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gala-xhi · 3 months

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Just another study with Reiji and Shuu, them sitting in a banquet. Wrote a story about it because it was needed..

For me.

Memories of a maid in castle:

“Young masters weren’t always bickering with each other when they’re not in front of anyone actually.. I often saw them having little conversations with each other without somebody’s presence.

It wasn’t a secret that Lady Beatrix like better her firstborn. Her motherhood was preserved to the heir, her schedule and attention were only to the apple of her eye.. but also it wasn’t unknown that Young Master Reiji was also very talented young boy. He was able to catch up his brother with his hard-work even though he was comparing himself with a golden child whom claimed child prodigy.

Lady Beatrix’s love and attention separated her sons from each other with the aspect of affection. But Master Reiji was one of the few people who could hold a conversation with Master Shuu. I always thought that he was quite lonely, since his presence made obvious for us servants that he enjoyed independence and solidarity but Master Shuu always sneaked in to Young Master’s spots.

He was perpetually lonely, outcasted, Master Shuu enjoyed being around with him when Young Master wasn’t trying to get under his skin which is consistently yet when they were alone they acted otherwise. I witnessed by accident when i was running errands for other side of the castle since The King wanted to have banquet for a holiday he learned from humans. Lady Beatrix was insisting that Master Shuu learned from the Banquet to impress His Majesty, nevertheless The Heir threw tantrums at tailors and his instructress. He must have run away after his caprices since i saw him approach to library in the second wing. His majesty had private collections in this library, very often we brought the important books to Master Shuu for his studies to other wing of the castle by his instructors orders. It’s known that Young Master spent his time in to study here all but himself to catch up on his brother but it was a rare sight see brothers together.

However it wasn’t an unusual scene they bicker, so i got the impression that they will quarrel again yet Master Shuu was persistent about not wanting to answer his brothers usual harsh remarks. He wanted to be out of sight… being around him was the perfect choice. I must have lost my mind or had a death wish since i have chosen to eavesdropped disrespectfully than doing the errands that ordered.

Yet i don’t felt regret; it was worth to witness. Master Shuu entered in nonchalantly but with caution, he saw Young Master turned back to reading his book since his comments weren’t effective. “I have read that book.” said simply, “I know you’ve read it that’s why i am reading it.” said Young Master, like he was stating an obvious fact that Master Shuu is so oblivious to understand. I thought he must be taken aback by Master Shuu’s pampered statement, but it might be both.

After was an awkward silence, I thought it was a message for me to get back to work but Master Shuu started to watch Young Master read, seem to wait something or himself, i stayed, “Did you read his manuscripts?” Master Shuu asked, he seems oddly curious, interested in conversation, it made me approach them to take a closer view. “Yes, i did read it of course, do you really think second son of sak-” Young Master was offended by his words again but i knew better, Master Shuu (even though he tease his brother a lot) trying to make conversation, painfully awkwardly even. He cut off the young one’s mechanical response and asked, “Did you read Plato?” again simple, clumsily, “I am reading it on the side,” Young Master slowly answered, still on edge yet gawky.

Master Shuu waited, he let young one finish, “since Socrates wrote nothing but his pupil Plato wrote his speeches in thought i could learn more about Aristotle since he rejected Plato’s theory, his mentor.” said slowly, he must find odd too that Master Shuu is initiating a conversation that doesn’t involve harsh remarks. Master Shuu slowy, advanced towards the desk and, “Hmm, you’re still on first part, it’s in original language after all… The legal self-defense part is very intriguing since it demonstrates the nature of the trial-…” he stopped mid sentence to look at the young one, “what do you think?” Simple, very clumsy way to communicate and ask for opinion, “huh?” Master Reiji seemed off by awkwardly pointed question, as well as myself.

“What do you think about the first act of the book?” He asked, seemed apathetic but his eyes said otherwise, “Pluto is reveals that Socrates, not the judges who condemned him, is the representative of the truth?” answered Master Reiji, after.. silence.

“What do you think?” asked Young one, equally clumsy but visibly curious. “I think his manuscript was biased since Plato was very fond of Socrates but given to consequences of bias and resentment among the jury it is probably not the best legal and criminal justice case.” said, turned to Master Reiji, “You should read Xenophon too.” he said.

“Another pupil of Socrates? Why should I? He wasn’t even there when the trial happened..”

“It is interesting to see that a military commander gives a manuscript about the ethical opinions on death sentences and moral corruption-..”

Young one cut him, “even thought he was an elected commender of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies?” he smirked playfully, it made Master Shuu laugh, “Yeah..” he smiled.

It made me realise how unusual scene was I witnessed it. I returned the way i needed to go and couldn’t forget the interaction i just observed. It made me self aware, after that i payed attention more and more when they were together, alone or not. Their relationship was my sole joy, i am a mere servant after all…

I realised their interaction happened in Banquets and social gatherings in later years.. as i said Master Reiji was one of the few people who could have conversations with Master Shuu, it must have got to the point where both of them only enjoyed each other’s conversations more than other vampires. But besides these conversations their harsh remarks with each other developed as well.

Yet they never seem to realise that even they argue they use each other’s vocabulary or mannerisms. It is very strange watching children grow up after all.”

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #diahell #reiji sakamaki #sakamaki brothers #shu sakamaki #i am so normal about them #maybe i am not so normal about them

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bookshelf-in-progress · 2 months

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A Wise Pair of Fools: A Retelling of “The Farmer’s Clever Daughter”

For the Four Loves Fairy Tale Challenge at @inklings-challenge.

Faith

I wish you could have known my husband when he was a young man. How you would have laughed at him! He was so wonderfully pompous—oh, you’d have no idea unless you’d seen him then. He’s weathered beautifully, but back then, his beauty was bright and new, all bronze and ebony. He tried to pretend he didn’t care for personal appearances, but you could tell he felt his beauty. How could a man not be proud when he looked like one of creation’s freshly polished masterpieces every time he stepped out among his dirty, sweaty peasantry?

But his pride in his face was nothing compared to the pride he felt over his mind. He was clever, even then, and he knew it. He’d grown up with an army of nursemaids to exclaim, “What a clever boy!” over every mildly witty observation he made. He’d been tutored by some of the greatest scholars on the continent, attended the great universities, traveled further than most people think the world extends. He could converse like a native in fifteen living languages and at least three dead ones.

And books! Never a man like him for reading! His library was nothing to what it is now, of course, but he was making a heroic start. Always a book in his hand, written by some dusty old man who never said in plain language what he could dress up in words that brought four times the work to some lucky printer. Every second breath he took came out as a quotation. It fairly baffled his poor servants—I’m certain to this day some of them assume Plato and Socrates were college friends of his.

Well, at any rate, take a man like that—beautiful and over-educated—and make him king over an entire nation—however small—before he turns twenty-five, and you’ve united all earthly blessings into one impossibly arrogant being.

Unfortunately, Alistair’s pomposity didn’t keep him properly aloof in his palace. He’d picked up an idea from one of his old books that he should be like one of the judge-kings of old, walking out among his people to pass judgment on their problems, giving the inferior masses the benefit of all his twenty-four years of wisdom. It’s all right to have a royal patron, but he was so patronizing. Just as if we were all children and he was our benevolent father. It wasn’t strange to see him walking through the markets or looking over the fields—he always managed to look like he floated a step or two above the common ground the rest of us walked on—and we heard stories upon stories of his judgments. He was decisive, opinionated. Always thought he had a better way of doing things. Was always thinking two and ten and twelve steps ahead until a poor man’s head would be spinning from all the ways the king found to see through him. Half the time, I wasn’t sure whether to fear the man or laugh at him. I usually laughed.

So then you can see how the story of the mortar—what do you mean you’ve never heard it? You could hear it ten times a night in any tavern in the country. I tell it myself at least once a week! Everyone in the palace is sick to death of it!

Oh, this is going to be a treat! Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a fresh audience?

It happened like this. It was spring of the year I turned twenty-one. Father plowed up a field that had lain fallow for some years, with some new-fangled deep-cutting plow that our book-learned king had inflicted upon a peasantry that was baffled by his scientific talk. Father was plowing near a river when he uncovered a mortar made of solid gold. You know, a mortar—the thing with the pestle, for grinding things up. Don’t ask me why on earth a goldsmith would make such a thing—the world’s full of men with too much money and not enough sense, and housefuls of servants willing to take too-valuable trinkets off their hands. Someone decades ago had swiped this one and apparently found my father’s farm so good a hiding place that they forgot to come back for it.

Anyhow, my father, like the good tenant he was, understood that as he’d found a treasure on the king’s land, the right thing to do was to give it to the king. He was all aglow with his noble purpose, ready to rush to the palace at first light to do his duty by his liege lord.

I hope you can see the flaw in his plan. A man like Alistair, certain of his own cleverness, careful never to be outwitted by his peasantry? Come to a man like that with a solid gold mortar, and his first question’s going to be…?

That’s right. “Where’s the pestle?”

I tried to tell Father as much, but he—dear, sweet, innocent man—saw only his simple duty and went forth to fulfill it. He trotted into the king’s throne room—it was his public day—all smiles and eagerness.

Alistair took one look at him and saw a peasant tickled to death that he was pulling a fast one on the king—giving up half the king’s rightful treasure in the hopes of keeping the other half and getting a fat reward besides.

Alistair tore into my father—his tongue was much sharper then—taking his argument to pieces until Father half-believed he had hidden away the pestle somewhere, probably after stealing both pieces himself. In his confusion, Father looked even guiltier, and Alistair ordered his guard to drag Father off to the dungeons until they could arrange a proper hearing—and, inevitably, a hanging.

As they dragged him to his doom, my father had the good sense to say one coherent phrase, loud enough for the entire palace to hear. “If only I had listened to my daughter!”

Alistair, for all his brains, hadn’t expected him to say something like that. He had Father brought before him, and questioned him until he learned the whole story of how I’d urged Father to bury the mortar again and not say a word about it, so as to prevent this very scene from occurring.

About five minutes after that, I knocked over a butter churn when four soldiers burst into my father’s farmhouse and demanded I go with them to the castle. I made them clean up the mess, then put on my best dress and did up my hair—in those days, it was thick and golden, and fell to my ankles when unbound—and after traveling to the castle, I went, trembling, up the aisle of the throne room.

Alistair had made an effort that morning to look extra handsome and extra kingly. He still has robes like those, all purple and gold, but the way they set off his black hair and sharp cheekbones that day—I’ve never seen anything like it. He looked half-divine, the spirit of judgment in human form. At the moment, I didn’t feel like laughing at him.

Looming on his throne, he asked me, “Is it true that you advised this man to hide the king’s rightful property from him?” (Alistair hates it when I imitate his voice—but isn’t it a good impression?)

I said yes, it was true, and Alistair asked me why I’d done such a thing, and I said I had known this disaster would result, and he asked how I knew, and I said (and I think it’s quite good), that this is what happens when you have a king who’s too clever to be anything but stupid.

Naturally, Alistair didn’t like that answer a bit, but I’d gotten on a roll, and it was my turn to give him a good tongue-lashing. What kind of king did he think he was, who could look at a man as sweet and honest as my father and suspect him of a crime? Alistair was so busy trying to see hidden lies that he couldn’t see the truth in front of his face. So determined not to be made a fool of that he was making himself into one. If he persisted in suspecting everyone who tried to do him a good turn, no one would be willing to do much of anything for him. And so on and so forth.

You might be surprised at my boldness, but I had come into that room not expecting to leave it without a rope around my neck, so I intended to speak my mind while I had the chance. The strangest thing was that Alistair listened, and as he listened, he lost some of that righteous arrogance until he looked almost human. And the end of it all was that he apologized to me!

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather at that! I didn’t faint, but I came darn close. That arrogant, determined young king, admitting to a simple farmer’s daughter that he’d been wrong?

He did more than admit it—he made amends. He let Father keep the mortar, and then bought it from him at its full value. Then he gifted Father the farm where we lived, making us outright landowners. After the close of the day’s hearings, he even invited us to supper with him, and I found that King Alistair wasn’t a half-bad conversational partner. Some of those books he read sounded almost interesting.

For a year after that, Alistair kept finding excuses to come by the farm. He would check on Father’s progress and baffle him with advice. We ran into each other in the street so often that I began to expect it wasn’t mere chance. We’d talk books, and farming, and sharpen our wits on each other. We’d do wordplay, puzzles, tongue-twisters. A game, but somehow, I always thought, some strange sort of test.

Would you believe, even his proposal was a riddle? Yes, an actual riddle! One spring morning, I came across Alistair on a corner of my father's land, and he got down on one knee, confessed his love for me, and set me a riddle. He had the audacity to look into the face of the woman he loved—me!—and tell me that if I wanted to accept his proposal, I would come to him at his palace, not walking and not riding, not naked and not dressed, not on the road and not off it.

Do you know, I think he actually intended to stump me with it? For all his claim to love me, he looked forward to baffling me! He looked so sure of himself—as if all his book-learning couldn’t be beat by just a bit of common sense.

If I’d really been smart, I suppose I’d have run in the other direction, but, oh, I wanted to beat him so badly. I spent about half a minute solving the riddle and then went off to make my preparations.

The next morning, I came to the castle just like he asked. Neither walking nor riding—I tied myself to the old farm mule and let him half-drag me. Neither on the road nor off it—only one foot dragging in a wheel rut at the end. Neither naked nor dressed—merely wrapped in a fishing net. Oh, don’t look so shocked! There was so much rope around me that you could see less skin than I’m showing now.

If I’d hoped to disappoint Alistair, well, I was disappointed. He radiated joy. I’d never seen him truly smile before that moment—it was incandescent delight. He swept me in his arms, gave me a kiss without a hint of calculation in it, then had me taken off to be properly dressed, and we were married within a week.

It was a wonderful marriage. We got along beautifully—at least until the next time I outwitted him. But I won’t bore you with that story again—

You don’t know that one either? Where have you been hiding yourself?

Oh, I couldn’t possibly tell you that one. Not if it’s your first time. It’s much better the way Alistair tells it.

What time is it?

Perfect! He’s in his library just now. Go there and ask him to tell you the whole thing.

Yes, right now! What are you waiting for?

Alistair

Faith told you all that, did she? And sent you to me for the rest? That woman! It’s just like her! She thinks I have nothing better to do than sit around all day and gossip about our courtship!

Where are you going? I never said I wouldn’t tell the story! Honestly, does no one have brains these days? Sit down!

Yes, yes, anywhere you like. One chair’s as good as another—I built this room for comfort. Do you take tea? I can ring for a tray—the story tends to run long.

Well, I’ll ring for the usual, and you can help yourself to whatever you like.

I’m sure Faith has given you a colorful picture of what I was like as a young man, and she’s not totally inaccurate. I’d had wealth and power and too much education thrown on me far too young, and I thought my blessings made me better than other men. My own father had been the type of man who could be fooled by every silver-tongued charlatan in the land, so I was sensitive and suspicious, determined to never let another man outwit me.

When Faith came to her father’s defense, it was like my entire self came crumbling down. Suddenly, I wasn’t the wise king; I was a cruel and foolish boy—but Faith made me want to be better. That day was the start of my fascination with her, and my courtship started in earnest not long after.

The riddle? Yes, I can see how that would be confusing. Faith tends to skip over the explanations there. A riddle’s an odd proposal, but I thought it was brilliant at the time, and I still think it wasn’t totally wrong-headed. I wasn’t just finding a wife, you see, but a queen. Riddles have a long history in royal courtships. I spent weeks laboring over mine. I had some idea of a symbolic proposal—each element indicating how she’d straddle two worlds to be with me. But more than that, I wanted to see if Faith could move beyond binary thinking—look beyond two opposites to see the third option between. Kings and queens have to do that more often than you’d think…

No, I’m sorry, it is a bit dull, isn’t it? I guess there’s a reason Faith skips over the explanations.

So to return to the point: no matter what Faith tells you, I always intended for her to solve the riddle. I wouldn’t have married her if she hadn’t—but I wouldn’t have asked if I’d had the least doubt she’d succeed. The moment she came up that road was the most ridiculous spectacle you’d ever hope to see, but I had never known such ecstasy. She’d solved every piece of my riddle, in just the way I’d intended. She understood my mind and gained my heart. Oh, it was glorious.

Those first weeks of marriage were glorious, too. You’d think it’d be an adjustment, turning a farmer’s daughter into a queen, but it was like Faith had been born to the role. Manners are just a set of rules, and Faith has a sharp mind for memorization, and it’s not as though we’re a large kingdom or a very formal court. She had a good mind for politics, and was always willing to listen and learn. I was immensely proud of myself for finding and catching the perfect wife.

You’re smarter than I was—you can see where I was going wrong. But back then, I didn’t see a cloud in the sky of our perfect happiness until the storm struck.

It seemed like such a small thing at the time. I was looking over the fields of some nearby villages—farming innovations were my chief interest at the time. There were so many fascinating developments in those days. I’ve an entire shelf full of texts if you’re interested—

The story, yes. My apologies. The offer still stands.

Anyway, I was out in the fields, and it was well past the midday hour. I was starving, and more than a little overheated, so we were on our way to a local inn for a bit of food and rest. Just as I was at my most irritable, these farmers’ wives show up, shrilly demanding judgment in a case of theirs. I’d become known for making those on-the-spot decisions. I’d thought it was an efficient use of government resources—as long as I was out with the people, I could save them the trouble of complicated procedures with the courts—but I’d never regretted taking up the practice as heartily as I did in this moment.

The case was like this: one farmer’s horse had recently given birth, and the foal had wandered away from its mother and onto the neighbor’s property, where it laid down underneath an ox that was at pasture, and the second farmer thought this gave him a right to keep it. There were questions of fences and boundaries and who-owed-who for different trades going back at least a couple of decades—those women were determined to bring every past grievance to light in settling this case.

Well, it didn’t take long for me to lose what little patience I had. I snapped at both women and told them that my decision was that the foal could very well stay where it was.

Not my most reasoned decision, but it wasn’t totally baseless. I had common law going back centuries that supported such a ruling. Possession is nine-tenths of the law and all. It wasn't as though a single foal was worth so much fuss. I went off to my meal and thought that was the end of it.

I’d forgotten all about it by the time I returned to the same village the next week. My man and I were crossing the bridge leading into the town when we found the road covered by a fishing net. An old man sat by the side of the road, shaking and casting the net just as if he were laying it out for a catch.

“What do you think you’re doing, obstructing a public road like this?” I asked him.

The man smiled genially at me and replied, “Fishing, majesty.”

I thought perhaps the man had a touch of sunstroke, so I was really rather kind when I explained to him how impossible it was to catch fish in the roadway.

The man just replied, “It’s no more impossible than an ox giving birth to a foal, majesty.”

He said it like he’d been coached, and it didn’t take long for me to learn that my wife was behind it all. The farmer’s wife who’d lost the foal had come to Faith for help, and my wife had advised the farmer to make the scene I’d described.

Oh, was I livid! Instead of coming to me in private to discuss her concerns about the ruling, Faith had made a public spectacle of me. She encouraged my own subjects to mock me! This was what came of making a farm girl into a queen! She’d live in my house and wear my jewels, and all the time she was laughing up her sleeve at me while she incited my citizens to insurrection! Before long, none of my subjects would respect me. I’d lose my crown, and the kingdom would fall to pieces—

I worked myself into a fine frenzy, thinking such things. At the time, I thought myself perfectly reasonable. I had identified a threat to the kingdom’s stability, and I would deal with it. The moment I came home, I found Faith and declared that the marriage was dissolved. “If you prefer to side with the farmers against your own husband,” I told her, “you can go back to your father’s house and live with them!”

It was quite the tantrum. I’m proud to say I’ve never done anything so shameful since.

To my surprise, Faith took it all silently. None of the fire that she showed in defending her father against me. Faith had this way, back then, where she could look at a man and make him feel like an utter fool. At that moment, she made me feel like a monster. I was already beginning to regret what I was doing, but it was buried under so much anger that I barely realized it, and my pride wouldn’t allow me to back down so easily from another decision.

After I said my piece, Faith quietly asked if she was to leave the palace with nothing.

I couldn’t reverse what I’d decided, but I could soften it a bit.

“You may take one keepsake,” I told her. “Take the one thing you love best from our chambers.”

I thought I was clever to make the stipulation. Knowing Faith, she’d have found some way to move the entire palace and count it as a single item. I had no doubt she’d take the most expensive and inconvenient thing she could, but there was nothing in that set of rooms I couldn’t afford to lose.

Or so I thought. No doubt you’re beginning to see that Faith always gets the upper hand in a battle of wits.

I kept my distance that evening—let myself stew in resentment so I couldn’t regret what I’d done. I kept to my library—not this one, the little one upstairs in our suite—trying to distract myself with all manner of books, and getting frustrated when I found I wanted to share pieces of them with Faith. I was downright relieved when a maid came by with a tea tray. I drank my usual three cups so quickly I barely tasted them—and I passed out atop my desk five minutes later.

Yes, Faith had arranged for the tea—and she’d drugged me!

I came to in the pink light of early dawn, my head feeling like it had been run over by a military caravan. My wits were never as slow as they were that morning. I laid stupidly for what felt like hours, wondering why my bed was so narrow and lumpy, and why the walls of the room were so rough and bare, and why those infernal birds were screaming half an inch from my open window.

By the time I had enough strength to sit up, I could see that I was in the bedroom of a farmer’s cottage. Faith was standing by the window, looking out at the sunrise, wearing the dress she’d worn the first day I met her. Her hair was unbound, tumbling in golden waves all the way to her ankles. My heart leapt at the sight—her hair was one of the wonders of the world in those days, and I was so glad to see her when I felt so ill—until I remembered the events of the previous day, and was too confused and ashamed to have room for any other thoughts or feelings.

“Faith?” I asked. “Why are you here? Where am I?”

“My father’s home,” Faith replied, her eyes downcast—I think it’s the only time in her life she was ever bashful. “You told me I could take the one thing I loved best.”

Can I explain to you how my heart leapt at those words? There had never been a mind or a heart like my wife’s! It was like the moment she’d come to save her father—she made me feel a fool and feel glad for the reminder. I’d made the same mistake both times—let my head get in the way of my heart. She never made that mistake, thank heaven, and it saved us both.

Do you have something you want to add, Faith, darling? Don’t pretend I can’t see you lurking in the stacks and laughing at me! I’ll get as sappy as I like! If you think you can do it better, come out in the open and finish this story properly!

Faith

You tell it so beautifully, my darling fool boy, but if you insist—

I was forever grateful Dinah took that tea to Alistair. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen the loophole in his words—I was so afraid he’d see my ploy coming and stop me. But his wits were so blessedly dull that day. It was like outwitting a child.

When at last he came to, I was terrified. He had cast me out because I’d outwitted him, and now here I was again, thinking another clever trick would make everything well.

Fortunately, Alistair was marvelous—saw my meaning in an instant. Sometimes he can be almost clever.

After that, what’s there to tell? We made up our quarrel, and then some. Alistair brought me back to the palace in high honors—it was wonderful, the way he praised me and took so much blame on himself.

(You were really rather too hard on yourself, darling—I’d done more than enough to make any man rightfully angry. Taking you to Father’s house was my chance to apologize.)

Alistair paid the farmer for the loss of his foal, paid for the mending of the fence that had led to the trouble in the first place, and straightened out the legal tangles that had the neighbors at each others’ throats.

After that, things returned much to the way they’d been before, except that Alistair was careful never to think himself into such troubles again. We’ve gotten older, and I hope wiser, and between our quarrels and our reconciliations, we’ve grown into quite the wise pair of lovestruck fools. Take heed from it, whenever you marry—it’s good to have a clever spouse, but make sure you have one who’s willing to be the fool every once in a while.

Trust me. It works out for the best.

#the bookshelf progresses #fairy tale retellings #inklingschallenge #four loves fairy tale challenge #four loves fairy tale challenge 2024 #the farmer's clever daughter #theme: eros #story: complete #this one was *so much fun*#i was grinning throughout the brainstorming process #faith and alistair just *loved* telling me their story #and especially in the first scenes i kept stopping just because i was having so much fun with the lines #maybe it's horribly boring to read but as a writing exercise it was fantastic #i love these two so much #i haven't had this much fun since writing last year's epistolary story

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rightwheretheyleftme · 8 months

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Hello! Do you have any interesting facts about the goddess Hera?

anon you’re my hero for asking this question 🙏🏻

I have too many facts that I love about the goddess of women, so I’ve narrowed it down to five:

1. In one version of the story, Medea (granddaughter of Helios, heroine in greek myths) leaves her children at Hera’s altar so she can turn them immortal. Medea is also said to have established Hera’s cult at Corinth

2. Hera may have been the first deity to whom the Greeks dedicated an enclosed roofed temple sanctuary, at Samos about 800 BC.

3. Swearing something ‘By Zeus’ was a common oath in ancient texts. However, Socrates repeatedly uses the more unique oath ‘By Hera’, saying sentences such as: ‘I swear it by Hera’

4. Hera and her daughter Eileithyia’s names were found in Linear B tablets, meaning that they were already worshipped in 1400-1200 B.C

5. And finally, I want to share my favorite description of Hera from the book “Ancient Greek Cults” by Jennifer Larson:

“But in her most famous cults (Argos and Samos) Hera is a powerful city goddess who fosters economic and military success. In these cases her relationship to Zeus is not a crucial factor, and the literary portrait of a jealous, scheming wife seems far removed from the cultic experience of an awe-inspiring deity who brings success in battle, multiplies the herds of cattle, frees the enslaved, and protects the young for her chosen people.”

#greek mythology #greek gods #hellenic polytheism #hellenic worship #hera worship #hera #hera deity

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deathmetalunicorn1 · 5 months

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Hello, Can I request RoR x Pokemon? Romantic or Platonic

Human Reader as guardian (or adventurer/ hero/saint/other) figure or similar to the sages (Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Socrates), for Pokemon Pantheon …

Known for selfless, pure-hearted, friendly, and brave. Can be passive-aggressive or serious when something dangerous happens with Pokemon or closed ones…

You can add this, if you want.

(Reader Has abilities/powers, that she's born w/ or received, and they are;

Pokemon communication/empathy;

psychic/aura-like powers (or similar to the characters from the movies/animes; like, Baraz & Meray's, Damos & Sheena's, Aura Guardian Riley's, and/or others…)

knows to Sing/Play instruments of the songs of the legendary Pokemon; like Lugia's song, Oración, May's Lullaby in Jirachi Movie, Relic song…

has the Legendary artifacts/items, some that summons the legendary pokemon. (ex. Arceus-Azure flute/other.) and some are needed to be guarded. (ex. Eon Duo-Soul dew/other)

Reader's as the one who 1st discover and the gimmicks, such as, Mega Evolution, Z-crystals/Moves, Gigan/dyna -max, Terrasteral/others…)

Whenever Legendary pokemon wants to go out to explore places outside/inside of their region, They want Reader to join them as an escort/guard, they also enjoy each others company, and if they encounter trainer/s that wanted to battle the legendary pokemon, They told Reader to go battle with trainer/s to see if they're okay to battle them, Mostly Reader wons or just they finish it swiftly and disappear…

Whenever a challenger or a threat meet Reader and they explain their reasons (lies and/or honest) and/or challenge Reader to get/met Legendary pokemon, then Reader challenge them to a battle, and Reader always won…

however, if its someone's a bigger threat (ex: Volo, team villains, others), and probably uses force/trick (ex. Ambush/other) to get to the Legendary…

until someone's who are truly worthy (Player, Champions, or others) to challenge Legendary pokemon, they Battle reader and they won then Reader take them to the Legendary pokemon's summoning place but they accept it of couldn't capture it…

What are the reactions/interactions of Reader w/ RoR Characters?

-The Pokemon Pantheon was a relatively new Pantheon, compared to many of the others, but instead of being full of people who earned their place, it was mostly full of Pokemon, all types from normal to legendary Pokemon.

-There were a few humans, trainers and partners of the past who earned their place alongside their partner Pokemon, but the one who oversaw it was a young-looking maiden named Y/N.

-You watched over the Pokemon with gentle kindness but also stern rules, like no attacking others and battles were to be done only on the battlefields you had created for them to burn off energy, as you didn’t want to deal with anymore property damage.

-The Pokemon obeyed your rules, so you didn’t have many problems, just with the new arrivals who were quick to learn.

-You didn’t really interact with the other pantheons, only when you had to, you preferred to be with Pokemon rather than people, as Pokemon wouldn’t betray you, not like your fellow humans.

-You had died young, betrayed by those you had trusted, and you became the patron, as you had died protecting your Pokemon, and the Pokemon look to you as their leader, including the legendary ones, they see you as the boss.

-Your partner Pokemon, who was a Munchlax when you died, but he evolved into a Snorlax, fighting hard to avenge you, but ultimately fell and he arrived shortly after you, was the one who came with you everywhere, following you, protecting you, and comforting you whenever you needed to be comforted.

-All of the tools the trainers have come across on earth were thanks to you- giving them to those you deem worthy, like MC, who in turn uses them to help Pokemon themselves. Then once the mission is done, you retrieve the tools.

-You watch over the legendary Pokemon, the ones who can travel between earth and Valhalla, escorting them down so they can run around and play on earth, and if trainers wish to battle them, for a chance to capture them, they must first defeat you.

-You have thousands of years under your belt, so you are not to be underestimated by any means, especially your partner, who is way more active compared to normal Snorlax, he’s way stronger and way faster.

-If a trainer managed to best you, then you would allow them to approach the legendary, but it was the Pokemon who made the decision, and if they refused, then you would do nothing to sway their mind.

-If one was worthy, you would bid your friend goodbye, but you knew that you would see them again soon, once the trainer who caught them passed on themselves.

-In Valhalla, you welcomed visitors to your pantheon, gods and humans alike, allowing them to befriend and train alongside Pokemon, and all obeyed your rules, mainly of no violence and no trying to take any of your Pokemon if they didn’t want to go.

-People would find Pokemon all over Valhalla, as they could wander, but they always came back home to you at the end of the day.

-You had seen friendships formed between the citizens of Valhalla and your Pokemon, seeing the partnerships that always warmed your heart.

-However, if any were to try to harm your Pokemon, there would be no holding back- many had learned this lesson the hard way. Snorlax quite enjoyed eating popcorn alongside Buddha as you used double slap on several young cocky gods that tried to attack Totodile under your care.

-Many gods used your pantheon as a means to escape from their duties. Poseidon would spend hours in your ocean, swimming in the clear water amongst the Pokemon who were always happy to see him, except for one cranky Quillfish, but he was like that with everyone.

-Buddha loved the vibe of your pantheon, it was so relaxing, he could just nap in the fields amongst the grass types who would sleep around him and cover him with flowers, something that would always make you laugh, seeing him coming up to you, covered in flowers.

-Shiva, Hercules, Thor, Lu Bu, and Raiden all loved training with your fighting types, sparring with them, as their unpredictability always made for good fun.

-Ares, when he needed comfort, when he was feeling sad or just needed to be alone, your fairy types were always quick to swarm him, cuddling all around him, making him feel so loved.

-You loved your Pokemon, all of them, seeing them running around, flying, swimming, having fun, enjoying their peaceful lives from your perch on Snorlax’s stomach, laying on top of him as he slept. This truly was a paradise.

#record of ragnarok #ror x reader #ror poseidon #ror buddha #ror shiva #ror heracles #ror thor #ror lu bu #ror raiden #ror ares

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lets-try-some-writing · 8 months

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I had an ANGSTY idea

I imagine a scene where it's just a normal day at the base where the children are just hanging out and talking with their guardians (optimus and ratchet are over seeing decepticon activity)

somehow the topic of how long humans lives are comes up. The kids are oblivious to what they just revealed to the bots and seconds after this fact is shared all the bots freeze with realization and horror dawns on them.

Now whenever the bots are with the kids they act more happier and more willing to do what the kids want (and alot more protective) but under the facade is nothing but depression and sadness (the kids still oblivious)

Oh and optimus has a breakdown since he sees them as his own sparklings

Angst my old friend. I love this concept.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

It was not exactly a secret when it came to the short lives of organics compared to Cybertronians. The team were well aware that most organics tended to only live as long as a few centuries at best and possibly a millennia or two with technological adaptations. For them the lives of organics were still but a passing wind, but at least with a few centuries there was time for Cybertronians to grow close to their organic comrades. The team had each met other organics before and during the war, they knew how the organics near Cybertron worked for the most part. Thus they were not particularly concerned with the humans, although they did wonder why they grew so quickly and seemed to deteriorate with such swiftness when they had centuries left ahead of them.

The team largely did not think too much on the biological functioning of the humans and instead focused on their work. Despite that, eventually one particular Prime found himself uncertain.

Optimus found it particularly confusing how humans seemed to die so young all the time. In his free time he took joy in reading documents from Earth and learning their history. It seemed all of Earth's influential people died young. Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Plato, Socrates, Sun Tzu, George Washington, and so many other influential figures, all dead before their second century of life. It concerned the Prime greatly, especially upon noting how involved the children, June, and Fowler were becoming in their activities. If there was some sort of genetic issue or other ailment that killed off those with influence, he needed to know immediately.

He brought his concerns to Ratchet who in turn gathered the attention of the team. This concern quickly spread and so as one unit the team researched human lives and reasons for offlinement. Before too long they came to the startling conclusion that almost every recorded human life ended when the human in question was around a century old. Some older religious and mythological records indicated that once upon a time humanity could indeed live for centuries, but that seemed to no longer be the case. Seeing this, fear for their charges wormed its way into the sparks of the team. Why were the humans dying so young? What happened to humanity to shorten their lives so drastically? Were their young charges doomed to die in the same manner?

Those questions haunted the team and in the end they decided to simply ask the children to see if there was some form of cultural misunderstanding causing them distress. The children were of course a little confused and it ended up being June who had to explain as the team huddled around, eager to understand and see if there was any way to stop the impending deaths of their wards.

Optimus: I have studied your history and it seems in the last few millennia humanity has failed to live longer than a century at most. Why is that?

June: We only live so long Optimus. We aren't big metal aliens from space like you.

Ratchet: That is true, but we have met organics before. Those that interacted with Cybertron before the war generally lived at least two centuries.

June: I-

Bulkhead: Is there some sort of illness killing you off?

Arcee: Maybe a conspiracy? I've heard of some organic civilizations killing off the older members of their population.

Bumblebee: *Is someone hurting you? We will stop them in that case!*

Optimus: Bumblebee is correct. If your race is under threat, we will gladly assist in stopping the needless death.

June: What? No. What you read are old myths, stories made up by humanity during various ages. They aren't real, we don't live much longer than a century and we never have.

Ratchet: What? But your historical records-!

June: Stories Ratchet. Just stories. Humans usually live around ninety years before we die. That is just the way of things.

Bulkhead: Then the kids-

June: Just like every human before them, they will grow old, and then when their time is up, they will die.

Not a word was uttered at the team slowly scattered, each considering what had been revealed to them. Suddenly a great deal had changed, and not a spark could change things.

Arcee had lost plenty of partners over her long life, but a human? And to old age of all things? She was terrified of that end. She would have to watch as he deteriorated and his frame failed him. How could she look at Jack and not imagine the way his skin would gain wrinkles and how his youthful energy would fade away into the bone deep weariness she observed in the elder humans she noted from a distance. A century was not long, it was hardly the Cybertronian equivalent of a year. Her boy was going to perish before she knew it, and there was not a thing she could do to stop it. Tears were useless, and yet in the quiet of her quarters she wept until she steeled herself. She would give her boy all the affection and care she could over his lifetime, and hopefully in doing so, she could ease the ache of loss that was to come.

Bulkhead was left not as grieved and more saddened above all else. It was easier for him to handle the concept of youthful deaths in organics due to his long service with the wreckers and their allies. He was not upset at Miko dying long before him. No, what saddened him was that she would never have the chance to be a wrecker on a restored Cybertron. By the time their world was restored and things put into motion, he small body would have deteriorated enough to make being a wrecker near impossible for her, at least if she wished to be active. That chance was going to be denied to her because of her fleshy frame, and that above all else had him offering as much opportunity to let her be a wrecker as possible. She would not see the height of Cybertronian military and rescue efforts, but she would have a taste of it, that was his promise.

Bumblebee for his part panicked. He knew organics didn't live long, but he had not expected Rafael's life to come to an end so soon. If Rafael lived according to human standards, he would be dead before Bumblebee's next forging day. He had grown to care deeply for the child, and so while he was no fool and well used to death and the concept of it, his spark still panged with loss. Not knowing what else to do, he threw himself into spending time with Rafael as much as he could outside of patrols and battles. If his friend was going to die so soon, Bumblebee was going to try and be there as a comfort for as long as possible. He tried not to think about the fact that his human companion would perish and silenced any discussion of it when he could. He knew Rafael and every other living being would die eventually, he saw death, he was well acquainted with it, and yet still he was not fond of inviting it by considering it too deeply.

Ratchet was neither particularly shocked or upset, but he was somewhat saddened as he looked over June and the children. He was old, very old. He had been around far longer than even Optimus. Death was not a stranger to him, and he merely found himself nodding along when June spoke the truth. There was nothing to be done and he doubted the children would care for augmentations to extend their lives when all their peers would perish long before they would in that situation. He merely sighed and came to be more gentle with the children. They were incredibly young, even by the standards of their own species. They would not live to see their star go out, and that was likely for the best. To him it was best to let them live a life not burdened by the concept of eternity.

Optimus was quiet after the revelation. He kept to himself for a time, thinking, contemplating, and considering. He knew that his organic charges were not to last, but he had not expected their lives to be so short. His spark cried within him, saddened at what was in his mind, the imminent deaths of several sparklings. He knew of cases where sparklings came from the Well too weak to last. In those situations they were tended to with love and care until at last their small frames failed them and they returned to Primus. It was not the same since the humans would be able to live up to their full potential by their species' standards long before death came for them. But to a Cybertronian? They would not last longer than a Cybertronian year, and that brought him grief. There had been no young for so long, and now those he had come to care for were going to perish so soon? He did not like to consider it and so locked the sorrow away and followed Ratchet's lead, tending to the humans with gentleness and grace.

In response to the team's conflicting emotions, the children found themselves treated with far more kindness than before. Jack was given rights to ride with Arcee far more often and no longer did she try to dismiss him as much. Bulkhead, and later Wheeljack once he understood the situation, took every care to train Miko as a true wrecker, giving her weapons and opportunity she would never have otherwise. Bumblebee went out of his way to speak with Rafael, to tell him stories, and to otherwise speak of all he had seen in order to give his human ward a vision of that which he would never experience due to his short life. Ratchet did not change his behavior much, but he was less hasty in his wrath and spoke to June, more willing to learn human medicine and customs. Optimus fell to offering gifts and wisdom to the humans under his care. He could not be there for them as he would with normal sparklings, but he could show them wonders and offer the wisdom of ages long gone by.

The children found it strange but did not object to the additional attention until it started to grow somewhat suffocating. Only then did they ask why.

Jack: Look, as much as I like being able to go for rides whenever I want, why are you being so nice?

Miko: Yeah, and why are you being so... sad about everything?

Rafael: Is something wrong?

Arcee: Its nothing like that we just-

Ratchet, glaring at the rest of the team: You humans do not live long, at least not compared to us. You lives hardly make up one of our years. They are trying to treat you gently because they are upset about it.

Bulkhead: Well that's a bit of an exaggeration-

Ratchet: No its not.

Jack: Wait, so you mean that since we are going to die eventually, you are being nice to us?

Rafael: We are only teenagers, we aren't going to die anytime soon. There's no need to be sad.

Bumblebee, close to tears: *But there is! You are going to be dead in just over a year for us! And we can't do anything to stop it!*

Miko: Oh, so you are upset because we won't live as long as you.

Optimus: That would be correct... We have not had young of our own since Cybertron fell, and that was many vorns ago. To have you children in our lives has given us hope, and to now know you will not linger with us... we are sorrowful.

Ratchet: Don't stress yourselves over it.

There was little else to say after that revelation, but the children did what they could to comfort their functionally immortal guardians. It wasn't much, but a smile and a thank you every now and then eased the sorrow the team were blanketed in. The humans would die within the blink of an eye for a race from beyond the stars. But that did not stop them from enjoying what time they had.

#transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #team prime #optimus prime #ratchet #bumblebee #arcee #bulkhead #tfp kids #miko nakadai #jack darby #rafael esquivel #june darby #angst but also not quite #I am writing this while sick as all get out so lets see if this even turns out good #here's your kinda but not quite suffering

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amageish · 2 months

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I make a lot of posts about comics and queerness, but I feel like I don't talk about the weirdness of how it's 2024 and Anya Corazon still isn't out of the closet enough.

Like, here is Anya's DEBUT in Amazing Fantasy #1 (2004) which uses some excellent 2000s slang slight-of-hand with her friend Lynn calling her "my girlfriend"...

They do this same "saying girlfriend just in a friendly way... unless?" trick again later in Young Allies #5 (2010) with this villain calling Rikki Barnes "your girlfriend"... Rikki who is canonically Sapphic at this point.

And, in the modern day, Anya is basically the college campus activist Spider-hero, including having this Socratic dialogue with the Morales family about the way language around ethnic and gender identities evolves in Marvel's Voices: Community (2021).

Meanwhile, in the Spiderverse films, she looks like THIS.

I don't think I need to make any further argument here. They gave her a friggin' carabiner on her buckle.

Finally, in Madame Web, they have an entire scene of the other girls being distracted by boys while Anya sits around like 🙄 and it's like... C'mon, Marvel. Just let her be gay? I love Anya, but she cannot be so important to your brand that she cannot come out of the closet.

#anya corazon

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sugaroto · 8 months

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Round three

Sportacus is one of the main characters from Lazy Town, he's athletic and he often teaches the young kids how to be healthy and have fun outside while they touch some grass instead of playing video games. He's not greek but rather dubbed, though he plays an important role to our childhood

Socrates is a philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought

OG POST

#greek sexyman #greek sexyman of tumblr #gsot #Sportacus #Socrates #lazy town #philosophy #Sportacus vs Socrates

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noonesgaylikegatson · 8 months

Text

A Definitive List of over 100 Films featuring Gay/Bi Men of Color

Macho Dancer (1988)

The Fruit Machine (1988)

Tongues Untied (1989)

Young Souls Rebel (1991)

Anthem (1993)

Farewell My Concubine (1993)

The Wedding Banquet (1993)

Shinjuku Triad Society (1995)

Happy Together (1997)

The River (1997)

Pusong Mamon (1998)

Hold you tight (1998)

Gohatto (1999)

Punks (2000)

Iron Ladies (2001)

Lan Yu (2001)

The Road to Love (2001)

Mango Souffle (2002)

Yossi and Jagger (2002)

Proteus (2003)

Brother to Brother (2004)

Formula 17 (2004)

Star Appeal (2004)

Chicken Tikka Masala (2005)

The King and the Clown (2005)

My Brother Nikhil (2005)

Boy culture (2006)

No Regret (2006)

RagTag (2006)

Blueprint (2007)

Soshite, Harukaze ni Sasayaite (2007)

Pleasure Factory (2007)

All of my life (2008)

Antique (2008)

City without Baseball (2008)

A Frozen Flower (2008)

Lovebirds (2008)

Noah’s Arc, Jumping the Broom (2008)

Boy (2009)

Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish (2009)

Soundless Windchime (2009)

Bashment (2010)

Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun… (2010)

Fit (2010)

KickfOff (2011)

Lost in Paradise (2011)

My Brother the Devil (2012)

Mixed Kebab (2012)

Morgan (2012)

One Night and Two Days (2012)

The Skinny (2012)

Speechless (2012)

Leave it on the Floor (2013)

La Partidoa (2013)

Peyote (2013)

Snails in the Rain (2013)

Hot Guys with Guns (2014)

My Bromance (2014)

Night Flight (2014)

Praybeyt Benjamin (2014)

The Way He Looks (2014)

Yo Soy la Felicidad de esta Mundo (2014)

Aligarh (2015)

Beauty and the Bestie (2015)

Blackbird (2015)

The Blue Hour (2015)

Daddy (2015)

Eat with Me (2015)

Fire Song (2015)

How to Win at Checkers (Every-time) (2015)

Out in the Dark (2015)

Loev (2015)

Naz and Maalik (2015)

Thanatos, Drunk (2015)

Time Out (2015)

2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten (2016)

Dear Dad (2016)

Front Cover (2016)

LUV Don’t Live Here (2016)

Kapoor & Sons (2016

Moonlight (2016)

The Pass (2016)

The Super Parental Guardians (2016)

Alaska is a Drag (2017)

God’s Own Country (2017)

Method (2017)

My Son is Gay (2017)

Play the Devil (2017)

The Wound (2017)

I am Happiness on Earth (2018)

Noblemen (2018)

Dear Ex (2018)

I Miss You When I See You (2018)

Voyage (2018)

Kalel, 15 (2019)

The Panti Sisters (2019)

Socrates (2019)

Funny Boy (2020)

Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)

B-Boy Blues (2021)

Gameboys: The Movie (2021)

Bhaadai do (2022)

Cobalt Blue (2022)

Fire Island (2022)

Golden Delicious (2022_

Marry My Dead Body (2023)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2023)

#gmadi #hades #gay films #gay/bi films #gay movies #mlm movies #gay media #lgbt media

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homomenhommes · 2 months

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … February 14

c.2000 B.C. - 1200 B.C. – Ganymede, a beuatiful shepherd boy, was abducted by Zeus , king of the Gods, from Mount Ida, near Troy. Ganymede had been tending sheep, a rustic or humble pursuit characteristic of a hero's boyhood before his privileged status is revealed. Zeus either sent an eagle or turned himself to an eagle to transport the youth to Mount Olympus.

In the Iliad, Zeus is said to have compensated Ganymede's father Tros by the gift of fine horses, "the same that carry the immortals", delivered by the messenger god Hermes.

In Olympus, Zeus granted Ganymede eternal youth and immortality and the office of cupbearer to the gods, supplanting Hebe. All the gods were filled with joy to see the youth, except for Hera, Zeus's consort, who regarded Ganymede as a rival for her husband's affection. Zeus later put Ganymede in the sky as the constellation Aquarius.

Plato accounts for the pederastic aspect of the myth by attributing its origin to Crete, where the social custom of paiderastía was supposed to have originated. He has Socrates deny that Ganymede was the "catamite" of Zeus, and say the god loved him non-sexually for his psychē, "mind" or "soul," giving the etymology of his name as ganu-, "taking pleasure," and mēd-, "mind." Ganymede, he points out, was the only one of Zeus's lovers who was granted immortality.

In poetry, Ganymede became a symbol for the beautiful young male who attracted homosexual desire and love.

c.2000 B.C. - 1200 B.C. – In Classical myth, Hyacinth was a beautiful boy and lover of the god Apollo, though he was also admired by the West Wind, Zephyr. Apollo and Hyacinth took turns throwing the discus one day. Hyacinth ran to catch it to impress Apollo, was struck by the discus as it fell to the ground, and died.

In one telling of the tale, the wind god Zephyrus was responsible for the death of Hyacinth. His beauty caused a feud between Zephyrus and Apollo. Jealous that Hyacinth preferred the radiant archery god Apollo, Zephyrus blew Apollo's discus off course, so as to injure and kill Hyacinth.

When he died, Apollo didn't allow Hades to claim the boy; rather, he made a flower, the hyacinth, from his spilled blood. It's a very moving story that has been the basis of many works of art over the centuries.

According to Ovid's account, the tears of Apollo stained the newly formed flower's petals with the words ai ai, the Greek cry of grief. The flower of the mythological Hyacinth has been identified with a number of plants other than the true hyacinth, such as the iris.

c.1200 B.C. – In Greek mythology, Patroclus, or Patroklos, was the son of Menoetius, was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms.

In his youth, Patroclus accidentally killed his friend, Clysonymus, during an argument over a game of dice. His father fled with Patroclus into exile to evade revenge, and they took shelter at the palace of their kinsman King Peleus of Phthia. There Patroclus apparently first met Peleus' son Achilles. Peleus sent the boys to live in the wilderness and be raised by Chiron, the cave-dwelling wise King of the Centaurs.

In a post-Homeric version, he is listed among the unsuccessful suitors of Helen of Sparta, all of whom took a solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with him, which brought both the young men into the battle against Troy.

In the Iliad, the two heroes have a deep and meaningful friendship. Achilles is tender towards Patroclus, while he is callous and arrogant towards others. In Athens during the 5th century BC, the relationship was often viewed in light of the Greek custom of paiderasteia (man-boy love).

When the tide of war turned away from the Grreks, and the Trojans threatened their ships, Patroclus convinced Achilles to let him don Achilles' armor and lead the their troops into combat. In his lust for combat, Patroclus pursued the Trojans all the way back to the gates of Troy, defying Achilles' order to break off combat once the ships were saved. Patroclus was stunned by Apollo, then finished off by Hector, hero of the Trojans.

After retrieving Patroclus' body, Achilles returned to battle and avenged his companion's death by killing Hector. Achilles then desecrated Hector's body by dragging it behind his chariot instead of allowing the Trojans to honorably dispose of it by burning it. Achilles' grief was great and for some time, he refused to dispose of Patroclus' body; but he was persuaded to do so by an apparition of Patroclus, who told Achilles he could not enter Hades without a proper cremation. Achilles sheared off his hair, and sacrificed horses, dogs, and twelve Trojan captives before placing his lover's body on the funeral pyre.

While the lIiad never explicitly stated as such, in later Greek writings, such as Plato's Symposium, the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is held up as a model of romantic love. In the 5th and 4th centuries, the relationship with Patroclus was portrayed as same-sex love in the works of Aeschylus, Plato and Aeschines.

From the times of Classical Greece, and especially in Hellenism, to the time of the Romans, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus was presented as loving and pederastic, although these roles are anachronistic for the Iliad. Achilles is the most dominant, and among the warriors in the Trojan War he has the most fame; Patroclus performs duties such as cooking, feeding and grooming the horses, and nursing yet is older than Achilles. Both also sleep with women.

In the 5th century BC, in Aeschylus' lost tragedy the Myrmidons, Aeschylus regarded the relationship as a sexual one and assigned Achilles the role of erastes(older lover or protector), since he avenged his lover's death even though the gods told him it would cost him his own life), and Patroclus the role of eromenos (boy lover). He tells of Achilles visiting Patroclus' dead body and criticizing him for letting himself be killed. In a surviving fragment of the play, Achilles speaks of their "devout union of the thighs".

Plato presented Achilles and Patroclus as lovers in the Symposium, written around 385 BC. The speaker Phaedrus holds the two up as an example of divinely approved lovers. He also argues that Aeschylus erred in saying that Achilles was the erastes, "for he excelled in beauty not Patroclus alone but assuredly all the other heroes, being still beardless and, moreover, much the younger, by Homer's account."

c.1040 B.C. – Jonathan, Son of Saul, born; No one knows exactly when the biblical Jonathan was born, of course. But let's just assign this date to this sweet young man, whose presence in "Holy Writ" has always been an embarrassment to fundamentalist preachers everywhere.

The story of David and Jonathan is well known from the Hebrew bible. It is not explicitly stated that there was a sexual relationship between them but the passionate language is certainly that of lovers.

"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soulof Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. "

The love of Jonathan for David, a love so deep that he foreswore his father out of loyalty to his beloved, has provided literature with both a powerful trope for male love and one of the most oft-quoted lines of Scripture, spoken by David at the death of his friend: "My brother, Jonathan, thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women" (2 Samuel 1:26).

a modern view of David and Jonathan

c.940 B.C. – Asher was a son of Solomon, Caleh a shepherd. By some accounts these were the two lovers in the frankly erotic love poem, the 'Song of Songs', widely used as a metaphor for the love between God and humanity. Usually presented as conventional heterosexual love, there is increasing recognition that the lovers were probably both men.

A translation by Dr Paul R Johnson directly from early texts includes the frankly homoerotic:

"How delightful you are Caleh, My lover-man, my other half. Your pleasing masculine love is better than wine. The smell of your body is better than perfume. Your moustache is waxed with honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The scent of your clothing is like the smell of Lebanon."

A review of this book, posted on the Wild Reed, notes that:

"It gets to the heart of the question of whether the Hebrews and early Christians were fundamentally homophobic, or whether, as John Boswell has maintained, homophobia was a later addition. Johnson has consulted with many Hebrew scholars, who reluctantly concede the validity of his revolutionary word-for-word translation."

270 – St. Valentine. No no no...Don't jump to any conclusions. St. Valentine was not Gay, but neither did he have anything to do with the holiday for lovers that bears his name. That St. Valentine, one of the more boring Christian martyrs, is the patron saint of lovers is a mere fluke. You see, the Norman word galatin, meaning a lover, was often mispronounced valentin, and through a natural confusion of names, St. Valentine became associated with love.

Bishop Peter Ball with Prince Charles (now sick King Charles III)

1932 – Peter Ball (d.2019) was a British bishop in the Church of England and convicted sex offender. In 1960 he and his twin brother (Michael Ball) established a monastic community, the Community of the Glorious Ascension, through which Ball came into contact with many boys and young men.

He was the suffragan Bishop of Lewes from 1977 to 1992 and the diocesan Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 to 1993, when he resigned after being cautioned for sexual abuse; he continued to officiate at several churches after that.

In October 2015, Ball was sentenced to 32 months' imprisonment for misconduct in public office and indecent assault after admitting the abuse of 18 young men over a period of 15 years from 1977 to 1992. Further charges of indecently assaulting two boys, aged 13 and 15, were allowed to lie on file in a contentious decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). He was released on licence in February 2017 and died two years later.

Peter Ball was the first Anglican bishop to be sent to prison since 1688, when King James II committed seven bishops to the Tower for their opposition to his Declaration of Indulgence.

1962 – Kevyn Aucoin, the American cosmetologist born (d.2002); a make-up artist and photographer who was well known for catering to the laywoman's need to feel beautiful. He worked with hundreds of A-list celebrities like Cher, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Courtney Love and Vanessa Williams. He became a highly in-demand makeup artist, often acquiring $10,000 per session for photo shoots or award shows. As a published author (The Art of Makeup, Making Faces, and Face Forward), he was fond of taking celebrities (and various other men & women, including his mother) and using makeup and costume (and sometimes prosthetics) to make them look like other celebrities, or like other people entirely. He transformed Tori Amos into Mary Queen of Scots, Liza Minnelli into Marilyn Monroe, Christina Ricci into Édith Piaf, Hilary Swank into Raquel Welch, Winona Ryder into Elizabeth Taylor, and Martha Stewart into Veronica Lake, among others.

Aucoin was interested in makeup from the time he was a child,and frequently did his sisters' makeup and photographed the results with a Polaroid camera—something he'd do throughout his career. Afraid to buy makeup, he would shoplift it. The guilt of stealing and fear of getting caught made him stop.

He realized he was gay at age six, and was frequently bullied at school. His parents were initially in denial of their son's emerging sexual orientation; his mother later said, "I didn't think Kevyn was a sissy; I just thought he was a gentle child." In one instance, he had a teacher spank his bare buttocks in class, which Aucoin later regarded as sexual abuse. The bullying continued in high school, and he dropped out after being chased by several classmates in a truck. He enrolled in beauty school and had hoped to learn more about applying makeup, but ended up teaching the class instead.

Aucoin lived with his partner, Jeremy Antunes, whom he married in an unofficial ceremony in Hawaii in 2000 and thereafter referred to as his husband. He had also previously been romantically involved with Eric Sakas, who, after their breakup, remained close friends with him and became president and creative director of Kevyn Aucoin Beauty.

In October 2001, just one month after launching his own cosmetics line, Aucoin was diagnosed with a rare pituitary tumour. He had been suffering from acromegaly resulting from the tumour for much of his life, but it had gone undiagnosed. He died in May 2002 of kidney and liver failure due to Tylenol toxicity, due to an addiction to prescription painkillers used to treat the extreme pain from his condition. A musical homage, called Taxi Ride, was written for him by longtime friend Tori Amos.

Sucsy (L) with husband Sgourakis

1973 – Michael Sucsy is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for creating the HBO film Grey Gardens.

Sucsy was raised in Connecticut and New York City and is a graduate of Deerfield Academy, Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (where he earned a degree in International Relations, Law & Organization), and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA (Masters in Fine Arts.)

Sucsy segued from studying international relations to film production via the advertising industry, where he worked for the award-winning agency Cliff Freeman & Partners on the first-ever Staples t.v. ads. Sucsy then pursued work as a production assistant, an art department coordinator, a production secretary, and an assistant director on feature films, commercials, and music videos in Washington DC, New York City, and Los Angeles.

In 2003, Sucsy was inspired to write and direct a narrative feature film about the famous true story of Jackie O's eccentric relatives "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale called Grey Gardens after viewing the well-known documentary of the same name. The day after he first watched the documentary, Sucsy embarked on what was to become a six-year process to get Grey Gardens made. He used primary sources including Little Edie's personal correspondence, private journals, and poetry as well as interviews with family members and friends as the basis of his original script which traced the Beales' tragic descent from riches to rags over some forty years. With Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange attached to star as the reclusive mother-daughter duo, the project made its way to HBO who, in 2006, announced that Grey Gardens was moving into production with Sucsy as its director. Principal photography on Grey Gardens began in October 2007, and it debuted on HBO in April 2009 to great acclaim from critics and audiences, both new and old to the Grey Gardens phenomenon.

Sucsy became engaged to his boyfriend, interior designer Demitri Sgourakis, on February 14, 2012, Sucsy's 39th birthday. They were married on August 15, 2015, aboard the Midnight Rambler, a sailboat, off the coast of Montauk, N.Y.

1984 – Elton John marries a woman having earlier said he was bi.

2010 – On this date the Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported that different LGBT rights organizations from Jalisco, Colima and Guanajuato marched down the streets of Guadalajara to demand equal partnership rights. The group, mostly made up of Lesbian and Gay members from different regional university student groups, carried signs and expressed a desire for having similar rights granted to Gays and Lesbians in Mexico City. The group gathered outside the University of Guadalajara and made their way to the city's main plaza where they staged a kiss-in as the shadow of the city's Metropolitan Cathedral fell on them.

The scene outside the Cathedral gave a better sense of how large the march was, an estimated crowd of 350. In addition to the kiss-in, eleven Gay and Lesbian couples also participated in a symbolic wedding ceremony. There were reports of homophobic insults and obscenities being hurled at marchers even as organizers expressed relief that there were no outbursts of violence.

As in Argentina, marriage equality is a red-hot topic in Mexico ever since the Mexico City legislature passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in Mexico's capital city. The measure, which also explicitly would allow same-sex couples to adopt, has run into vehement opposition from right wing politicians and religious leaders - and will also be heading to the country's Supreme Court for review later in the year.

Today's Gay Wisdom

From the King James Version:

1 Samuel 18

1 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

2 Samuel 1

17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son .... 19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. 26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 27 How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

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