#athenide lore

'Divine Mothers of Athens', alternatively titled 'Athena and her daughters'

Many a modern day scholar of the Athenides states their interest in the fountain daughters began when a painting of William Bouguereau or Lawrence Alma-Tadema involving the goddesses captured their imagination. Whilst the mortal world attributes their zeal for these deities to scholastic appeal, those attuned to the truth of Olympus's continued existence know that both were legacies of Dionysius and Apollo respectively so a sense of nostalgia towards the family fate so cruelly deprived them of is universally felt by demigods seeing their art.

For Lawrence Alma-Tadema the Athenide was not simply a dream of what once was. At 15 he suffered a physical and mental breakdown, diagnosed as tuberculosis. On death's door he was given permission to draw away the estimated remaining year of his life while his mother begged her godly father and brothers to intercede. Nearing said year his mother found the youth's bedroom locked, a strange green-blue light peaking out of the shadows. Try as she might, the door would not budge open so she beseeched Phoebus to save her son. Hearing her plea, the light bringer arrived bow in arm and burst the room open. Both were shocked to see Lawrence had miraculously recovered. When pressed for answers he instantly said 'My grand-aunt and grandmother have saved me. Through art I will earn this gift and continue to be saved'.

According to the youth, they had entered his room to cleanse his lungs in a ritual where Perse covered him in seafoam then washed him using a waterbowl brimming with olive blossoms and as he coughed red Arsinoe slowly turned his blood into coral like currents which flew into the golden torch of Lady Compromise. Both sisters washed him in the salt flowered waters until there was no consumption left. Whilst the veracity of this claim has always been in dispute for the demigod community, Alma-Tadema himself never strayed from believing it and painted the twins his whole life. For the most part he avoided their typical 'doomed romance kiss' as he felt the artistic community had focused too much on them solely as star crossed lovers. Instead he favored key events in their life such as the Deification of Asclepius or the Finding of Apollonia or symbolic portraits to remind humanity of the values they instilled in the world.

The latter is seen in this context as Lawrence depicts the Athenide twins and their mother as a holy trinity. Wisdom, Loyalty and Reason at the center of society which cannot thrive without them. On each corner we see an aspect of civilization: matters of state at top left, the home at top right, religion at the bottom left and architecture at the bottom right.

Athena Soteira stands at the left to ward off any ill omens. Bright eyes never leaving her precious daughters. Golden hair donning roses for love, white in recognition of her loss as the greeks used it as a mourning color thus declaring Mother Wisdom as a goddess forever crowned in sorrowful affection towards children long gone. A slight flush to her cheeks in a rare display of tender emotion. Each of her darlings places a hand upon her shoulders, perfectly poised in familial ease.

In the middle stands Perseleia, eldest of the Athenide sisters: lady of riptides and keeper of loyalty. Lawrence highlights his passion for medieval lore by placing a crown of ivy upon her jet-black hair. In the middle ages ivy symbolized fidelity and life eternal thus making it a preferred motif for illuminated manuscripts depicting angels or other heavenly beings. A nod to Homer is given through 'the wine-dark sea' colored irises chosen though it can also serve as a nod to her eldest son Dionysius or Perseleia's own mad grief upon the death of her second son Asclepius.

Lady Logic stands at the right. Unlike Wisdom whose gaze is exclusively tied to the fountain daughters and Loyalty whose eyes are unfocused, Reason directs her view to the audience. Silently judging our decision to live rejecting her patronage. Lawrence paints the golden Athenide's locks bronze in homage to how in Sparta, Athena has the local epithet Chalkioikos, ‘of the bronze house’. The walls of Athena’s temple at the Spartan akropolis were decorated with bronze plaques, and her cult statue was made of bronze. Like her mother, Arsinoe is Ergane. A sponsor, creator and innovator of craftsmen. A crown of chrysanthemum flowers lays on her head, a token of protection as it deflects the dreaded children of Aracne but also a symbol of nobility and rejuvenation as the light of reason restores a youthful glow to the mind.

'Guidance and Logic design Alexandria'

Just as Loyalty and Truth were known to enjoy music together, Eloquence too had a shared interest with an Athenide due to Family's deep love of architecture which as god of invention he was constantly involved in. During the Ptolemaic era, a series of similar patronages (justice and compromise, harmony and logic, order and common sense, reason and balance) along with her chtonic duties caused the golden Athenide to be syncretized with the Egyptian goddess Ma'at in the form of Ma'at Arsinoe whose most used epithets were Cleomaia (mother's pride), Gift of the sunlit fountain and Nebet Medjat Nub (lady of the golden scroll). Hermes was also syncretized within the Egyptian pantheon as Hermes Trismegistus who was the combination of the Luck Bringer with Thoth, Egyptian god of secret magics and knowledge and medicine due to each creating the art of writing within their respective religions.

Since Thoth and Ma'at were husband and wife (a happy union, as shown by their constant eagerness to stay close together as well as Ma'at having "beloved of Thoth" for an epithet), the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt decided that their created gods were married as well. The cult had varied results in different countries: In Greece the Athenian scholars promptly dismissed the idea of their maiden goddess joining in matrimony with anyone, believing that accepting the tale would incur the wrath of Athena. Pergamon rejoiced at the belief the star-crossed lovers were finally wed and created murals and statues depicting their union. To everyone's surprise it was Magna Grecia which embraced the union most fervently as they felt the matrimony in Egypt after their long suffering on the Trojan War paralleled their own journey to a new land in search of a better life. Leading to a new wave of songs & poems emerged retelling the gods' decision to choose elopement in Egypt where Athena Thánatos Ángixe will not reach them until they are already wed. Diphilus of Sinope coined the phrase 'Bringing flowers to Alexandria' said by Diaktoros when asked where he was going by a curious Apollo who figures out his brother's plan but resolves to stay quiet in Diphilus' play 'The Elopement'. A half truth since they used Loyalty's sea daffodil to weave the bride's wedding crown and the joint girdle. The quote has since been used as a euphemism for elopement in Turkey.

Here the artist depicts the newlyweds enjoying their lives in scholarly delight as they read and/or write scrolls for new buildings to be made in the city that's welcomed them. Guidance is dark haired in a homage to Lady Perse, symbolizing his commitment to be a faithful husband towards his wife. Said devotion is further emphasized as he dons pine (the sacred tree of Poseidon) green for his robes over the saffron yellow of ceremony and the ivy sacred to Osiris representing their vow is immortal as they are for the Egyptian pantheon whilst for the greeks it represents Dionysius and Ariadne, a blessed union founded only after withstanding betrayal from an inferior being on the woman's part. Arsinoe sits on a block depicting a griffin's hind legs which symbolize royal authority, a nod to Ma'at-Arsinoe's role in state management as the Ptolemaic dynasty always sought a clear-eyed maiden whose hair was kissed by fire to consult the pharaoh towards the light of just compromise. She dons robes homaging Eos' fingertips of rose, heralding the dawn of a new age. Behind the couple are murals. One depicts their children Pan, Autolycus, Palaestra and Parthenodora née Apollonia. Another is winged Pheme extending her domains of fame and good repute to the newlyweds. Aphrodite is shown above Pheme, love extending her blessings between swans sacred to both her and Apollo as a sign that Beauty and Truth welcomed the marriage. The rest are mostly sacred imagery save the lower left corner murals showing snakes, a nod to her mother Athena whose love the golden Athenide still values.

'Parthenodora née Apollonia at the edge of her lady's riverbed'

Made by the incredibly talented @19catsandcounting who was kind enough to indulge me after i told them about my struggle finding classical inspired art with people who have visible disabilities. Here they portrayed the golden Athenide's first high priestess receiving a gift from her other godly mentor Phoebus Apollo who instructed Apollonia in the arts of music, healing and philosophy.

'Kourotrópho's gift is a cane carved out of his laurel tree to aid her steps into the temple she will preside over, adorned with his sacred crow and golden vines. On her neck the maiden wears Arsinoe's token: the splendid array of jewels later known as the necklace of Apollonia which featured coral for protection, garnets for friends reunited, sapphire for truth and emeralds for clarity of mind. She stands confident, rightly sure of herself whilst treading along the riverbeds of her mistress and carrying the torch of Reason's temple. As Parthenodora walks, the light bringer recalls the maiden as he first saw her: a clever yet timid child who was terribly frightened when brought to him as her condition impeded her from falling to her knees without pain before the god. Her robes are dandelion dyed cream for Loyalty and nettle dyed green in honor of Lady Compromise.

'The Crowning of Family in Sparta'

One of the sore points for the Athenian polis was the fact that despite being the birthplace of both the Athenide sisters, only lady Ophelia had a grand temple within the walls of their nation as Lady Khrysopteros always insisted a steady line of torches lighting the halls of her mother and sister sufficed.

For over a century, this was the standard even in cities like Corinth dedicated to Poseidon, much to her father's dismay since the sea king desired both his daughters to erect their first cult within his patronage. To the surprise of both her parents, Lady Reason would eventually concede to having a temple built under her name exclusively but instead of choosing cities sacred to her mother Athena or her father Poseidon, the goddess selected Sparta which was consecrated to Ares, Apollo and Aphrodite.

Khrysopteros chose this location as a sign of favor to the god of Courage and Bloodlust due to his trial for the murder of her demigod brother Halirrothios whom he caught in the act of carnally abusing Alcipe, daughter of Ares. Poseidon had asked his daughter to speak against Ares in his trial stating the murder was an insult towards her twin but rather than stating she would obey her father's will, the golden Athenide said only that she 'Will speak on behalf of the relative which honored me. With your permission if granted, most doting father and noblest of kings '. Poseidon granted the request believing she meant her murdered brother as all demigod children of Poseidon gave offerings to the Athenides. Like all Olympus, the storm breaker was startled to discover that the lady of the forsaken had not been referring to her slaughtered brother but to her uncle Ares, who had upheld her patronages by protecting his family. Sensibility then proceeded to serve as the defense of Courage and won the case with all Olympians serving witness.

Touched by the way she had come to prove his case unsolicited, the god of war offered his niece a place of honor for her first temple. Athena laughed, remembering her daughter refusing sites proposed by Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena herself. Wisdom gaped at Reason as she accepted Ares's offer, knowing all others had been rejected. Sparta lauded the decision and began the first 'Thárros Logikós', a festival celebrating the defense of Ares by Arsinoe which in addition to games and music featured a reenactment of the trial, ending with the goddess crowned before the people who will build her temple.

It is this moment the artist conveys. Kiesel continues to paint the goddess with amber in root of his German interpretation whilst dressing Arsinoe in seashell pink to signal her still being favored by Atlantis despite the defiance performed. Family's gaze is solemn as she receives an honor given only due to her refusal towards the higher powers. She is crowned in ivy to represent her torch as the Greeks thought that fire should come from an ivy stick struck into a laurel groove, a union of the two genders, the active male (ivy), being brought into the passive female (laurel). Pliny wrote of ivy as a warm wood, suitable for fire. Her lips are coral, which was the sacred gem of the golden Athenide. The circlet around her fire kissed locks is gold in recognition of the polis prospering under her loving care. A copy of this painting now hangs in Cabin Five, campers who call it 'girly' are promptly punished.