#pinder

Well, this only took me for fucking ever to do. Aiming to finish this before physical therapy so wish me luck-

(Left to Right: Leto standing with a crown and a veil, Artemis holding a jug and a lyre, and Apollo with his bow)

Apollo and Artemis are the twin archers. They’re mirrors of each other in many ways.

Both protectors of children, both hunters, both archers. Sun and moon, the God of the cities, known to all and beloved by all, and the Goddess of the wilderness, worshiped on the outer reaches and known but distant. The two together bring death and disease, with Artemis handling the women and Apollo the men.

Apollo and Artemis work together many times, in many instances they stand together. They shield each other and avenge each other. They clearly love each other dearly. In fact it is notable that their connection and the strength of their love for each other is directly compared in ancient times to that of a husband and wife, with Artemis called the wife of Apollo at times. This is not the relationship viewed as a proper marriage in the slightest, but that of deep connection, intertwined natures, and an unbreakable bond.

These Gods are intertwined deeply, with their natures mirroring. You cannot consider them truly alone as they are together. Their actions may be separate, but they have always looked out for the other.

Apollo Dêlios and Artemis Dêlias.

Just as Apollo (Karneios) could destroy so could Artemis (Thea Apollousa), who brought death and plague.

Just as Apollo (Akestôr, Alexikakos, Loimios, Paiêôn) brought healing and elevated the suffering of others, so too could Artemis (Thea Sôteira, Paedotrophus, Orsilokhia).

Protectors of the young, Artemis (Paidotrophos, Kourotrophos, Philomeirax, Aeschylus) and Apollo (Aguieus, Argyeus, Epicurius).

The hunters, Artemis (Elaphêbolos, Keladeinê, Dictynnaea, Agrotera, Lykeiê) and Apollo (Agraios, Hecatus, Lycius).

You must recognize how intertwined they are, mirroring each other’s nature. Oh certainly there are many differences, those you would turn to one or the other for, but truly their similarities, their relation, shine if you only think to look.

Take the time his lover Iskhys cheated on him, and he asked Artemis to handle the betrayal. Artemis in turn punished the cheater and all around her.

Pindar, Pythian Ode 3. 5 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : Thus now, he saw that son of Eilatos, Iskhys (Ischys), the stranger share her bed of love, that impious treachery; and sent his sister storming gin resistless anger to Lakereia, where by the high banks of Boibas the maiden had her home. And fate of a far other kind turned to her ruin and smote her down: and many a neighbour, too, suffered alike and was destroyed beside her; as when on the mountain from one small spark a raging fire leaps up, and lays in ruin all the widespread forest.

(Apollo did save his son, who Iskhys was pregnant with at the time)

Many a time one would speak to the other and ask for the aid in handling one who dared to defy them, to insult them, to incite their rage.

Artemis and Apollo have aided each other since their very births, with Artemis helping Leto give birth to Apollo (as she promptly turned to do for all women giving birth, as she granted such a kindness to them). [And truly you must note how they stand by their mother and their mother by them, Leto is proud of her children and calls to them for aid, and they in turn defend their mother from many a threat]

Homer, Iliad 24. 602 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Niobe] whose twelve children were destroyed in her palace, six daughters, and six sons in the pride of their youth, whom Apollon killed with arrows from his silver bow, being angered with Niobe, and shaft-showering Artemis killed the daughters; because Niobe likened herself to Leto of the fair colouring and said Leto had borne only two, and herself had borne many; but the two, though they were only two, destroyed all those others."

They have been together in worship and in life, sharing many epithets even when seemingly they should not be shared (Daphnaia and Daphnaios, Chrusaô). The two are siblings who care deeply for each other. And to challenge one is to challenge the other.

[ Earl Cameron outside Buckingham Palace after being appointed a Commander of the British Empire ]

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Actor Earl Cameron (known as one of the first black actors to break the color barrier in the British film and television industry), has died. He was 102 years old.

Originally from the Island of Bermuda, he moved to England in 1939 (that same year he enlisted as a crew member in the Merchant Marines, just prior to the outbreak of World War II).  He died peacefully in his home in Kenilworth, Warwickshire (near Birmingham), England.

 He played the character of “Pinder” (the MI6 station chief in the Bahamas) in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball.

Earl Cameron with (L to R) Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, and Rik Van Nutter in “Thunderball”.

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