•Resident of Hades•

First of all, the original design, if you've ever seen it on my page, was completely out of wack inspiration-wise and honestly was probably my most ignorant portrayal of a deity ever. I had taken the ephitet as purely to mean of Hades as his own deity without ever thinking about why and when this ephitet was called upon. (I'm lowkey just going to blame Theoi for this mix up XD)

Hesiod's "Work and Days" first references "Zeus Of the Earth" or Zeus Chthonius alongside Demeter when the author discusses farm work, and that Zeus Chthonius may give rain to the farmers for their crops, clearly a display of the heavens that separates him from what I originally thought was Hades, who has always been portrayed as dwelling within the earth. For this reason I have decided to portray him with more references to the sky and earth such as his rain clouds that rest on his horns and an ancient mediterranean farmers tool (possibly a sickle? But don't quote me on that).

For the the rest of his design I drew upon the rather fringe Zeus' Aithiops ephitet, simply because I had been looking through Pinterest and thought the Afar tribe of Ethiopia would be beautiful inspiration to draw upon for the look of Zeus himself. I, of course, could not say that using them as a reference was not in itself also inspired by another tumblr user's work (@/temperamentalgreen) that I highly encourage taking a look at :) Other than that little rant I was just really itching to make art of Zeus for some reason lol

• Athene: Virgin and Mother in Greek Religion by Karl Kerényi

This short book published by the late Kerényi, Hungarian scholar most known for his numerous studies on the greek religions, is about the great goddess Athena and her role in society as both the maiden goddess and yet a motherly figure to the anicent people of Gresya. Now, in my personal opinion, I found the book an easy and enjoyable read, although I can agree with its critics that some terminology/ideas within it seemed either outdated or extremely uncomfortable with how Kerényi chose to word them. I would personally not pick up this book if topics about heavy incest/rape between father and daughter upset you. But outside of its less than stellar moments, the author does go into detail Athena's possible mycenaean/minoan origins, her cults inner workings, myths not found within the common sphere, and even a few ephitets that I rarely seen mentioned. And the end features an amazing postscript from its translator Murray Stein that better summarizes the overall text. While not a book specifically for Helpols, I highly encourage any Athena worshippers to look into this short novel. My rating is a 7/10 :)

• Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter by Karl Kerényi

Can you tell he's starting to become a favorite of mine ;) ? Yet another book by Kerényi that I've loved since reading it, this over 200 page novel goes into detail about one of Gresya's most mysterious cults known today. Admittedly, I will say that I have slacked on reading this one and have not found this book to be the most "etertaining" studies in my collection, but that doesn't mean it isn't still packed with tons of amazing information on the cult of Eleusis. This is a good read for people who want more information on the deities Demeter, Persephone, and surprisingly Dionysus, though I won't spoil Kerényi's theories on how those three are connected in this journal. I've found the author's theories enjoyable but I would suggest reading other books on the ancient religions if you wish to better understand what he’s talking about. My rating is a 8/10 :)

• Greek Religion by Walter Burket

Probably one of the most reccomended books within the helpol space and for a very good reason. Unlike with the first two books, this one touches on practically everything from the gods to their cults, how sacrifices were done, their ancient festivals, hero worship, and so much more. It was one of the first books I've ever had that discussed the Minoan, Middle Eastern, and Proto-indoeuropean religious influence on the greek religions in depth, especially with how it got into the linguistics of the gods names and were certain words may have came from and how they releated to other religions of similar/same origin. I will say its not the easiest read either in my opinion because of how long it is but it's probably been my most helpful book for my practice. Definitely something you should read before getting into any other kind of academic text. My rating is 10/10 :D

• Religions of the Ancient Greeks by Simon Price

My very first book on the anicnet greek religions and certainly not something I'll ever find myself regretting. It has been a while since I've read this admittedly enough but I know I didn't particularly mind reading it. Its much shorter than Walter Burket's book but the author's credibility shouldn't to be overlooked because of it. The Cambridge classical scholar touches on few myths and has brief mentions of different ancient texts related to the religions with a touch of proto indoeuropean mentions but I've found it mostly talked less about the gods themselves and more about festivals, ritual, sanctuaries, gendered socitial roles, and overall customs of the lives of the greeks. It even gets into the reactions the anicent greeks faced from opposing religious movements, though I can't touch on that nearly as much as I'd like to because I mostly skimmed through the end. Its a good book for scholars, I'm sure, but not very good in terms of applying it to Hellenic Polytheism. My rating is a 6/10 :>

•The Orphic Hymns by Patrick Dunn

This pagan linguistic professor has hands down the best translation I've ever seen for the orphic hymns ever (as someone who originally bought Thomas Taylor's version as a baby helpol ;^;). It truly includes everything a hellenic polytheist could ever want in a book, and I personally thought it might even be suitable for newer hellenic polytheists as a guide on certain subjects the author touches on from how to formally use the hymns during offering rituals for the gods to candle magic and even features a section for people seeking to make their own defixionis (not advised for newer folks for obvious reasons). It's also been my first real introduction into the history and theology of the Orphic mystery cult, with few books of mine ever really touching on them and my only other frame of reference back when I had first bought it being OSP's mythology videos (not that their not great but their also not always...accurate, to say the least). Touching on the hymns themselves, the hymns have been fully translated using the greek names and terms with little notes on the bottom from the author explaining his translation choices and explanations on certain terms). It even features the full latin translation of Thomas Taylor at the very end for people who still wish the read that author's version. My rating is a 10/10 :D

• Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by LABRYS (Gresya Helpol Group)

Now onto an actual hellenic polytheist book! This group settled in greece has probably the best source a new incomer will find on the religion as it is practiced today, though I would not reccomend making the same mistake I did by buying this book over a year after I had started my practice. Because I had bought it so late is might muddy my rating on this book since, and I really don't want this to be the take away of my review, I truly did get most of the information I needed (and mostly the same information that can be read in this book) from the internet and from other books that better touched on the ancient practices themselves so this book had proved almost entirely obsolete by the time I got to it. Personal feelings aside, It is absolutely not a bad book at all and, again, highly recommend for extremely new people just starting their own journey as a Helpol. This book touches on the bare-bones information and offering suggestions for the twelve olympians plus Heracles, Hekate, and Pan alongside libations, household altars, ritualistic tools, and purification, "holy days" (I don't personally know why they called it that, most people just know those days as festival days), and even goes into their own personal rituals/ceremonies that the group made themselves that can be replicated at home. My rating is 5/10 :T

• Hekate: Liminal Rites by Sorita d'Este and David Rankine & Circle for Hekate: History & Mythology by Sorita d'Este

For this review, I felt the need to combine the two books into one due to their heavy similarities. These two are, hands down, probably some of the best books you'll find on the topic of the goddess. While the author does not seem to have the same acclaim to her as her scholarly predecessors, she is a self-proclaimed priestess that holds a role within a covenant for Hekate made in 2010 and a mythology researcher, so in short she has around the same credibility as the LABRYS group with the added exception of her nationality. Even with this kept in mind her books seem to show a lot of care put into them and make little attempt to be solely practitioner books, their only goal being to showcase the diverse and anicent worship of Hekate throughout the ages and across many countries. While Liminal Rites is the shorter book of the two, it still manages to compile a decent show of how Hekate was worshipped, her ephitets, her associations both herbal and iconography-related, and which cults she may or may not have been associated with as well as her own and how she transcended past Gresya after the fall of the anicent religions. Circle for Hekate may seem a bit repetitive if you've read the first book because it does share all the same information but it helps that the author really expanded on a lot of the topics she delved into in her first co-authored book. My only real critic is that while her bibliography is extensive, some of her theories may be bordering on slightly into 'fact' territory so I adivise doing some of your own research alongside them. My rating for Liminal Rites is 8/10 and my rating for Circle of Hekate is 9/10.

• Ancient Greek Holidays by Mab Borden

A highly reccomended book for anyone who really wants to live by the ancient practice. This book is what its name proclaims, a book on the ancient festival holidays although it follows the Attic calendar simply because it's the most recorded one. The author is a Helpol reconstructinist and whilst, again, not an academic text by any means, it is a fantastic book that clearly shows the author's knowledge on the subject. The book not only touches on each of the holidays and how they were celebrated but also features modern calendar dates so that you may also start celebrating them too in your own home. My rating is 9/10 :)

• The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation; Including the Demotic Texts by Hans Dieter Betz

This will probably be the most well-known book out of the entire list, honestly. This book is for those who either, like me, wish to practice sorcery sometime in the future or for those who are some serious academics. Definitely not the most beginner friendly book around for either scholar, Helpols, or goetias due to it's heavy and often times confusing information. This book is actually a compilation of quite literally every piece of magical papyri that could be found and translated from the 19th-20th centuries with many, many different collaborators, authors, and translators working on this for years. Its a rich source for how certain ordinary problems were treated, how religions intermingled with one another, how the gods were worshipped and subsequently used by magicians, what was associated with what or who, and so much more. Again, definitely a book you'll need to pick up other books on in order to understand it with the two most helpful being the Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kynes and Stephen Skinner's Technique of Greco-Egyptian Magic. My rating is 10/10 :D

• Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds by Daniel Ogden

Another scholarly text written by a Professor of Ancient History at the University of Exeter, this book is actually quite similar to the Magical Papyri, except its excerpts are more centralized in Gresya and Rome. Funnily enough, this book also contains spells from the Magical Papyri and even spells from outside said book. A good book for, again, either scholars or goetias-in-training but most Helpols may not find this book to be all that helpful or insightful for their practice. This book also goes beyond pagan religions and even discusses christian 'magic' and exorcism, very unlike my other books. A very long book that I also haven't fully finished but I can confidently say I've finished enough of it to give it a rating of 10/10 :D

• The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Robert Fitzgerald

Oh wow, an actual classic in my list XD. I'm sure I don't have to really speak much on the importance of the classics to modern Hellenic Polytheists, but this translation is one of the best. An extremely leisurely read and very easy on the eyes, this book comes with illustrations to mark the start of each chapter and was very essential to the beginning of my pratice alongside the Illiad. It even used the greek names which, for some reason, is an absurd rarity amongst translators. If I hadnt had this specific translation, I'm not sure I would have ever finished it. My rating is a 7/10 :)

• The Illiad by Homer, Translated by E. V. Rieu, D. C. H. Rieu, and Peter Jones

Genuinely do not ask me to pick this book up ever again. Not because it was bad or that it lacked important information or was even translated wrong—I purely never want to see this book again because of how horrible it was on my eyes as someone who requires glasses to stabilize my vision. My copy had extremely tiny text, which is a given if a book has a lot to say, and by the gods did Homer have a lot to say. I would use this book for extreme basics like the idea of washing your hands before doing anything related to the gods, ephitets, how the gods may have been perceived theologically, and libations/offerings. Outside of that, I will not be touching this book again for my own sanity, 6/10 ;-;

• Gods and Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus with Introductions and Notes by Michael Simpson

Honestly, I personally favor this translation above all else. The text is easy to read, the notes lend a helping hand to those confused by the text, and it features a lot of core myths most well-known by the public. Its another classical read I highly reccomend to baby Helpols if they wish to gain a better grasp on not just the gods by the heros who served them. My rating is 7/10 :)

• Metamorphosis by Ovid, Translation by A.D. Melville

Flat out, in all honesty, Ovid's book is not my favorite book out of all my research. His portrayal of the gods is a bit twisted from the jump and most probably wouldn't regard this text as essential for hellenic polytheists since it so clearly writes for the roman pantheon. The only reason why I decided to put it in this list at all is because I truly do believe that learning about not just the Roman religion but also the Etruscan religion which directly influenced the Romans may serve to give me a better understanding on the gods, especially with how closely the ancient Etruscans tied their religion with the greeks which is how we got deities such as Menrva, Apulu, and Nethuns. Outside of studious reasons, however, I would not be the first to immediately recomend this book to Helpols. My rating is 6/10 :>

• Theogony & Work and Days by Hesiod, Translation from Penguin Classics

An easy classic read and, again, an essential book for anyone who practices Hellenic Polytheism. The book is essentially a list of who's who and who came from what or where. It starts the pantheon with the primordial Chaos and ends with the story of the Olympians defeating Typhon. A slight note to mention but Sorita and a few other books I've read all make mention of Hesiod seemingly having some sort of connection to Hekate, perhaps as devotees, with the goddess' portrayal in the book being the most flattering out of everyone which I thought was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I was not the most interested in the second half of the book which I believe, if I can recall correctly, to be a prose featuring the author advising his brother how he should live. Other than that, my rating is 8/10 :)

• The Homeric Hymns: Introduction, and Notes by Apostolos N. Athanassakis

Unlike with my Orphic Hymns, this book is pretty much the only translation I've ever had and thus my favorite by default. An easy read which touches on various myths such as the Hymn to Demeter, The births of Apollo, Artemis, Pan, and Hermes, as well the story between Aphrodite and Anchises and that time when pirates tried to kidnap Dionysus. Great for spell work and offerings and most major olympians are covered by the Homeric Hymns. My rating is a 9/10 :)

•Hermes: Guide of Souls by Karl Kerényi