Hello, Myth Lovers! Join us for Monday's theme: Escapes. Which myths feature someone who escapes? What story features a special item or place that helps with an escape? Us the tag #MythologyMonday for reposts!
"We shall rule that the young man under thirty may take wine in moderation, but that he must entirely abstain from intoxication and heavy drinking. But when a man has reached the age of forty, he may join in the convivial gatherings and invoke #Dionysos, above all other gods." #Plato, Laws 665b
🏛 Drunken Dionysus #Mosaic from Antiochia, 4th century CE
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"I [#Venus] should find some favour with the sea, for in its holy depths in days gone by from sea-foam I was formed, and still from foam I take my name in Greece [#Aphrodite]."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.521
You may know well #Thor, the #Norse god of Thunder—but have you head about Perun?
He is often depicted as a powerful, bearded man wielding a hammer or axe. His domain included the sky, where he controlled the weather and protected the earthly realm from evil forces.
In #Slavic belief, thunder was thought to be the sound of Perun striking his enemies with his thunderbolts. As a deity associated with war, Perun was also considered a guardian of justice and order, punishing evildoers and upholding moral law. His cult was widespread among the early Slavic tribes, and he was one of the most important gods in their pantheon.
Perun's importance declined with the spread of #Christianity in Eastern #Europe, where he was often equated with Saint Elias due to their shared associations with thunder and lightning. Nonetheless, Perun remains a significant figure in Slavic folklore and cultural heritage, symbolizing strength, protection, and the forces of nature.
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"There is also #Hermes bringing to Alexandros [Paris], the son of Priamos, the goddesses of whose beauty he is to judge, the inscription on them being: Here is Hermes, who is showing to Alexandros, that he may arbitrate concerning their beauty, #Hera, #Athena, and #Aphrodite."
Description of Greece 5.19.5
Greetings, myth lovers! Join us for #Monday's theme: Maps. Which myths feature a map? Write out a story and tag us using #MythologyMonday for reposts. See you tomorrow!🗺️🗺️🗺️
"Let us be merry and drink wine and sing of Bakkhos [#Dionysos], the inventor of the choral dance, the lover of all songs, leading the same life as the Erotes, the darling of Kythere [Aphrodite as goddess of pleasure]."
Anacreontea, Fragment 38
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"Lord of Korykos [#Hermes], blessed, helpful and skilled in words, you assist in work,
You are a friend of mortals in need,
And you wield the dreaded and respected weapon of speech."
Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes
🏛 Hermes-Mercurius, Museo Pio-Clementino, Musei Vaticani, Vatican, Rome
Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits by Caren Loebel-Fried, 2002
Ancient Hawaiians lived in a world where all of nature was alive with the spirits of their ancestors. These aumakua have lived on through the ages as family guardians and take on many natural forms, thus linking many Hawaiians to the animals, plants, and natural phenomena of their island home.
This week's #MythologyMonday theme is tricksters! #Anansi is a is a trickster character from Ghanaian #folklore, most commonly depicted as a spider. Nyame, Anansi's father & god of the sky, asked him to bring wisdom to humans in a big calabash pot. Anansi took it to earth but decided to hide it in a tall tree no human could climb to keep it all to himself. But he had much difficulty getting the heavy pot up the tree. Anansi's young son saw his father's struggles and said:
Greetings, myth lovers! For #AprilFoolsDay our theme is tricks, tricksters, and pranks!
Tell us a myth about a trickster or involving tricks or pranks and tag us with #MythologyMonday for boosts. See you tomorrrow!
📷 #Ekwensu, a trickster spirit of the #Igbo people. Artist and model unknown.
Women dance around a pillar idol of #Dionysos, festooned with branches and set before a table where one of them ladles wine into a cup. The image of the god fastened to the pillar suggests a festival of Dionysos.
🏛 Dionysos and worshipping women, red-figure stamnos, late 5th century BCE
"Of Kythereia, born in Kypros, I will sing. She gives kindly gifts to men: smiles are ever on her lovely face, and lovely is the brightness that plays over it. Hail, goddess, queen of well-built Salamis and sea-girt Kypros; grant me a cheerful song. And now I will remember you and another song also."
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"But Nephele seized both him [Phrixos] and her daughter [Helle], and gave them a golden-fleeced ram which she had received from #Hermes, by which they were borne through the sky over and across the land and the sea."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.80
🏛 Hermes riding a ram, marble statue from Mlanolovo-Kjustemdil, 2nd-3rd century CE
Greetings, myth lovers! Join
us for Monday's theme: The #Forge and #Metalworking. Write out a story and use the tag #MythologyMonday for boosts. See you Monday!
#Ariadne, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, saved Theseus' life by teaching him how to use Ariadne's thread, a method still used today. Theseus abandoned her on the island of Naxos on his way home to Athens, where Dionysos found her and married her.
🏛 Dionysos and Ariadne on the Pronomos Vase, an Attic Red-Figure Krater, ca 400 BCE
Did you know which #tree is most frequently struck by lightning? #Oaks have a knack for attracting bolts during thunderstorms, perhaps not coincidentally linked to their association with the god(s) of #thunder. But #Norse mythology is just a piece of a larger puzzle.
Perkūnas, the #Baltic thunder god, and his #Slavic counterpart, Perun, shared ties to the same venerable tree. Even #Roman Jupiter and #Greek Zeus joined the thunder god ranks. Across #Europe, cultures under similar latitudes shared grand bonfires on specific occasions:
Spring's arrival
Summer and Winter Solstices
All Hallows’ Eve
Each region had unique customs, but they all symbolized the sun's power, dispelling negativity and blessing crops and livestock. Interestingly, fire also served as a defense against #witches. In many traditions, the last sheaf of corn, often referred to as "the Old Woman", met its demise in the flames.
Despite differences, these bonfires shared common threads. They all symbolized the sun's power, dispelling negativity and blessing crops and livestock. #Fire also served as a defense against witches.
Fertility could have been another great mutual peculiarity: the #sun had the power to make the vegetation grow, so the fire could have resembled the star’s fertilizing strength. This could explain why even the farm animals were driven through the flames, sometimes hurting themselves.
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"#Hermes brought them to the place where rich-crowned #Demeter was staying & checked them before her fragrant temple.
And when Demeter saw them, she rushed forth like a Maenad down some wooded mountain, while #Persephone, when she saw her mother's sweet eyes, leapt down to run to her, and falling upon her neck, embraced her."
Greetings, myth lovers! #Easter is around the corner and to honour our egg-laying domestic birds, our theme this week is Chickens, Ducks, and Geese! Tell us a myth about fowl an tag us with #MythologyMonday for boosts. See you Monday! 🐓