Keveux

She/her ● Greek mythology ● a wild mysterious crow

[ilions-end]

Never before [Eteocles and Polynices' climactic duel] has Statius compared either Oedipal brother to a boar, the animal strongly associated with Tydeus both in narrative reality (because of his boar’s-hide cloak) and in similes. The implications of this new association are dramatic and relate to themes of pollution and shifting identity in the epic. Polynices and Tydeus were introduced as men / one [mistakes] for beasts, the one wearing a lion’s skin, the other a boar’s-hide cloak. Tydeus’ sharp decline in the moral realm has been charted by similes as he drops from gorged lion to filthy bear. Polynices, originally a bull mismatched with his own brother but emotionally paired with Tydeus, now drops to the level of the boar, the worst aspect of that dear fratricidal friend, the self- and hero-self-destructive Tydeus.

-- Jane Wilson Joyce for her translation of Statius' Thebaid

[ilions-end]

i'm rereading aeschylus' seven against thebes (Actually Aware of Who The Characters Are edition). i mostly remember i really enjoyed the shield descriptions for the seven, and yeah they still rock.

list for my own future reference:

tydeus' shield: a night sky with stars, and the full moon at the center. also the shield has bells hanging from it to "make a fearsome sound". exploring new avenues of fear tactics, i like it

capaneus' shield: a naked man carrying a flaming torch in each hand, and the text ‘I will burn down the city’. ZERO subtlety. capaneus oh my god

eteoclus' shield: an armored man scaling an enemy wall, and the text, 'Not even the war god Ares can dislodge me and hurl me from the wall'. B-. too much of a mouthful. come back when you've found a more succinct way to disrespect the gods and tempt fate.

hippomedon's shield: fire-breathing typhon encircled by twining serpents. sounds like an instant classic. good. (also OF COURSE his opponent's shield depicts zeus with a lightning bolt so. you know how this will play out)

parthenopaeus' shield: the sphinx eating a theban man. now THAT'S going above and beyond, that's reading up on your enemy team before the match. chef's kiss.

amphiaraus' shield: isn't decorated in any way because he isn't boastful and wants to let his actions speak for themselves 🥺 amphiarauuuus man you're like. the coolest guy here

polynices' shield: a man in golden armor led by justice personified, with the text ‘This man I will lead back, and he will have his land and will roam free in his ancestral home.’ noooo you could have had something DEVASTATING and you went with like. a political newspaper cartoon. and too many words again. polynices i NEED you to get your head in the game here

[thunderayn]

That unromantic wild boar who speeks only the truth

[thunderayn]

Polytyde

and their “naked” combat

[thunderayn]

Tydeus

I'm still working on this one, but...

Every time I thought, “okay, let’s add some blood beside his mouth to make him look more badly wounded,” and then add it, then remove it, and say to myself, “No, Tydeus, stop eating human organs.”

[thunderayn]

PolyTyde

fell in love at their first glance

[thunderayn]

Polynices

*when Amphiaraus gets so mad at him and this whole doomed war

[thunderayn]

Golden Polynices

and with his crime partner, so it seems :)

[thunderayn]

so my design of Polynices

when I read "On polynice's back he spies a lion flayed" I was like, yeeaah I knew he would have had a head of curly hair and be wearing a fur coat and looks fluffy or something

[wolfythewitch]

Alex Warren put out a new version of this song featuring Gigi Perez and I immediately went and put it over the original audio of this odypen animatic to see what it would look like

[kyleesarthell]

Familiar

[aguacerotropical]

Particularly brutal part of Book II in the Thebaid (tr. Jane Wilson Joyce) when Tydeus defeats soldiers sent by Eteocles