Hey Remember That Absolutely Gut Wrenching Part In The Iliad When Hector Is Running For His Life From

hey remember that absolutely gut wrenching part in the iliad when hector is running for his life from achilles, totally out of sorts, completely outmatched, thinking he’s been abandoned by Troy and everyone he loves, until he sees his brother, deiphobos—his dearest brother, the only person who showed up to fight by his side—and feels so much relief because he doesn’t have to face achilles alone—and thanks him for being the only one in Troy stand beside him? and so hector goes to achilles with new courage, hurls a spear at him, misses, is so discouraged, but nonetheless turns to his brother to ask for a new one because so long as deiphobos is there, there’s hope. but he’s gone. and hector, as he stands facing the death that has been destined for him since before he was born, has this moment of realization that no one ever came to help him. no one is standing beside him, and deiphobos is still behind the Trojan wall watching hector die alone like everyone else. what he saw was just Athena’s cruel trick to get him killed.

yeah, so, that makes me cry.

stand on the axe blade of light and dark

what Aeneas saw when he wake up, received the fire of Vesta.

ehh read Aeneid, love you Virgil💕

323 notes View Post

phaespxria

4 months ago

Hey friend,

Just curious about some greek retellings you like? I tried to get through 'Clytemnestra' by constaza casti but even the first few chapters felt so anachronistic and out of character I returned the book.

i love till we have faces by c.s. lewis. not encouraging to me that no one** has come up with anything better in that vein (that is, "more or less straightforward retelling from an overlooked female character's perspective") since a white english man in the 50s.

**no one i've READ YET, i should say

but if you step away from the formula of narrative fiction, there's good stuff! denis o'hare and lisa peterson's "an iliad" and derek walcott's "the odyssey" are both interesting plays. of course, my beloved hadestown. alice oswald's poems "memorial" (drawn from the iliad) and "nobody" (drawing much more loosely on the odyssey) are [kisses fingers]. in louise glück's poetry collection meadowlands, she uses the odyssey throughout as a way of exploring marriage and parenthood; it's excellent. the lost books of the odyssey is a short story collection by zachary mason; like most short story collections, i found it very mixed, but it has a few stories i've returned to again and again.

50 notes View Post

phaespxria

1 year ago

We lay here for years or for hours Your hand in my hand, so still and discreet So long, we'd become the flowers We'd feed well the land and worry the sheep

39K notes View Post

phaespxria

7 months ago

So how 'bout those trailers. OMG.

3K notes View Post

phaespxria

11 months ago

Max Klinger, 1857-1920

Penelope, 1895, etching and aquatint, printed in colors (Singer 276, iv/VI), 7 7/16x11 13/16 in

Source: Conrad R. Graeber Fine Art

40 notes View Post

phaespxria

2 months ago

Eurpides’ The Trojan Women at Alumnae Theatre (2011)

1K notes View Post

phaespxria

7 months ago

its not about fuckin. problematic romance or whatever the myth isn’t ABOUT romance it’s about demeter and persephone’s separation. death took her child and her heart broke. The world withered from her grief. its okay if you all hate your moms and wanna run away with a guy with face tattoos or whatever the fuck but making demeter the antagonist to a forbidden romance plot means you’re illiterate sorry

6K notes View Post

phaespxria

2 years ago