Semper Ad Meliora

always towards better things

[alicedrawslesmis]

anyway one of the craziest things about Enjolras is that the reason he didn't give Gavroche a musket is that there were still adults without them, but if there were muskets left he would totally have given Gavroche one

[headspace-hotel]

I fucking love libraries man like I’ve been chilling in my college library and randomly pulling out books and today I looked at one called “medieval sexuality” and it was talking about how monks thought they should never have sexual feelings or get erections ever and there was a quotation from the account of this one monk who wrote about how a woman had to stay with him one night because she was like travelling or something and the sight of her made him so horny that during that night he had to stick his hand in a candle flame to distract himself from how horny he was and also at least one monk wrote about having homoerotic dreams about Jesus

kids these days need to open a book and be scarred for life by some obscure historical fact that they could have easily gone their entire lives not knowing

[met-cloisters]

Block, Metropolitan Museum of Art: Cloisters

The Cloisters Collection, 1925 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Medium: Marble

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/470954

[being-john-malkobitch]

Every book in the History of Literature summed up in a single sentence

[juliebutnot]

road to hell II

[springbutsummer-deactivated2021]

this is it. this is hadestown.

[thecoolturediariesblog]

Some things need to be said (Part 3)

3rd. ABOUT FUCKING ODYSSEUS.

Okay, this makes me cackling every time but there’s this obsession with portraying Odysseus as the only guy with a modern moral compass, rational, not as heroic as Achilles, but not an evil guy either. And, boy, is this so wrong. The entire tenth book of the Iliad is just Odysseus and his bro Diomedes commiting war crimes, stealing horses and raiding a Trojan camp at night. This two are the perfect couple, really, because they are both assholes when alone. But together they reach the ultimate peak of jerk. It’s wonderful.

I mean, I think there’s a list somewhere of every war crime Odysseus and Diomedes did. But there’s also several other things which can be considered technically crimes and are also full of dick moves.

Before the war began, you see, Odysseus decided he really didn’t want to go and leave his wife and son and so he pretended to be crazy but Palademes, another dude, called him out of his bullshit. Therefore, Odysseus either forged a letter which incriminated Palamedes of being a Trojan ally, which condemned him to death, or he drowned him in a well with the help of Diomedes. It depends of the source.

He abandoned Philoctetes in an island after he was wounded and then attempted to steal his arrows years ago when it was convenient (see more of this in Neoptolemus section).

He stole the Palladium from the Trojan with Diomedes, then considered killing Diomedes because he wanted to take the credit for that. Diomedes discovered him and took him to the Greek camp sword on his back. None of them got angry after that, probably because they were both tricky bitches and needed each other. Then they probably fucked.

Does that mean he was a villain? Then again, NO. He was an asshole, but, honestly, they all were. And guess what? Homer highlights in the Odyssey his homophrosyne with Penelope, his wife. Yeah, that one whom everyone knows only for her loyalty to her husband. What does that weird word mean? Well, it means they are like-minded. Of course, she invents a trick with a weaver so as to pospone the day when she has to choose another husband and she tests Odysseus in the end to see if he is her real husband by asking the maid to move the bed (which can’t be moved, since Odysseus carved it in a live olive). 

Conclusion: Odysseus is a fucking romantic tricky bitch and he loves his equally tricky bitchy wife.

[dukeofbookingham-deactivated202]

So far my favorite part of Chapman’s translation of the Iliad is in Book 5 when Diomedes attacks Aphrodite “armed less with steel than spite” because MOOD

[kingjem]

im reading the Iliad for my greek and latin studies class and its so WILD. there’s literally a passage where athena blesses diomedes and is like ‘’im giving u the gift to distinguish between man and god but if you see a god you cannot fight them HOWEVER if you see aphrodite you are obligated to kick her ass’’

[thoodleoo]

the song of achilles is fine and all but i’d love a rewrite of the iliad that’s written from the perspective of odysseus and just talks about how much he and diomedes dicked around during the trojan war

[fyeahmyths]

Diomedes of Argos, a hero in Greek mythology known for his participation in the Trojan War. In Homer’s Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax as one of the best warriors of all the Achaeans. After his death, Diomedes was worshipped as a divine being under various names in Italy and also in Greece.

requested by anon

[menelaos]

[thoodleoo]

me when heterosexuals try to read ancient poetry and write their bad het takes about it

[offroadthought]

achilles, to hector: WHERE is patroclus

hector, to achilles: are you in the right headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you?

[thoodleoo]

plot summary of the iliad

achilles:

[pippinstook]

The Iliad? You must mean Troy Story.

You Got a Friend In Me starts playing in the background while Achilles loudly mourns for Patroclus.

[loveologist-deactivated20200427]

patroclus: *dies*

homer: this is so sad sing o goddess the anger of achilles