This week's #MythologyMonday theme is trees 🌲
Many stories in #GreekMythology have trees in it, some of which I will be telling in this thread.
The most famous tree-related myth must be the transformation of Daphne. Hit with Eros' fiery arrows, #Apollon was burning with desire for the nymph and pursued her when she fled from his advances. Feeling her strength wane, Daphne prayed for help from either her father or Gaia and was turned into the first laurel tree.
@mythology Another target of #Apollon's desire, but one that willingly became his lover, is Kyparissos, a beautiful boy from the island of Keos. #Kyparissos accidentally killed his beloved pet stag and begged of Apollon that he would mourn forever. Apollon tried to comfort him but no words nor gentle touch would soothe Kyparissos' grief until the god finally relented and turned his lover into a cypress tree, still associated with grief and mourning in Greece.
@mythology The laurel and the cypress are both sacred to Apollon. But what happens if someone cuts down a sacred tree? Erysichthon found out the hard way: he cut down a poplar in #Demeter's sacred grove but the goddess felt that her holy tree was in pain and she disguised herself as her own priestess, warning Erysichthon but he would not listen so she cursed him with insatiable hunger so that when he had eaten away all his wealth, he ate himself.
It's the Day of Zeus / Jupiter's Day / #Thursday! ⚡
Meet the Jupiter of Cumae made of marble from Thassos. Cumae is famous for the Sybel of Cumae whose alleged cave is a tourist attraction. The statue probably used to be housed in the Temple of #Zeus which was turned into a basilica after Christianisation.
🏛️ #Jupiter of Cuma, 1st century CE, today in the National Archaeological Museum, #Naples
@TarkabarkaHolgy One of my friends is planning a story in which Mestra and Autolykos and friends go on a heist!
I do hope she actually writes it, it would be so cool!
The Three Graces in their classic pose. This mosaic is from the garden of the House of Apollo at Pompeii. Today this scene is held by the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.
The touches of blue background give a sense of the original richness of the piece.
Tell us the #myth in a toot and use the hashtag #MythologyMonday for boosts! If you are participating for the first time, best tag us too so we won't miss your toot! 💖
"Let us be merry and drink wine and sing of Bakkhos [#Dionysos], the inventor of the choral dance, the lover of all songs, leading the same life as the Erotes, the darling of Kythere [#Aphrodite]."
The Anacreontea, Fragment 38
🏛️ Roman terracotta relief dated 20 BCE - 50 CE. Today in the British Museum.
@SDZ@orionkidder@antiquidons@histodons@mythology Not my era but I heard about an obsession with nipple piercings in Victorian England, so even those old prudes had a kinky streak, it seems 😁
Prudishness and freedom seem to come in waves. The generation after me (Gen Z) seems way more concerned with purity than mine was (millenial).