Candy

Specifically for Greek mythology

[neckcraner0307]

Sharing this to Demi fans cuz I'm a fan too

Btw

Lil banner:

[candyofgreek]

Daily Headcanon:

Zeus's favorite desserts are pudding and chocolate cake!

[starmybunny]

Dionysus

[evanxhunter]

Gods of the hearth - Zeus Meilichios

Zeus Meilichios is an archaic epithet of Zeus in Greek religion, designating a chthonic figure who was both benevolent and fearsome. The name Meilichios carries several meanings: “the gentle one,” or, as Jean-Marie Pailler writes in Zeus ex machina. Le Meilichios ou l’oubli de la troisième fonction, the “Zeus of gentleness,” whom one may associate with Philios. In Robu Adrian’s Le culte de Zeus Meilichios à Sélinonte et la place des groupements familiaux et pseudo-familiaux dans la colonisation mégarienne. La norme en matière religieuse en Grèce ancienne, the term is translated as “the benevolent one” or even “sweet as honey.”

In religious practice, Zeus Meilichios was often honored as a god of purification and benevolence. In Athens, for example, he was celebrated during festivals such as the Diasia, where he played a central role in rituals of atonement and purification for those carrying ritual pollution. In Sicily, his cult is attested at Selinunte among the Megarians as a family-oriented cult, practiced not only by individuals but also by groups of people, as evidenced by the dedications that have been discovered.

His iconography often depicts him in serpentine form, symbolizing both his connection with the chthonic world and themes of regeneration and prosperity. This representation highlights the god’s ambivalence: capable both of punishing and protecting, he embodies a divine force that is at once intimate and terrifying.

This is one of the reasons why he is sometimes associated with the Agathodaimon, or Agathos Daimon, a protective household spirit charged with safeguarding prosperity and health. In several cultic contexts, particularly in domestic or rural sanctuaries, the functions and attributes of Zeus Meilichios - protection, benevolence, and serpent symbolism - overlap with those of this “good spirit.” The animal representation therefore seems to emphasize less the god’s status than his function: that of a bestower of blessings connected with prosperity, both agricultural and social in the broader sense, founded upon philia.

A particularly interesting example can be found at Amathus in Cyprus, where Thierry Petit demonstrates that Zeus Meilichios was associated with Zeus Xenios and other local divinities, such as Malika, within a composite pantheon. This configuration reflects the flexibility of ancient Greek religion and its capacity to integrate local figures into a broader cultic framework, combining the protective, royal, and hospitable aspects of the god. At Amathus, Zeus thus appears not only as a celestial ruler, but also as a polyvalent divinity linked to the protection of the city and its inhabitants.

(i'm sorry my sources here are in french :'))

[candyofgreek]

[areyoukippingme]

Helios & Clytie animatic (real man by beabadoobee)

" She was his one delight. Not Clymene, not Rhodos now had power to hold his hert, nor Circe's lovely mother, nor the girl, sad Clytie. Clytie, who languished for his love, though scorned, and at that moment nursed her wound. All were forgotten for Leucothoe . . . "

(leucothoe and clyties designs are kinda boring in this video sorry i forgot i literally had designs for them)

[candyofgreek]

Actually, I drew this a while ago, but I'm only posting it now, haha. I drew Demeter at the moment she realizes her daughter has been kidnapped, and she's feeling panicked and terrified.

[candyofgreek]

My HC:

When Zeus first courted Hera, as we know his methods, he revealed his true form with a flower in his hand—a red lily—as depicted in the image.

LOL

Ok,I know these songs don't really reflect who he is, but from my perspective... 👀

I'll post about this again later. Just don't take it too seriously. It's just my perspective on him in one aspect, not the whole picture.

[randomdelusionalgirl]

That one scene in the illiad lol

[ivysoftspoken]

How to Pray?

Quite important — and there are many things to keep in mind. There are actually many ways to do it; it’s a very personal act. However, in ancient Greece, one or two things were commonly considered.

Posture, mainly, and attitude. You must feel confident when a deity approaches. With your palms facing the sky, and your hands apart.

Identify the God: They are usually addressed by saying, “Hear me, [Name of the God].” After that, if you wish, you can recite their titles and end with “Or however you wish to be called.”

Then, begin your prayer or request, which can be anything you need. You may also offer something in return, for example: “In exchange, I will bring you rainwater.” But always make sure these offerings don’t harm you — such as giving up certain foods, or similar acts.

For the chthonic (Underworld) deities, prayers are usually said with the palms facing the ground.

[just-1-scorpio]

Things that happand in the sources, but people would hunt you down, if you chose to incorporate it in your retelling

-Medusa X Poseidon

-Achilles marring Medea in the afterlife

-Persephone and Hades cheating on each other

-Clytemnestra not being a loving mother and letting Aegisthus abuse her dauthers

-Andromeda loving Perseus

-Medusa being born as a monster

-Priests and priestesses not being like Christian priests and nuns

-Artemis, Hestia, and Athena being imune to romanc and such

-Dionysus being the god of madness

-Persephone having power, and friends before marring Hades

-Persephone and Demeter having a good mother dauther reletionship

Fell free to add more

[dyingroses]

The Queen of Olympus and her babies

(hc she adopted Athena)

[kurzler]

psst. "feminist" retelling writers. yes, i'm talking to you. i have a gift for you: here are some interesting women from greek mythology that you can write about that are NOT medusa, persephone or clytemnestra! there ARE other women, shocking i know!

-medea: she literally killed her brother and her children, i thought "female rage" girlies would be all over her

-danae: her life is so crazy, imagine being imprisoned by you father, getting impregnated by a god, being locked in a box and left to die at sea and then basically becoming a hostage to a king while your son is sent to kill a monster. and she's one of the only ones who, to my knowledge, actually gets a happy ending!

-atalanta: basically the only female hero in greek mythology!! and she was an argonaut!! c'mon now there is so much potential here, why does nobody care for atalanta

-the amazons: penthesilea! hippolyta! literally any of them! you're telling me there is a whole society of female warriors and so called feminist writers aren't jumping at the opportunity??

-hecuba: such a tragic and interesting figure, being the queen of troy, she lost her whole family in the war, i wish more people explored her relationship with her children (especially paris) and apollo

-andromache: i'm shocked andromache isn't more popular with the "tragic female characters" people, she literally lost everything basically because of men

-cassandra: i know cassandra is fairly popular, but i love her so much and i want more people to explore her relationship with her family, every dynamic has the possibility to be SO interesting

-electra: this whole family is a MESS and yet i see people mainly focusing on clytemnestra (with iphigenia), but not exploring the relationship between electra and clytemnestra is such a missed opportunity

-helen: i just want the focus of her story to be shifted from paris to the other people in her life, like her daughter hermione! how did they rebuild their relationship after troy? or her sister clytemnestra! what happened to her bond after the murder of agamemnon? or her brothers, castor and pollux! there is so much untapped potential

-demeter: there is a story about a mother's grief for her daughter, her journey looking for her, her anger, and yet every retelling of the homeric hymn to DEMETER focuses HADES to make him a dark romance mafia boss?? come on

and more!

conclusion: i'm tired of seeing the same stories being retold over and over again when there are so many characters to explore

[sarafangirlart]

Something about retellings removing any negative traits from female characters (or at least traits perceived as negative) despite the fact that characters are supposed to have flaws.

Lady Macbeth isn’t power hungry, Maleficent isn’t evil, the Witch of the West isn’t wicked, Cassiopeia isn’t vain, Hera isn’t a jealous wife, Clytemnestra isn’t an abuser and Andromeda isn’t scared to die. Meanwhile male characters have their flaws made cartoonishly worse or given new flaws.

[bcowlick]

Zeus in most re-tellings: I hate all my kids equally! I hate them all! I can't even stand looking at them!! I must use every second of my day to make them remember that i hate them and how worthless they are!! This is secretly to feed my own ego and maybe i care about them deep dowm but i'm too "macho" to ever considering of showing them that i care!! So i'll keep hating and bashing on them because i hate them!!

Zeus in Mythology: My poor baby Artemis, did you get hurt by Hera? Let me hug it better my sweet bebe. Sweet little Hermes, did you steal Apollo's cows? Well that was funny so i'll let you off with a little warning, don't do that again baby. Oh no! Heracles and Ares are fighting, i must stop them before they give each other bubus!! Athena you can have whatever you want forever, i love you smartcookie. I carried Dionysus for 5 months in my leg btw

[kurzler]

in my opinion, many modern greek retellings/stories inspired by greek mythology don't fail because they're inaccurate. they fail because they have nothing new to say.

i don't mind changes to the original myths, as long as they make sense and they have a narrative purpose! i understand that making changes is sometimes necessary to convey a certain narrative, especially to modern audiences.

is epic the musical mythologically accurate? hell no! but the changes serve to tell a specific story and to convey a certain message. also, epic the musical is self aware about its "inaccuracies". and the music just bangs.

is hadestown accurate? no! does it make the change that I always dread, removing the kidnapping from the hades/persephone myth? yeah. but hadestown is barely about them, and it uses greek mythology as a "narrative frame" to tell a certain story. it has a point. it has a message.

what are stories like lore olympus trying to say? what is the messagge of the hundredth persephone/hades retelling? what are we supposed to take from them? "don't listen to your mother she's a bitch"? "mothers are irrational and you should forsake her for a man"? very feminist.

why are we still doing the medusa "feminist" retellings? it's BEEN done. too many times. and they're ALL the same. it's a worse crime than being bad: they are boring.

i'm tired of retellings that are just "what if this very famous story was THE OPPOSITE and the protagonist was an ASSHOLE the whole time and the villain was MISUNDERSTOOD and the real VICTIM" okay but why. why would that be the case. what's the point of the story you want to tell. or do you just want to use shock value.

of course, i dislike retellings that are so different from the myth that they go AGAINST the spirit/message of the original, because in that case what's even the point of retelling the myth? just tell an original story. but i would take stabbed poseidon and capitalist hades any day over the same basic story of medusa being a girlboss or demeter being bad because of... reasons?

tl;dr: stop being unoriginal and tell a good story. or at least an entertaining one. i beg you

[bcowlick]

Greek myth fandom would be a better place if people understood that, while yes, you are allowed to have fun with this characters, and yes, you don't need to be an expert to enjoy myths and re-tellings.

Please, please! Never forget that this is not *just a piece of media* like a book or a movie

This is cultural heritage of the Greeks, this stories are one of the few ways we have to look back at how things were for humans thousands of years ago. This stories matter in a religious, cultural, academic and anthropological context.

You can call any of the greek gods your blorbo, but remember that your blorbo is still a god that is currently still part of an active religion.

So what i'm trying to say is: Be respectful. Understand why people can and have the right to get mad if some writer goes "My re-telling is 100% accurate and it's the best version of the story" and then it isn't.

Is okey to admitt you're not going the full lenght with accuracy, that will always be better than claiming you have "corrected" this stories as if they were broken to begin with. They are not, they are what they are meant to be: Cautionary tales, folk stories, and a peek into the culture of a civilization that lived hundreds of years ago.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk