#aasachp9

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 19

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Quick Ref:

Xenia: The Ancient Greek concept of hospitality and guest-host relationships. Taking care of a guest was generally considered a moral obligation as well as a reciprocal one.

Himation: A type of mantle or cloak, often worn over a chiton or a peplos (or by itself) by both men and women.

Comments:

It looks like Corinth is still hung up on the Oresteia - she's referencing Orestes and Pylades' plan to infiltrate the palace in Libation Bearers around line 565. She's talked about it enough it's even become an in-joke with Meg, apparently!

revisiting Greece's character arc was an exercise in "why did I do that" but it was also really fun. I'll link all the pages referenced below for your convenience...

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 [ Part 1 ] [ Part 2 ] [ Part 3 ] [ Part 4 ]

And here's a post with a side by side comparison for your convenience!

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 16

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Quick Ref:

Tyrrhenians: Also Tyrsenions. A catch-all word for non-Greeks, especially pirates. Here Corinth is specifically describing Etruscans.

Megara Hyblaea: One of Megara's early colonies on the island of Sicily destroyed by Syracuse. The colony is the "Little Meg" referred to here and page 5 of this chapter.

Comments:

I have to open with a sincere apology that it took over a year to get started on the conclusion of this chapter. Apart from some bugs that needed ironing out in my original script, I was dealing with some large projects and then the unexpected death of my maternal grandmother (almost precisely a year after the death of my paternal grandmother, which made it harder).

I'm in a much more stable place now to finish this chapter off and I've already started brainstorming some future happenings, so let's round this one off! Hopefully this style isn't too drastic a departure from where I started.

Anyway, I think this is the second libation mention in this chapter?? Had to have some actual libations in here apart from weird dreams and vague references to the Oresteia of course :)

Special thank you to @en-theos who (apart from receiving the bulk of my rambling about where this whole thing is going and being a longtime devoted reader) modelled for me in person while I was drawing panel 5 :D

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 17

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Quick Ref:

Doric Greek: As I may have mentioned before, Corinth (and Sparta) speak the Doric dialect of Greek. Here, she says "O Poteidan" for "O Poseidon" and "pros ton sion" rather than "pros ton theon" for "by the gods".

Poseidon: Greek god of the sea, earthquakes, horses, and the patron god of Corinth. Apparently likes to leave wrecks on the beach for her to find.

Comments:

If you haven't been following all my angsting and stupid doodles leading up to this chapter, yes I did finally figure out a narrative purpose for her. Welcome back Greece :D Glad to FINALLY see you away from Athens! I think!

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 18

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Quick Ref:

Saffron: A spice made from crocus flowers. Apart from flavouring food and dyeing clothing, saffron could also be dried into tablets and used as a therapeutic medication. It's possible it was used as a treatment for PMS and menstrual cramps.

Hypericum: Also known as St. John's Wort, these yellow flowers make a surprisingly red medication when the glands are crushed. Because of its colour, it was associated with blood and also used to treat depression.

Comments:

uh obvious disclaimer not to go trying old timey medications without knowing how they will interact with any conditions or current medications you're taking! This comic is meant for historical/storytelling purposes and not medical advice!!

"why is she sopping wet and pathetic and covered in blood" thats for you to decide dear reader :)

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 2

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Quick Ref:

The Libation Bearers: The second play in Aeschylus' Oresteia, which describes the fallout in the house of Atreus after Clytemnestra's murder of Agamemnon. Siblings Electra and Orestes reunite and plot vengeance against their mother, fearing that she will doom them to slavery or death.

The Eumenides: The third and final play in the Oresteia, which follows Orestes being chased by the Furies after murdering his mother Clytemnestra. Orestes eventually flees to Athens, where he stands trial. The quotes on this page are from the last lines of the play, when the Furies are welcomed into Athens to be worshipped as the Eumenides, or the "Kindly Ones".

Comments:

Don't worry, it was all a dream! Say, now that I think of it, I keep torturing characters with scary dreams of Athens. Is it foreshadowing? I guess yes and no...

There's also a reference here to a conversation Corinth had with Persia in Chapter 7 as well.

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers

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Updates Saturdays (ideally) :)

It's been a while! Welcome back to the thirty years of peace (continued...)

Comments:

By the time this is posted, I will be out of town on vacation until the end of the month. I decided to risk posting this even though I only have a few pages ready to roll in order to motivate me to finish the chapter, so I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you like and if you have speculations or questions etc etc, I'm always glad to hear from readers to see if I'm hitting the mark (or if you have interpretations that never even occurred to me)

Since I'm out of town, I apologize if I don't edit the "previous" / "next" page links in a timely manner. If I haven't done this by October, definitely bug me about it :)

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 6

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Quick Ref:

Didyma: While Megara consulted the oracle at Delphi, Miletus consulted the oracle at Didyma, and the two seemed to act in concert with each other somewhat. The name literally means "twins" as the sanctuaries to Artemis and Apollo were both located there.

Comments:

me drawing the worst pegasus ever last page "hope this isnt fully visible in subsequent pages" [it was]

This brings us to the "end" of the first arc of this chapter, but don't worry, we will still be hearing more about Corinth and Megara's uneasy life together.

This page was partially born out of a sense of frustration that @en-theos has talked about extensively regarding the disproportionate focus in retellings of stories such as the Persephone myth on the daughter as some kind of rebellious free spirit fighting her overbearing mother rather than a story of mutual grief/loss/struggle between mother and daughter.

I haven't read a whole lot of adaptations of such things to be honest, and one of the few that I really think gets it of the ones I have read is actually a chapter in Greek Myths Western Style by Barbara McBride-Smith, which is entirely told from Demeter's perspective, haha.

This all said, I don't want to impact how you read this story by saying that. It's obviously still a totally valid reading to take Megara's side, or Corinth's side, or both their sides, it all depends on you and your experience and your reading! :)

[athensandspartaadventures]

Athens and Sparta Adventures: Chapter 9: Libation Bearers pg. 15

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Ostrakon: a shard of pottery used to write on, the scrap paper of the ancient world.

We're not quite through chapter 9 yet, but now I really will be taking a little break before finishing up and posting the last quarter of this chapter. Happy new year! 2025 will mark the 15th anniversary of Athens and Sparta Adventures in the fall, eek!

The flashback is a reference to this page from chapter 7.

any mistakes in the greek are because sardis' first language is lydian ok p: also i always forget to figure out the nuances between attic and ionian.