#simoeis

[theogonyofbeauty]

Achilles contending with the Rivers (based on a work by John Flaxman).

[patrochillesvibes]

Fury of Achilles

by Charles-Antoine Copel

...and in a flash Poseidon and Athena went to him and stood beside him, assuming the forms of men. Taking his hand in their hands, they assured him with their words; and Poseidon who shakes the earth was first of them to speak: “Son of Peleus, do not shrink back, nor be alarmed; such allies are we two gods who stand by you with Zeus approving, I and Pallas Athena.​ Since you are not destined to be killed by a river, he will soon give way—you yourself will see this. But we have close advice for you, if you will heed it; do not rest your hands from war that levels all alike, until you have penned within Ilion’s famed walls the Trojan men, those who should escape you. And after you have stripped the life from Hector, return to your ships; we grant you to win glory.”

The Iliad, Book 21, Lines 284-297

Hermitage

[illustratus]

Water, or the Fight of Achilles against Scamander and Simoeis by Auguste Couder, 1819.

Scamander fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War (Iliad XX, 73/74; XXI), after the Greek hero Achilles insulted him. Scamander was also said to have attempted to kill Achilles three times, and the hero was only saved due to the intervention of Hera, Athena and Hephaestus. In this context, he is the personification of the Scamander River that flowed from Mount Ida across the plain beneath the city of Troy, joining the Hellespont north of the city. The Achaeans, according to Homer, had set up their camp near its mouth, and their battles with the Trojans were fought on the plain of Scamander. In Iliad XXII (149ff), Homer states that the river had two springs: one produced warm water; the other yielded cold water, regardless of the season. According to Homer, he was called Xanthos by gods and Scamander by men, which might indicate that the former name refers to the god and the latter one to the river itself.

[littlesparklight]

Ganymede with his great-grandfather Simoeis (in the river) and grandfather Xanthos/Scamander! Inspired partially because family pictures and partly of realizing how river gods would look like.

Some detail shots as well!

[greekromangods]

The Judgement of Paris

1812

Guillaume Guillon Lethière (1760–1832)

Oil on canvas

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[littlesparklight]

Like, just on the subject of Ganymede and his separation from him family by being taken to Olympos - he does irrevocably lose his mortal family, but he still has familial connections and relatives he can see, because they are divine.

Xanthos and Simoeis are part of the divine community and belongs to the court of Zeus. They have both a right and are undoubtedly invited to turn up on Olympos, at the very least for feasts of that sort of nature. Ganymede isn’t completely separated and isolated from family. In fact, even if you imagine the river gods wouldn’t have had much at all to do with the royal family outside of sending their daughters off to marry various princes and kings of the line of Dardanos, Ganymede by becoming immortal is in a prime position to be/come a permanent and closer relative.

Probably especially after the war, but also before that, since he’s the son of the daughter of Xanthos who married Tros. That daughter might have died a mortal death, but the grandson is now immortal and within relatively easy reach. Ganymede must have become really important to the river gods, not just them to him, in the case he wasn’t already before.

[littlesparklight]

:D Beginning sketch for Ganymede and his river god grandfather (standing) and great-grandfather! Decided to use two different variations for how river gods were depicted, though Scamander/Xanthos gets to keep his horns and bull-ears even in human form because I wanted to lol.