Greek Myths!!

I’mmmmm gonna talk about Greek mythology.

(TRIGGER WARNING: a VERY brief mention of abuse, Everything that goes along with the Medusa Myth (Sexual Assault), and generally just stuff that happens in Greek mythology. Please read at your own risk.)

This is going to be a very very unorganized post about how to properly interpret myths, or at least the way EYE interpret myths because that is the only possible correct way because I am always right and everyone should listen to me!

READ THE OLDEST VERSION OF THE MYTH.

A LOT of myths have lost their meanings over time, including figures throughout the story, meanings, details that change the ENTIRETY of the myth, they’ve been romanized (heracles/Hercules, and MEDUSA, for example), or they’ve been changed to fit perspectives for modern retellings (Icarus, Hades and Persephone, the Minotaur… ect, ect.) A good rule of thumb (not-so-fun fact: the term ‘rule of thumb’ comes from either an old law or just a general rule from the olden days, when women were more objects than people, that a husband could not beat his wife with a switch thicker than his thumb, lest it be unlawful/cruel (more cruel than unlawful)) is to just look for the oldest version you can find, because that’s. like. The source material, and you can do whatever you want with that.

I’m going to go over a few (ish) myths and MY interpretations of them, vs. what people get wrong in general.

My personal favorite: The Myth of Icarus

(I had to give my girl a shirt, but this is my FAVORITE piece of icarus. it’s called Icarus’ lament, or the lament of icarus or something like that. It’s so good. Please look it up.)

People LOVE to throw my boy’s good name around when talking about a fall from greatness, or your ‘pride getting the best of you’. I hate this. I actually despise this.

The myth of Icarus (Ἴκαρος (Ikaros) is his original name. Fun Fact: Greeks did not have a letter for C. they used S or K. Be more like the greeks.) follows a young boy, who people depict being from literally age 8 to 17. The only source I could find that could possibly talk about his age said he was 7, but it was also a deepdive into how the myth of Icarus relates to gaming and how we should all play valorant because of it. I’ll pass.0

Icarus’ father, Deadalus, was a great inventor trapped in a tower by king Minos, ruler of Crete, because something something labyrinth, something something Minotaur. Don’t care. Irrelevant (extremely relevant). Long story short, Daedalus fashions wings of feathers and wax, a pair for both him and icarus, and he and Icarus jump from the top of the tower to escape. They manage to fly with the wings. it’s more like gliding but I digress. He tells icarus not to fly too close to the sun or too close to the sea, because the wax would melt or the wings would get too heavy to fly with.

This, of course, is where the myth splits off. Most Greek myths are cautionary tales, yes, to warn of the Gods’ wrath. Fire. Love to see it. The most common telling of this myth is that, when Icarus gets out there, he gets so excited and overcome with joy for being free that he feels like a god. He looks at the sun and flies to it, believing that he is better than the gods. He scorns them. But as he flies to the sun the wax begins to melt and he falls, laughing the whole time. He dies, and Daedalus had to keep flying knowing that his son has died. This is a cautionary tale to warn against believing you are better than the gods, “flying too close to the sun” aka aiming too high and falling hard. It warns against hubris and unchecked ambition.

That’s literally not what happens. That’s the ROMAN version of the myth. Ancient Romans ruin everything.

What REALLY happened (Homer told me guys, trust) is that, while Icarus was flying, he was so overcome with joy that he felt the best he ever had. That’s, like, it. However, while Daedalus warns him not to fly too high or too low, he also warns Icarus not to fly too slow. The sky is like the gods’ airspace. They’ll be really mad. Daedalus was right, of course, because Zeus sees them flying and gets REALLY mad. He sees Icarus being happy, sure, but it’s Daedalus who has violated him and the gods by fashioning those wings. Zeus, set out to punish Daedalus, either gets Aphrodite to curse Icarus or Zeus does it himself.

They curse him to fall in love with the sun.

“IT’S GAY!!” I scream as they drag me to the padded room. “IT’S ALWAYS GAY!!” I scream as they put me in the straight jacket.

Not only is the sun, like, a male god (Both Apollo, the god of the sun, and Helios, the embodiment of the sun, are male) but that has NOTHING to do with pride. Icarus flies up to the sun, because he’s enchanted by it’s beauty and in love or whatever, and eventually crashes and burns and dies. The end!! Proper punishment for his father, because he, like, still has to live with knowing his son’s death is his fault AND fly back alone. This is me paraphrasing like crazy, the actual myth is incredibly beautiful, but this is a LOT of words as is.

Next myth, actual most popular: Medusa.

(I cannot find a picture of a statue of her that isn’t her beheaded, naked, being attacked, or AI. I am so sorry. However, the most popular statue of her is one where she’s been beheaded by perseus, and it’s SO beautiful. one of the pieces i’d love to see in real life one day. An artist made a parody of it where Medusa is holding perseus’ head as well and it’s just beautiful art. Beautiful art. oh em gosh.)

She was a gorgon. She was. Like. Born a gorgon.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Medusa myth. I love how we have, in modern times, changed it to make it better and more heartwarming. Pretty sure everyone knows the Medusa Myth. Poseidon, in his anger towards Athena and in some tellings after rejection of his advancements by the virgin priestess of athena, medusa, begins chasing after the priestess. Medusa, in fear, runs to temple of Athena and begins praying for protection, but Poseidon enters and sexually assaults her anyways. Athena, having been prayed to, sees this and curses Medusa to be a gorgon who turns anyone who looks at her to stone.

That’s a really horrible myth, and Medusa has become a symbol of sexual assault survivors worldwide. That, however, is the ROMAN version of the myth. Again. The writer of that myth was a man, who I’m pretty sure was post cathlioc takeover of rome, who wanted to scorn paganism in all forms by depicting all of the Greek gods in horrible ways. Like Athena punishing one of her own priestesses for being assaulted. Or Poseidon raping a woman. Though, I personally enjoy the modern telling of the myth as well, In which Athena sees what man does to woman uses the “Curse” more like a blessing, allowing Medusa to protect herself. And, in the original telling either way, Medusa’s ability only worked on men or whatever.

The GREEK version, though, she was just born a gorgon. And could turn people to stone. She had, like, two gorgon sisters. Perseus really killed her for points. The ability still worked only on men, though.

That’s two myths of, like, four that I mentioned? You get the rest next week. Bye bye!!! PLEASE ask me questions, literally ANY question!!!! I HEART INFODUMPING!!!!

Who is Aphrodite?

Aphrodite, her name meaning “from the seafoam”, is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, passion, pleasure, lust, among other things. She is a fiercely protective deity, a majority of her myths relating to protecting her children and guiding them.

As you can probably guess, her birth was from seafoam. I believe everyone has seen “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli, a painting in which a beautiful woman rises nude from a seashell.

Well, yep. This is the birth of Venus, Aphrodite’s Roman variant. The birth story, and overall creation myth, is typically the same between the two groups. No standing on chairs or shedding genuine tears this week, guys.

Aphrodite’s birth is one that I enjoy a lot, but it has quite a bit of misconception around it. In Hesiod’s account, Aphrodite was born when Kronos castrated his father, Uranus. There was this whole thing with the Titans holding the primordial beings’ legs and arms, while taking a scythe and yada yada yada. Not important. What is important is that when they were done doing the do Kronos, this big genius, threw the separated bits into the ocean. The blood of a primordial being (and in some version other excretions as well) mixed with seafoam and ocean water and boom! We got a goddess of beauty!

(This I really like, because literal BEAUTY and LOVE came from a guy’s junk being cut off. More specifically blood from a violent, necessary act mixing with another primordial force.. Greek Mythology is so chaotic and then such good things, like the mother of eros, THE god of love, come out of it.)

Well, we technically got her a long time after that. Some myths suggest that she was actually residing in the ocean for a long time, which would make sense. She needs time to mature, because like she was still born at some point, just like the goddess Athena (though where Athena got her armor is beyond me). She was born during the time in which Kronos overthrew his father, but there is a long time between that and Zeus throwing over his father. Theres a lot of dads eating their kids in Greek mythology. Seriously. Like it happens a LOT.

Aphrodite actually spent a long time in the ocean, even after the Olympian gods were like.. coming into power??? Question mark question mark question mark??? Look I never claimed to be an expert (don’t listen to anything Nick says). There is a myth around the early days of the Olympian gods’ rule, before they became the Olympians, that goes something like Poseidon had a lover Nerites, a young sea-god. He was also known as Poseidon’s charioteer, or the guy that drove him around. In other versions of his myth he was a lover of Aphrodite (potentially he was both), who refused to go with her when she was invited to Olympus. Which, she only really rose from the seafoam WHEN she was invited. Both versions of Nerites’ myth ends with him being turned in to THE first shellfish, though in his myth where he is the lover of Poseidon (because the gods were raging bisexuals, the lot of them) the god of requited love was actually born from.. their love. I guess. In other myths Anteros, the God of requited love and avenger of unrequited love, is a child of Aphrodite and Ares.

(This is like THE statue of Poseidon btw)

Nerite Snails: Your Guide To Lifespan, Care, And Reproduction | SnailPedia

(NERITEs was turned into a NERITE snail i actually havent ever seen any pictures of the snail he was turned into this is great)

While, yes, she did rise fully grown from the seafoam (it would be weird if the incarnation of pleasure and sex rose from the ocean as a child, would it not?) she actually spent quite a bit of time in the sea, and there are several myths involving her IN the sea. Love my girl. Aphrodite you mean so much to me. That’s this week’s blog, I SWEAR I’ll get back to the ATLA blogs soon guys I miss them Greek mythology is driving me insane

Greek Mythology (again) and acceptable ways to get into it through different medias!!

Greek mythology is my special interest, and I’m okay to admit that now. I remember when I first heard about it, I was probably six or seven and had just watched that horrendous Percy Jackson movie with my mom. I then, somehow, got my grubby little paws on a device and googled the only name I really remembered: Athena.

This opened a whole world for me to explore, with things that happened over two thousand years ago that I never thought could exist! There were multiple gods that I was introduced to, hundred of stories and names and places and even animals to learn about and experience and I was excited. I then remember my teacher, Mrs. Young from East Flora, asking my pathways class “what do you want to learn about?”

I had the conscious thought, then. “I can’t teach this to myself.” I knew that I would need to have someone else guide me and tell me who, what, when, where, etc. So, I suggested we learn about Greek Mythology. She loved the idea, and so for the next two months we studied different (age appropriate) myths, built The Parthenon out of toilet paper rolls and masking tape, learned names and correlations, we even looked a little bit into the stars and constellations!

I’m extremely thankful to my teacher, then. I’m glad there was an adult who asked what I wanted to learn, instead of teaching me what she was told to. I had an amazing gateway to Greek Mythology, even if the original source wasn’t so good. So today I want to talk about good, acceptable sources for younger kids to get into Greek mythology, and a few good ways I’ve expanded my knowledge of it as I’ve gotten older.

First and foremost: Percy Jackson

When talking about Greek Mythology in media, Percy Jackson is the first place my brain goes to. It has wonderful modern adaptations of the Gods into an easy to digest, true-to-myth form. The intepretaions of each god that Rick portrays is almost always interesting, fun, and doesn’t take away from the original concept of each god. While in the first series Rick does make some.. choice mistakes, especially regarding the myth of Medusa, he manages to fix his mistakes in a way that doesn’t completely override any horrible storyline.

Percy Jackon, a young boy and the demigod son of Poseidon, is ~~being hunted by~~ called by Mount Olympus and the Olympian Gods, as Zeus’ weapon, the lightning bolt, is missing; They believe he is the thief, when he didn’t even know that he was a demigod until, like, a week before. This book, and the following books, explores Percy’s story in navigating familiar and unfamiliar myths (Some I hadn’t even heard of until I read the books when I was fourteen!)

Overall, the series is one of my favorites. As a gateway into further interest in Greek Mythology all one has to do is consider that his is a children’s book and has to be dumbed down or explained differently for entertainment purposes. 10/10.

Second: The Song of Achillies (And other works by Madeline Miller)

Madeline Miller is such a talented author, from her writing style to how well she captures the parts of myths that we don’t really see. It’s true that we have little, if any, information on Circe besides what is gathered within the Odyssey, even though she is a recurring figure throughout several myths. Consider Madeline Miller’s work as a sort of in-between, and an amazing one at that. Her storytelling with the upbringing of Patroclus is so beautifully told, especially since he is a figure often overlooked despite being so pivotal for Achillies’ story in the Iliad. With both of her books being a kind of in-between, it is entirely possible to read them and get into Greek Mythology that way, by exploring three characters deeply then going into the much broader myths.. even if the ending of Circe is quite odd. Her books are such a creative take on the Iliad and a telling of Circe’s story that I will always ALWAYS recommend these books to people. 10/10

Third: EPIC THE MUSICAL

Just like the last section, Epic the Musical is written and directed (? I’m not sure, I don’t know musicals or music in general) Jorge Rivera-Herrans, which released over two years, each song coming out one at a time from 2022 through to 2024. The musical follows Odysseus, using wonderful modern storytelling to re-tell the odyssey in way it’s meant to be told. I genuinely have no words for how good this musical is. The only complaint I have about it is that, well, Odysseus does cheat on his wife. Sorry not sorry. Greeks had much different standards than we do today.

That being said, I have NOT touched on some of the.. worse ways people have gotten into greek mythology cough Lore Olympus cough cough really bad webtoon cough cough ANYWAYS!!!!!

This is the end of the blog!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! If anyone else likes Greek mythology, how did you discover it? and let me know if you’d want to learn anything about Greek mythology because I know TOO much!!! Blog ideas are welcomed because I need them, lol.