Terry

Demetrios (Terry) ✿ 21 ✿ They/Them ✿ Hellenic-Polytheist ✿ Follower of Demeter, Kore Rhea-Kybele, Zeus, Hera, Hermes and Hekate ✿ ♈︎ ☉, ♍︎ ☾, ♍︎ ↑

[temperamentalgreen]

[vigilantlight]

Hestia in the Pyrtaneion

Daughter of Rhea, who hast in thy keeping the city halls, O Hestia! sister of highest Zeus and of Hera sharer of his throne, with good-will welcome Aristagoras to thy sanctuary, with goodwill also his fellows who draw nigh to thy glorious sceptre, for they in paying honour unto thee keep Tenedos in her place erect, by drink-offerings glorifying thee many times before the other gods, and many times by the savour of burnt sacrifice; and the sound of their lutes is loud, and of their songs: and at their tables never-failing are celebrated the rites of Zeus, the stranger's friend.

- Pindar, Nemean Ode 11, in celebrating an election

An excerpt I don't see shared around as often, and a depiction of Hestia's civil function as it pertains to state government.

The 'sanctuary' at mention here is the prytaneion of the city. A kind of city hall or council headquarters where governmental figures would meet and diplomacy would be handled. This, like really all similar structures of the era, housed a perpetual flame which represented the dominion of the gods, namely Hestia herself, and at times was viewed as the living breath of the state itself. But this flame would be one of the most important flames in the region, and was the 'seed flame' from which new fires would be brought to new settlements.

This building was seen as a kind of 'home', for the government itself rather than a family unit, and so like all other homes and civil hearths, was under Hestia's direct dominion. It goes to follow then that she's being asked to welcome a newly elected official into her home.

Her hearth would be central to the building, and subsequently all life would happen around it. As her flames were seen as the line of communication and connection between the state and the gods, she herself had an important role as an intermediary in all affairs.

A model of the pyrtaneion at Eleia, showing the inner chamber where the fire would be housed. Credit to the Ancient Olympia Museum website.

[brimo5]

Even so did the bereaved Ceres light her torch and from Aetna's rocks cast the shifting glare of the mighty flame here over Sicily, there over Ausonia, as she followed the traces of the dark ravisher and the great wheel-furrows in the dust; Enceladus himself re-echoes her wild wailings, and illumines her path with bursting fire; “Persephone” cry woods and rivers, seas and clouds: only the palace of her Stygian lord calls not “Persephone.” (Statius, Thebaid, 12.270-277)

orba Ceres magnae uariabat imagine flammae Ausonium Siculumque latus, uestigia nigri raptoris uastosque legens in puluere sulcos; illius insanis ululatibus ipse remugit Enceladus ruptoque uias inluminat igni: Persephonen amnes siluae freta nubila clamant, Persephonen tantum Stygii tacet aula mariti.

This is the ultimate satire of adaptations like "after entering the underworld, Kore changed her name to Persephone…"

[temperamentalgreen]

Y'know what? I really want to see your artstyle depicting Apollon one day, pretty pleaseee

You are so kind, I was actually busy with Apollon this month! But I felt quite overwhelmed with the process and with the fact that I don't see him as clearly as I do with the other Theoi, so I hit a bit of a block. Im planning on completely starting from scratch, but you definitely will see Apollon in the future

[destroymylife]

[temperamentalgreen]

“Garden of Proserpine,” 1938 - R.H. Ives Gammell

[s-c-r-ee-ch]

Apollo with his cithara

Attic crater, 300 BC

[venomspecs]

Times change, peoples come and go, but the tarallo is a constant

Images on the left are little carbonized ring bread cake offerings found in the Messapian cave sanctuary of Monte Papalucio in Oria, southeastern Italy, dedicated to Demeter and Persephone. It was in use from the second half of the 6th century to the first half of the 3rd century BCE. On the bottom right is the modern tarallo. Number 5 is a votive clay model from the deities' sanctuary in Corinth depicting cakes.

Here are some reconstructions of the cult area by Inklink Studio:

[vigilantlight]

Regional Variation within Hellenic Polytheism

I feel like not enough time is spent in HelPol spaces discussing the regional variation of the religion, beyond occasional hat-tips to the preference shown to certain theoi in certain regions. In an attempt to get many thoughts out of my head in an orderly fashion, some blurbs: ಄ The majority of helpols are, whether consciously or unconsciously, practicing more or less a variation of Athenian (or generally Attican) polytheism. This is just due to source survival bias. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but it often isn't discussed openly, nor do many authors take the time to specify that we're aware in the records of regional variance. ಄ Additionally, records hugely skew towards civil worship (as opposed to household or rural worship), which both reinforces the regional bias towards more heavily developed at the time regions of Greece and obscures by ommission many aspects of daily life for the average Hellene that we can now only really infer ಄ Cultural conflation is an issue here, and one that does matter. Although certainly no one is arguing that Thessaly is any more or less Greek than Laconia, the way we interpret the idea of a unified 'ancient Greek culture' is very modern, and removes a great deal of political and cultural context. Responsible reconstruction requires acknowledgement of both intracultural and intercultural forces, and the fuzziness of the boundaries between what is and isn't 'the same culture'. As modern, often foriegn, practitioners we need to be careful that we're not partaking in intermingling regional disparities based purely on preference without acknowledging the complexity of their origins.

಄ That said, what we do know of the differences region by region are difficult to compare in a direct manner, both because to do so would often water down the nuances of why things developed differently, and also because exceedingly few of our primary sources engage in such comparison through the lens of the time. Instead, I believe that regional examination should be done in as holistic a contained manner as possible, and the urge to compare be treated a secondary to the need to see how complete a given picture can be on its own first.

಄ It is, at times, treated as a sort of badge of honor to go out of your way to not center Attican HelPol in your personal practice. Quite simply, stop that. Specifically I'm staring at some of the exotification of Laconia/Sparta that goes on in certain spaces. By all means, decenter Athens. But there's nothing morally superior or inferior about reconstructing based more on one region than another. ಄ There is nothing inherently wrong with using information we have about the regions with more surviving record to fill in the gaps of how we understand those towards which we do not. This is a very intuitive and academically sound way of trying to gain a clearer understanding of the landscape. But this should be done knowingly, and not because it's become normalized for authors to not bother to specify what comes from where, where relevant. ಄ If you've ever wondered about some of those unsual, fringe epithets for your deities that seem incongruent from most of their aspects, look into their regional worship and the surviving folk belief of their major hubs of antiquity. It very, very often answers the question.

[medusaspeach]

"Lord of the silver bow, now hear my prayer! Great guardian of Tenedos and Chryse and sandy Cilla! Mouse Lord! If I ever built temples to your liking, ever burned fat thighs of oxen or of goats for you, fulfill this prayer for me, and let the Greeks suffer your arrows to avenge my tears!" (Homer. Iliad, trans. wilson)

Apollo sends a plague to the Greeks, my piece for the 2026 edition, Sing! O Muse Zine.

[temperamentalgreen]

Dea magna, dea Cybebe, dea domina Dindymiprocul a mea tuus sit furor omnis, era, domo:alios age incitatos, alios age rabidos.

Great goddess, goddess Cybele, goddess and mistress of Dindymus, may all your insanity, Lady, be far from my home. Drive others to frenzy, drive others mad.

(Catullus 63.91–93)

[egypt-museum]

Stele dedicated by two women to the snake goddess Renenutet

New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1292-1290 BC.

From Deir el-Medina, Thebes. Now in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. Suppl. 6138

[my-name-is-apollo]

Dark-haired Apollo

I know everyone likes blonde Apollo, and for good reasons! A lot of poets seemed to have been fond of imagining him with long, beautiful golden hair. But dark-haired Apollo, though quite rare in the poems, also exists and I honestly like that too.

• From the Erythrean paean to Asclepius (which then continues into a paean to king Seleucus):

"Over the libations, sing of Seleucus, son of dark-haired Apollo, whom the god of the golden lyre himself begot..." – (Trans. P.A.LeVen)

> κυανοπλοκάμου (kyanoplokámou) - dark-haired is used to describe Apollo's hair here.

• From Limenius' paean to Apollo (also known as the second Delphic hymn):

"But you, O god who owns the oracular tripod, come to this ridge of Parnassus where the gods tread, and where divine possession is welcomed. Weave a crown of bay about your wine-dark hair, and drawing with your hand . . . you encountered the monstrous child of Gaia . . ." (Trans. J.G.Landels)

>It was a bit difficult for me to figure what word is used here for his hair because the original Greek text is fragmented and I'm not knowledgeable about the language - I rely on the online translations - so a disclaimer. But from what I've put together, the word used to describe the color of the hair is οἰνῶ̣πα (oinõpa) which translates to "dark", "ruddy complexioned". Also, the same hymn calls Apollo "golden-haired" in the beginning lol.

In Deipnosophists by Athenaeus, a comment is made on the poets' imagination of Apollo's hair vs the painters' preference:

"And you do not either like the poet who spoke of the golden-haired Apollo; for if a painter were to represent the hair of the god as actually golden, and not black, the picture would be all the worse." – (Trans. Charles Burton Gulick)

> according to this, the painters liked to represent Apollo with black (μελαίνας) hair. Or rather that making his golden will make the painting look worse.

And if the Roman paintings and mosaics are any proof, these painters did actually seem to prefer representing Apollo with dark hair.

So yeah, while in the myths he's often called golden-haired, dark-haired Apollo is a more common sight in the paintings.

[temperamentalgreen]

🌱🌾Demeter, 𐀯𐀵𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊🌾🌱

"As the Basket comes, greet it, ye women, saying “Demeter, greatly hail! Lady of much bounty, of many measures of corn.” As the Basket comes, from the ground shall ye behold it, ye uninitiated, and gaze not from the roof or from aloft, child nor wife nor maid hath shed her hair, neither then nor when we spit from parched mouths fasting. Hesperus from the clouds marks the time of its coming: Hesperus, who alone persuaded Demeter to drink, what time she pursued the unknown tracks of her stolen daughter.

Lady, how were thy feet able to carry thee unto the West, unto the black men and where the golden apples are? Thou didst not drink nor didst thou eat during that time nor didst thou wash. Thrice didst thou cross Achelous with his silver eddies, and as often didst thou pass over each of the ever-flowing rivers, and thrice didst thou seat thee on the ground beside the fountain Callichorus, parched and without drinking, and didst not eat nor wash.

Nay, nay, let us not speak of that which brought the tear to Deo! Better to tell how she gave cities pleasing ordinances; better to tell how she was the first to cut straw and holy sheaves of corn-ears and put in oxen to tread them, what time Triptolemus was taught the good craft ---

O Demeter, never may that man be my friend who is hateful to thee, nor ever may he share party-wall with me; ill neighbours I abhor

Sing, ye maidens, and ye mothers, say with them: “Demeter, greatly hail! Lady of much bounty, of many measures of corn.” And as the four white-haired horses convey the Basket, so unto us will the great goddess of wide dominion come bringing white spring and white harvest and winter and autumn, and keep us to another year. And as unsandalled and with hair unbound we walk the city, so shall we have foot and head unharmed for ever. And as the van-bearers bear vans full of gold, so may we get gold unstinted. As far as the prytaneia let the uninitiated follow, but the initiated even unto the very shrine of the goddess, as many as are under sixty years. But those that are heavy and she that stretches her hand to Eileithyia and she that is in pain, sufficient it is that they go so far as their knees are able. And to them Deo shall give all things to overflowing, even as if they came unto her temple.

Hail, goddess, and save this people in harmony and in prosperity, and in the fields bring us all pleasant things! Feed our kine, bring us flocks, bring us the corn-ear, bring us harvest! And bring peace, that he who sows may also reap. Be gracious, O thrice-prayed for, great Queen of goddesses!"

---- Callimachus, Hymn 6 to Demeter 🌾

[temperamentalgreen]

WIP

[irisrainbowplumed]

Praise Gê! Mother of all life, beloved of starry Ouranos.

Praise Rheia! Mother of the deathless Olympians, lover of wild rites.

Praise Hera! Mother of Zeus' strong children, Queen of Olympos.

Praise Demeter! Mother of bountiful Kore, bringer of harvest.

Praise Maia! Mother of clever Hermes, nurse of the young.

Praise Leto! Mother of far-shooting twins, darkly-veiled grafter.

Praise Aphrodite! Mother of love in many forms, heavenly Cyprian.

May every mother goddess be loved and venerated on this blessed day! We give praises and libations to you, mothers who watch over us dear mortals, even when our own earthly mothers do not.

[temperamentalgreen]

Chryselephantine Statues of Artemis and her mother Leto at Delphi