#amphitryon

Poseidon : how bad can it possibly be ?

Paestan red figure bell krater, atributed to Python Painter, ca. 400-300 BC. Bristish Museum (BM 1890-0210-1)

This scene is absolutely horrifying: yes, Amphitryon and someone called Antenor are in the process of burning Alcmena😟 (it’s speculated that this might be a plot from a lost play by Euripides called "Alkmene"), but she ends up being saved by Zeus, who sends the Hyades (rain-bringing nymphs) to make it rain.

But even though it’s terrible, I love a few details: the Hyades are wearing red dresses because this is happening at dawn. Eos is looking on from the top right (I find that very poetic). Plus, the beautiful embellishments on the clothing, and the smoke (even though it’s smoke and the context is very bad), it’s absolutely stunning. The lightning bolt beneath the pyre and Alcmene looking at Zeus and vice versa. Not to mention that the vases in the Hyades are hydriae (the kind of vases used to carry water) I love it.

I’ve found another depiction of this episode of Alcmene, where Zeus isn’t there but the Hyades are, along with two hydriae.

Campanian red figure neck amphora, attributed to Louvre K491, ca. 400-300BC. British Museum (1873,0820.341)

This second Alcmene looks far more pitiful than the first one because she’s looking down and can’t see Zeus… Amphitryon, I hate you…

One day Amphitryon asked his grandfather if it was true that he had turned into stone a monster that wanted to devour Grandmother Andromeda. The Aedes sang that Perseus used the head of a dead Medusa. The boy passionately wanted to hear it firsthand – it seemed to him that he would touch the feat himself.

And he heard it.

–Nonsense,– said Grandpa gloomily. – Women's gossip. What kind of head? I slaughtered him like a butcher slaughtering a pig. I flew higher, waited until the stupid animal was interested in my shadow on the waves, and fell on the back of his neck… Then everything was simple. A lot of blood, and the end. They'll come up with it too: A Medusa, a head! I guess there won't be anything left of my whole life over time. Medusa, a bunch of rocks, and no Perseus…

Quick translation from "Grandson of Perseus. My granfather is a slayer" by G. L. Oldie

"But every hero's path differs, even their deaths."

Contrary to what the title and synopsis might imply, this start with the mothers but not in a good way

Here it's said that Zeus slept with Danae as compensation for helping Argos against the drought caused by Poseidon

Aethra here is the married Queen of Athens, instead of the princess of Troezen

Jennifer Peter Woods (the writer) decided that Alcmene kinda resents Heracles for he might be a child of Amphitryon, somehow ignoring that it was Iphicles who was the son of the guy?

"But what about the women? They've been portrayed as nymphs, witches, priestesses, princesses... but rarely as protagonists with their own voices."

..... there are plays centered around Iphigenia, Alcestis, Antigone, Electra, Helen, Auge. There were lost plays about Circe, Amymone, Alcmene, Hebe's marriage to Heracles, Melanippe, Atalanta, Calisto. There's also a fragmented play about Andromeda, another fragmented about Erechteus where his wife Praxithea is one of the main figures

And of course instead of talking about Danae or Andromeda, you decided that we need more uniformed bs about Medusa 😡

The book is full of ai generated image

This book relies on the absurd premise that Cassandra, Icarus, Helen, Apollo were treated as maligned characters

You know that Apollo had no conection to Icarus and that Medusa was a gorgon since birth, right?

"I loved you, though I knew it would break me. In your rage, I saw a mirror, your grief echoing my own."

HUH?!?!?!

Briseis had her hometown destroyed, her brothers and her fiance killed, her father took his own life. Achilles NEVER suffered anything like that!!!

"This book is great for people who like mythology, history, or old greek stories"

Trust me, it isn't

"She was once considered one of the most beautiful women in the world."

She wasn't....

Now one of her sisters is named Alyssa and for some reason Euryale is a boy who was in love with Medusa

"Being completely pure was one of the most important requirements for becoming a priestess of Athena. [...] so the young women were expected to remain virgins,"

That's not true!!!!!

"Poseidon saw that Athena's attention was on her most beautiful and kind priestess. He decided that this pretty young woman could help him get back at her."

Stop stealing Psyche's myth. Medusa never attracted so much attention to the point where people stopped paying attention to Athena

"Poseidon was almost close to Medusa when the brave Perseus stepped in front of them."

I have no idea where Perseus came from or why he's here

bro, Electryon is dead. an island isn't gonna matter.

Now, people are already familiar with the fact that a lot of ecranisations used to either partially erase the part where Zeus deceived Alcmene by taking the appearence of her husband, and "fix" everything by depicting their relationship as a romantic one, portraying Amphitryon as an abusive spouse and Hera as an irrational, jealous bitch.

But I remember watching back when I was little a cartoon from the 90's called Hercules (No, not the Disney movie!) in which the scene where Heracles drinks Hera's milk was played for laughs in order to water down the entire moment. Basically, there was a sequence with Hermes taking infant Heracles and placing him next to a naked Hera's chest while she was sleeping in her bed - In case you're curious then yes, it was very close to straight-up graphical, explicit nudity -, and then in the next sequence you had Zeus laughing after hearing Hera screaming in shock. And yet somehow the animators considered that this is completely fine and that kids can watch it, because apparently violating someone's privacy while that person is simultaneously unconcious is perfectly alright if the person in cause is a crazy bitch who clearly has no right to be angered by the fact that her husband cheated on her.