#Minoan squid

[seaofwine]

Cephalopod Spotting @ National Archaeological Museum, Athens

#Minoan squid #Mycenaean squid #squids #Ancient Greece #hellenic polytheism #hellenic paganism #athensposting #Minoan #tagamemnon

[homerstroystory]

inspired by a VERY excited tag someone left on a pic of a minoan-style squid

#isaac.jpg

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 9 of Gideon the Ninth

It's actually hilarious that Harrow just left a whole bunch of snippy little notes for Gideon, and knew exactly where to put them/where she would look, I can't actually manage that even with snippy little notes I leave for myself. Or maybe Harrow actually left a ton of other snippy little notes that Gideon just didn't notice? I can't decide which of those ideas is better

Probably woefully incomplete list of things that Gideon doesn't know about:

Tea

Sinks

Bathtubs

NIghttime

and she describes bread as "yeast bread" which makes me wonder what the fuck kind of bread they have on Pluto usually. Do they just use baking powder? Yeast is probably hard to get on Pluto, but certainly not like, any harder than wheat, surely, and if Earth is an hour away by shuttle, you'd think it would be easy to get basic life-sustaining stuff like bread?

Also, like, I know we are doing the medieval-aesthetic-in-space thing, but like, plumbing is not advanced technology, our Middle Ages were just a bit whack like that. The fucking ancient Minoans had pressurized indoor plumbing and flush toilets, I'm just saying, it is not that difficult to make some water go down some pipes. Also, like, they clearly have non-water-based alternatives, but I don't think plumbing ever actually becomes obsolete. You kind of need it for basic sanitation stuff, any high tech replacement for it would probably cost way more and ultimately not be necessary anyway, since plumbing is not a hard problem. If the issue is just that Pluto doesn't have water... that's dumb, because Pluto needs water anyway, because water is like the #1 most incredibly basic necessity for sustaining life in any context

Gideon talks about necromancers "programming" skeletons, which instantly makes necromancy 10000% more interesting to me as a programmer. I would love to know more about how this works, but since Gideon is the narrator I suspect that will not happen. I'm guessing Harrow narrates the next book, though, so maybe then?

Ianthe really seems to love mocking her sister for being dumb, she is going to have an absolute blast with Gideon

Who the hell has twins that are both the heir to your house, and then names one of them "Corona"? This is like in the Sims 2 when the Pleasants named their twins "Angela" and "Lillith", and then were like shocked pikachu face when Lillith grew up to be the "evil" twin

Ianthe's line to Gideon sounds like a threat (if only one of the twins is a necromancer, it's definitely Ianthe), but I have no idea what she thinks Gideon has done to merit this?

Actually, since necromancy seems to be inherited, it should theoretically be possible for an heir to a house to not be a necromancer, although it seems to be implied so far that they all are, or are all assumed to be. Like, if Corona isn't a necromancer, why was she sent to First House in the first place? Are there like, necromancer squids?

Ianthe definitely doesn't have a skeletal arm yet, since Gideon would have mentioned that. I wonder how that happens?

#the locked tomb #gideon the ninth

[downwithpeople]

🎵

minoans - giant squid

Centuries of bronze bestow upon us endless peace and meat Dominate the waves and fortress walls become obsolete All of the Aegean sea bows in the shadow of Crete

#ask meme

[meikuree]

fanfic author self-recs

thank you @chocochipbiscuit for tagging me - this was a delightful challenge! tagging @rose-gardens @mikbates @pretty-rage-machine @mariaaxescallop @leksaa90 @ostreatus @minoan-ophidian​ and anyone else who’d like to do this.

diving in, my five:

1) the sun coming out (Jiyeong/Kang Saebyeok) - Squid Game: wrote this for a lovely recip in an exchange, who liked/wanted post-canon fic. in practice I like exploring aftermaths & fix-its where people’s road(s) to happiness still have to be worked for and not every kink’s been smoothed out, and this fic is a prime example of that for me.

alternative tldr: “LOOK at the parallels between jiyeong and saebyeok. LOOK at them” fic complete with cooking and partial recovery. I’m deeply lucky my recip enabled my, uh, runaway domestic jiyeong/saebyeok aspirations and the latitude to write all that. <3

2) the slow mending (Pieck/Hange) - Shingeki no Kyojin: wrote this for a prescient friend -- my concept line was something like... political & historical differences patched through the good old reliable tactic of learning to read, understand, and trust your enemies. I’m still fond of this bit:

So Hange, conscious of historical precedence—what they have both usually done to each other in encounters like this, her titan’s gravestone teeth in Shiganshina and their aggression in Liberio—tries something new instead. They clasp her clean hand in theirs, and draw it close against their face. At the sensation of the contact-burn, her elevated shifter heat kissing their fingers, Hange very gently presses their lips to her hand.

3) to walk along the edge (Pieck/Annie) - Shingeki no Kyojin: this was a sophomore fic; some parts induce the facepalm emoji now, but I’m also surprised by how well certain parts hold up, and I think of this in some ways as a magnum opus.

despite the heavy subject matter and unhappy ending, I’ve been told this fic is comforting, and that humbles me. I sometimes find sad and bittersweet stories more comforting than staunchly happy ones myself; whether consciously or not, I think my writing here came from that same place.

4) blood to gold (Pieck/Hange) - Shingeki no Kyojin: looking back now this fic set up all my Classic Hits like, grief/mourning, hope amidst bleakness, thoughtful narrative voices, and so on. I wrote this shortly after reading the widely circulated essay Against the Logic of the Guillotine. I still like these lines:

Vengeance feels like a guillotine—an entity that wants justice to be served with a swift, purifying cut. Let history renew itself on a clean slate free of enemies.

5) the centre cannot hold (genfic; Hitch & Annie) - SNK: situational horror! missing scenes! stoic characters having said stoicism eroded! the slippage of time and memory; writing this was a blast.

#my fic #tag meme #meikuree talks #snk #aot #pikuhan #hitchannie #squid game #jiyeong #kang saebyeok #pikuani #pieckannie #pieckan #saebyeong #pieck finger #annie leonhart #hange zoe #hitch dreyse #pieck #shingeki no kyojin #queue bill

[fresne999]

Hero's Heart Like Burning

I wrote/self-published another book: Hero's Heart Like Burning.

It's a historical political mystery set in Classical Greece with gods and monsters, and features a m/m romance. The main character Aeschylus is a former naval captain of the city state of  Aegina, which was a major Hellenic naval and trading power in the 8th-6th centuries B.C.E. 

Also, a major rival of that other little city-state you may have heard about, Athens. Which is why five years before the story is set, Aeschylus returned home to find that Aegina and Athens were engaged in escalating rounds of municipal kidnappings. This became his problem when he was appointed Captain of the City Guard. Which amounts to him, a junior guard, and five enslaved rod-bearers. Alas, though Aeschylus stopped the kidnappings (he's not responsible for negotiating the return of the municipal hostages - that's a city council problem), he's not able to hire a decent guardsman. So after the latest failure turns out to be a drunk as well as a thief, he does what any desperate man would do. He climbs up to the local Acropolis and prays to Ares to send him an old soldier, tired of wars. Someone who has put aside dreams of glory and the treasure to be gotten in battle. 

But he decides the gods can't tell the difference between young soldiers and old soldiers. Because Ares sends him Thêritas of Thrace, a young hottie with new-made weapons and secrets that Aeschylus has no time to explore. What with all the mysterious events and outright miracles that start happening. We're talking about a baby born from a tree, courtesans with an ax to grind, a rain of squid during an election/near riot, and Athenian statue stealing athletes. That sort of thing.  It's up to Aeschylus and his new and attractive recruit to figure out what's going on. 

The story is a mix of "real" historical events as recorded by Herodotus and various myths. Aegina and Athens were big rivals back in the day. It's just that Aegina's glory set after the sea battle of Salamis, where they played a significant role in defeating the Persians, which in turn mean the King of Persia went, "Fine, no sweet deal access to trade ports in the Levant and Egypt for you." 

While writing it, it seemed to take forever. In reality it was more like 7 months. These days one of my methods of editing a book is write the thing, record the audio and edit the audio. It makes me take a step back from the story I'm writing and really think about it. This led to…edits. And re-recording of audio. Sometimes for plot reasons. Sometimes for voice crackle. Sometimes because I just couldn't decide how the chthonic Minoan-ish goddess should sound. You know, writerly problems. 

Here's some links for those interested.

e-book Smashwords, Amazon

Audio Amazon, Google Play, Libro, Scribd, and others

#fiction #original fiction #fantasy #m/m romance #greek mythology

[windsroad]

omg everyone in the tags is calling it the minoan squid. it's a very famous piece and it's an octopus.

#pointlesspointless #you can count the arms there's 8

[maquina-semiotica]

Giant Squid, "Minoans"

#Giant Squid #Spotify

[historieofbeafts]

Anything about cephalopods? Squids, octopi, those types?

The first and most important thing about octopuses is that they show up in the best movement in art history: Minoan Marine Style pottery. The first piece pictured below is from Crete circa 1500 BCE & it rules. The Mycenaeans clearly shared this (extremely correct) opinion, because they copied the style in their own pottery, like the second example from 1375-1300 BCE:

[Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, photo: Wolfgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 3.0]

[ © The Trustees of the British Museum]

Naturalists, on the other hand, were not a fan of polyps (usually octopuses, but could extend to squid/kraken) & considered them deeply malicious:

“Terribly greedy and for ever plotting some evil” -Aelian

“There is not an animal in existence, that is more dangerous for its powers of destroying a human being when in the water. Embracing his body, it counteracts his struggles, and draws him under with its feelers and its numerous suckers, when, as often is the case, it happens to make an attack upon a shipwrecked mariner or a child. If, however, the animal is turned over, it loses all its power; for when it is thrown upon the back, the arms open of themselves.” - Pliny the Elder

The standout bestiary examples are from Der naturen bloeme, where they’re either delicately cradling victims:

[KB 76 E 4, fol. 69r]

or providing an entirely literal interpretation of “fish with arms”:

[KB 76 E 4, fol. 75v; KB KA 16, fol.116v]

#asks #octopus #squid #sea monsters #if you have a minute I seriously recommend googling Minoan pottery #it slaps

[heroicallynude]

My absolute favourite kind of pottery has to be the minoan squid vases. They're so charming. So cartoony! So full of life! Delightful.

#ancient greece #greek pottery #minoan #squid #tagammemnon #archaeology #classical archaeology

[ashmoleanmuseum]

Cephalopod Week

This week is #CephalopodWeek!

A cephalopod refers to any member of the molluscan class of Cephalopoda, including squid, octopus or nautilus. These marine animals are characterised by bilateral body symmetry, prominent heads and a set of arms or tentacles. Despite most cephalopods' ability to change colour and camouflage, did you know that most of them are considered functionally colour blind?

We'll stop right there and leave the science to our friends at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Here are a few masters of camouflage from the collection, including a huge octopus jar from the Palace at Knossos, Crete, made around 1450–1400BC.

Minoan clay octopus storage jar (pithos) from the Palace at Knossos, Crete, made around 1450–1400BC.

18th-century Japanese sword guard (tsuba) in the form of two awabi shells with an octopus.

A squid, by Suzuki Nanrei (1775-1844). Ink on paper c. 1830.

#Ashmolean #Ashmolean Museum #Museum #Oxford #Oxford University #Squid #Octopus #Marine Life #Conservation #Cephalopod #Cephalopod Week #Knossos #Crete #Minoan Art #Japanese Art #Tsuba #Painting #Ceramics #History #Archaeology #Antiquity

[seaofwine]

Big day for the seaofwine household

#I’m on my own ‘to rob’ list #Minoan squid my beloved #athensposting

[inprnt]

"Late Minoan Ceramics" by Flora on INPRNT

#print #art #illustration #fish #cute #culture #classics #pottery #ancient history #ancient greek #minoan #hellenic #octopus #history #squid #ancient greece #ceramics #aegean #archaeology #minos #INPRNT"

[apopheniaseries]

Here’s another inspiration for the cover of Sex, Drugs and Tales of Wonder—a squid painted on a Minoan pilgrim bottle from Palekastro, Crete (now in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum).

#lilac fever #sex drugs and tales of wonder #Yanko Tsvetkov #book #inspiration #book cover #pilgrim bottle #archaeology #ceramics #Minoan art #Minoan civilization #Crete #mythology #squid #sea monster

[bizarrobrain]

"Sixty Foot Waves" by Giant Squid - From "Minoans" (2014)

#Giant Squid #Minoans #Music #Progressive Metal #Progressive Rock #Bandcamp

[morska-trava]

I present to thee.... a squid tree.

Ft. @minoan-ophidian, my beloved roommate.

#tis the season... for cursed content #personal #ok to rb #ligenj tag #pat