#aethra

This is from the Andromache scholium 10, with the brackets inserted by the Center for Hellenic Studies, who clarify that the source for this, Dionysius of Chalcis, lived in the 4th century BC. This isn't just some Roman/Medieval fix-it-fic or whatever, it is ancient.

Stesichorus attests that he [Astyanax] was killed, and the poet of the Cycle who composed the Iliou Persis attests that he [Astyanax] was thrown off the walls of Troy. And Euripides has followed this tradition. But there are those who say that he [the son of Hector] founded cities and ruled as king over them, and the opinions of these sources are written up by Lysimachus [3rd century BC] in the second book of his Nostoi: “Dionysius of Chalkis [4th century BC] says that Acamas [of Athens], having taken--through his ties with Laodice--Scamandrius the son of Hector and Ascanius the son of Aeneas from Helenus and from Anchises, attempted to fortify with walls Ilion and Dardanus, but, when the Athenians entreated him not to do so, then, having stopped his attempt at controlling the region of Troy, went on to found the cities of Gergis, Perkōtē, Kolōnai, Khrusē, Ophrynion, Sidēnē, Astyra, Scepsis, Polikhnē, and in addition to these, Daskyleion and Iliou Kolōnē and Arisba, designating as founders of these cities Scamandrius and Ascanius.”

Ahhhh I love this so much for so many reasons.

First of all, Aegeidae W + Laodice W kidnapping the kids before they could be killed at Troy (it's, like, not even really kidnapping considering Astyanax is just as much her nephew as he is Helenus')

My headcanon for how this happened is that Acamas claimed to have thrown the kids off the walls of Troy himself, right into a pyre onto which they were already burning. So their bodies "couldn't be recovered." Meanwhile, as Andromache wailed, the children were rushed off by Laodice, Acamas' fiance. He then reunited with them, his brother Demophon, aunt Clymene, grandma Aethra, and son Munitus before all 8 of them rushed off to Thrace. Demophon went back to Athens, but figured his family would be safest in Thrace, as Tzetzes says iirc.

Can also headcanon that Acamas, after tragically losing Munitus and Laodice, reunited Scamandrius with his mother Andromache + Helenus, and invited them back to the Trojan cities he had helped to rebuild.

Guys...guys I am just saying that someone NEEDS to make the scene from "In Secret" and yes guys you know what scene I am talking about 😏😏😏😏😏😏😏 Like no that scene in particular (not the entire movie per se) is so Paris x Helen coded when interrupted by Aethra!

Like no picture the fact that Paris is a sneaky bastard that just ravishes Helen relentlessly even if they are still in Sparta (Aphrodite goddess of love playing her part as always)

Helen (whispering): Get under my skirts! Paris: Open your legs Helen: No! Paris: I can't breathe! Helen: I don't care! Aethra: *walks in*

Aethra Showing her Son Theseus the Place Where his Father had Hidden his Arms

Artist: Nicolas-Guy Brenet (French, 1728-1792)

Date: 1768

Medium: Oil on canvas

This is written from Helen pov

Just in chapter 1 there are like 5 mentions on how much she hated Menelaus

There's also like 8 mentions of her basically glazing over Priam and Hector on how they were better husbands than the one she had

She resents and admires both Andromache and Hecuba

On the first line of the first paragraph of chapter 2 it's said that Helen was 16 years old when she was basically pressured to marry 30 years old Menelaus

There's a random honey cake recipe shoved in the book and also a method to make pork sausages (?)

Leda is described as 15 years old and Tyndareus later said to be in his mid-twenties when he met her

I never imagined that retellings hate Leda and tend to make her life a constant suffering

This writer Emerson somehow reached the conclusion that implying Tyndareus looked at Helen in a way a father shouldn't as the best writing choice....

We have this horrible segment claiming that Odysseus took years to return on purpose and didn't care much about Penelope or Telemachus

The cover doesn't look very good but trust me, the story is worse

We start with Leda dying from a unknown diseage that Helen believe to be a curse from a witch

On her last days she tells her daughter about Zeus. He wasn't a swan, but a mysterious guest traveler on the castle.

By the end of the week Leda dies. Sparta and mostly Tyndareus enter in a state of mourning

Here comes a horrible part: Helen goes to visit her father weeks later, he's drunk, delirious from grief and start talking with his daughter as if she was Leda

He ends up sleeping with her....

And Helen get's angry when he sends her to work at Delphi because what happened prior was wrong...

She also walks naked in public and only stopped because Castor and Pollux complained...

The twins appear in Delphi to bring news that Tyndareus will marry again and the sons weren't very happy about it

Zeus appears, tries to talk with Helen but it doesn't go well

A guy says that a priest at the temple of Hera shouldn't have sex. There's another insane scene but I don't want to write about this book anymore

"and her brutal death."

HUH??

Now it has a new cover

The story start with Helen as a teen being kidnapped by Theseus and Pirithous, with the first SAing her shortly after the capture and during the 3 day travel to Aphidna

Tyndareus prepares an army with Castor and Pollux as leaders with Menelaus and Agamemnon as volunteers

Aethra is shocked to see Helen but agrees to take care of her. The sample ended with some guy(forgot the name) telling Helen and her brothers their origin with the swan story

That's... something

"Helen was the only daughter of Zeus and the first woman to choose her man"

The first is wrong, huge doubts about the second

Ceroessa, Britomartis(sometimes) were also mortal daughters of Zeus. Can we stop with this idea that ancient Greece treated witches the same way as Medieval Europe stereotypes?

"and to restore her importance as a role model for women today."

Not sure about that... Helen was a flawed human, which is normal and she made bad decisions that cascaded into a war

You're going a little overboard with Leda

There's more in the sample, but I don't want to read more

"Neglected by her husband and used as a prop to make other men jealous, Helen longed for something better in her life."

How original... 🙄

@laiapolypharmakos remember when you asked for more?

Some Lore Olympus redesigns. I might do a few more but above is Aphrodite and below is Eos.

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Aphrodite is basically the same personality wise but I wanted to give her pearl like skin since she’s often depicted coming out of a clam shell. I also wanted to incorporate Aphrodite’s girdle in her design.

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Eos is very different from the LO version. I wanted her to be big like Metis and have more of a titan appearance since she is one. She is also depicted with wings which she lacks in LO. Eos is also described to have rosy hands and although they aren’t drawn in one her they are the same gradient as her legs.