greek mythology

Ask Me anything: Mirja

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Using my Ask Me Anything page, Mirja said,

My name is Mirja, and I am currently writing a research paper for school on “The Modern Adaptation of the Hades and Persephone Myth in Contemporary Literature.”

I admit your Persephone Trilogy is something I just picked up about a year ago, a teacher of mine told me about it, but it became one of my favourite Hades and Persephone retelling books, and I fell so in love with it that, along with other books I read over time, it inspired me to write my research paper on this topic.

In my paper, I explore how and why this myth is reinterpreted, transformed, and often romanticized in modern literature. Specifically, I aim to analyze how the myth of Hades and Persephone is received and potentially reinterpreted, why this particular myth has been chosen as the foundation for a modern novel, and what factors or reasons contribute to its transformation.

I would be incredibly grateful if you could answer a few questions about your approach:  

Thank you for your interest! I’m glad you enjoyed the books, and I’m pretty excited that your professor recommended them! I’d love to answer your questions

First up:

“What made you choose the Hades and Persephone myth as the foundation for your novel?  

To me the Persephone myth always felt unfinished. Every version I heard growing up told the story from Demeter and Hades’s perspective. We’d get cameos from random humans suffering the unexpected winter, bits of Zeus and Hermes, and from the goddess herself, pretty much nothing. No motivations, no feelings, just the facts. She ate six seeds. She didn’t pass the sexy lamp test. Even her name, which prior to being abducted was the Greek word for “girl” didn’t give her an identity. She was entirely defined by her importance to everyone else. I wanted to know her story, so I wrote it.

“How do you interpret the original myth? Many people see it as a story of abduction and a toxic relationship between Hades and Persephone, what are your thoughts on that? “

As told now, the myth of Hades and Persephone is a horror story. A woman is kidnapped, raped, and forced to live with her rapist for a portion of every year. Toxic isn’t a loaded enough word to describe that. It’s no surprise she goes from the whimsical girl picking wildflowers in the field to the terrifying Iron Queen Orpheus describes. But it’s not just willful ignorance of those facts that leads to the many romanticized versions of the myth. The version we’d consider the “original” is a conglomeration of oral retellings from multiple regions of Greece, which was almost certainly adapted from an even more ancient legend. Each region had their own twist, their own customs, and their own interpretations. Demeter and Persephone actually predate the vast majority of the Greek pantheon, and were reinterpreted to fit into what became the classic myths once they came around later. A great source to trace the various spin offs that became the myth we’re more familiar is the book, Life’s Daughter, Death’s Bride by Kathie Carlson.

 Why did you choose to alter certain aspects of the story?  

I chose a route that allowed me to honor as many version of the myth as possible without taking Persephone to a darker place than I was prepared to write. I introduced Boreas as the villain because his myth is strikingly similar and allowed me to use the entire structure and threat of rape/abduction/winter and to make it very, very clear that there’s nothing romantic about that version of the story. With Boreas as the villain, Hades could rescue Persephone rather than abduct her, but rather than rescuing a willing bride from an overbearing mother as some versions of the myth suggest, he’s rescuing her from the most toxic version of his myth. Though he does help her see some of her mom’s protective tendencies are a bit problematic, so there’s shades of that version in there as well.

Why do you think modern audiences are so drawn to these new versions of the myth?

I think there’s something vital missing from the conglomeration of the different versions of this myth into the one told today, and that when something is missing from a story, our narrative driven brains can’t help but try to finish it, whether that happens through reading or writing or painting or any other artistic expression, I think the Persephone myth is everywhere because we’re all trying to fix it.

What factors have contributed to its growing popularity?  

Social media. Persephone is not a newly popular myth among writers, audiences are just much more visible and connected now. As someone who was reading YA lit, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and horror in the 90’s, I can promise you that references, thinly disguised retellings, or outright retellings were everywhere. I read enough stuff that predated me to find it there as well. Heck, the myth even had a “revival” in Hellenistic Greece. Something about that myth resonates, and it’s never stopped being popular.

Do you believe contemporary pop culture—particularly trends like Dark Romance and platforms such as BookTok—has influenced the way the myth is perceived today?  

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: I’m a big believer in reader’s response theory, which is the idea that a reader brings meaning, intended or otherwise, to the text with them. Every reader/viewer/listener/participant in any form of media brings their own experiences, beliefs, emotions, and culture to any story they’re exposed to. Separating out that response to the author’s intent requires a lot of contextual knowledge about the author, the society they grew up in, trends, polarizing issues, and a great deal of conscious effort. Even then, the consumer can’t perfectly separate their personal interpretations and biases from that media.

Retellings occupy a pretty fascinating space in media because they’re almost always a response to the original myth from a person in an entirely different context than the first version originated from, and any reader reading a response is going to respond with their own context in mind, creating this crazy layering effect. Stack a few centuries of retellings on that (and keep in mind, no one alive has actually interacted with the original because the first Persephone myth was an oral retelling, and even the region that originated in is a pretty intense debate), and in one tiny myth, we have what might be the world’s longest conversation.

In what ways do you think the Hades and Persephone myth continues to shape literature and popular culture?  

Persephone is at its core a cautionary tale full of universal roles I can’t see going anywhere as long as people are people. As long as there are overprotective parents who are willing to scorch the earth to shelter their children from a terrifying world, Persephone is going to echo in popular culture. As long as there are children who want to be freed from the very constraints they take comfort in, there’s going to be debate about whether or not she was a willing participant in her abduction. As long as people who feel more at home in the solitude of shadows can look at someone completely their opposite and feel like its their first time seeing the sun, there’s going to be sympathy for Hades, and as long as there are monsters who prey on innocents, there’s going to be condemnation for him. The Persephone myth is going to be referenced, alluded to, and outright retold as long as there are stories.

I hope this helps with your research! Good luck!

Ask me Anything: Scott

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Using my Ask Me Anything page, Scott asked, “When are you continuing the daughters of Zeus series? I’ve been dying to read more of it.”

Scott, I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the series! There is an Artemis series outlined and (very) roughly drafted. It took a back seat so I could pursue a different project, which I just finished yesterday. So, I’ll be turning my attention back to the Daughters of Zeus while that other project makes its way through the publishing world.

I never intended to go so long between series. I wanted to get one or two more books out that weren’t under the Daughters of Zeus umbrella as a bit of a palette cleanser between series, and to explore some other interests. The first of those books came out in April of 2019. I made pretty good progress through 2019 and 2020 before the world ground to a halt due to covid, which you would think would be great for writers, but surprise homeschooling my daughter for two years took a lot of my creative energy and time. Then when she went back to in person school, I got an amazing opportunity in my day job to shift from teaching to school librarian. I’ve absolutely loved every second of my new job, but it was also a huge investment of time and creative energy while I found my footing. There were also the typical personal obstacles in that span of time that compounded the delay. Some illnesses, some losses. Some major transitions.

But my daughter is now a thriving high school student, far beyond my ability to homeschool, I’ve had enough time at my new job to settle into a routine and not reinvent the wheel for every lesson and event, and while life always has fun curve balls ready to throw your way, with my working day finally stabilized, I’ve *finally* made my way back into a healthy writing routine. I’m super excited for my new project to make its rounds, and I’m ready to go back to the familiar world of the Daughter’s of Zeus.

In addition to Artemis, my daughter has recently become obsessed with Epic the Musical (which is amazing, and you should definitely check out if you haven’t yet.) and has been *begging* me to write a prequel series about the Trojan War with Cassandra, Helen, and Athena that she very much wants to lead into Athena’s point of view on The Odyssey. I absolutely love all the lore around the Trojan War, and I grew up on The Odyssey, but the amount of research that would have to go into that to do it justice is daunting, so for now, I plan to stick to modern day.

But who knows what the future will bring.

Mythology Monday: Hera

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I killed the gods. Isn’t that what you wanted to know? I see no reason to go through this charade. We both know where I belong.

But you won’t put me there, will you, Hades?  You can’t stand the thought of me wasting away in your hell-realm of darkness. Waiting in the endless shadows like The Before.

You love me too much for that.

~@~

Oh wow, where to begin on Hera. She is featured in nearly every Greek Myth, and personality wise grew more volatile with each retelling. Most of her mythology has actually been covered in other blogs, but this still may run a little long. Here goes…

Hera was the youngest of the “Big Six,” the children of Cronus and Rhea who led the rebellion against the Titans. I feel like I’ve discussed the Titanomachy, the myths surrounding Creation, her role in Jason and the Argonaut’s adventure, her role in Hercules, Dionysus, and Hephaestus’s life, and the Judgment of Paris enough in other blogs. She was the God-Queen, wife of Zeus, and the goddess of marriage, which was somewhat ironic because you’d be hard pressed to find a less faithful husband than Zeus. But Zeus was nothing if not charming. He won Hera’s heart by transforming into her favorite bird (a cuckoo). She took him home, made him her favorite pet Shaggy Dog style, and Zeus took notes on how to win her over.

At their wedding, Gaia gave her a grove of beautiful golden apples, which the Hesperides guarded until Hercules came along. 

Hera had several children by Zeus: Hebe, Ares, and Eilythia, and possibly Hephaestus, though he might have been created by Hera alone as revenge for Athena. If not, Hephaestus, then she gave birth to the monster Typhaon by striking the earth crying out…

“Hear now, I pray, Gaia and wide Ouranos above, and you Titanes gods who dwell beneath the earth about great Tartaros, and from whom are sprung both gods and men! Harken you now to me, one and all, and grant that I may bear a child apart from Zeus, no wit lesser than him in strength–nay, let him be as much stronger than Zeus as all-seeing Zeus than Kronos!” Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 300 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th – 4th B.C.)

Hera was nothing if not dramatic.

This is also likely how the War of the Giants started because turns out, Typhaon was ugly and Hera was ashamed of him, so she threw the child away (or gave him to the drakaina), and he caused all kinds of trouble with men before trying to take over Olympus.

According to some sources, she was a little like Persephone because she had different names depending on her stage in life. As a maiden, she was known as Pais (which also means girl), as Zeus’s wife, she was Teleia, and as a “widow,” (not in the sense that her husband was dead, just dead to her because she was so mad) she was Hera. You can guess which stage of life she lived in the most.

On at least one occasion, she and Poseidon were at odds over the worship of a particular region (Argolis). She claimed the land, but they lived off the sea, so he withdrew the sea because he’s petty like that. The rivers in that region are only rivers when there’s been rain from the sky.

An endless string of women (Semele, Leto, Callisto, Aegina and Aeacus, Elara, Echo, Lamia, Io— turned into a cow, Inyx– turned to stone,  Othries-learned enough from the other two to go into hiding and just leave her child out in the woods rather than risk a lifetime of pain, Gerana– claimed to be more beautiful than Hera and got turned into a crane, Chelon- disrespected Hera and got turned into a turtle,  and even Aphrodite to name a few) suffered Hera’s wrath along two notable men. One named Ixion. He tried to rape her, so she had Zeus tie him to a wheel, set it on fire, and used the  air keep it in motion. The other was a prophet referenced in the Iron Queen named Tiresias. Tiresias had been changed from a man to a woman back to a man again at the amusement of the gods. When Zeus and Hera asked him which form got the better deal when it came to sex he declared that “on a scale of ten, women enjoy it nine times to men’s one.” Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 71 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

Hera didn’t like his answer so she blinded him, but Zeus was pleased enough that he turned hm into a prophet.

Sometimes Hera was nice. When a priestess of Hera impressed the goddess with her devotion so much that Hera offered her anything she wished. The woman wished for the best gift Hera could give to her children, so Hera promised when their time came, they would die peacefully in their sleep.

You’ll notice some names missing, like Minthe and Leuce. Hera had nothing to do with their transformation, nor did she and Hades have an epic romance as my book insinuated. But if they had, cursing those two women would have been very much in her character, so I figured that added a layer without too much of a stretch.

Hera is a complex character, and I’ve likely only scratched the surface of her mythology.

 

Mythology Monday: The Muses

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The Muses (Mousai) were the goddesses of inspiration in Greek Mythology. The were known to inspire music, song, dance, and poetry. They were also considered goddesses of knowledge, who remembered all things that had come to pass. The Muses were the very best at whatever they represented, a fact frequently proven when a foolish mortal tried to challenge them.

Most people know of nine Muses, but that wasn’t always the case. According to theoi.com, “They were originally regarded as the nymphs of inspiring wells, near which they were worshipped, and bore different names in different places, until the Thraco-Boeotian worship of the nine Muses spread from Boeotia over other parts of Greece, and ultimately became generally established.”

 

The Titanides

Three or four ancient Titan-goddesses of music who formed the first generation of Muses in some versions of the myths.

Melete (Practice, ponder)- the Muse of thought and mediation.

Aiode (Song)- the Muse of voice and song

Mneme- the Muse of Memory

Thelxinoe- the Muse of the Heart’s Delight

Arche (origin)- the Muse of Beginings

and Mnemosyne– The daughter of Uranus and the goddess of memory and remembrance and the inventress of language and words. She was also a minor goddess of time. She represented the memorization required to preserve the stories of history and the sagas of myth. She was also one of the oracle goddesses like Dione, Themis, and Phoibe. She also presided over a pool in the Underworld that acted as a counterpart to the Lethe.

Mnemosyne is credited as being the mother of the Muses most of the time. The story goes that she slept with Zeus for nine consecutive nights to conceive them.

The Nine Muses

The Nine Muses, made famous by Hesiod were  considered daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne most of the time. But sometimes they are considered daughters of Uranus and Gaea, or in rare cases, minor nymphs. They are frequently associated with Apollo.  They either lived on Mount Helicon, Mount Parnassos, or near Mount Olympus.

Calliope (Kalliope) was the leader of the nine Muses, and she was the goddess of epic poetry, so that means she was most frequently the goddess invoked at the beginning of Epics.  She also bestowed the gift of eloquence upon kings and princes. She’s Orpheus’s mother, so she’s already been featured in a Mythology Monday.

Clio (Kleio- To Make Famous)  was the Muse of historical writings and lyre playing. She is sometimes referred to as “The Proclaimer.” Clio was the mother of Hyacinth and in some versions of mythology Hymenaios. and Linus,

Erato (Lovely or Beloved) was the Muse of love poems and mimicry. She charms the sight (as in love at first) and is often accompanied by Eros.

Euterpe (giver of much delight) was the Muse of music or lyric poetry.

Melpomene (to celebrate with dance and song, to sing, melodious) was originally the Muse of chorus, but she later became the Muse of tragic plays. In some myths she is the mother of Sirens.

Polyhymnia (many praise) was the Muse of religious hymns and sometimes sacred poetry, dance, eloquence, agriculture, geometry, meditation, and pantomime. She was also known as Polymnia and is the namesake of one of my favorite Madeline L. Engle characters.

Terpsichore (delighting in dance) was the Muse of choral dance and song.

Thalia (the joyous, the flourishing), not to be confused the Grace by the same name, was the Muse of comedy drama and idyllic poetry. Sometimes she and Apollo are credited as the parents of the Korybantes, the armed and crested dancers who worshipped the goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing.

Urania (Ourania) was the  Muse of astronomy and astronomical writings. In some versions of the myths, she can read the future in the stars. Sometimes she is the mother of Linus or Hymenaios. She is associated with universal love. She is sometimes identified as the oldest of the Muses and was said to have inherited Zeus’ majesty and power and the beauty and grace of her mother Mnemosyne. During the Renaissance, Urania began to be considered the Muse for Christian poets and is invoked in John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

The Appolonides

The Appolonides were three daughters of Apollo who were sometimes considered to be a younger generation of Muses. They were worshipped at a shrine in Delphi. They also came in sets of three).

Cephiso (named after the river near a shrine in Delphi), Apollonis, and Borysthenis

Nētē, Mesē, and Hypatē- Named after the strings on a lyre.

Some other mentions of Muses include: Neilo, Tritone, Asopo, Heptapora, Achelois, Tipoplo, and Rhodia, but other than being listed among the Muses, not a lot else is said about them.

 

FAQ Friday: How will SPOILER impact Persephone in the long run.

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Super spoilerific post for anyone who has not yet read Iron Queen. Fair warning…

A reader who just finished Iron Queen emailed the following. “This can’t be where Persephone’s story ends! The pantheon hinted that Zeus killing his parents might have been part of what drove Zeus crazy. Plus she’s a triple realm-ruler now, and she lost her mother, and Hades seemed to be a bit unhinged at the end. So what’s in store for her in the future? Are we ever going to see that?”

Short answer:

Yes.

Longer answer:

The sanity thing was just Athena speculating. Zeus was unhinged from birth. Something about his father attempting to kill him, his mother hiding him by tying him upside down to a tree for years, and spending his early years training him to kill his father. The whole slicing his dad open and rescuing his siblings thing only to find himself at once their savior and an outsider to their very tight inner circle, formed by years of being all they had in The Before was also fairly hard on his psyche.

As for the weight of ruling three realms, losing her mother? That gets explored quite a bit in the Aphrodite trilogy. Persephone’s adapting to her new role as queen of the Pantheon and her grief/trauma from everything that happens in Iron Queen. She gets a few POV chapters in Venus Rising to really emphasize that arc, but the Pantheon as a whole has to do a lot of adjusting throughout the trilogy. In the Persephone trilogy, the gods of the Pantheon were separate entities. They were used to working around each other, but they hadn’t truly worked with each other in centuries until the end of Iron Queen. Now they’re realizing they can’t just ignore each other until a big epic battle. That’s the very mentality that left them vulnerable to Zeus. There’s a lot of growing and adjusting that needs to happen.

As for Hades…this is lightly addressed in Aphrodite, and addressed more in depth here, but broad strokes, he’s not unhinged. He’s just mildly traumatized. He went through a lot in Iron Queen. Dealing with Zeus brought up a lot of horrible memories for pretty much everyone in the Pantheon. He also felt every second of Persephone’s torture, and he had to rip her arm off, and she’s waking up from nightmares where Zeus wore his face. That’s a lot to deal with even without the fact that he’s dealing with the fact that Zeus, Demeter, and Apollo are dead. They don’t think of each other as siblings, but that is millennia of history, good and bad. Then there’s the fact that he just kind of destroyed Zeus’s soul, and there’s some emotional baggage with that. And he also witnessed one of his worst fears (that his past will hurt the people he loves), come true for Poseidon.

It’s a lot. And I included that final scene to show that what happened with Zeus didn’t just happen to Persephone. She and Aphrodite weren’t his only victims, and they aren’t the only ones who need to come to terms with the events of Iron Queen. If Hades, the guy with millennia of experience getting over horrible things and a library full of self-help books, is rattled, you can bet every other god in the entire mythology is. And that will be explored quite a bit in the Aphrodite trilogy.

 

 

Mythology Monday: Attendants of Zeus

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All the gods served Zeus to some degree, but there were many who pretty much only existed in Greek mythology to serve Zeus. Since none of them have enough associated myths to merit their own blog post, I thought I’d group them together.

Zeus’s Winged Attendants

Zeus had four winged attendants who stood at his throne and acted as his enforcers. Their position was awarded to four children of Pallus and Styx because they assisted Zeus during the Titanomachy.

Bia– The personification of force and raw energy.

Cratus (Kratos)– The personification of strength, might, power and sovereign rule.

Zelos (Zelus/Invidia)–  The personification  of rivalry, emulation, jealousy, envy and zeal. He may have been a facet of Agon, the spirit of contest. He was also sometimes equated with Phthonos the god of romantic jealousy and was closely connected with the Eris. His Roman name, Invidia, meant to look against in a hostile manner, and his Greek name is where we get the word Zeal. His Roman persona is sometimes grouped in with the seven deadly sins.

Nike-  The goddess of victory. Any victory, not just war but also friendly competitions. Nike was also Zeus’s personal charioteer. Most of the time, Nike was worshipped as a singular goddess, but in some tellings she’s a facet of Athena or she’s a host of goddesses know as the Victories. Now she’s most famous for the shoes named after her.

Zeus’s other attendants: 

Ganymede- A super hot Trojan prince that Zeus abducted while he was in eagle form and brought to Olympus to be his cupbearer (taking Hebe’s place)/plaything. But it was totally okay because Zeus gave his father horses. The prince was transformed into an immortal being and is often considered the god homosexual love. Ganymede is associated with Eros and Hymenaeus. He’s also one of the stars in the Aquarius constellation.

Themis- The Titan goddess of the divine law, order, custom and tradition established by the first gods. She was also a prophetic goddess who presided over the oracles of Delphi (so she was also present at the birth of Apollo and Artemis). She introduced law, order, and themis (divine law) to mankind. the leader of the assembly, and the personal councillor of Zeus. In some myths she was married to him. She is closely associated to Demeter, Gaia, and Nemesis who often delivered her justice. She was the mother of The Hours, The Fates, and she might have been the mother of a nature goddess of the forest called Natura, Dike, and Prometheus. Themis was just but never wrathful. She didn’t tend to get involved with schemes of petty revenge.

Litae– A group of elderly goddesses of who delivered the prayers to Olympus. They were either daughters of Zeus or maidens who just so happened to serve Zeus. Their opposites were the Ate, the spirits of delusion and folly. Ate (Folly) may have also been a singular daughter of Zeus that the Litae could not keep up with no matter how hard they tried. If people respected them, they were rewarded, if not, Zeus would send Ate to terrorize the disrespectful mortals.

Mythology Monday: Gods of Love, Marriage, and War Associated with Aphrodite

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Aphrodite, the goddess of love, as imagined in the young adult, greek mythology retelling, The Daughters of Zeus series by Kaitlin Bevis. Red hair, aquamarine eyes, and creamy skin

It’s no secret that Aphrodite got around. Mostly with Ares, but there were other gods thrown in there. She had a lot of children and was associated with a lot of gods. And while most of major gods associated with her have their own Mythology Mondays, there were a few odds and ends of note that I thought would fit nicely in a combined blog post.

The Erotes were winged gods of love. The gods of marriage were often counted among them. A flock of these accompanied Aphrodite. The three primary erodes were….

Himeros– The god of sexual desire. He is either a son of Aphrodite or one of the two dogs (along with Eros) who greeted her when she was born from sea foam. He’s often paired with Anteros, the god of reciprocal love.

Pothos– The god of sexual yearning. He’s sometimes considered the son of Iris and Zephyros (the west wind), or he’s a son of Eros.

and Eros.

Anteros, The God of Reciprocal Love, was also sometimes considered an Erotes. and the avenger of the unrequited (I love that title). He’s a son of Ares and Aphrodite or Poseidon and a Neriad.

Gods of Marriage were Gods associated with different aspects of Marriage in Greek Mythology. You’d think these would mostly associate with Hera, but for the most part they were strongly linked with Aphrodite.

 Harmonia

Hebe (Juventas)-The goddess of youth and cupbearer to the gods until Ganymedes came along. She was given to Hercules as a wife after he ascended to Olympus. She’s the daughter of Zeus and Hera. She helped her mom enter her chariot, attended to Aphrodite, and was the patron goddess of young brides. In some depictions, she has wings. She can also grant eternal youth.

Hymenaios– The god of the weddings and the marriage hymn. Hymenaios was s son of Apollo and one of the Muses or, depending on the myth, Aphrodite and Dionysus. In other versions of the myth, he was a pretty mortal boy that Apollo saw and decided to turn into a god/plaything. In far later stories, he was a mortal boy who fell in love with a girl far above his station, so he disguised himself  as a woman and followed the woman he loved to a women’s only religious ceremony. But en-route, the women were captured by pirates. Hymenaios helped the women plot their escape, and after they were all safe and sound, he was allowed to marry his beloved. Their marriage was so happy, the people of Athens held festivals to honor them and the couple later became associated with marriage.

Peitho (Suadela)– The goddess of persuasion, seduction, and charming speech. She was a handmaiden of Aphrodite and is one of the goddesses of marriage. Often she’s viewed as a facet of Aphrodite. It’s possible she was an Oceanid or a daughter of Aphrodite, and she is often numbered as one of the Charities. Some sources say she was the wife of Hermes, others say she was the wife of  the hero king Phoroneus, and the mother of  the heroes Aegialeus and Apia.

Odds and Ends: 

Phobos and Deimos- More spirits or personifications than gods, Phobos and Deimos were the twin sons of Ares and Aphrodite. They personified terror and dread (Deimos) and panic and flight (Phobos). Mar’s moons are named after them, as are Sailor Mars’s ravens. They were most notably worshiped in Sparta.

Dione– Dione is the mother of the second Aphrodite in Greek mythology (though it’s interesting to note that her name is just a feminine form of Zeus). She was a Titan Goddess of prophecy, and the oracle of Dodona in Thesprotia. Her sisters were also oracles. Phoibe was the oracle of Delphi, Mnemosyne the oracle of Lebadeia, Themis was another oracle of Delphi and Dodona. Some sources identified her as an ancient wife of Zeus (as was Themis, go figure).

Mythology Monday: Iris

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Iris was a virgin goddess of the sea and sky and the daughter of a marine god named Thaumus and a cloud nymph named Elektra. She was the goddess of the rainbow, a messenger for Olympus (as opposed to her twin sister, Arke who was messenger for the Titans), and a handmaid of Hera. She was believed to replenish the rainclouds with water from the sea. She was beautiful, golden winged, and often indistinguishable from Hebe in artwork. In mythology her role is often taken over by Hermes.

She’s also a minor goddess of justice and makes frequent visits to the Underworld carrying water from the Styx to pour in the eyes of everyone who commits perjury, or collecting items for Hera. She played a role after the events of the Trojan War by disguising herself as a wife of Troy and encouraging the other wives and mothers to set fire to Aeneas’ ships in order to prevent them from leaving Sicily.

According to Ovid, Iris also has the ability to transform mortals into gods with a single touch. She also assisted with Leto’s delivery of Artemis and Apollo by bribing Eiletheyia for her help in giving birth to her children, without allowing Hera to find out. She also helped the Argonauts Zetes and Calais face off against the harpies to protect the prophet Phineus. She convinced the two Argonauts not to kill the harpies in exchange for her promise that the Harpies would not hurt Phineus any longer.

But Iris wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. She also assisted Hera in cursing Hercules with the madness that caused him to kill his wife and children.

Mythology Monday: Athena

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“He could know something useful that could save time, possibly even save lives,” Athena argued. “Despite your low opinion of me, I take no joy in my creation’s sufferings. But it must be done. The demigods made their stance clear when they relocated the island. That wasn’t an exchange you witnessed, it was a coup. We have a window of instability when we can strike, but it is rapidly closing. The time for deliberation is at an end.”

Spending this much time with the Pantheon was skewing my perspective. I couldn’t afford to start thinking like them. “Hades would wait. My mother—” my voice caught, but I cleared my throat with a harsh cough and soldiered on “—would have waited.” Not forever. I wasn’t that naïve, but they’d give it some time. Just in case.

“Yes, they would wait.” Athena crossed her legs and plucked an imaginary piece of lint off her tan slacks. “Because they’re cowards. I had better hopes for you, but I see I was mistaken.”

“You want to talk cowardice?” I snorted. “What do you call forcing a teenage girl to fight your battles for you? Sorry, no. You lost the right to complain about me being inexperienced or naïve or whatever the hell else you think you’re insulting me with the second you voted to use me instead of stepping up. You will damn well take me as I am.”

Athena opened her mouth to argue, but I railroaded right over her.

“Oh, and you don’t get to claim sympathy for ‘your creations,’ either.” I put her phrase in air quotes. “Not when you enabled the monster tormenting them for centuries because it benefitted you. That is why we’re in this mess right now. You know that, don’t you? Because you didn’t care about what Zeus was doing until it threatened you. You joined in. I know all the stories, all the facts. The things you did to people just because you could. It is no wonder they want us all dead. My mother wasn’t perfect, but at least she didn’t participate. Hades either.”

“We didn’t all have the luxury of disappearing into our own realms! Some of us had to live with him.” Athena snapped to her feet, almost tripping over the floral rug in front of the couch. Her voice cracked with more emotion than I’d ever heard from her, but no power accompanied the outburst. The air didn’t charge or shift or smell of a stuffy old library or whatever her power signature would taste like.

For a moment, I admired her self-control, then I realized that self-control had nothing to do with it. Athena didn’t have to struggle to hold her powers back, because she barely had enough to get by. I kept letting myself forget how much stronger I was.

“We had to live with him,” Athena continued, her voice thick. “Day in and day out, whispering in our ears, telling us how the world owed us. Telling us how much the humans hated us, despised us, didn’t respect us enough. Driving us to action. People worshipped us, sacrificed to us, prayed to us, deferred to us. And we drank it in like wine. Zeus was a psychopath, but everyone who disagreed with him sat upon their high horses, judging us for living in the only world we’d ever known.

“You think you’d be any different? You think there’s nothing you’d look back upon and regret? Wait a few generations, infant. Wait until time and values have shifted. Wait until some child looks at you with judgment in their eyes and asks how you could have done that, thought that, allowed that.”

I lifted my chin, glaring at her. She knew nothing about me. Nothing about what I regretted. What I would or wouldn’t do.

Athena gave a bitter laugh at my expression. “Time marches on, even for us immortals. The world is ever-changing. One day, you’ll grow old enough to look back and wonder how you could ever have been such a monster for something you wouldn’t think twice about now. And you’ll have two choices. Cling to your outdated beliefs or change. But what you cannot do is go back and reverse the damage you’ve done. No matter how much you wish to.” Her gray eyes met mine. “Move on. I know you hate me and everything I stand for. I don’t blame you. But we are all in this mess together, and we are never going to get out of it unless you listen to someone other than yourself.”

~@~

Athena is possibly the best example in mythology of when religions absorbing each other does not work. She, and her Roman counterpart Minerva, are two entirely different goddesses with different strengths, weaknesses, and personalities.

Athena is best known as The Goddess of Wisdom, but that’s only because as her ancient myths were was absorbed and modernized into more patriarchal societies, they downplayed some of her biggest strengths.

Athena was the Virgin goddess of War. That’s why she carried a shield and spear. She was also the goddess of  defense; heroic endeavors’ protector of agriculture, science, and industry; good council; weaving, pottery, and other crafts; and women’s work. Three guesses why you only hear about the latter half of her equation.

Athena was born fighting. Zeus was terrified to have children after what he did to his parents, so when he learned from Athena’s mother, Metis (her mother is Metis in my mythology as well, but since this was early in Hera and Zeus’s relationship, Hera pretended that she was hers to preserve her reputation as the goddess of marriage. She got over that eventually), that she was on the way, he ate Athena before she could be born. But Athena was too strong willed so she burst out of Zeus’s cranium in the world’s worst migraine, and demanded her place among the Olympians.

An alternate version of the myth makes her the daughter of the Winged Giant Pallas, whom she immediately killed for attempting to rape her. She striped him of his skin and attached his wings to her feet for speed.

Less frequently, she’s a daughter of Poseidon or Triton or Tritonis who got tired of being their daughter and asked to be adopted by Zeus.

She played a pivotal role in the creation of man and in most heroes journeys, including The Odyssey , Jason and The Argonauts, and The Twelve Labors of Hercules, and the creation of Medusa. She and Poseidon fought bitterly over the naming of the city of Athens. She won naming rights by creating an olive tree and a horse. She fought admirably in the war of the giants, and fought off an attempted rape from Hephaestus. She blindest the prophet Teiresias for daring to look upon her while bathing, and she played huge part in The Trojan War by siding with the Greeks in battle, then attacking their ships with a storm when they failed to punish Ajax for violating her Trojan shrine (though in most retellings, her role is reduced to the Divine Beauty Contest).

She did all of that and so much more. She’s a super prominent figure in Greek Mythology, but I bet I can guess which myth you’ve heard her featured in most.

The weaving contest. The story goes that Arachne was a talented young weaver who dared to brag that her skills rivaled even Athena’s. Athena challenged her to a weaving contest, sometimes in disguise (Athena really enjoyed disguises), sometimes not. Depending on the story she won or lost but the outcome is the same. She was so offended at Arachne’s claim, that she cursed her by turning her into a spider so she and her descended could weave their webs for all eternity.

Because of this combination of myths and personalities, Athena comes across as a bit bi-polar. One moment, she’s the goddess of wisdom, perfectly rational and calm. The next she’s flying off the handle, cursing people into God-Killing-Monsters and arranging epic quests to clean up her mess.

Fortunately, this works for my universe where every god is their own foil. Persephone, goddess of spring, fears change. Ares, god of war, is a pacifist, Aphrodite, goddess of love, doesn’t understand relationships, and Athena, goddess of wisdom, is rash and impulsive.

In my universe, Athena is an adult goddess (not a teen like Persephone and Aphrodite), who works at The University of Georgia as a professor in psychology. She’s asexual and Machiavellian to the extreme. She and Persephone got off on the wrong foot and are constantly at odds with one another, but she and Aphrodite understand one another on a very deep level. She’s integral to the Pantheon, and as the series progresses, she and Persephone are forced to work together more and more.

FAQ Friday: Where can I buy Daughter of Earth and Sky?

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Question mark in a blue bubble. Repeating icon for the frequently asked questions in the Daughters of Zeus series a young adult greek mythology retelling by Kaitlin Bevis

Q: Where can I buy Daughter of Earth and Sky in format/language/country/for free.

I get variations on this question a lot and for obvious reasons, I am all too happy to answer.

First, some links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible and many, many more.

Daughter of Earth and Sky is available in print, all the major electronic formats, and as an audiobook narrated by yours truly. Print wise, you can order it wherever books are sold, but unless you happen to live in Athens, Georgia, the odds of you walking in and seeing it on a shelf are slim, so you will have to special order it.

Internationally, Daughter of Earth and Sky is available through Amazon and to my knowledge Amazon alone. It is at this point in time only available in English.

Audiobook wise, Daughter of Earth and Sky is available on audible,itunes, and good ol’ amazon.

Daughter of Earth and Sky occasionally goes on sale for .99 cents, but my publisher has not yet offered it for free. As far as I know, they have no plans to.  If you really, really, really want to read my book, but can’t afford it even on sale (trust me, I feel your pain. I have lived in the red) the best suggestion I can offer is your local library. If they don’t have a copy and you request it, chances are they will buy more than one of copy, so not only do you get it free, but it also helps me in terms of sales and exposure. We both win. My books are all available on overdrive, so if your library offers eBooks, there’s a good chance they already have it in an electronic format or can easily obtain it via request. You can even request the audio version. If you’re asking for my recommendation for a good pirate site, let me tell you three quick things.

  1.  While I am truly flattered that you want to read my book enough to commit theft, I’m not J.K Rowling (not that she deserves to be robbed either). I need every penny of my royalties to scrape by.
  2. I have it on good authority from the many, many, many readers who have emailed me complaining their stolen copy of my book infected their computer, that a good chunk of those pirate sites claiming to have my book are bad news.
  3.  When real copies of my book go up, they are pretty quickly taken down, and they stay down for one very important reason. My publisher takes piracy very, very seriously. When they see their products being stolen, they act on it beyond just sending take down notices.

I have an E.d.S in School Library Media, so accessibility is very important to me. If you cannot obtain a copy of my book for any reason at all, email me using the contact me form on this website. I’ll see what I can do.