Always will admire Dionysus story, to be that of a "hero's journey"
He lived in hiding, a life to understand his godly powers, survived kings, a vengeful queen, went to wars, had to prove himself spread his cult , yet constantly getting underestimated, looked down upon, but still persisting.
After finally achieving godhood the last obstacle being a seat among the gods looking unreachable,only for the grace from one goddess to finally seal his journey complete
How did the Ancient Greeks view psychosis especially in women?
I do understand the sentiment of people wishing to connect mental health issues with women especially when it comes to antiquity but ironically I see more examples of men go in psychotic episodes in Greek subtexts especially myths and plays over women. Here are some examples:
Heracles is taken by madness sent by Hera and he throws the children he has with Megara (and at some versions two of his brother's Iphicles's children too) into the fire
Ajax the Great is being taken over by madness and attacks a bunch of sheep thinking they are the Greeks that wronged him when they didn't give him the armor of Achilles
Orestes is being reduced to madness by the Erinyes (Furies) after he kills his mother Clytemnestra causing him to be unpredictable with frequent attacks against his wit that has him attacking (in Iphigenia in Tauris for instance he attacks some cattle causing the fury of their caretakers and herders)
Achilles even one can say he was taken over by some sort of madness when his companion, Patroclus died. First in absolute grief, refusing to part from the body, bathe, eat or sleep and then in his fury against the Trojans in general and Hector in particular
Laertes loses his mind or partially loses his mind after the incredibly depressing situation in his own home and he isolates himself to the countryside, living in terrible conditions and among his slaves, not being emotionally available to anyone until Odysseus returns and shakes him up.
Now the subtext of women falling in some sort of madness do vary interestingly. I will focus more on women since it is your main part of the ask.
Some are more subtle like someone being maddened by passion or even religious-induced madness.
Cassandra falls to "bacchia" aka the religious ecstasy that is borderline paralleled to madness when she is expressing herself and her visions without having someone to believe her or interpret her words. Another example of madness she has is in Euripides's play "Trojan Women" when she hears that her virginity which she guarded is to be given to Agamemnon which is coming in contrast with her art as priestess and prophetess (in that play she keeps repeating that she is a maiden still so either Euripides doesn't support the rape for his version by Ajax and only mentions that he dragged her from her sanctuary or she is in denial it happened in the first place). She shows up with lit pyres in a state of frenzy calling for people to set her marriage ablaze.
Medea is oftentimes mentioned be maddened by love and passion. In her insatiable love for Jason in Argonautica she goes back and forth on killing herself, then she runs away from home and all her emotions are escalating in emotional outbursts. In versions like Euripides her abandonment by Jason was the strike that breaks the camel's back and she, in sorrow goes days without eating till she kills her own children.
Hecuba loses her mind in sorrow according to some versions when she sees her dead Polyxena and/or her youngest son. In some versions she jumps off the ship's mast and kills herself while at others she is even turning mad and starts barking like a dog till she is given the shape of a dog by the gods.
Anticlea in some versions kills herself after having lived in years in doubt whether Odysseus lived or died or withered away in her sorrow in others. Either way she falls into heavy depression
Oenone in her depression that she refused to help Paris she kills herself either by hanging or by throwing herself to the funeral pyre that was burning for Paris
So as far as mythology is concerned we have a pattern that we could see in this case. Madness is often sent by the gods in one way or another but is also based on human behavior. The source of madness seems to be arguably different.
Men, on average, are affected by madness connected to actions
Women, on average, are affected by madness connected to emotion
In turn men are usually depicted losing themselves and turn violent towards others or themselves while women on average in myths seem to turn their sufferings to themselves and either attempt or succeed suicide or they wither away. There are some rarer occasions of women in myth actually turning violent towards someone and that is also depending on the source but of course some of the most famous examples being Medea in Euripides.
This pattern seems to be continued in later years too for instance in Roman mythographers like Ovid. Ovid mentions for instance how Aphrodite punished Myrrha with a burning and insatiable lust and passion for her father which she eventually satisfies and out of the union came Adonis.
As a general rule we see more "maddened behavior" patterns in female characters in Greek myth that are in love or lusting for someone while men usually get maddened by some unholy action they perform or some grudge of a god. Orestes I think is one of the most characteristic examples of psychosis in Greek myth and his madness befell him from the crime of matricide. This comes from a possible belief that women were generally weaker than men to control their emotions especially their sexual urges. In one way that was portrayed by having more examples of women suffering from some sort of madness due to love and passion over their male counterparts
Now however both men and women reduced to some sort of madness was of course seen negatively albeit oftentimes seen with compassion if we believe the myths we see. Euripides in his "Trojan Women" has other captives sympathize with Cassandra when they see her half-mad upon hearing the news and getting her visions at the same time. They do not believe her, however they sympathize with her. Odysseus sees Ajax bathed in the blood of the sheep and sees him in that state in Sophocles and sympathizes with him and even fights to restore his honor postmortem.
I find it interesting how in the aspects of madness and mental health religion plays a huge role into it (anger of gods, consequences of actions etc) but at the same time I can see from the myths alone that the ancient Greeks could understand the concept of mental health (even if they couldn't fully define it) was also corresponding to someone's experiences, life or action.
For example Odysseus in the Odyssey refuses the help of women because "he is shy". That shows a very deep understanding of mental illness not only on aspects we modern people will see as a result of years of sexual abuse Odysseus has been through but even the essence of shame for one's condition stepping in and make someone self-aware or that they feel publicly inadequate. Odysseus is not just fearful of woman touch after what he has been through but he is also self-conscious of the terrible fall he has taken socially. He once was a king now he is less than beggar. This has a great affect in his mental health.
Another brilliant example of a writer of mental health is Euripides; someone who never backs down from serious matters. In his last tragedy in Athens "Orestes" Orestes's illness is not necessarily given with the Erinyes as mentioned but is depicted as actual mental health that also affects the body and the behavior. Orestes is speaking of forms that are dark as night and all but he is the only one who sees them and he mentions them only once. The rest of his body language or function is actually a very daresay "contemporary" and "modern" depiction of someone suffering from mental health;
falling between sleep and wake, unable for personal care, needing his sister to help him up, walk a bit and then lay back down etc
Now women in texts have often shown madness as I said some examples being Medea in a way, Cassandra etc
Generally speaking there was a stigma around mental health maybe for the reason why people who suffered from some illness of that sort were seemingly dangerous on two essences;
one the religious superstition aka they must have done something or their parents so that the gods are angry at them
two the very logical reason that they are unpredictable and they can hurt someone or themselves
Ancient Greek myths and texts show the suicidal tendencies for instance of many people who suffer from mental health (Medea or Odysseus being two examples) and also those who suffer by some mania or hostile behavior towards someone else (Achilles's blind rage but also his sorrow and his association with the corpse of Patroclus in his tent, Orestes's or Ajax's violent and murderous outbursts etc)
The word "melancholy" is ancient after all. It comes from the word μέλας (black) and χολή (bile) which shows technically how the ancient Greeks could tell that mental health has affects on bodily functions. However since even in modern day world it is hard to handle some cases, the same goes with ancient world. So in general rule we do seem to see that the people who suffer from severe psychosis tended to be confided to a room or some house instead of being allowed to roam free to the world so that they will not disrupt the peace of the rest of society or hurt someone or themselves.
One such example we have from the later roman text from the so-called Dares the Phrygian where the frenzied Cassandra is locked in her room by Priam so that her frenzy will not disrupt anyone else.
An example when a mentally ill person is actually taken care of is in Euripides "Iphigenia in Tauris" where Pylades essentially acts as almost a proper caretaking nurse to Orestes
💬 0 🔁 2 ❤️ 8 · But then the stranger fell down as his madness was swiped away from him fast and foam was dripping on his beard. And when w
one sees how Pylades is there to help Orestes when he has another violent outburst of madness and even wipes away his lips off the foams and all and he even protects his body with his own when the angry herdsmen come for them. Essentially being true to his word when he made a promise to him before
💬 0 🔁 2 ❤️ 8 · Orestes: There is just one more problem · I am not crying you are! 😢 😭😭😭 Orestes and Pylades in Eurypedes are literally the
which in my opinion shows that at least up to a certain point there were people that took care of others who were mentally ill but one can expect it wasn't an easy task. (which also inspired me for this headcanon for Pylades):
💬 0 🔁 6 ❤️ 8 · Pylades has micro scars all over his body (like minor cut at his forearms or one tiny scar over his lip or something) which
Now women had also the trait of birth and why we even say "hysteria" to this day is that it was connected to women's womb. Hysteria presented as an almost exclusively woman condition. Some believed it was linked to the placenta if it wouldn't be removed in time etc. That probably has some basis given that as we know now conditions such as postpartum depression are very common sadly and they can be very severe. Not to mention that since birth was a very dangerous procedure
💬 4 🔁 11 ❤️ 25 · What must one prepare for childbirth
To prepare for natural childbirth one must prepare oil, warm water, warm cataplasms
we can expect many women suffered from postpartum infections which could lead to fevers or feverish talk which could have contributed to this belief.
Some conclusions:
I believe that mental health was generally a stigma for the sufferer for many reasons; both logical such as fear for one's safety, and superstition related issues which were to do with the religious beliefs
Now from what I noticed men in myths tend to fall to madness because of some actions of theirs or intentions for these actions which anger the gods while women tend to fall to madness because of their emotions or excessive pain but of course these are not absolute
Madness can also be given to people by gods (Hera, Athena, Dionysus etc) and can have various of forms.
The sufferer might as well be isolated by society, either by being physically confided somewhere or as generally not interacting with the rest of the people of the city for example Cassandra is locked, Orestes is exiled.
We can expect some people might take care of the sufferer but the task wouldn't be easy. Treatments were vastly religion-related but one can expect that sometimes people believed the best way to get their mental health in a good shape was also to keep their bodies in a good shape too and have healthy habits.
Last but not least I am convinced that our ancient ancestors could perfectly well understand that someone's life or actions can affect someone's mental health (for instance Orestes tells to Menelaus that it is his guilty consious that tortures him) even if they couldn't yet fully define it.
I hope this helps s bit and forgive me for taking me so long
Protect Internet Freedom from now until forever. It's important existentially! Americans stand with UK citizens in our struggle against government censorship
Brazil legislation: Digital Statute For Children And Adolescents
Apple App Store Age Verification
These are not tumblr specific policies. Tumblr is implementing age verification in response to legislative moves that were made months ago.
Tumblr is a failing social media site that has escaped death multiple times already; they do not have the social cachet to defy state regulatory agencies. We know they won't say no to Apple, either--the porn ban on tumblr was in response to Apple's crackdown on explicit content.
If you did not know this was happening, you were behind the curve. That is fine. You're caught up now. The next step is to link up with people in your country who are working to preserve privacy, to roll back these laws where they exist, and to prevent their passage where they do not. In the US the organization you want is Stop KOSA--in the EU you can start with Fight Chat Control.
Repealing ID verification and blocking chat control will help everyone, especially the most vulnerable. We can push this back, but we cannot get it done through the Feedback form. We have to get it done at the legislative level and lock it down so it cannot be forced upon us. I see lots of anger out there. Good. Put it to use.
Folks if you go to the Stop Kosa website there's a *super quick* form that will figure out your legislators and auto send them an email from you. (There's a script, you don't have to figure out what to write.)
They'll also give ypu a phone number and a script if you're up to make a call.
tumblr just added an update that requires you to verify your age in order to view "mature content". I'm not sure how they do the verification (haven't yet checked), but given recent similar updates from things like Discord, it most likely involves sending them a photo of either your face or your ID.
In addition, over the past few months, and also years in the long-term, tumblr has been incorrectly marking things as mature content. These include:
Notifications about missing persons and requests for help
Posts about youth liberation
Posts about sex education
Posts about how the mature content is poorly implemented
Posts about being trans, more specifically about trans women and transmisogyny by both tumblr and users on tumblr
Non-sexual selfies by trans women/transfems
Trans womens'/transefems' ENTIRE BLOGS even if the blog contains no sexual content
Reblogs made by various blogs, mostly trans women, which add no additional content but somehow are marked as containing mature content, when the original post is not
Posts talking about racism and antiblackness both on and off tumblr
Posts by black people, especially black trans people, that are non-sexual
And likely many more I haven't seen
In essence, this update has mandated that a majority of users (within the UK and Brazil) must either a) submit their personal information to tumblr, a website whose moderation has been EXTREMELY biased against marginalised people and who I would not trust with my ID, or b) be excluded from absolutely all conversations tumblr decides are "mature content", whether they are actually sexual in nature or not. Furthermore, anyone not over 18 will also not be allowed to take part in these conversations, or even see them, or interact with many trans women or people of colour on this site, as tumblr decides.
This update is complete bullshit designed to censor and exclude marginalised people, poorly hidden under a guise of "protecting teenagers from sexual content", and they know it.
EDIT: This update apparently only affects users in the UK or Brazil, like me. This is still bullshit even if it's just some people.
@mc-sprinkles said “pact of punishment extreme measures where you fight achilles and pat in the arena” and I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS ABOUT IT!! Click for full res 💚
COULD i have just used the in game standing model? yes. did i instead try to make him not-gray? yes. did i have to use achilles model to attempt curly hair? yes.
i have important opinions about curly hair boys and some narrative HCs about why their in game portraits make them look old and the headcanon is that they are just really goin thru it
my partner is still out of work being strung along by short term disability, and we could really use some help with groceries and bills. i’ve been working 50+ hrs/week trying to keep up and i am comically exhausted. I physically and mentally cannot take on any more work at this time. goal is $300 for now to cover gas + electric + supplement a food bank trip.
genuinely anything helps, even if it’s just a reblog 💚
Mitología helénica
Contenido Multimedia
- Láminas de Thomas Hope: ancient clothing - Google Drive
- Libros de Peter Conelly: Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
- Cascos de la Ilíada: The Greek Age of Bronze - Shields
- Palacio de Odiseo: The Palace of Odysseus – Laura Jenkinson-Brown
- Infografía de armadura hoplite: Hoplite soldier’s armor and weapon
- Homero y las herramientas de labor: Homer and Hand Tools: A Woodworking Odyssey | The Literary Workshop Blog
- Láminas de griegos y romanos: Le costume, les armes, les bijoux, la céramique, les ustensiles, outils, objets mobiliers, etc. : chez les peuples anciens et modernes : Hottenroth, Friedrich, b. 1840 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- Ropa en la Antigua Grecia: Ancient Greek Clothing - World History Encyclopedia
Documentos:
- Retellings varios: Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
- Eclipses en la Odisea: Is an eclipse described in the Odyssey? | PNAS
- Epítetos de Odiseo: Terrible, Wonderful Odysseus: The Meanings of his Epithets, His Name(s) and How We Read Him – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Historias anteriores a Eneas: Aeneas before Virgil - Early Greek sources about the Trojan hero - Ancient World Magazine
- Cronología de la Odisea: Timeline: Chronology of the Odyssey | Timetoast
- Base de datos minoico-micénico: books and Stuff - Google Drive
- Achilles at Scyros and the Cypria: Tradition And Myth in the Epic Cycle – Classics@ Journal
- Troya actual: Troy Ancient City: City of Mythologies and Trojan Horse – VoyageTurkey
- Tafios y tespotrios: Taphians and Thesprotians Within and Beyond the Odyssey – Classics@ Journal
- Alexandria /Lycophron: Callimachus and Lycophron : Callimachus : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- Teseo/Plutarco: The Internet Classics Archive | Theseus by Plutarch
- Base de datos de clásicos del ciclo troyano: 'OG' Texts - Google Drive
- Personalidades homéricas: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303519504_Ancient_personality_Trait_attributions_to_characters_in_Homer's_Iliad
- Peinados iliádicos: https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/a-haircut-for-achilles-and-a-model-for-greeks-in-the-post-heroic-era/
Micénicos/ Helenos
- Página web para militares: The Greek Age of Bronze
- Arcos compuestos en las guerras del bronce egeo: https://koryvantesstudies.org/studies-in-english-language/page218-2/
- Base de datos: tantalus time - Google Drive
- Pigmentos: Dyes | ARTEX | Hellenic Centre for Research and Conservation of Archaeological Textiles
- Los esclavos y sirvientes de Ítaca: https://www.maicar.com/GML/SERVANTS.html
- Los pretendientes de Penelope: SUITORS OF PENELOPE - Greek Mythology Link
- Rutas comerciales: (PDF) The Minoan and Mycenaean Agricultural Trade and Trade Routes in the Mycenaean Empire
- Armaduras micénicas: Πανοπλίες της Ύστερης Ελλαδικής Περιόδου Μυκηναϊκές - Hellenic Armors
- Ropas micénicas: Ancient Greek Clothing - World History Encyclopedia
- Siete armaduras y armas: Here Are 7 Greek Armor and Weapons From Mycenaean Civilization | TheCollector
-Artes de la Guerra de Troya: ART OF WAR: HEROES OF TROY AND MYCENAE | The Deadliest Blogger: Military History Page
- Palacio de Néstor en Pylos: Palace of Nestor, Pylos – Digital Heritage Creations
- Modelo virtual de un pentecóntero: Ancient Greek Galley - Penteconter - 3D model by Hephaestus Lab. (@HLab.) [0150ccf]
- Restauración en la Antigua Grecia: Public Dining in Ancient Greece | Department of Classics | University of Colorado Boulder
Edad del Bronze
- Los Fenicios The Phoenicians - Master Mariners - World History Encyclopedia
- Enlaces para protoindoeuropeos: Links | Linguistics Research Center | Liberal Arts | UT - Austin
- Flora iónica: Flora Ionica
- Biogeografía actual heládica: Greek Forests - Map
- Introducción a las armaduras de los pueblos del mar: INTRO TO THE ARMOUR OF THE SEA PEOPLES — PART 1 | by James Thomas | lakodaemon | Medium
- Mensajería en la Antigüedad: Letters & Post in the Ancient World
- Tablillas de arcilla: Wax tablets in the ancient world – It's All Greek To Me
Fuentes varias:
https://topostext.org/
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus:collection:Greco-Roman
https://www.theoi.com/
https://wordhoard.library.northwestern.edu/userman/index.html
https://berkeley.pressbooks.pub/scholiapart2/front-matter/about-this-book/
https://cts.perseids.org/
https://scaife.perseus.org/
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20050625081727/http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Hesiod/iliad.html
Welcome to the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names | LGPN
The mythical siege of Troy, as related in Homer's Iliad, modern Hisarlik in Turkey : r/papertowns
Family Echo - Draw, Share and Print Your Online Family Tree
https://www.tumblr.com/littlesparklight/766416030668111872?source=share
Ancient Greek units of measurement - Wikipedia
https://greekreporter.com/2023/05/10/ancient-greek-texts-papyrus-revived/
https://greekreporter.com/2023/12/25/tomb-of-cerberus-top-archaeological-discovery-2023/
Broche de oro: Gold pin - Mycenaean - Late Helladic IIIA - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lost Art: Homer’s Troy and Priam’s Treasure - The Art Newspaper - International art news and events