Greek Mythology From A To Z:

just imagine a boy flirting with a girl in ancient greece and he tells her "you're prettier than aphrodite" and instead of blushing and saying "thank you" she goes BRO ARE YOU KIDDING ME ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND WHY THE F*CK DID YOU SAY THAT DO YOU WANT ME F*CKING DEAD OR WHAT

The fact that most translations and commentaries I’ve read says that

alius Latio iam partus Achilles, natus et ipse dea

Now/already another Achilles has been born [Latio], and he too is the son of a godess

refers only to Turnus really downgrades the ambiguity in this statement. Because Latio could mean in Latium, in which case it’s Turnus. But it could also mean for/on behalf of Latium. And it’s Aeneas who’s been consistently called the son of a goddess and who will take Achilles’ place at the end when he essentially recreates the Trojan War in Italy. 

This is the ambiguity of prophecy where it refers to two people at once. It’s not just Turnus because, in the end, Turnus isn’t the inheritor of Achilles. Aeneas is.

new shoes 💅

I won’t hide it: I’m so unused to being – well, understood, perhaps, – so unused to it, that in the very first minutes of our meeting I thought: this is a joke, a masquerade trick …

Vladimir Nabokov, Letters to Véra

Greek mythology from A to Z:

[P] - Persephone (Περσεφόνη) was a dual deity, since, in addition to presiding over the dead, as the daughter of Demeter, she was also a goddess of fertility. The myth of her abduction by Hades was frequently used to explain the cycle of the seasons.

Slavic mythology from A to Z:

[A] - Alkonost and Sirin (Алконост и Сирин)

Alkonost in Russian legends is a bird of paradise with the head and hands of a girl. Legends say that Alkonost carries eggs to the depths of the sea in the middle of winter. Alkonost is singing so beautifully that the one who has heard it forgets about everything in the world.

In the medieval Russian legends, Sirin is definitely considered to be a bird of paradise, which sometimes flies to the earth and sings prophetic songs about future bliss, but sometimes these songs can be harmful to humans. Therefore, in some legends, Sirin acquires a negative value, so that it is even beginning to be considered a dark bird, the messenger of the underworld.

That time Hermes stole some of Apollo's cattle.

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How can I explain to you, my happiness, my golden, wonderful happiness, how much I am all yours – with all my memories, poems, outbursts, inner whirlwinds? Or explain that I cannot write a word without hearing how you will pronounce it – and can’t recall a single trifle I’ve lived through without regret – so sharp! – that we haven’t lived through it together – whether it’s the most, the most personal, intransmissible – or only some sunset or other at the bend of a road – you see what I mean, my happiness?

— Vladimir Nabokov, Letters to Véra

Antilochus: Is there a word that’s a mix between angry and sad?

Patroclus: Malcontented, disgruntled, miserable, desolated…

Achilles: *proudly* smad

Automedon: there are two types of people

Norse mythology from A to Z:

[B] - Bragi is the god of eloquence and poetry, and the patron of skalds in Norse mythology. Originally, Bragi did not belong the pantheon of gods. He was a poet from the 9th century, Bragi Boddason. Poets from later centuries made him a god.