#erysichthon

[channydraws]

I wish to pet the wolfies

[7pleiades7]

The Hamadryad (also known as Le Bûcheron et l'Hamadryade Aïgeïros, and The Woodcutter and the Hamadryad Aïgeïros) (1870) by Émile Jean-Baptiste Philippe Bin (French, 1825 – 1897), 120.5 x 90 cms (47 1/4 in x 35 1/4 in), Musée Thomas-Henry, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France

[skykiuwu]

Mestra doodles from a while back

[androphonos-theoi]

Hello all! Since it is Halloween/Samhain/Calan Gaeaf/the start of harvest season, today's post will be about spooky moments in Greek mythology! There are plenty to choose from, but I'm going to go with one in particular.

(I'll also be making a similar post on @kalatordevesta about Roman religion & mythology!)

The story I choose is the one I chose in the title! Persephone going into the Underworld. Now, katabasis (descent into the Underworld) myths are a dime a dozen, found everywhere from Shinto (Izanagi descending to find Izanami) to ancient Mesopotamia and Sumer (Ishtar/Inanna finding their lovers) to Greece, of course! (Orpheus, Heracles, Odysseus...) Even Egyptian mythology's sun god Ra makes the nightly trek into the Duat on his solar barque.

There are a couple different versions of the Hades and Persephone myth, which is the specific one I'm discussing in this post (and even more in modernity, i.e. Hadestown.) One I particularly like, however, is the Homeric Hymn to Demeter's version.

You can read it here!: Homeric Hymn to Demeter - The Center for Hellenic Studies

A couple things I really like about this story; one, the focus on the mother and daughter relationship between Demeter and Persephone, two, the fact that Homer never actually uses the name "Hades" because the fear of death was so prominent in Ancient Greece, and three, the fact that Hekate leads Demeter through the night with her torches. I find it both really sweet and a good example of a narrative guide.

Horror aspects of this story: Kidnapping, of course, including the fact that Persephone is simply picking flowers when she's taken. Demeter turns around and she is gone. That's terrifying for any parent.

The torches & night. Hekate guiding Demeter through the night with torches feels like classic horror symbolism to me - night is already scary; having a small light like a torch is almost scarier, because you can only see some of it, not all of it.

The pomegranate. Persephone eating a pomegranate and then being destined to spend six months every year in the Underworld? Trapping. Also horror; to be trapped by your own actions and unaware that they will do so.

The winter. Demeter causing a winter and humans to starve - a natural, primal fear, that humans have feared since first walking on this planet. Now; an interesting thing is originally this may have described summer, because summer in Greece is very, very intense and horrible for plants. Scorches the earth and dehydrates the plants; often with droughts. I like both versions, but I do found the summer fact fascinating.

Now! Some other stories that I find fit right into the horror genre:

-Erisychthon. Also a story involving Demeter, this king chopped down a tree in Demeter's sacred grove and she sent the spirit of hunger, Limos, to be with him forever. He ate and ate and ate and could never be full, and so, eventually ate himself.

-The entire concept of Medusa. When I was little, the idea of a monster that could turn people to stone absolutely petrified me. (ha!) When my afterschool program put on The Lightning Thief movie, I covered my eyes and cowered in fear from Uma Thurman. (The sole thing that movie did well - besides eating the lotuses - is the woman turning to stone and Annabeth HOLDING HER HAND WHILE IT HAPPENS. Terrifying.) I'll also talk more on @kalatordevesta about this, because of course the Ovid story involves further horror.

-Odysseus and the Sirens. Your ears clear, hearing exactly what you want? Tied to the mast and desperate to dive into the water, knowing it will drown you? Absolutely terrifying. Also, I like the look of the traditional bird ladies, nice monster design. (Though, I appreciate Jorge Rivera Herrans' take in Epic.)

-Heracles. When Hera drove him mad, he killed his first wife and children - it's what set him on the path of his 12 Labors. It's tragic and horrific.

How to apply this to worship: While this post was largely focused on the myth side rather than the worship side, I still apply these things to worship! The first part is acknowledging that the gods - and heroes - aren't all good. They aren't bad or good, just like humans. They have emotions. They can feel terror and fear. Simply acknowledging this - Demeter's grief, Heracles' madness, Medusa's terror; shows that the gods and heroes (and even monsters) aren't just one thing. The other thing I do is apply these stories into worship. For example, one time when I prayed to Demeter, I recited the Homeric Hymn. This isn't a traditional practice by any means, but I felt a sense of eusebeia (piety) doing so. These stories can be used for meditation, recitation, or just something to think about.

Khaire Demeter, Khaire Persephone, khaire Heracles, khaire Odysseus, khaire Limos, and happy Halloween! Happy Calan Gaeaf and happy Samhain, and may your fall be prosperous. :)

[rosegoldenatlas]

Erysichthon's curse vs Tantalus' curse

Ok in Greek mythology I loved the story of Tantalus because his curse seemed so cruel (though he did totally deserve it for trying to feed his son to the gods). Putting a thirsty and starving man in water that receded when he tried to drink, next to a fruit tree that moved its branches whenever he tried to eat from it. Forever reaching and getting so Tantalizingly (pun intended and regretted) close that he is stuck there believing that he could get there is he was just a bit swifter.

But then I learned of Erysichthon. He was also cursed with an insatiable hunger. But this time he was alive and could eat. He spent all of his riches buying food and eating and eating but nothing could satisfy him. He sold all of his belongings. This is where the interpretations split, in one he becomes a common beggar, in another he sells his daughter into slavery and she is freed by Poseidon and given the ability to shapeshift and he sells her over and over again as different animals to get more food but eventually eats himself, in a their Demeter becomes a snake to torment him.

Both of them are starving and thirsty. Both of them are insatiable. But one was taunted by food he could not have, while the other was allowed to indulge until he died a slow death.

Who had it worse

Tantalus

Erysichthon

Voting ended onJul 24, 2025

[lollipop1920art]

Classics-tober 23-27

@classicstober

[eucanthos]

eucanthos

Hamadryas' digital future -possibly-

Hamadryas / ἁμαδρυάς (sacred oak tree spirit. With Oxylus became mother of all tree nymphs that inhabit living trees and die with them).

Ernst Deger: Portrait of a Young Woman, 1835 [Angelic youth face mix, from Renaissance and Early German masters, used as iconography for spiritual propaganda (Christian)]

Tiepolo's Daphne (front) and Theodoor van Thulden after Rubens Apollo and Daphne 1636 mix

Nicolas Henri Jacob for Jean-Baptiste Marc Bourgery's Traité complet de l'anatomie de l'homme, 1831, Paris: Delaunay.

SNAKE Photo by Alexandra Von Fuerst

Burt Glinn Swing, Child and Gaudi Cathedral Barcelona, 1959

HAND Edita Vilkeviciute by Solve Sundsbo

Robert Mapplethorpe Lisa Lyon 1982 [strong arm]

Skeleton laskowski_t01-nlm

Erysichthon (Gr myth): Ἐρυσίχθων ὁ Θεσσαλός ("earth-tearer"), son of Triops, dared to timber the sacred oak (killing hamadryas nymph) inside a grove of Ceres / Demeter; as punishment, she sent Famine to posses his body and torment him by insatiable hunger. He sold all his possessions and even sold his daughter Mestra -Μήστρα- numerous times, taking advantage of her shape-shifting power (Poseidon’s gift). Never having enough to eat, Erysichthon eventually consumed himself.

[Eva, Daphne, Flora, all connect with tree narratives]

Dec 29 update

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamadryad

https://sammlung.staedelmuseum.de/en/work/portrait-of-a-young-woman

[sarafangirlart]

what do you think about king Erysichthon of Thessaly

He had it coming lol