City of Marble

🔱🏺Percy Jackson girly🏺🔱 🏛Mythology, ancient history, random stuff🏛

[val-the-aoidos]

One of the most heartbreaking thoughts while studying history is that when I was little I used to look at Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, who never married and never had kids, like a feminist idol girlboss, just to grow up and then realize that she was probably terrified of what happened to her mother and stepmothers.

[val-the-aoidos]

And while the cruel emperor Nero sat down and then stood up, and then sat down and stood up again, playing the lyre and laughing and singing his heart out, his dearest Rome was losing itself through the flames.

Admiring the city on fire, from the best spot to feel its warmth. Maybe he enjoyed it. Maybe he caused it. We don’t know.

But he didn’t do anything to stop it.

🇵🇸

[val-the-aoidos]

RANDOM THOUGHT

What if “The Princess on the pea” wasn’t an actual princess but just an autistic girl with sensory processing issues?

[val-the-aoidos]

I don’t have a strong opinion about mama’s boys but if mama’s name is Sally Jackson then I totally get it.

[val-the-aoidos]

Walker Scobell being cast in the series is actually book Percy’s revenge because AM I STILL NOT YOUR TYPE NICO

[val-the-aoidos]

Let’s bring this app to life again.

What’s your greek mythology opinion that would get you like THIS?

I’ll start:

Euryalus and Nisus >>>>>>>>>>> Achilles and Patroclus

[val-the-aoidos]

A wise man once sad,

Oedipus was the first motherfucker.

I think it was Bo Burnham

[val-the-aoidos]

To all the girls and young women talking back, fighting against disrespect, not afraid to voice your opinion and thoughts and not submitting to any kind of violence

And even to all the girls and young women that have been mistreated at some point and have reasons to be afraid to speak up against abuse and disrespect

Just know that Ares, the cruel greek god of war, anger and violence, n. 1 Amazons’ supporter and certified girl dad would absolutely LOVE you.

[val-the-aoidos]

Studying greek mythology is just realizing that you can draw all the family trees and do all the research you want but every single lineage and dinasty just goes back to Zeus.

[haitani-trash]

nothing makes me happier than knowing that young disabled kids are going to watch pjo and find themselves in these characters and in this world the same way i did when i was young and undiagnosed

[val-the-aoidos]

You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Palestinian conflict recently. My heart goes out to all the innocent victims, men, women, children. I could have been them, I’m not special. I am just very, very lucky.

So I found myself thinking about the concept of war. Which is one of the oldest things in the world. It’s sad, very sad that while facing something slightly different from us, one of our first instincts was to fight it and eventually kill it.

And I’ve been thinking about one of the most ancient wars we have a record of, the Trojan War, which might have happened or not, but there are some details that make it look very, very real.

I’m sure you heard of this passage: the final goodbye of prince Hector, the greatest Trojan warrior, to her wife Andromache and their son Astyanax, before going to fight in duel with the strongest greek warrior, Achilles.

He leans in to kiss the newborn in his wife’s arms one last time, but is unable to do it because of his helmet. While he laughs with Andromache, Astyanax is frightened and starts to cry.

The beauty of the whole scene elevates this poem to something completely different from what it was supposed to be, but this little moment, this moment alone is absolutely heartbreaking.

Think about how Astyanax doesn’t even recognize his father. And how the helmet he didn’t even try to take off keeps him from showing affection to his only son.

A small, powerful image of how dehumanizing war can be.

How the most righteous, loving man can turn into an unrecognizable shadow.

And it takes really, really little for that to happen.

Maybe it’s stupid, I don’t know. I was just thinking about it.

Thinking about how many children cried their eyes out, and screamed until their lungs were soaking in blood, at the sight of those men.

🇵🇸

[val-the-aoidos]

Of course Athena was the smartest, wisest, calmest, most indipendent deity of Olympus. She’s an oldest daughter.

And most importantly

A father’s daughter.

[val-the-aoidos]

You know, growing up watching the top tier Disney Movie “Hercules” was an amazing experience, but not the best way to approach greek mythology for the first time.

And it’s not because that is not the REAL story of Hercules and Megara, which is actually heartbreaking and I might explain it to you one day.

But maturing and studying ACTUAL mythology is just like studying history at school: you get struck by that sad, mindblowing, disappointing but still weirdly predictable thought that There was never a good, righteous guy in history. Ever.

(Except Jesus. I’m not a very religious person but his story sometimes reminds me of what “good” is supposed to be like)

I was actually heartbroken when I came to the conclusion for the first time. And it might seem stupid, but if you’re like me you immediately start to wonder if all the love and the good in the world was true… or if that was all a lie.

People are actually good? Or is it all just a lie?

I like to think that good is still hidden somwhere. Maybe I’ll need a group of sassy muses to narrate my life singing gospel to be fully convinced.

And I’m not sure that will be the live action Hercules.

At least, Disney Hercules got a happy ending. I don’t know many greek heroes that got an actual happy ending.

Except for Admetus.

But we don’t talk about Admetus.

Not today.