#exonihilo

Honestly, I struggle to say who the fuck was the treated the worst.

Dionysus was banned from his own realm, treated as a lazy idiot. His charisma and power all but taken from him. There was only a ghost of the Divine in him.

Zeus turned into a paranoid fool who refuses to see the truth. Someone who flees from danger and refuses to listen or offer mercy. Abusive and cruel at the best of times. What justice did we see in the God of justice?

Hera who was only softened at the end. Who only valued a perfect family and not all her family. Hera who was manipulative and cruel to all.

Ares who was cruel and a war-monger. Ares who abused who children and showed none of the love that characterized his relationship with his children in the myths.

Aphrodite who was all about breaking hearts and love stories being dramatic and interesting. Aphrodite who had heavy expectations and none of the love for all her children's desires.

Hermes who didn't pay enough attention to his children. Apollo who was treated as a vapid vain fool who was needlessly cruel. Artemis at least anti-men and her vows vague and not covering all they claim to. Demeter only caring about food and overbearing. Iris an extreme "hippy". Nemesis not being about balance and what should as she is but taking prices without care. Hades an image of cruelty and evil.

And of course Athena, shown as both kind and cruel but her cruelty emphasized. Shown to be wise yet careless for the people. Aiding her children yet abandoning them to die. And her Roman counterpart turned into a mockery of it's true state.

Okay so Athena’s birth is something really interesting. 

Athena was born shortly after the prophecy was given, which everyone knows, what I see commonly said about her though is that she is the prophecy child, and this is not the case.

There are two parts listing the Prophecy

Hesiod, Theogony 886 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "Now Zeus, king of the gods, made Metis (Wise Counsel) his wife first, and she was wisest among gods and mortal men. But when she was about to bring forth the goddess bright-eyed Athene, Zeus craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her in his own belly, as Gaia (Earth) and starry Ouranos (Heaven) advised. For they advised him so, to the end that no other should hold royal sway over the eternal gods in place of Zeus; for very wise children were destined to be born of her, first the maiden bright-eyed Tritogeneia, equal to her father in strength and in wise understanding; but afterwards she was to bear a son of overbearing spirit, king of gods and men. But Zeus put her into his own belly first, that the goddess might devise for him both good and evil."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 20 : When she was pregnant, Zeus took the precaution of swallowing her, because she had said that, after giving birth to the daughter presently in her womb, she would bear a son who would gain the lordship of the sky.

The child fated to be born was to be the one after Athena, not Athena herself. This is specifically stated in the prophecy.

Now, there are two possibilities for how he “got around the prophecy”.

1. By swallowing Metis (and some myths state that he absorbed her) she is no longer able to have a child, ergo there is no possibility of another child after Athena, and thus there is no prophecy child there.

2. Apollo is the next boy child born after Athena (Aphrodite is born next (depending on the myth) and then Artemis and Apollo) and ergo is the child of the prophecy. Many consider him to be Zeus’ heir, as he is the dearest child of Zeus and the Greeks considered him to be one of the most important Gods (alongside Zeus himself).

Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 51 ff : And thou didst not tremble before the anger of Hera, who murmured terrible against all child-bearing women that bare children to Zeus, but especially against Leto, for that she only was to bear to Zeus a son dearer even than Ares.

It’s also notable that Apollo holds the epithet Loxias, which means the interpreter or prophet of Zeus. And he is one of the few (Zeus being one) who can see the Fates of others.

All these factors combine such that Apollo is viewed as the heir of Zeus by many, and as such is the one the prophecy would speak of, and Zeus has willingly declared it such (ensuring that the prophecy is turned in his favor, as Apollo is loyal to Zeus and Zeus favors him).

Haha /lh

Well, in general for Greek vs Roman literature itself, I don’t particularly like Ovid. He’s got value in his time period to be sure, I like how he says FU to the Romans lol, but I don’t like him as a proper source on Greek mythos... mainly because he has a habit of making stories that are in general already trenched in sexism, more sexist (including ones that were actually pretty not-sexist prior to him getting his hands on them).

As for translations... I’m still making my opinions on the different translations. Different ones have different values, and I have like three copies of the Iliad and Odyssey, all by different translators and in different styles. I do highly recommend the translation of the Odyssey by Emily Wilson, I desperately want to get a hard copy of that one myself (got one for Izzy for a present last year). It’s a very good version, a lot more care for things a lot of authors tend to... make nicer sounding (like removing slaves from the words).

So yeah, ask me again next year and I might have more info on translations, right now I’m more focused on content then the individual versions of translations (though I’m slowly looking into that sort of thing as well).

My Prophecy

A half-blood of the eldest Gods Shall reach sixteen against all odds Opposing armies answer the calls Family speaks and a King falls Vows spoken force Olympus to amend With death an age comes to an end

Canon Prophecy

A half-blood of the eldest gods Shall reach sixteen against all odds And see the world in endless sleep The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap A single choice shall end his days Olympus to preserve or raze

You’re right that there is a chance of Olympus winning, with “Vows spoken force Olympus to amend” but it depends on how you interpret that line.

What is Olympus amending? Previous crimes? Is it like in canon where they fix what they messed up on? Are they losing and swearing to the winners? Are they amending previous laws? Rules? Agreements? A king is dying, are these swears to the new king of Olympus? Is Zeus falling?

All kinds of options that have bad possibilities. Does Olympus survive but not all of it? Does some other group take charge? It’s a problem. Plus a new age is coming, and the previous new ages have always been with a change in rulership (ie the Primordials to the Titans and the Titans to the Gods) so it’s not a good sign there.