aristos achaion

—

the beauty Helen strolling through the palace of King Priam

Greek Mythology: Hero and Leander “Alone the maiden sits, and eyes the cliffs of fair Abydos rise Afar—her lover’s home. Oh, safely thrown from strand to strand, no bridge can love to love convey; No boatman shoots from yonder shore, yet love has found the way.”

A hunky dude named Leander lives in a city called Abydus.

Leander’s hometown is situated on the Hellespont, a narrow strait that links the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea. (Psst, the Hellespont, a.k.a. the Dardanelles, is still around.)

On the other side of the Hellespont is another city called Sestus.

One day, there’s a big festival in Sestus, celebrating Aphrodite and Adonis, and Leander decides to check it out.

While he’s there, he spots Hero, a smokin’ hot priestess of Aphrodite.

Though she’s a priestess of the goddess of love, Hero is a virgin and lives alone in a tower by the Hellespont, with only an old nurse to hang out with.

This solitary lifestyle is all the idea of Hero’s overprotective parents.

Leander shimmies over to Hero, and it’s love at first sight.

The hunky young man tells Hero that it doesn’t make any sense that she’s still a virgin, since she’s a priestess of Aphrodite. Surely the goddess of love wouldn’t approve.

“Wow, I never thought of that,” says Hero, and—just like that—the two become lovers.

Leander wants to marry Hero, but she tells him that her parents would never let her marry a guy from a foreign city.

“Fine,” says Leander. “I’m going to come back to be with you every night. Just leave a light burning in the top of your tower, and I’ll swim across the Hellespont.” Yeah, there wasn’t a ferry.

For a while, Hero and Leander are in total bliss.

Leander is an awesome swimmer, and as long as Hero leaves the light burning, he has no problem paddling across the strait at night.

Eventually, though, the season changes and things get stormy.

One night, a bunch of winds are blowing every which way, and the currents in the Hellespont are totally out of control.

Leander can’t stand the idea of not seeing Hero, though, so he dives in any way.

Unfortunately, the winds also manage to blow out Hero’s light.

Uh oh.

Leander gets totally turned around in the dark, and the waves swallow him.

In the morning, Hero finds his body washed up on the rock shore.

The girl is so upset that she throws herself from the top of the tower into the Hellespont.

Women in History:  Anne Bonny | Pirate 

Anne Bonny is one of two well-known female pirates. Her birthday is not known, but most historians think she was born in Kinsale, Ireland, in 1697 or 1698. Anne’s father, William McCormac, was a lawyer in Ireland and her mother, Mary Brennan, was a maid in his home. William eventually separated from his wife, took Anne, and settled in Charles Towne, South Carolina and eventually bought a plantation. By the age of thirteen, Anne had supposedly developed a fierce and violent temper.

Anne fell in love at sixteen and married a small-time pirate named James Bonny, which resulted in her father disowning her. The couple settled in Nassau, Bahamas, which was known as a sanctuary for English pirates. In 1720, she met John “Calico Jack” Rackham and left her husband. The unlikely duo met great success pirating small ships in the Caribbean. Anne Bonny had a fierce personality and fought alongside the men, earning their respect. Eventually, another female named Mary Read joined them. They continued pirating merchant ships in the Caribbean, along the Jamaican coast, until their ship was captured on November 15, 1720. The women fought hard, but the men were too drunk to put up much of a fight. They were put on trial in Jamaica, and the men were executed. Calico Jack visited her before his execution and it was said that she told him she was sorry to see him there, but if he’d fought like a man he need not have been hanged like a dog.

books read in 2018: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

“Stay,” she panted. Tears leaked from her eyes. “Stay till the end.” “And after,” he said. “And always.”

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Troy: Fall of a city 1.08 - “Offering” HD SCREENCAPS

Gallery Here: [X]

"Hera, the eldest daughter of Cronus and Rhea, was born at Samos, or, according to some accounts, at Argos, and was reared by the sea-divinities Oceanus and Tethys, who were models of conjugal fidelity. She was the principal wife of Zeus, and, as queen of heaven, participated in the honours paid to him, but her dominion only extended over the air. Hera appears to be the sublime embodiment of strict matronly virtue, and is on that account the protectress of purity and married women. Faultless herself in her fidelity as a wife, she is essentially the type of the sanctity of the marriage tie, and holds in abhorrence any violation of its obligations. So strongly was she imbued with this hatred of any immorality, that, finding herself so often called upon to punish the failings of both gods and men in this respect, she became jealous, harsh, and vindictive. Her exalted position as the wife of the supreme deity, combined with her extreme beauty, caused her to become exceedingly vain, and she consequently resented with great severity any infringement on her rights as queen of heaven, or any apparent slight on her personal appearance.

Hera was the mother of Ares (Mars), Hephaestus, Hebe, and Eileithyia. Ares was the god of War; Hephaestus, of Fire; Hebe, of Youth; and Eileithyia presided over the birth of mortals.Hera dearly loved Greece, and indeed always watched over and protected Greek interests, her beloved and favourite cities being Argos, Samos, Sparta, and Mycenae.

Hera is usually represented seated on a throne, holding a pomegranate in one hand and a sceptre surmounted by a cuckoo in the other. She appears as a calm, dignified matron of majestic beauty, robed in a tunic and mantle, her forehead is broad and intellectual, her eyes large and fully opened, and her arms dazzlingly white and finely moulded.Her attributes are the diadem, veil, sceptre, and peacock. The first day of every month a ewe-lamb and sow were sacrificed to Hera.The hawk, goose, and more particularly the peacock were sacred to her. Flocks of these beautiful birds generally surround her throne and draw her chariot, Iris, the Rainbow, being seated behind her. Her favourite flowers were the dittany, poppy, and lily."