The Give No Fucks Playlist (aka The I Don’t Care How Much You Hate It We’re Playing It Full Blast)

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller

Rating: No Good Genre: Fantasy Representation: Gay men, Greek/Mediterranean cast Trigger Warnings: rape, rape culture, explicit sex scenes, child sexualization, exotified ethnicity, character death

I stopped reading The Song of Achilles a third of the way through.  I started the novel with high hopes, as The Song of Achilles promised to be an exploration of the romantic relationship between Achilles and Patroclus—taking what The Iliad only implied and putting it to paper.

Here’s what I was hoping for: an honest exploration of the ancient Greek conception of sexuality, taking into account that homoeroticism that we today would call “homosexual” was not considered part of one’s sexual identity, simply what one did (in addition to taking a wife, of course).  What would a boy growing up in (mythical) ancient Greece, a land where even Zeus took male lovers, think about his own romantic and sexual desires?  Does he desire only men (in The Song of Achilles this is true of both Achilles and Patroclus), and what does that mean for him personally, as compared to what it would mean for us today?

Here’s what I got: The Song of Achilles reads very much like the erotic fantasy of a straight woman about gay men.  I was made personally uncomfortable, especially considering how young the characters are in the first 3rd of the book (9-16). The Song of Achilles revisits tired tropes that seem very out of place in the ancient Greek setting–a culture notorious for its fluid sexuality. Thetis (Achilles’ mother) behaves more like a small town republican than a goddess. She’s upset that Achilles and Patroclus kiss and makes it her mission to separate them. This makes absolutely no sense considering that, as a goddess, she should be above the petty who’s-kissing-who of mortals, and makes even less sense when you consider that Zeus himself took male lovers. The bigotry is only included in the text because Miller has no idea how to deal with queer characters outside of the angst of the present day.  I was expecting this story to at least acknowledge that ancient Greece is not the same as Victorian England just because both periods happened out of living memory.

Neither Achilles nor Patroclus consider themselves as part of a greater social context.  If Patroclus really had exclusive feelings towards men, there would be some internal narrative exploring how he feels about his feelings–how does he see himself fitting into his culture? Instead, the entire narrative focuses on the external–how attractive Achilles is, and the external consequences for their relationship (such as the disapproval of Achilles’ mother). This is what really convinced me that this book was written for straight readers. A coming of age story about queer children, yet they spare no thought for their own identities? No thoughts of the future, or considerations of whether there are others like them? I would have been incredibly interested in a well-researched novel which explores the unique challenges (and enjoyment!) of queerness in an ancient context. That would have been a truly unique novel. The Song of Achilles, however, reads like Miller read one Alex Sanchez novel and thought she was somehow qualified to write this book.

Further, Miller struggles with separating her own voice from the voice of her first person narrator, which makes for some very uncomfortable narration surrounding the bodies of 9-13 year old children. Patroclus, 9 at the time, describes Achilles as “still plump with childhood” and with “hair lit like honey in the sun.” Later, at 13, Achilles is “supple.” This is the language not of a child, but of an adult observing childhood. A child would never say another child their age was “still plump with childhood.” Patroclus’ voice gets lost in Miller’s desire to write in a sophisticated style, which has the horrible repercussion of making her novel voyeuristic.

Related to this is the fact that Miller exotifies the nationalities of her characters. Everyone has “skin the color of freshly pressed olive oil” which is so silly coming from the point of view of Patroclus, who has grown up seeing Mediterranean people all his life–and looking just like them. Frankly, it’s racist. It’s a white woman looking in and impressing her own observations, not the observations of a young Greek boy, on the narrative. Some further racism: Achilles, hyperattractive demi-god that he is, is portrayed as “whiter” than everyone else–and his beauty is almost always described by the color of his “golden” skin. His hair is honey and his eyes are green, in contrast to the dark eyes and the “nut-brown” bodies of the rest of the Greeks.

So, not only is The Song of Achilles a disappointment for queer readers looking for good representation, it’s not that well written, constantly breaking point of view to give us an uncomfortable dose of child sexualization and racism. The premise of this novel had a lot of potential, but Miller couldn’t follow through with an inoffensive execution.

For more info on Madeline Miller, here’s her website

Historically Accurate Offerings to the Theoi

Zeus

Oak

Carnations

Olive branches

Styrax incense

Eagle, bull, swan images

Hera

Lilies

Peacock feathers or images

Pomegranate

Incenses

Cuckoo images

Athena

Olive branch/oil/fruit

Weavings

Myrrh incense

Perfume

Owl images

Apollon

Laurel

Red roses, sunflowers

Frankincense (manna) incense

Palm tree

Raven, swan, wolf, mouse, dolphin images

Artemis

Cedar, palm and cypress trees

Tokens of deer

Jasmine

Myrtle, white flowers

Frankincense (manna) incense

Amaranthus

Peanut

Wormwood

Deer, dog, bear, partidge, quail images

Hestia

Incenses

Chaste-tree

Pig images

Poseidon

Sea anemone

Myrrh incense

Pine

Bull, dolphin, horse images

Dionysos

Ivy

Grape vine

Pine

Styrax incense

Leopard, panther, donkey, bull images

Hermes

Tongue-shaped tokens

Rosemary, saffron

Almond tree and pine tree

Frankincense and styrax incense

Mint (for Kthonios epithet)

Cow, ram, hawk, turtle, hare images

Wild strawberry (purslane)

Ares

Bronze weapons

Frankincense (manna) incense

Swan, vulture, dragon/poisonous snake, owl images

Aphrodite

Roses, myrtle, anemone (poppy)

Quince

Apple, pomegranate

Perfumes and fragrances as incense

Dove, goose, sparrow, turtle images

Hephaistos

Daisies

Frankincense (manna) incense

Donkey, dog, crane images

Asklepios

Frankincense (manna) incense

Bread

Serpent, dog, goose, rooster images

Pan

Pine, beech trees

Fern

Wild flowers

Herbs burnt as incense and the smell of perfumes

Reeds

Goat, turtle images

Demeter

Poppy

Tokens of pigs

Styrax incense

Mint (for Kthonia epithet)

Wheat

Dove, bee, pig images

Persephone

Asphodel

Wheat

Hades

Pitchfork

Pomegranate

Daffodil

Styrax incense

Dried laurel leaves

Poplar, cypress trees

Mint

Daffodil

Hekate

Saffron

Rosemary

Garlic

Red Mullet

Amphiphon (candy)

Styrax incense

Dry laurel leaves

Oak

Ferret, dog, bull, lioness images

Source: LABRYS’ Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship and Theoi.com

Women Self Defense in 1947

July 27, 2018 - 22:28 pm to 2:28 am

4 Hours of Longest Lunar Eclipse sped in to 1 minute. 🕚🌑🌒🌕🌖🌘🕐

ETRUSCAN ART: 

THE art of the Etruscans, who flourished in central Italy between the 8th and 3rd century BCE, is renowned for its vitality and often vivid colouring. Wall paintings were especially vibrant and frequently capture scenes of Etruscans enjoying themselves at parties and banquets. Terracotta additions to buildings were another Etruscanspeciality, as were carved bronze mirrors and fine figure sculpture in bronze and terracotta. Minor arts are perhaps best represented by intricate gold jewellery pieces and the distinctive black pottery known as bucchero whose shapes like the kantharos cup would inspire Greek potters.

The identification of what exactly is Etruscan art - a difficult enough question for any culture - is made more complicated by the fact that Etruria was never a single unified state but was, rather, a collection of independent city-states who formed both alliances and rivalries with each other over time. These cities, although culturally very similar, nevertheless produced artworks according to their own particular tastes and whims. Another difficulty is presented by the consequences of the Etruscans not living in isolation from other Mediterranean cultures. Ideas and art objects from Greece, Phoenicia, and the East reached Etruria via the long-established trade networks of the ancient Mediterranean.

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Random Fact #915

According to Ancient Greek myth, the first spider was a woman named Arachne who bragged she could spin better than the goddesses themselves (which, if you’re not familiar with Ancient Greek culture, is a big no-no). As punishment, she was transformed into the first spider.

Spiders’ class name in taxonomy, Arachnid, is a reference to Arachne.

Lanzarote, Spain: british artist Jason Decaires Taylor has finally completed his monumental underwater project Museo Atlantico.

Temple of Dionysus (Temple IV)

Yria, Naxos, Greece

580-570 BCE

28,5m x 13,5 m

Ionic order (One of the earliest uses)

Around 580-570 BCE, work began on the fourth and largest temple of Yria, the only one of which remains are visible, and the only one to have been restored. It is an archaic hekatompedon (30 m. long) temple of the Ionic style. It is built of local granο-diorite rock, and it has an Adyton (innermost sanctuary for a mystery cult), marble portico (prostasis) with columns forming a monumental entrance, and a marble altar. Τwο tetrastyle marble colonnades divide the building into three aisles. 

The temple is divided into three naves by two rows of four columns of Ionic order, each of which consists of two or three marble drums. The Adyton is separated from the cella by a second monumental gate. The hearth, found inside the temple, was of marble and was used for libations. 

After all, many people are interested in getting started with strength training and want to know what workout routine to follow. Now, developing a workout routine for yourself can be scary, but it’s really not too difficult and kind of fun once you understand the basics.

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