No Sharon, They’re Gay

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @sasspresso I LOVE YOU POOKIE HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE OLD

Do you all know what a divine epithet is? It (in my Greek Mythology knowledge of the subject) is a capacity in which a god(dess) is worshipped, and this is signified with a name. Some examples in Ancient Greek myth specifically are: Hera Alexandros (Hera, the defender of men), Zeus Pan Helenos (Zeus, the god of everything and everyone), and Aphrodite Aeria (Aprodite, the warlike Aphrodite).

These are all terms appended to a deity to specialize their worship, and to denote a way that deity behaves. Hera Alexandros was worshipped as a defender of men, which isn’t usually her deal unless said Epithet was added to the name of Hera.

So where does Modern Media come into this?

I’ve noticed that Nicknames are appended to fictional characters or celebrities to talk about them more specifically. For example: Ilya “I threw this party just for you” Rozanov, or Hudson Mildred Williams (I was just on Heated Rivalry Tumblr). These are names added to specify what capacity someone is being spoken about, and they resemble divine epithets both in use and in my personal opinion.

Hudson Mildred Williams signifies that Hudson Williams is being scolded, usually humorously. Mildred is a funny and old-fashioned name, but middle names usually mean scolding. Ilya “I threw this party just for you” Rozanov denotes an Ilya who would do that, or an Ilya whose characterization is to [throw the] party just for [Shane].

Now I know we don’t worship celebrities, but those still function almost exactly the same as divine epithets. They describe what “version” of a celebrity or character you’re speaking about.

This calls into question how we treat celebrities and fictional characters. We obviously have a lot less reverence for them than the Greeks for their gods, but we still look for favour and hold them up as figures worthy of worship.

This whole thing is just something I’ve noticed, but it’s worth a thought.

(Im very proud of some of these)