One thing I need foreigners to understand about Hellenic polytheism is you cannot categorise the Divine into neat little boxes like they're laboratory samples you're putting in quarantine. The Gods interact with each other and with the world, their domains mingle the same way our lives and the people in them connect like the links of a chain.
This is why you see us Greeks advocating for foreigners to do research into our culture if they want to approach Hellenic polytheism, and this is why you don't cherry-pick the Gods that "fit your vibes/aesthetic" and exclude the rest. You can't ignore aspects of existence and you can't ignore the Gods.
Do you need to work heavily with every single deity? No, of course not. But you do need to show them respect, even if it's from a distance.
this is the film I get? (da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da)
Kid Diego: Don't belittle me.
Kid Klaus: Ah, yes of course. Number 2 would like to clarify that just because his name is Number 2 does not imply in any way that he's inferior to Number 1.
Kid Diego: And all of the above.
Kid Luther: *murmurs something incoherent*
Kid Klaus: Number 1 says he's Number 1 for a reason and some people should just get used to it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/25/books/greeks-myths-adaptions.html
Westerners never cease to amaze me with their entitlement - this was nearly too infuriating to even read.
Also, honorary mention: “There’s no final word on anything, because language is always changing, so there’s no definitive myth,” said Miller, who is currently working on a new novel about Persephone and Demeter, her mother. “These were fluid texts right from the beginning.”
Said Miller, who twists and bends myths and cultural elements beyond recognition so as to excuse all her inaccuracies and downright murder of the Mythos. Also, it's a known fact that Miller sees Demeter as an oppressive mother and that she bases said belief on British poetry of the 19th century. Therefore, when that monstrosity of a book does come out (where Persephone is twice assaulted by Zeus, no doubt), I honestly wonder how they will find a way to present her portrayal of Demeter as "feministic", especially knowing her previous distaste towards maternal and female familial figures, in general (Thetis, Kirke's mom and sisters etc).
The article is titled "The Women of Greek myths are finally talking back". Which is disgusting because the Women who talk are Western Anglo women and they cover with their voices the voices of modern and ancient Greek women.
They paint our antiquity and our struggle like some type of torture porn and, in the process, ignore how much depth and power female characters were given in our ancient texts.
Those retellings are a cheaply written, stereotyped power fantasy for Western women who use us and our ancestors to feel like they are doing something against the Patriarchy.
The kind of mythology flex it is to be able to say "Hey! I'm a Real Alive Person and I was born and raised in mountain Πήλιο (Pelion), the actual mythical home of the Centaurs (and birthplace? If I'm not mistaken?)"
Because hey. I exist :)
And xenoi still think they're the rightful inheritors of Ancient Greek culture. Maddening to consider.
No bc back when I was reading Percy Jackson as a kid, I was so hurt to read the line where it said that the Greek Gods follow the path of "Πρόοδος" to the West and have "relocated to the US" or whatever. As a lil kid, my immediate reaction was
"WHY?! We're still here aren't we? Is Greece empty now? Is Olympos vacant? Why would Our Gods abandon us? What about the demigods born in Greece?"
It's a special kind of rage pain when you take into account ALL OF THE FUCKING STOLEN ANCIENT ARTIFACTS. That our culture often depicts them as being abducted. I've cried in frustration about this.
Haha, is that why everything's burning down? Because the Nyphes were (stolen?? again????) "relocated" and are no longer roaming the Greek forests? Is that why everything's flooding, because Poseidon is no longer here to regulate the Seas and Waters? Are we really Dying Off?
It's like plucking a beautiful flower from it's birthplace and trying to get it to get used to an environment it was not made to grow in. It's this level of absurdity. What the fuck.
That's why I'm a Greek Person studying Archaeology. We need more of us. Desperately.
My hands are shaking as I'm writing this and I'm slowly losing my mind about it :DDD
But to leave on a positive note. Hehe, mythology flex. I could have been born a Centaur if I really wanted to. Happily galloping away in the fields in the comfort of my own ignorance of our culture being ripped apart, dismembered and depicted as the gnarly bloody soulless mess the xenoi have made it be in mainstream media.
Ah, there's always next life. ^-^
I feel you, anon, and I've often felt the same as you. Our cultural heritage is rich and we are still here, a long line of people passing the Greek culture down. No matter what xenoi say, they will be eventually humbled by the truth if enough of us let the world know.
The PJO series did a big damage to us, matter how innocent it seems to the Westerners. If you check my #pjo and #rick riordan tags you'll see discussions about the books and of course the bigoted line "the gods abandoned Greece for the modern pillar of Western civilization, aka the US".
Hold on και καλή δύναμη!!!
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The more news we get on Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey the more I'm convinced this dude thinks we're still in the 1990s 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
What the hell is this???
(picture credits @margaretkart)
For comparison this is what the real Ithaca looks like:
Person: Christina, why does teen Kraken look like a woodland creature?
Me: I don't know, Person; why did I have to spent half an hour sketching the perfect expression for teen Kraken's face, only to have the whole thing ruined by my unsteady hand later? Huh? Huh? Why do such things happen?
I was really excited for this one, and messing up the inking was NOT a happy accident.
However, I liked how mini Kraken turned out, so here you go.
I still feel like the movie slapped me in the face, so I decided to post a meme.
It didn’t help.
In Greece, the 25th of March is a day of great religious and national importance. Along with the celebration of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, it is the Greek Independence Day, when is celebrated and commemorated the symbolic declaration in the monastery of Agia Lavra (Achaia,Peloponnesus) of the revolution against the Ottoman Turks, occupants of Greece. Thus began the Greek War of Independence (1821-1830),which would lead to the gradual liberation of Greece and the creation of the modern Greek state.
The countless heroic and tragic episodes of this long and bloody war,and many of its extraordinary protagonists, have inspired through time many artists,both European and Greek, to create portraits, sprawling battle scenes and introspective historical works.
These are some of them.
Click on the works to see the title and artist.
This will be a series,and this is part 1.