Norse Mythology From A To Z:

Norse mythology from A to Z:

[E] - Eostre, according to the stories, is a goddess associated with flowers and springtime.

Eostre first makes her appearance in literature about thirteen hundred years ago in the Venerable Bede’s Temporum Ratione. Bede tells us that April is known as Eostremonath, and is named for a goddess that the Anglo-Saxons honored in the spring.

Interestingly, Eostre doesn’t appear anywhere in Germanic mythology, and despite assertions that she might be a Norse deity, she doesn’t show up in the poetic or prose Eddas either. However, she could certainly have belonged to some tribal group in the Germanic areas, and her stories may have just been passed along through oral tradition.

Briseis: I spy with my little eye, something that starts with an ‘s’.

Automedon: Salt? A snake?

Automedon: Sand?

Patroclus and Achilles: [staring at each other]

Automedon: Sexual tension?

[2021] Ares again~

Greek mythology from A to Z:

[H] - Hestia (Ἑστία) is the goddess of the hearth, the family and the home. Cronus’ and Rhea’s first-born child, she was pure and peaceful.

Ares: But, Father, don't you care about my feelings too?! Zeus: Aww, Ares. Zeus: No, of course not.

"I Love You" - An Analysis Of Zeus's Relationship To Hera, And All It's Complexities

Requested by @sworebytheriverstyx to expand on what I meant in this post, so I decided to write upon it! Also @withlovefromolympus bc I can <3

Enjoy!

So in the post mentioned above, I stated that in every interaction Zeus has with his wife, Hera, he would end it with an "I love you", but with time, the meaning/connotation/perception has changed (and maybe connotation wasn't the right word for that post... idk, it was late and now idc *shrugs*). Now, what do I mean by that? Many things.

In the beginning, back when Zeus was trying to seduce Hera or even further into the beginnings of their actual relationship, Zeus used this phrase as a way of connection. Of flattery and of security. That no matter what, he will always love her. And he meant this phrase fully and genuinely each time, showing to her that even when his mind was always occupied, or even angered, he will always love her. He would whisper it after their small fights or during a long night of sleep deprivation and trying to rule a newly-formed kingdom. A connection, a bridge for him to give as she walked upon it and stayed close to him.

Hera loved this. She was and never will be a person of physical and shown affection, especially as public as their lives may be as King and Queen, so Zeus doing all the work for them, to keep that connection verbally while she may be too shy to do it in any other place than their bed, is really appreciated. It warms her heart to know that, no matter what, he will love her. That, no matter if their hands cannot touch each other in the way they both want them to, his words will connect them. That she can take those vibrations and wrap them in her wind, have them echo and vibrate around her as she sometimes travels far away from him. It is their connection. Their Purpose together as King and Queen.

It starts out affectionate.

Then... it turns to something else.

She catches him cheating. They fight and throw things at each other, hurtling insults and trying at their power dynamics. She turns her back on him to leave (flee) and, still, he always whispers those three words. "I love you," comes from his lips and she's fooled each time. She comes back to their chambers warm and waiting, her skin icy cold but those words always trying to warm her from her core. He says it each and every time and, suddenly, it's not intimate anymore. Her skin is too cold and they are said to often, to thrown away, to carry their warmth to her core anymore. The connotation is different now. It's like he's trying to ask for her forgiveness. That their three words will make any difference in the already-determined outcome. She forbids him from saying it in their bedroom anymore, eventually extending that ban to all of Olympus. He tries to push her, to continue saying it, but she stands her ground by leaving it. She does not care if he says it anyway. They are not them anymore.

Zeus still tries. He seeks his wife out in the dark, in places nobody could possibly see her so she could maybe open a little more up. She tries to flee and, in the beginning, he lets her, but he tightens his grip more and more as he realizes they aren't getting anywhere. To him, the words are still a sign of their Love. Mortals preach and preach about loving someone forever, that people change but if you love them enough, then they will stay with you. He's tried everything with Hera. Talking, taking her out on dates, and Tartarus! he's even attempted to stay faithful for a long time for her, just enough for her to settle down for them to have a proper Talk! But Hera wouldn't budge and the longing for a mortal's softness, for a mortal's insignificance, was too much when his bed was already becoming too cold. At first, it was a release. A curiosity and a homesickness of back when he was young, running around Gaia's Plains like he had no care. He missed those days and wanted to experience that again, to take a break from his Kingly Load and just experience mortality again. Now, it's become a coping mechanism. The thought of coming home from a long day to see his wife not talking to him and practically mountains between them made his heart ache and so he went to different beds, trying out their warmths and softness and experiences. He tells her he loves her, trying to rekindle their relationship again, but even he knows it's drifting away. That it's more of an excuse now, but it's the only thing he can seem to grasp of her now. He's trying, he swears, but they're now too broken to be fixed.

The connotations of love between Zeus and Hera, written by Altis (sleepdeprivationbutposeidon)

this is dumb and has absolutely been done before but here you go anyway

I've just re-read the short lived duel that Aeneas and Achilles have in Book 20 of the Iliad and it's actually the most hilarious fucking thing.

So it starts out with Apollo disguising himself as Lycaon, one of Priam's many sons, and telling to have a go at Achilles. Keep in mind that this is post-Patroclus Achilles. Aka: berserk Achilles. Aka: so fucking mad he would fight a literal river Achilles.

Aeneas, who is capable of critical thinking, says he doubts he can actually take him on. He also references a time when he was herding cattle on Mount Ida and Achilles ambushed him, adding that the only reason he survived then was because Zeus gave him enough strength to book it (cracking up the official times that he's been saved by a god from certain death to 3, you go dude!).

However, after a bit of back and forth and a ton of hyping up on Apollo's part, Aeneas decides to try anyway.

Like, what could possibly go wrong?

Achilles notices Aeneas charging at him and he begins to taunt him. It's something among the lines of: "I'm sorry, are you, background trojan character #61, actually gonna try and beat me? And then what? Do you think that Priam will reward you in some way? Maybe making you king after him? Well it's BULLSHIT, because Priam fucked so much that your chances of succeeding him are basically 0. Ahah. Loser."

Now, you'd think that maybe Aeneas got enraged at the comment and attacked him, or maybe he even got scared and backed down, but NOPE. What does Aeneas do?

Well, first of all, he insults Achilles' insults, comparing his bickering to that of a child. Literally, "I heard third graders do better than that." And then he decides to list his and Hector's entire fucking family tree.

You know that part of the Bible that's like "this guy sired this other guy, and this other guy sired yet another guy" and so on? It's basically that.

So after he's done with all that, Aeneas states that while he'd love to have a battle of insults with Achilles, because according to him he's actually very good at insulting people (his words, not mine), they should probably throw hands now. Achilles agrees.

The duel is shortlived and Aeneas gets his ass handed to him. Badly. As expected. And he's about die when ✨️POV shift✨️ we're not on Olympus where Poseidon, Hera and Athena are watching this absolute train wreck go down.

Poseidon, pitying Aeneas, suddenly goes on a rant. It's something among the lines of: "come on guys, look at him, he's just a little guy! He literally has no stakes in this war, he doesn't deserve to die here! He even gives us lots of gifts and sacrifices, he's literally such a nice guy. How can we do this to him!?

...oh and also he's part of some prophecy, Zeus would get mad if he died."

The fact that the way it's worded makes it sound like Aeneas being part of a literal prophecy is an afterthought to him absolutely floors me, Poseidon is literally just attached to a random dude that's fighting on the opposite side to his because he thinks he's nice.

After all that Hera is pretty unimpressed and states that she really doesn't care if our man lives or dies as neither her or Athena have ever saved a Trojan from death, she however adds that Poseidon is free to do whatever he wants.

The literal moment Hera stops talking, Poseidon lunges down from Olympus and onto the battlefield to look for the two combatants. When he does, he saves Aeneas like only he can do.

You know how when Diomedes first tries to kill Aeneas, Aphrodite gently folds her hands around him to shield him? There's none of that here. Poseidon just runs up to him and literally flings the motherfucker.

It literally says that he flies "high in the air". It's like a Looney Toons sketch.

So Aeneas lands and, while he's obviously a bit dazed, Poseidon proceeds to call him a madman and essentially tells him to never do something stupid like that again and just wait until Achilles is dead, then he'll be able to murder Achaeans to his heart's content. Aeneas is fine with that.

Achilles, who just saw his opponent just get yeeted into the fucking sky, just shrugs and goes "welp, guess that guy's off limits, I'm gonna go kill someone else now I guess lol".

This entire scene is pure fucking gold and the fact that I've literally never seen anyone talk about it just breaks my heart.

Something was in that Spartan water 💀

The Iliad - The Flight of Anchises | L´Iliade - La fuga di Anchise

by Fabio Fabbi