midwestern-maenad

[midwestern-maenad]

Source

Video of Tama

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[midwestern-maenad]

ares chain because we love ares :)

reblog with ares content <3

[midwestern-maenad]

[midwestern-maenad]

“You will pay for your vile cleverness.”

“And you, for your ignorance and impiety to the god.”

I gave up on the hand in the initial sketch so ignore that, but i’ve been obsessed w the bacchae recently so here’s a doodle

[midwestern-maenad]

I bought a Demeter statue today!!

#pretty!! #I think I recognize that style too #they have a Dionysus statue I think that currently is like. WAY out of my budget #but what a pretty statue this is!

[midwestern-maenad]

The humans in Greek Mythology are the mega rich and powerful:

In my college classes people are often shocked when I tell them my favorite part of Greek mythology is the gods themselves and I'm not a big fan of the humans.

99% of my classmates prefer the humans in mythos, especially the ones that stick it to the gods like Sisyphus and feel bad for humans like Kassandra and Helen who have been wronged by the gods because "they're just like us." My classmates and teachers hate the gods and don't understand why anyone in modern times would want to worship such violent and selfish beings whenever I point out there are still people who worship them. They hold onto the idea that people in mythology embody the human experience of being oppressed by terrible gods and fate and we should feel bad for them because "they're human just like us" but they forget that the people in Greek Mythology are NOT just like us. They are more relatable to medieval royalty, colonizers and ultra rich politicians who make laws and decisions on wars and the fates of others, especially the poor and the very vulnerable.

Every hero or important human in Greek Mythology is either some form of royalty or mega rich politician/priest-priestess (of course this is with the exception of people who are explicitly stated to be poor like the old married couple in the myth where Zeus and Hermes pretend to be panhandlers). All of them have an ancient Greek lifestyle more relatable to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and especially to British royalty during the British empire, than the average person.

All of them.

Odysseus, Patroclus, Theseus, Helen of Troy, Kassandra, Diomedes, Agamemnon, Perseus, Hercules, Aeneas, Paris, Any human who has a divine parent or is related to one, etc. Although sometimes the story omits it, it is heavily implied that these are people who own hundreds or even thousands of slaves, very poor farmers and the tiny barely there working class as royal subjects.

They are the ones who make laws and whose decisions massively affect the fates of so many people. So no, they can't just be forgiven for some little whim, because that little whim affects the literal lives of everyone under their rule. By being spoiled they've just risked the lives of thousands of people and possibly even gotten them killed like when Odysseus' audacity got every single slave and soldier in his ships killed or when Patroclus as a kid got upset and killed another kid for beating him at a game. (A normal person wouldn't kill another person just for winning a game but royalty and those who think they're above the law do it all the time, plus the class status of the child wasn't mentioned but the way he didn't think he'd get in trouble implies the kid was of lower class, possibly the child of a slave or a foreign merchant.)

The gods get a bad reputation for punishing the humans in mythology but, if not them, who else is going to keep them accountable when they are the law?

And whose to say the humans beneath them weren't praying to the gods in order to keep their masters in check?

Apollo is the god in charge of freeing slaves, Zeus is the god of refugees, immigrants and homeless people, Ares is the protector of women, Artemis protects children, Aphrodite is the goddess of the LGBT community, Hephaestus takes care of the disabled, etc. It wouldn't be surprising if the gods are punishing the ultra rich and powerful in these myths because the humans under their rulership prayed and sent them as they did historically.

Every time someone asks me if I feel bad for a human character in a myth, I think about the many lives affected by the decision that one human character made and if I'm being completely honest, I too would pray to the gods and ask them to please punish them so they can make more careful decisions in the future because:

They are not just like us.

We are the farmers, a lot of our ancestors were slaves, we are the vulnerable being eaten by capitalism and destroyed by the violence colonialism created. We are the poor subjects that can only pray and hope the gods will come and correct whatever selfish behavior the royal house and mega rich politicians are doing above us.

And that's why I pray to the gods, because in modern times I'm dealing with modern Agamemnons who would kill whatever family members they have to in order to reach their end goal, I'm dealing with everyday modern Achilles who would rather see their own side die because they couldn't keep their favorite toy and would gladly watch their subjects die if it means they eventually get their way. The ones that let capitalism eat their country and it's citizens alive so long as it makes them more money. These are our modern "demigods," politicians who swear they are so close to God that they know what he wants and so they pass laws that benefit only them and claim these laws are ordained by God due to their close connection just like how Achilles can speak to the gods because of his demigod status via his mother.

Look at the news, these are humans that would be mythical characters getting punished by Greek gods which is why anything Greco-Roman is jealousy guarded by the rich and powerful and is inaccessible to modern worshippers because Ivy League schools like Harvard and Cambridge make sure to keep it that way. That's what we're dealing with. These are the humans these mythical beings would be because:

In our modern times the humans in mythos would be the politicians and mega rich that are currently ruining our society and trying to turn it into a world where only the rich can manipulate wars and laws, just like they do in mythology.

Fuck them.

I literally have so much more to add about my disdain for them and I didn't even touch on the obvious ancient Greek propaganda.

[midwestern-maenad]

Eid Mubarak to all of you who are celebrating. I know it's hard to get in the spirit this year as so many Palestinians spend their Eid starving and in tents but I hope your Eid is full of peace and love. May we see a free Palestine by next Eid.

[midwestern-maenad]

Feather River Bulletin, Quincy, California, March 20, 1924

[midwestern-maenad]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

JOHN AUSTEN

In the 1930s, the Limited Editions Club sent out a list of titles to selected artists and asked them to choose a book to illustrate and present their ideas for illustrations. The well-established English book illustrator and wood engraver John Austen replied that he wished to illustrate The Frogs by Aristophanes even though it did not appear on the list. His proposal and preliminary designs were so strong that the Club agreed. Austin provided 28 wood engravings and an edition of 1500 copies were printed at the venerable Haarlem, Netherlands, printing house of Joh. Enschedé en Zonen and signed by the artist.

View all 28 engravings at the Book Graphics blogspot.

View our other posts with illustrations by John Austen.

View more posts on works by the Limited Editions Club.

View other posts related to the Enschedé firm.

View more posts with wood engravings!

#ohhhh gorgeous

[midwestern-maenad]

“There is no cure for madness when the cure itself is mad” | Illustration for Euripides’ The Bacchae

linktree

[midwestern-maenad]

“There is no cure for madness when the cure itself is mad” | Illustration for Euripides’ The Bacchae

linktree

[midwestern-maenad]

[midwestern-maenad]

Here’s some other photos from today’s acropolis wanderings! 1. Altar of Dionysos near the various incarnations of the temples to Dionysos Eleuthereus. 2. Theatre of Dionysos where the City Dionysia competitions were held. 3. Erecteion. 4. Parthenon. 5. View of Athens from the acropolis. 6. Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

[midwestern-maenad]

"Much of the information about Elgabalus is exaggerations from her political enemies." Yes, but I also know half a dozen Tgirls who would immediately start despotic imperial sex cults if they were made empress of Rome at 18.

[midwestern-maenad]

The City Dionysia begins now!

About the Festival

The City Dionysia is a yearly festival in honour of Dionysos, Lord of Wine and Theatre. In ancient Athens, it was celebrated with a theatrical competition featuring tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays.

This blog serves to bring this competition into a modern scope by allowing Hellenic polytheists to submit their own creative pieces in honour of Dionysos.

Currently there are no prizes for winning, the competition only aims to be a fun way to bring the City Dionysia to life as a communal event for modern worshippers.

Categories

The categories for this edition are the same as last year, that is:

Retelling of Classic myths

Original myths

Poetry

Art (digital or traditional)

2024 Timeline

Submission openings: February 10th

Submission closing: March 10th

Vote opening: March 11th

Vote closing: March 18th

Winner announcement: March 19th

Rules for submissions

Roleplay and fanfic are not allowed in submissions. This is a religious festival, please respect our faith and do not submit an entry if you are roleplaying or writing fanfiction.

Submissions do not need to revolve specifically around Dionysos, but they must be created in honour of the Hellenic pantheon.

All stories, myths, poems, and art pieces must be entered using the submissions button.

All entries must be tagged for the category they are being submitted to.

Entries must also be tagged for potentially triggering content, squicks, and anything NSFW.

An entry may only be submitted to a single category.

Each person may only submit one entry per category each year.

Participants are the owners of their work and have full rights over their submission. Should a third party be interested in publishing/distributing/using a submission for whatever purpose, permission is to be asked to the original creator of the piece. The admins of this blog have no say in this matter.

Winners for each category will be decided by popular vote.

Happy creating and Io Dionysos!

[midwestern-maenad]

i think the fastest and most effective prayer to any God in an emergency is just "[insert name], please help me". specifics are good in like, formal situations, but let me tell you: i parked my car in mud which froze overnight (temps in my area dropped from 50 degrees fahrenheit down to about 10 degrees with windchill), and after trying for almost a full hour to get my car unstuck from the mud, i just stared vacantly to the sky and said "Hermes, please help." and wouldn't you know it, about three minutes later my car's wheels somehow managed to gain traction and the frozen mud around them loosened enough to actually allow me to back out.

i have more thoughts on this whole (very good) incident namely involving a tiktok by olympianbutch on invocations (not tagging him because i'm not writing that essay yet), the power of the names of the Gods, and how the Gods are very, very, very good. but it's almost 3am and my brain is potatoes, so we'll post that all some other time :)

for now, i'll give a simple thank You Hermes for getting me unstuck from the mud <3

[midwestern-maenad]

My classmates: The gods are cruel.

Me: To who? The Rich and powerful? About time someone taught them some manners and basic human decency.

My classmates: How can you be okay with that?

Me: I will never sympathise with someone who owns slaves.

Gentle reminder: the humans in Greek Mythology are mega rich and powerful. They rely on colonialism and slavery.

Just because the myth has elements of tragedy doesn't mean they deserve your sympathy.

#yeah #a lot of people tend to forget that