#busiris

[crispy-ghee]

Commission for busiris on twitter of his OC Bu.

Really enjoyed drawing that Oni face actually

[jurakan]

Fun fact por favor?

I'm on a bit of a Greek mythology kick in my reading, so! Today You Learned about Busiris!

So in Greek mythology, there was this king, in Egypt, named Busiris. Egypt went through a drought, so he asked for advice, and a foreign priest told him that what needed to be done was to sacrifice a foreigner to the gods every year. Busiris started by killing the priest. He went about this business of killing foreigners for a while until.... he tried it on the demigod hero Heracles, who was passing through in between his Labors.

It, uh, didn't go so well for Busiris, as this statue in Vienna shows.

Now, what I find interesting is that it's unclear if anyone in ancient Greece ever actually believed in this guy? I don't know, I feel as if people characterize the ancient Greek pagans as very credulous on these myths, but they had doubts. Wikipedia claims that the earliest version of the story was explicitly a satire, though I don't know how reliable Wikipedia is on that front, as the Theoi page linked above doesn't have that source, and it tends to have all of the ancient quotations imaginable.

It does however, have an excerpt of Herodotus, who is often assumed to be gullible, but he has his own doubts. Herodotus points out that for the most part, the Egyptians don't do a lot of animal sacrifice, outside of special cases; why then, would they ever even consider sacrificing humans? He chalks it up to Greeks being ignorant of Egyptian culture.

There is also a location in Egypt called 'Busiris', and one person theorized that the Greek legend was a warning against that one town's lack of hospitality. Or something.

I don't know. I think it's weird! It's a story about Heracles that many of the ancient Greeks openly admitted might not be true! Our most famous Greek historian straight-up says he thinks it's nonsense. And that's strange.

Also, in Paradise Lost, Book I Line 307, John Milton uses 'Busiris' as the name of the pharaoh of Egypt from the Book of Exodus. Take that how you will!

[zillabean]

Happy Birthday to my friend Busiris (twitter)! I hope Pigmon loves him as much as he loves him! :D

[effulgentpoet]

mythology aesthetics

BUSIRIS

In Greek mythology, Busiris was a king of Egypt who took to sacrificing foreigners to the gods when an oracle revealed that this would bring an end to the eight-year drought afflicting his realm. As Heracles was travelling through the region in his quest for the golden apples, he was seized by the king's men and brought before the altar. Before he could be sacrificed, however, the hero broke free of his bonds and slew the king.

[zillabean]

Commission for my buddy Busiris who wanted his character Bu-Man being... unceremoniously tossed by Ultraman XD

[zillabean]

Icon commissions for theLadyLazaruss and Busiris (twitter) who donated to my friend's GFM campaign! Thank you again for supporting them :)

[zillabean]

Did up a new icon for @Busiris (twitter), who wishes he was at the movies these days 😅🍿

[zillabean]

Sketch portrait commission for Busiris (Twitter) of his OC Bu-Man enjoying donuts! 🍩💕