text. un: erwin.smith.

[theomachy]

WHO: Erwin + whoever
WHERE: Network
WHEN: January 15
WHAT: Just a lil network post.
WARNINGS: N/A, will update if needed.

Hello, everyone. My name is Erwin Smith, and I'm a professor at the university. My courses focus on myths and legends both local and not so local. In light of recent goings-on, I'd like an open conversation about what's considered myth and what's considered, for lack of a better term, a "gospel" truth. Let's talk about stories.

Everyone's got a story.

Comments

[theomachy]

There's nothing wrong with liking a happy ending.

Have you read any myths about Ariadne? Her story has grief but in the end she gets her happiness.

[dustodust]

I don't know much about her beyond the fact that she helped Theseus in the Minotaur's labyrinth. How did she find happiness? Is it very different from the end of her story?

[theomachy]

There's a mid-part where Theseus abandons her, but in her grief she's visited by Aphrodite who promises her an immortal lover.

Dionysus falls in love with her and they marry, and he gifts her a crown. Once she passed, he put her crown up in the sky to be forever immortalized. That's where the corona borealis comes from.

[dustodust]

Oh, that's a lovely ending. I was under the impression that many of the non-deified women met unfortunate deaths, but perhaps I just wasn't listening for other versions of the stories. Oral history is so curiously twisted that way, I suppose.

[theomachy]

There are a lot of untimely deaths and other horrible things happening, but the rare happy endings are quite sweet in their own ways.

There's also some sects that believe that Persephone went with Hades willingly out of a sense of rebellion, then grew to care for him enough that her eating enough to stay half the year was on purpose.

It becomes a love story rather than something tragic, in that case.

[dustodust]

I do love any story where the woman has a sense of agency in her own fate. If there were a class on just women in stories and mythologies alone, I would be happy to go back to school for it.

[theomachy]

You have a very good point, the university is at times lacking in diversity. It's worth looking into making a class on that; there are plenty of ways that women get overlooked and relegated to simply being victims when there are plenty of strong women in mythology that are inspiring.

Both sides are worthy of exploring.