This week's #MythologyMonday theme is fire and there are two major Greek gods associated with fire: #Hestia, goddess of the hearth, and #Hephaistos, god of smiths.
They represent #fire in two different forms: the sacrificial flame of the hearth as the sacred centre of domestic life and the flame of Hephaistos, source of all arts, and fuel of the funeral pyre. But both could be invoked for the cooking of sacrificial meat or a good meal:
"For without you [Hestia] mortals hold no banquet."
Homeric Hymn 24 to #Hestia
"Swine with the fat abundant upon them were singed and stretched out across the flame of #Hephaistos."
Homer, Iliad 9.467
As the hearth of a house is at the same time the altar on which sacrifices are offered to the domestic gods, Hestia presides over all sacrifices, and, as the goddess of the sacred fire of the altar, she gets a share of every sacrifice to the gods made at home or in their temples.
#Hestia also presided over the central hearth of a state, the fire kept alight in the civic hall as a public hearth in every town. City officials would sacrifice at the public hearth on entering upon their office, and there, as at a private hearth, Hestia protected the suppliants.
When a new colony was founded, the emigrants took the fire which was to burn on the hearth of their new home from the public hearth of their mother town.
If it did go out, only sacred fire produced by friction, or by bronze burning mirrors drawing fire from the sun, might be used to rekindle it.
A ritual from #Lemnos, the cult centre of #Hephaistos, has all fires on Lemnos extinguished for nine days until new fire is brought from the island of #Delos:
"And the island of #Lemnos is purified every year for the deed once done to the men on Lemnos by their wives at #Aphrodite's instigation. The fire on Lemnos is extinguished for nine days. A sacred ship from #Delos, however, carries the fire, and if it arrives before the offerings for the dead, it puts in nowhere on Lemnos, but rides at anchor off the headlands out at sea until sailing into the harbor is permitted by divine law."
Heroikos by Lucius Flavius Philostratus, 213–214 CE
"For then, while invoking chthonian and ineffable gods, they keep pure, I think, the fire that is out on the sea. Whenever the sacred ship sails in and they distribute the fire both to its new abode and to the forges of the artisans, from that source is the beginning of new life."
Heroikos by Lucius Flavius Philostratus, 213–214 CE
No fire meant a disruption of all normal life for nine days: no regular meals like bread or porridge, no incense to burn for the gods, the hearth and thus the centre of every community and household is dead - until new life arrives from the sea.
#Hephaistos, it is said, loves #Lemnos "more than any place on earth". According to the Illiad, it was on Lemnos where Hephaistos landed after being thrown from Olympos by his father #Zeus and it is on Lemnos where he has his forge.
The myth of his fall from Olympos can also be read as an allegory:
#Hephaistos (fire) arrives on Lemnos from the sky, as it would through a burning mirror. He is weak, within an inch of his life, but the people of #Lemnos care for him and kindle the weak little flame until it grows strong enough to craft the most beautiful things.
If you enjoyed this read and are looking for more, you can find all my non-fiction articles and erotic mythology fiction on my website:
The glossary for August's erotic mythology story is going to be looooong 😳
In the story, #Dionysos and #Ariadne visit #Egypt, invited by the goddess #Hathor, and as I am not as well-versed in Egyptian history, it was tough getting the details right. I always aim to bring the ancient world alive and it is supposed to be a place where young gods like Dionysos and Ariadne seem like children to the ancient deities who ruled over Egypt for centuries if not millenia when the story takes place.
I'm currently working on my #website so you guys can subscribe directly to me instead of going through a platform like #Patreon. I still have to pay the fees of the payment provider and technically they can dictate what I can sell on my site but it's easier to change the payment provider than to appeal to Patreon in case something happens.
What do you think? Worth the hassle or should I rather focus on Patreon?
@dontpanic I don't have a Wordpress site, I'm using #GhostBlog software. It's open source, so I hope it will get #activitypub integration eventually.
It would be really awesome if people could comment on my posts with their Fediverse accounts!
My site is marked as adult, so I'm not getting any visibility from Patreon at all. The only benefit is that many people are already using the platform and therefore lowering the threshold for sign-ups.
I'm a bit sad. I've tried to bring people over to #Mastodon with what are good arguments to ME: #NSFW content creators will eventually be shadowbanned or booted off a platform as soon as there is advertisers or payment processors demanding it. For marginalised people, Mastodon has powerful tools to stay safe.
But most people I talk to do acknowledge that and then go on to stay on #Twitter or sign up for #Bluesky.
But I understand the discoverability issues, it's Mastodon's greatest weakness IMO.
@Turnimunt@nggalai I have the time for one main social media platform and maybe a secondary one.
I'm an erotica writer, so it's not just about what I find enjoyable but where my readers are too and where I won't be shadowbanned or excluded.
@nggalai I am working on a piece arguing why Mastodon is the best bet for NSFW content creators but I do understand the concerns about finding an audience. Mastodon doesn't show up in analytics either so it's tough to say how many people actually follow your links. I had thought nobody came via Mastodon until I found out it shows as a direct hit rather than via Mastodon.
NSFW may be allowed on Bluesky now, in the beginning it always is. NSFW creators only get the boot once the platform is big.
@nggalai I think that is the most likely course as well, especially considering how things have played out on other platforms.
Even though Twitter technically allows NSFW it felt like my reach had been reduced vastly well before EM bought it.
@edsuom@inquisitormundi@mythology@antiquidons@histodons
For one, ancient Greek art usally depicts the penis to show you that a figure is male. This is especially important for gender-fluid gods like Dionysos. But you also find it in theatre: a male character has a leather phallus.
There are depictions of fully naked women, most promintently the goddess Aphrodite but mortal women as well.
Overall, there were more places where it was acceptable for men to be naked, like the palaistra.