy it // (if you are a huge tolkien fan:) a ton of excitement for both of you during the entire trip, and lots of talking about your own theories as you learn more about the fictional world

also vlogging the new zealand trip with charlie >>>> / and cataloging the film in the airport just before your flight for you to edit when you get home

schlatt

canada. idc, canada, that's where you're going. or iceland. somewhere cold.

i'm kidding, he told you that as a prank and then took you to australia (i apologise if you can't stand the animals there but this is schlatt we're talking about c'mon)

hotel over a b&b because even he, being the big guy that he is, was a little worried about finding a massive spider in the bed

probably quite a bit of alcohol that first night as a married couple

”y'so- god sweets y'so pretty.” schlatt twirled you around with one hand, beer bottle in the other. you giggled, the alcohol affecting your words and actions. you kept one hand tangled with his while the other held a grip on your bottle of beer. ”j..y'so handsome, you know that?” he blushed, and it must've been the alcohol because your boyfriend– husband now, never got flustered over something as small as that.

there's one night where you two go out dancing and when he sees all the prying eyes of the men and women around you, he makes sure to emphasise your ringed hands, keeping one of his hands planted firmly on your side

somehow you ended up going to see some aniaml fight with schlatt and when it got a little.. gory, you'd cover your eyes with your hands and tuck your head into his shoulder or his chest

”you alright baby?” he asked, flicking his eyes between you and the fight, arm around your shoulder, bringing you closer. ”i guess. jus'wanna leave though.” you whispered up into his ear and he nodded, waiting another minute before walking out with you tucked into his side, repeatedly asking you if you're really okay.

schlatt who takes you out to dinner every other night, with the rest of the nights being used to talk to both his and your friends and watch films together

also schlatt who believes in taking turns making lunch; whether it be sandwiches (it usually is), or pasta, a frozen pizza, etc, you take turns, after all you're married now, everything is 50/50

you probably both get sick at the end of the trip from something you ate and at first you were really worried, but he got better after a day and you two days after that

i also one hundred percent believe schlatt wanted to get home as soon as possible and picked an earlier in the morning flight / him plucking you from the bed three hours before your flight so you could shower and get ready, finish repacking, etc

pray4saint© do not copy, translate or repost my work without my express permission.

#pray4saint #dteam #dream team #dsmp #mcyt #chuckle sandwich #chuckle sammy #dreamwastaken fluff #dreamwastaken #dwt x reader #dreamwastaken x reader #georgenotfound #georgenotfound fluff #georgenotfound x reader #gnf x reader #sapnap #sapnap fluff #sapnap x reader #ted nivison #ted nivison x reader #charlie slimecicle #slimecicle #charlie slimecicle x reader #slimecicle x reader #charlie slimecicle fluff #jschlatt #schlatt #jschlatt x reader #schlatt x reader #jschlatt fluff

[classicstober]

Welcome to ClassicsTober 2023!

✏️🏺🖊️

In 2021 my friend Dr Cora Beth Fraser and I (@greekmythcomix ) accidentally started ‘Classics-tober’ – a list of Ancient Mediterranean Myth and History prompts for each day in October, so that we had an excuse to draw Classics stuff for a month. We did it again last year and even more people joined in, so we’ll be running it again this year – we’re just putting the final touches to the prompt list for this year. And now that there are a LOT of new Social Media platforms, we’re going to be attempting to run it on as many of them as possible!

The idea is to create something - anything - for the prompt. Like other October prompt lists, it can be an illustration, but it can also be text, reference, historical artefact, video, story, translation... pretty much anything you're interested in from the Ancient Med World that fits with the prompt. There's no pressure to do every single one, just the ones you like.

This year we’ve chosen Ancient Greek Myth Characters, some well-known and others less so.

If you'd like to join in, tag this account and use #ClassicsTober and #ClassicsTober23 on your social media posts when you share them (and if on Tumblr tag this account)

NOTE: please make sure if you share the graphic you add the ALT text (below for you to copy and paste)

ALT:

Classics*-Tober3

Ancient Greek Myth Characters

* meaning Ancient Greece and Rome because no one's come up with a better term yet, but if you want to add additional Ancient Med cultures then yes please - especially if you can link them to versions of these myths/ characters!

1 Cassandra

2 Medusa

3 Asterion

4 Lycaon

5 Chiron

6 Medea

7 Persephone

8 Icarus

9 Achilles

10 Asklepius

11 Pandora

12 Theseus

13 Arachne

14 Helen

15 Prometheus

16 Circe

17 Atalanta

18 Phaedra

19 Sisyphus

20 Odysseus

21 Psyche

22 Midas

23 Orpheus

24 Hephaestus

25 Talos

26 Thetis

27 Pygmalion

28 Nyx

29 Nemesis

30 Tiresias

31 Hecate

#ClassicsTober #ClassicsTober23

Share or create any style of media inspired by the prompt for the day - illustration story, poetry, artefacts, video, translation, anything! Do as many as you like. Share with the hashtags above.

#classicstober #ClassicsTober23 #ancient history #ancient Greek myth #greek myth #prompts list #writing #writing prompts #drawing prompts #greek mythology #ancient greek mythology #classical civilisation

[thebibutterflyao3]

Day 22 - Prompt: Rough @wolfstarmicrofic

January Daily Series - 907 words

<<<Previous Post OR Start Here

Remus smirked at last night’s texting conversation with Sirius, which was temporarily interrupted by Regulus and James.

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: I disagree. The Greeks may be visionaries, but the Romans were revolutionaries.

Remus: Just because they built fancy streets and aqueducts?

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: Their infrastructure lasted centuries!

Remus: So? They plagiarised their entire religion and stole both of those concepts from other cultures.

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: They improved them!

Remus: That’s hardly objective evidence.

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: It doesn’t aldnbnsmzm.,,

Remus: Are you okay?

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: omg u r talking ancient civ shite

Remus: ?

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: This is pathetic. Both of you are twats.

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: be nice reg

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: ✨No.✨

Remus: Both of you stfu and give Sirius back his phone.

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: This is an intervention. Grow a pair and shag already.

Remus: Like you & James? Go on, let’s hear all about it.

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: Piss off.

Remus: Slag. What did you do to Sirius?

Padfoot’s Dad🐶: James is sitting on him. He says that he’s very wiggly.

Remus: Tell Sirius to call me when he’s free.

He hadn’t heard from Sirius since, which he assumed meant that they confiscated his phone during their rather rough “intervention.” It amused him to see Regulus was still a menace even after James won him over. Sirius’s silence was less so.

After a quick check of social media revealed that the Black brothers were at a familiar pub, Remus hauled himself off of his sofa and showered. He’d call Lily on the way. She was usually up for a night out. If nothing else, he would get to watch Sirius dance again. That was worth the effort.

When he followed Lily into the pub, the bass pounding through the speakers slapped him upside the head. It was loud. Lily clapped excitedly, then dragged him toward the bar.

“Love this song!” she shouted over the din.

Remus recognised it as one by Billie Eilish and shook his head. Lily enjoyed any pop song that she could dance to, but sassy lyrics sucked her right in. He was just glad that she didn’t demand he dance with her. No one wanted that level of awkward on the dance floor.

After he’d bought the first round, Lily disappeared into the crowd with the promise to check in every hour. It was their standard protocol. Remus had a tendency to wander off and forget that she drove him here, after a few rounds.

“Remus!” Mary called, waving as she made her way through the crowd.

He grinned and waved back. Mary was a uni friend that never went back home. She and Lily clicked right away and had been nearly inseparable ever since. By the time she reached him, he’d already ordered her a dirty martini.

“Thank you, love! If you’re here, Lils must be around?”

“Yeah, she just headed that way,” he said, pointing her toward the DJ. “Are you here on your own?”

Mary shook her head, her glossy halo of dark curls bouncing freely. “No, Alice and Tillie are with me. Over there.”

He followed her hand to the row of booths along the wall and was delighted to find Sirius, James, and Regulus chatting with the girls. That was too convenient to dismiss. Remus followed Mary to the booth and listened closely as she explained their plan for the evening.

“After here, we’re heading downtown to the Grim, then to Frank's Place to sober up.”

“Good plan.”

Mary bounded ahead of him and sidled up to Alice, then plopped in her lap. When Remus reached the table, James waved enthusiastically, then scooped Regulus up one-handed and slid over to free up a seat. Regulus didn’t even break eye contact with his brother as he settled onto James’s thighs. Sirius was chatting animatedly when he slid in next to James, but then stopped mid-sentence and stared.

“Remus?” he said, blinking rapidly. “What are you doing here?”

“Lily and I come by regularly.” Remus turned and pointed out the redhead, who had joined a group of girls in a dance circle. “We usually meet up with Mary at some point.”

Mary nodded. “Lils drags him out of his flat at least once a week.”

“But last week, she came alone.”

“No, she didn’t. I was here,” Remus said, shaking his head. He pointed to a booth on the other side of the club.

Sirius groaned and rubbed his hand over his face. “You have to be fucking kidding me.”

“Caught the Sirius and Lily show, did you?” James teased, leaning in to bump Remus’s shoulder. “It was certainly something, wasn’t it?”

Remus hid his smirk behind his drink. It was something alright. She and Sirius were both pissed and grinding on each other pretty intensely, which was hot enough on its own, but then Mary joined them. He’d stayed hidden in a back booth to hide his tenting trousers.

“You said I wasn’t that bad!” Sirius accused, jabbing James’s shoulder.

Regulus swatted his brother away with a threatening look when James winced. “That’s his sore arm, you prick!”

“It wasn’t bad. Just a little…”

“A little nothing, James!” Mary chimed in, shimmying her shoulders. “It was very sexy!”

Sirius was clearly mortified, though Remus couldn’t understand why. He spent the entire evening wishing he had an ounce of Sirius’s rhythm and even a smidge of Lily’s courage.

What I wouldn’t give to be in her shoes that night.

Next Part>>>

#wolfstar microfic #remus lupin #sirius black #wolfstar #james potter #regulus black #lily evans #mary mcdonald #the marauders #marauders

[blueiskewl]

A 2,600-Year-Old Unopened Etruscan Tomb Discovered in Italy

Community leaders and archeologists in central Italy recently gathered in the municipality of Montalto di Castro for the opening of a tomb that dates back more than 2 1/2 millennia, the municipality announced in a social media post last week.

"Today … we witnessed the opening of an ancient Etruscan tomb buried at the Osteria Necropolis in Vulci," the municipality of Montalto di Castro, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea about 100 miles northwest of Rome, wrote Oct. 27 on Facebook, calling the grand unveiling "a day of culture and history" in a translated statement.

Historians say the Etruscans built their civilization on a portion of the land that is now modern-day Italy, beginning as early as 900 B.C., and operated as a network of city-states not completely unlike the Roman Republic that came after it. The Etruscans dominated Italy until falling, as a result of the Roman-Etruscan wars, to the then-expanding Roman empire around the 4th century B.C.

Vulci, an archaeological site in the northern Lazio region not far from Montalto di Castro, was once a rich Etruscan city. Its ruins have become a popular spot for tourist visits and as well as a place of interest for archaeological excavations.

The tomb discovered there earlier this year was found remarkably intact when it was officially opened at the end of October, for the first time in about 2,600 years, according to the Italian online magazine Finestre sull'Arte, which focuses on ancient and contemporary art. It was opened and explored following the opening of a similar tomb in the area this past April, the magazine reported. Montalto di Castro Mayor Emanuela Socciarelli attended the opening along with Simona Baldassarre, the councilor of culture for the Lazio region, Simona Carosi, the manager of the Superintendency of Archaeology for the province of Viterbo and southern Etruria, and Carlos Casi, the director of the Vulci Foundation, which helped lead the excavation alongside archeologists.

Archaeologists found a collection of long-lost treasures inside the ancient tomb, including a collection of pottery and amphorae, which are tall jars with two handles and a narrow neck typically associated with ancient Greek or Roman cultures. The jars contained wine from Greece, likely from the island of Chios, Finestre sull'Arte reported. It could be a relic of the wine trade happening at that time in history.

Utensils, cups, iron objects, and a variety of ceramics and decorative accessories were also found inside the tomb in perfect condition, as was a tablecloth that may have been used for a funerary ritual offering called "the last meal" or "meal of the dead." A bronze cauldron was also found.

The stockpile of personal belongings found inside the tomb suggests the family for whom it was constructed was probably quite wealthy in their day.

The complex structure and layout of the burial site is also important to archeologists and historians, Casi told the Italian news outlet Il Messaggero, noting that the tomb "appears to be characterized by a partition saved in the rock which creates a passage arch between the dromos, i.e. the short corridor with steps, and the vestibule, from which the two rooms were accessed, the front one and the one on the left: the usual one on the right is missing, evidently because the space had already been occupied by other tombs."

By EMILY MAE CZACHOR.

#A 2600-Year-Old Unopened Etruscan Tomb Discovered in Italy #Montalto di Castro #Osteria Necropolis in Vulci #ancient tomb #ancient grave #ancient necropolis #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #roman history #roman empire #etruscan history

[bethanythebogwitch]

Digimon & mythology: the Olympos XII

One of the most underused major groups of Digimon in my opinion is the Olympos XII. As the name suggests, they are based on the twelve Olympian gods of ancient Greece and their Roman successors, the Dii Consentes. While the older lineup of the Olympoans and the Dii Consentes used an equal number of gods and goddesses, the goddess Hestia/Vesta was later replaced by Dionysus/Bacchus as her worship fell out of favor and his became popular. Digimon uses the lineup that includes Dionysis/Bacchus and excludes Hestia/Vesta. The Olympos XII also use the Roman names for the gods, though they take inspiration from both cultures' interpretations, as well as original ideas. In fact, some of the Olympos XII seem deliberately designed to be unlike their mythical counterparts.

The Olympos XII rule their own Digital World called Digital World: Iliad, which is hosted on a different server than the mainstream Digital World ruled by the computer god Yggdrasil. While the two worlds rarely interact, Yggdrasil is keeping its eye on Iliad and it is said that one day the Royal Knights of Yggdrasil's server and the Olympos XII will confront each other. Whether that confrontation will be violent or peaceful remains to be seen. Iliad has its own computer god named Homeros, who is very different from Yggdrasil. While Yggdrasil seeks to rule its Digital World, Homeros believes in absolute freedom and left Iliad in a state of anarchy. The Olympos XII rose up to establish order and justice in defiance of Homeros's anarchy. While some media depicts Homeros as an enemy of the Olympos XII, others imply it has some authority over them.

One thing to note before covering the members of the Olympos XII is that the Greek and Roman myths were not set in stone. Beliefs changed and ideas were absorbed from neighbors. Different groups of people also interpreted the gods differently. For example, the Athenians generally had a negative view of Ares and depicted him as a brutal monster, the but Spartans and Romans had a much more positive view on him. The Greeks and Romans also had a practice called interpatio graeca/interpatio romana where they would absorb the gods of other cultures into their own pantheons, often by claiming that the foreigners' gods were actually the same gods under different names. This was especially common in Rome given how diverse the empire was. An easy way to avoid religious infighting was to declare that everyone is actually worshipping the same gods under different names. Different sects would also worship different aspects of the same god, which were sometimes given their own titles. For example, one group of Romans might worship Jupiter in his aspect as the bringer of storms where another may worship him in his aspect as a leader. This is all to say that the mythologies that the Olympos XII draw from are very diverse and were constantly changing and whatever I say about mythology here can be both supported and refuted by multiple sources, all equally valid.

Warning that some of the Olympos XII members have some of the most explicit "sexymon" designs in the franchise. Some of the art below may be NSFW.

The founder and leader of the Olympos XII is Jupitermon. It founded the Olympos XII to bring justice to the Digital World: Iliad and presides over weather as the god of the sky. It acts as a dispassionate judge who declares acts as being either good or evil, then metes out divine judgement on those declared evil. There is an appeals system to Jupitermon's Judgments which consists of facing Jupitemon in combat. If anyone beats it, then Jupitemon will rescind its judgement. As of yet, nobody has ever succeeded. Jupitermon wields two hammers that produce lightning bolts. While it normally refuses to allow emotion to get in the way of its duties, those who have committed great sins can cause Jupitermon to become overcome with range and trasfrom into Jupitermon Wrath Mode. In this form, it becomes much larger and transforms into a living mass of lightning contained in armor. It trades in its hammers for a greatsword named Keraunós (Greek for lightning) that is crackling with electricity. Jupitermon is based on the Greek Zeus and roman Jupiter. It lacks many of Zeus's more famous traits, such as being impulsive, hedonistic, and willing to sleep with anything that moved regardless of consent. In this is draws more of later Roman depictions of Jupiter (or Iupiter or Jove) whive removed many of the character's more negative traits and made him much more of a paragon and leader figure. The hammers it uses may be a nod to Norse mythology and the thunder god Thor's hammer Mjolnir, but may also reference a judge's gavel. Wrath Mode is based on the general idea of divine wrath, where a god will smite evildoers to those that displease it. There are many stories of Zeus sending down his lightning bolt to smite mortals who have wronged him. Each member of the Olympos XII has a signature animal that is incorporated into its design and Jupitermon's is the owl. Owls are more traditionally associated with Athena than Zeus/Jupiter and are often used to symbolize wisdom. That fits with Jupitermon being a judge over good and evil and most of Athena's wisdom aspects didn't make it into her Digimon counterpart anyway so moving them to Jupitermon makes him a better leader.

Jupitermon (left) and Wrath Mode (right)

Jupitermon's partner is Junomon. She is Jupitermon's lover and defender who spends her time defending and eliminating those who would act against him. Because its love for Jupitermon is overflowing, Junomon is very aware of its habits and personality and preferes to spend as much of her time with him as possible. If separated for too long and forced to face an overflowing amount of enemies, Junomon can be taken over by a hidden, evil personality will surface, changing her into Junomon Hysteric Mode. Hysteric Mode is overflowing with jealousy and views everything around it as a threat to Jupitermon. Whenever Hysteric Mode emerges, it will slaughter everything round it until reverting. Curiously, Jupitermon seems to be unaware of the existence of Hysteric Mode and has therefore never judged it as evil. Even when not in Hysteric Mode, there is a hint of the darkness within as the angelic-seeming Junomon is a virus attribute and member of the Nightmare Soldiers field. Junomon is based on Hera/Juno, the wife and sister of Zeus/Jupiter and goddess of marriage and fertility. Junomon's relationship with Jupitermon is almost the inverse of Hera's with Zeus. Hera and Zeus seemed to hate each other and their wedded life was miserable, with Zeus constantly cheating and fathering bastard children and Hera attacking those children because she couldn't take it out on Zeus himself. By contrast, Junomon is so in love with Jupitermon she becomes a yandere. Interestingly, we won't have any official media I'm aware of that shows whether Jupitermon reciprocates her feelings, though him never noticing Hysteric Mode could be interpreted as deliberately turning a blind eye so he doesn't have to judge his love. Hysteric Mode can be seen as representing Hera's fits of anger, though in this case she's lashing out in a misguided desire to protect Jupiter(mon) rather than proxy revenge against him. The Romans' beliefs about Juno were so diverse that adequately cataloging them is a huge headache for scholars of Roman religion and she almost seems to have been multiple distinct goddesses conflated into one. Several Roman depictions did give her and Jupiter a much happier marriage than that of Zeus and Hera. She also took on some war god aspects, which is reflected in Junomon battling those who would oppose Jupitermon. Some scholars have suggested some Hindu influences from the goddess Sarasvati on the Roman Juno and Junomon's weapons are identified as katars, a type of Indian dagger. Junomon's animal is the peacock, which was seen as a sacred animal to both Hera and Juno.

Junomon (left) and Hysteric Mode (right). Can I just say that Hysteric Mode is one of the dumbest looking mode changes in the franchise?

The Olympos XII members that have gotten the most exposure in the franchise are the siblings Apollomon and Dianamon. They are gods of the sun and moon, respectively. Apollomon can unleash the heat of a star, which lets it burn through anything. It is a prideful being with barely-restrained energy that can lead it to going on a rampage or launching itself at a powerful enemy in search of a battle. In contrast, DIanamon is more peaceful, but just as the moon has a light and dark side, Dianamon's nature is two-faced and it is shockingly powerful in a fight. While Apollomon uses fire, Dianamon presides over water and ice. It can weave moonlight into illusions so powerful they can trick an enemy into ripping itself apart. These two are based on the twin gods Apollo and Artemis/Diana. While these two were gods of the sun and moon (in some versions inheriting this position from or contracting it out to the older Helios and Selene), they were also gods of many other things and sometimes the sun and moon aspects were seen as fairly minor duties for them. Digimon chooses to go all-in on the sun and moon motifs and ignore the other elements. This is fitting of the two's evolution lines debuting in the paired games Digimon Story: Sunlight and Moonlight (released in English as Digimon World Dawn and Dusk) which heavily played into the sun/light and moon/darkness motifs. Both gods were often depicted as archers and while neither Digimon uses a bow, they both have attacks where they shoot arrows named after their Greek god inspirations. Apollomon's signature animal is the lion and it looks like a humanoid lion. Lions are often associated with the sun and strength and in alchemy, a lion was used to symbolize the sun. Dianamon's animal is the rabbit, which is easier to see in her pre-evolutions, which are all humanoid rabbits. Japan often associated rabbit with the moon. The dark markings on the lunar surface that are interpreted in the west as a face (the man in the moon) are interpreted in Japan as a rabbit making rice balls or mochi. This rabbit and moon symbolism is found in another major influence for Dianamon: the title character of the mange Sailor Moon. Her name, Usagi, means rabbit and she and Dianamon have similar silhouettes and design features. In addition, one of Dianamon's attacks is named after the children's book Goodnight Moon. When the Digital World: Iliad was visited by an unprecedented crisis, Apollomon and Dianamon merged into GraceNovamon. GraceNovamon holds the power of a galaxy in its body and it is impossible to measure the amount of data that makes it up. GraceNovamon doesn't have any mythological references that I can find.

Left to right: Apollomon, Dianamon, and GraceNovamon

Volcanusmon is the Olympos XII member with the most influence on Digimon outside of its group. This is because it is the god of smithing and has created many of the Digital World's most famous weapons, all of which it names after Spanish words for food for some reason. Examples include Beelzebumon's Berenjena shotguns, Astamon's Oro Salmón tommygun, and Sparrowmon's Zanahoria pistols. Given that Astamon is a villain and Beelzebumon is one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, it's clear that Volcanusmon doesn't care about the morality of its client, just whether or not the client is impressive enough to deserve a special weapon and has the power to master its use. Volcanusmon works in silence, using all eight of its arms in harmony to create true artworks. It is not very good at fighting and prefers to work behind the scenes. Volcanusmon is based on the god Hephaestus/Vulcan. This is one of the gods that changed more in the transition between Greece and Rome as Hephaestus is specifically the god of smiths and craftsmen while Vulcan is more generally the god of fire, with smithing being just one of his roles. Since the fire god role was given to Apollomon, Volcanusmon leans heavily into the smith role. Another trait of Hephaestus that didn't carry over to many depictions of Vulcan is that he was disabled, having a bad leg due to (depending on which version of the story is told) either being born that way or being thrown off of Mount Olympus after birth. Volcanusmon's legs leem to be fine, but it does have bandages over its face and one eye, is using a breathing device, and is weak in battle, all of whcih hearken back to Hephaestus's disability. Volcanus or Vulcanus is sometimes used as an alternate name for Vulcan. The name Vulcan may descend from a god worshipped on the island of Crete named Velchanos. Volcanusmon's animal is the octopus, which appears to be an original idea rather than having any mythological basis.

The members of the Olympos XII have a varying relations to their mythological inspirations. Some are very strongly based on a god while in other, it is much more loose. The latter category is where Mercurymon comes in. Mercurymon is the fastest of all Digimon, so quick it cannot be seen with the naked eye. It also hates staying still and constantly travels the world. Mercurymon is also a shaman who can summon spirits from another world. Mercurymon is based on Hermes/Mercury, who was the god of a lot of things but was most famously the messenger of the gods. To aid in this duty, he wore winged sandals that allowed him to move at incredible speeds. That is literally the only thing that was brought over into Mercurymon. Well one attack description says Mercurymon has the Kerykeion, which is another word for the god's famous Caduceus staff, but that's the only place I could find it referenced. There's not even art of Mercurymon using it. Mercurymon also has some references to the Aztecs with its design and knife being named Aztec. Hermes/Mercury was sometimes associated with shamanism and divination, but Mercurymon's shaman aspects seem more Aztec. Mercurymon's English name is interesting. There was already a Digimon whose English name was rendered as Mercurymon (based on the metal) that debuted before Mercurymon. The dubbers experimented with Mercuremon or Mercurimon as new names, but somehow settled on Merukimon, which is complete gibberish. Mercurymon's animal is the wolf.

Another Olympos XII member who subscribes to the same "dude in an animal suit" school of design as Mercurymon is Marsmon. Known throughout the Digital World as a god of war, Marsmon is a master of every form of combat and will use underhanded methods in battle. While it has a variety of hidden weapons on its person, its preferred method of combat is wrestling. So focused on victory is it that it will cheat in battle if it is losing. Marsmon was the first member of the Olympos XII to debut and its reference book entry established the existence of the group. Marsmon is based on Ares/Mars, the god of war. He is one of the gods that has had the widest variety of depictions. Many of the Greek sources we have, which are mostly from an Athenian viewpoint, depict Ares as embodying all the worst aspects of warfare: brutality, savagery, fear, and pain. By contrast, the Roman view of Mars was more positive and he was revered as aone of the most important and beloved gods. This is partly due to him now embodying all aspects of war rather than just the worst parts and also due to him being merged with agricultural gods. In addition, he was said to be the father of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, making him the ancestor of Roman people. This can kind of be seen with Marsmon, who is a vaccine-attribute, which are usually seen as more heroic. Marsmon preferring wrestling is a reference to ancient Greek wrestling or Pále, a popular sport and the first sport added to the Olympics that wasn't a race. Marsmon's animal is the panther.

Probably my favorite member of the Olympos XII is Ceresmon. It is a god of nature that takes the shape of a colossal bird-shaped island with a forest on its back that flies through the air. The forest is called the Karpos Hulē (Greek for fruit forest) and grows the sweetest and most nutritious fruits in the world. Ceresmon is a gentle being who will allow injured and weak Digimon to live in its forest and feed on its fruits to grow strong. However, it will not tolerate those who disrespect nature and will bring down on them all the power a flying island can give. The island body of Ceresmon is more of a vehicle that the true Ceresmon uses. The true form, the humanoid on the bird's head, is Ceresmon Medium. Medium can detach from the bird and move around on its own, but it is weak on its own and will only do so around those it trusts. It's worth noting that Digimon Survive treats Ceresmon Medium as an independent Digimon no weaker than any other of its level. Ceresmon is based on Demeter/Ceres, goddess of nature and agriculture. She was seen as a motherly figure and a patron of the common folk, which fits with Ceresmon aiding common Digimon. The most famous myth involving the goddess, that of her daughter being taken to the underworld for half of the year, is not represented in Digimon. Ceresmon's animal is the bird.

Ceresmon (left) and Medium (right). Sidenote, Ceresmon is one of the few cases where I think the reference book art is better than the New Century art.

Some gods have grand purposes and some just want to have fun. That's where Bacchusmon comes in. It is the self-proclaimed foremost drinker of the Digital World and spends its entire time partying or preparing to party. It can brew any kind of alcohol within its body, but its favorite is made from the fruits of Ceresmon's forest. Because of this, Ceresmon and Bacchusmon are on good terms with each other. While jovial and generous, there is a dark side to Bacchusmon as it can generate all manner of horrific poisons in its body. It can also reconfigure the data of enemy Digimon to turn them into drinks, which it will then consume. Rumors say that human hackers are studying the data of Bacchusmon's poisons to develop chemical weapons. Some media gives Bacchusmon a mode change called Crapulence Mode, but most treat Crapulence mode as the normal Bacchusmon and give it no mode change. Bacchusmon is based on Dionysus/Bacchus, the god of wine, indulgence, and parties. He was a latecomer to the Greek myths, but eventually his following became so popular that writers and theologians replaced Hestia with him on the twelve Olympians. Bacchus was never considered that major in Rome, where Hestia/Vesta remained on their version of the twelve Olympians, the Dii Consentes. In fact, the festivals in his honor, Bacchanalias, were eventually banned due to them subverting the social order of Rome, though they of course continued to happen in secret. A really interesting thing that happened with Bacchus is becoming the subject of multiple mystery cults. The mystery cults are a really interesting and really complicated topic I do not know nearly enough to give a comprehensive overview of. To overly simplify, mystery cults were a trend in the Roman world of taking a god from a previous, often polytheist faith, and worshipping them as personal savior deities who could grant salvation (often salvation from death) to followers through fellowship, communion, and baptism. What made them mystery religions is that the general public and new initiates would be given false stories filled with metaphor and parable. Only as one advanced within the religion would they be considered wise enough to learn the true teachings. Because of this secrecy, we don't know the true teachings of a lot of the mystery religions, even if their public stories are well-documented. Bacchusmon's animal is the snake.

Minervamon is one of the most combat-focused of the Olympos XII. Despite having the physique of a young girl, she has incredible strength and can easily wave around her sword, Olympia, one-handed despite it being as large as her. Minervamon is a childish Digimon that prefers to spend its time playing and having fun (often through fighting things) and can throw temper tantrums if it gets mad. When Minervamon matures, she becomes Mervamon. This is sometimes treated as an evolution, but the two are the same level. Mervamon is much more mature and calm than Minervamon. SHe seeks elegance and sensuality at all times, even in battle, where she moves with the grace of a dancer even while hacking down enemies with her gigantic sword Olympia Kai. Because she is more mature, Mervamon is much more intelligent than Minervamon and is a brilliant strategist. She also no longer throws temper tantrums when mad. One one arm, Mervamon bears a snake named Medullia that can move and fight on its own. Minervamon is based on Athena/Minerva and being or at least starting as a hyperactive child with no attention span was a deliberate subversion of her mythological counterpart's role as the goddess of wisdom. The Greek Athena was also seen as a war goddess, representing the civilized aspects of warfare as opposed to Ares representing brutal warfare. Minerva lost many of the war aspects and became more focused on wisdom, though she still was associated with victory and strategy and was usually depicted holding a spear. I find it interesting that the transition to Roman mythology stripped Athena of her war aspects while the transition to Digimon stripped her of her wisdom aspects. Mervamon regains some of the wisdom aspects by being calmer and smarter. Another subversion of the original myths that Digimon uses is Mervamon being focused on sensuality (and being one of the more notorious sexymon) while the original Goddess swore to remain forever a maiden. Mervamon's name comes from Menvra, the Etruscan version of Athena that developed into Minerva. Minervamon's animal is the snake. Minerva was more famously associated with owls, but snakes were used as a motif as well.

Minervamon (left) and Mervamon (right)

While the Olympos XII rule the Digital World: Iliad, there is only one who commands the seas. This is Neptunemon, the absolute lord of all aquatic Digimon on Iliad. It resides in a castle built at the bottom of the ocean, so deep that only Digimon whose body can withstand the crushing pressure can travel there. Neptunemon is blindingly fast and can command powerful storms and tidal waves to crush its enemies. Neptunemon is based on Poseidon/Neptune, god of the sea. He was one of the most important gods to the greeks and retained a similar level of importance to the Romans, who expanded his domain to include fresh water. Like the gods, Netunemon wields a trident as a weapon. Tridens were used for spearfishing, hence their association with the water. Poseidon also dwelled in a palace underwater. Poseidon and Neptune were associated with horses, a trait that did not carry over to Digimon. While the gods were not generally depicted as mermen, Poseidon's son Triton was a merman with two fish tails. Neptunemon's animal is a fish.

The Digital World is a harsh place where the law of the jungle reigns and violence is a way of life. Into this world came Venusmon, who desires nothing more than peace. Venusmon rules over love and is filled with compassion. It is a pacifist that refuses to fight. All of its attacks deal no damage, instead pacifying the enemy. Wherever Venusmon goes, flowers bloom and the land is restored to beauty. Because of her looks and powerful glamour, Venusmon constantly has to deal with other Digimon swooning over her. This makes her uncomfortable and she wears a blindfold to reduce the effect of this power. Because she can't tell if a Digimon really likes her or is just enamored by her, Venusmon is rather lonely. Her only true friends are the two animals she travels with, a dove named Olive and a scallop named Hotan, who both talk to her without reservation. Venusmon is based Aphrodite/Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, desire, and sex. Venusmon is another case of Digimon deliberately subverting the traits of the god. Aphrodite was a promiscuous, vain, jealous, and proud goddess who seduced damn near everything while Venusmon is uncomfortable with all the attention she gets and tries to reduce it. The Roman Venus did have some association with peace as she can turn hearts from vice to virtue. Her friends being a dive and a scallop is because both doves and seashells were often used as symbols of Aphrodite. A common example of Aphrodite imagery has her rising form the sea, fully grown, supported by a giant scallop shell. Weirdly enough, Mercury, the god who is famous for having winged sandals doesn't get them on his Digimon counterpart, but Venusmon does for some reason. Venusmon's animal is a dove.

That is all the members of the Olympos XII, but because this monster of a post isn't long enough already, there are two more Digimon to go over. They aren't members, but they are tied to the Olympos XII's lore. The first is Plutomon. Plutomon shares Jupitermon's desire to punish evil, but its methods are so brutal and cruel that the dispassionate and neutral Jupitermon was disgusted and refused to allow it to join the Olympos XII. Plutomon rules the Dark Area of Iliad, the graveyard of deleted data where evil Digimon are consigned when they die. When not in the Dark Area, Plutomon patrols the world looking for villainous Digimon and attacking them. Its armor is covered with mouths that gnaw on sinners and it can summon a gigantic mouth that consigns those it swallows to the Dark Area. Even good Digimon, who Plutomon will not target, fear it due to its cruelty. Plutomon is based on Hades/Pluto, the god of the dead and ruler of the underworld. Hades/Pluto is often notorious for being depicted as evil in later adaptations, a trait that resulted from Christian writers using him as a satan figure, something Greek mythology lacks. While Hades was never viewed as a god of evil, he was feared and was never a popular god. His worship was often viewed more as appeasement than an act of devotion. Plutomon kind of draws from the devil in that he rules over the Digital World's hell (or Tartarus in this case) and torments evildoers. Unlike the devil, Plutomon does want to do good despite his methods. Think of him as the Punisher to Jupitermon's Superman. I don't know if this was intentional, but Plutomon's mouths chewing on evildoers reminds me of Satan's depiction in Dante's Divine Comedy, where his three mouth endlessly chew on the worst traitors in history. Its worth noting that Plutomon's usual pre-evolution, Cerberumon, is based on Hades's three-headed dog Pluto and guards the entrance to the Dark Area.

The final relevent Digimon is Titamon. Titamon is the enemy of the Olympos XII, born from the hatred of all the Digimon ever defeated by the Olympos XII in their battles for supremacy over Iliad. It now lives for nothing more than to slay the Olympos XII and will stop at nothing to kill them. Chambers on its arms hold the skulls of all those it has killed and it can call on their power to raise an army of phantom warriors fueled by hate. Titamon is based on the Titans, the generation of gods who lived before the Olympians. Eventually, the Olympians overthrew the Titans in a war called the Titanomachy. The majority of Titans were imprisoned, but a few who sided with the Olympians or stayed neutral were allowed to remain free. The Titans are often depicted as giants, but there's no real texutal evidence for them being bigger than the Olympians. Their siblings, the cyclopes and hecatoncheires, were giants and that''s where the idea may have come from. Titamon is indeed, gigantic. Titamon being able to summon an army from bones comes from the Spartoi, an army of warriors who sprung from the teeth of a dragon that were sown in the ground like seeds. Titamon also has some Japanese origins, with the names of its attacks and sword being Japanese. It was originally designed as an evolution for Ogremon intended to fill the role of Bacchusmon and to draw from the evil, alcoholic oni Shuten-Douji. the finished design was judged to be too evil for one of the Olympos XII and it was repurposed into an enemy of the group.

#digimon #olympos xii #greek mythology #roman mythology #classical mythology #mythology #jupitermon #junomon #apollomon #dianamon #vulcanusmon #mercurymon #merukimon #marsmon #ceresmon #ceresmon medium #bacchusmon #minervamon #mervamon #neptunemon #venusmon #plutomon #titamon #zeus #jupiter #hera #juno #apollo #artemis #diana

[khaire-traveler]

This is not an invitation for discourse. I am just stating my personal opinions.

I've been seeing some posts going around lately about myth retellings and wanted to give my opinion on something: I think the helpol community (maybe other polytheistic and pagan communities, too) is honestly too critical and intense about modern retellings (and even some historical ones as well somehow).

I know what it's like coming from that critical point of view. I used to be highly critical of certain retellings and stories that used Greek mythology. They used to deeply bother me, actually, but overtime, I realized that staying mad and fuming about these things I can't change - that will always be created - is really exhausting and even causes me to miss out on some truly interesting stories.

Also, seeing how intense some people can be about retellings has actively discouraged people in the community from writing them. How do I know this? I am one of those people, and I happen to know several others in the same predicament. Some people in the community will rip and tear and claw at retellings as if the retelling murdered everyone they loved. People talk about these retellings as if they're literally destroying the earth itself sometimes - like, seriously, y'all, it's wild.

Once, I saw someone post a short story they wrote - a retelling of a myth that I won't name, as I don't want to give the identity of this person away. This person posted this story with good intentions and was a worshipper of the figures depicted within the story, but still, they got absolutely dragged by larger Tumblr blogs and were torn into and literally chased off of Tumblr. This kind of behavior is not ok for multiple reasons, but the main point I'm trying to make is that we are actively making it harder for people within the community to write retellings. You want retellings from people who actually worship the gods? Then maybe make the community a much less judgmental place because sharing creative works takes a lot of courage as it is. Imagine building up the courage to create and share a retelling just to be ripped into by the very community you are a part of. I'm not saying you can't mention to someone when they've gotten something wrong or have written something potentially problematic, but I am saying that you shouldn't ruthlessly dissect someone's work and rip them a part if they seem to be well-meaning but misinformed (assume the best; not everyone is out to get us; easier said than done, I know). You can give criticism while still being respectful to the original author.

For many of these other authors, however, they likely don't even know that worship of these gods exists in the modern day, and even if they do know, acknowledging it may not be relevant to their story, or even their point. Sure, in a perfect world, these authors would acknowledge our little community and pay homage to actual ancient traditions/culture/etc, but we don't live in a perfect world, and that's ok. It is ok, y'all. Not every author writing a retelling is going to be a literal classics major or historian. Not every author writing a retelling is going to be educated on the actual ancient -or modern - worship of these gods. Not every author writing a retelling is going to pay homage to original source material. Do those things suck sometimes? Yes, absolutely. Do we need to lose our heads over it? No, not really. We can choose to focus on other things - on material and media that we actually enjoy and that do depict things how we'd like them to be depicted.

Now, none of this is to say that there are no problematic retellings or that speaking out on problematic retellings is wrong because hoo, boy, there are quite a lot of those. Some retellings claim to be historically accurate and are, in fact, not; some retellings are written by authors with less than ideal values and ideologies; some retellings are even based entirely on misinformation which can be frustrating to hear about. All of these things are true, but it's also true that not every retelling is out to get us. Not every retelling is trying to attack our small community and the gods we worship. As alarming and offensive as it can feel sometimes, it's important that we take a minute and realize that honestly, authors write stories, and sometimes a story is truly just meant to be a story. It's nothing personal. It feels like we, or our gods, are being attacked, but at the end of the day, we still have our own practices, and we are still allowed to engage with those practices. We are still allowed to worship our gods respectfully, even if others do not. And it is important to acknowledge here that others do not worship our gods. These authors are most likely not worshippers of the Theoi. They most likely do not have relationships with these gods as we do, and unfortunately, they may not have respect for these gods either. It would be ideal if they did, but they just might not, and there's no controlling that.

Honestly, most authors are trying their best. They're trying their best to write an interesting, authentic story that will capture the attention of their intended audience. They want to tell a story based on a mythology that inspired them so deeply, so carnally, that they felt the need to write a whole ass book or create a whole ass game about it. They see stories of tragic heroes, powerful gods, and all those caught in-between, and they think, "This is fucking epic; I'm gonna do something with this." Greek mythology is fucking cool. There's absolutely no denying that, and the fact that so many creators of all kinds continue to create retellings based on the love and passion of a mythology from over 2,000 years ago is pretty damn awesome, actually.

#helpol #hellenic polytheism #hellenic pagan