In Middle School During My Intense Greek Mythology Phase, Artemis Was, As You Can Likely Guess, My Best

in middle school during my Intense Greek Mythology Phase, Artemis was, as you can likely guess, my best girl. Iphigenia was my OTHER best girl. Yes at the same time.

The story of Iphigenia always gets to me when it's not presented as a story of Artemis being capricious and having arbitrary rules about where you can and can't hunt, but instead, making a point about war.

Artemis was, among other things--patron of hunting, wild places, the moon, singlehood--the protector of young girls. That's a really important aspect she was worshipped as: she protected girls and young women. But she was the one who demanded Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter in order for his fleet to be able to sail on for Troy.

There's no contradiction, though, when it's framed as, Artemis making Agamemnon face what he’s doing to the women and children of Troy. His children are not in danger. His son will not be thrown off the ramparts, his daughters will not be taken captive as sex slaves and dragged off to foreign lands, his wife will not have to watch her husband and brothers and children killed. Yet this is what he’s sailing off to Troy to inevitably do. That’s what happens in war. He’s going to go kill other people’s daughters; can he stand to do that to his own? As long as the answer is no—he can kill other people’s children, but not his own—he can’t sail off to war.

Which casts Artemis is a fascinating light, compared to the other gods of the Trojan War. The Trojan War is really a squabble of pride and insults within the Olympian family; Eris decided to cause problems on purpose, leaving Aphrodite smug and Hera and Athena snubbed, and all of this was kinda Zeus’s fault in the first place for not being able to keep it in his pants. And out of this fight mortal men were their game pieces and mortal cities their prizes in restoring their pride. And if hundreds of people die and hundred more lives are ruined, well, that’s what happens when gods fight. Mortals pay the price for gods’ whims and the gods move on in time and the mortals don’t and that’s how it is.

And women especially—Zeus wanted Leda, so he took her. Paris wanted Helen, so he took her. There’s a reason “the Trojan women” even since ancient times were the emblems of victims of a war they never wanted, never asked for, and never had a say in choosing, but was brought down on their heads anyway.

Artemis, in the way of gods, is still acting through human proxies. But it seems notable to me to cast her as the one god to look at the destruction the war is about to wreak on people, and challenge Agamemnon: are you ready to kill innocents? Kill children? Destroy families, leave grieving wives and mothers? Are you? Prove it.

It reminds me of that idea about nuclear codes, the concept of implanting the key in the heart of one of the Oval Office staffers who holds the briefcase, so the president would have to stab a man with a knife to get the key to launch the nukes. “That’s horrible!,” it’s said the response was. “If he had to do that, he might never press the button!” And it’s interesting to see Artemis offering Agamemnon the same choice. You want to burn Troy? Kill your own daughter first. Show me you understand what it means that you’re about to do.

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greek mythology artemis iliad agamemnon iphigenia

More Posts from Orangesandlemons3 and Others

orangesandlemons3

10 months ago

all image descriptions are of posts from the Benign Existence subreddit: I just got a call from my 94 year old neighbor. He told me he just picked some blackberries and wanted to know if I would be home. I told him yes and he said he would walk on up, to deliver them, as we live in a neighborhood in the foothills. I met him at the end of our driveway with a big smile. He was wearing a straw hat to keep the sun off of him. He held a little clear tray with his shaky hands. On the tray were three little green baskets (the kind strawberries come in) FULL of beautiful blackberries. I took them, thanked him, and gave him a loaf of banana bread that I baked yesterday. I truly have much gratitude for our kind neighbors.

A stranger asked to borrow my sunscreen. We were in a bathroom/changing room at a beach. I honestly felt honored that she asked and was overjoyed to share it. I love random human connection.

I just realised my cat is polite when she thinks I'm asleep. If I'm awake when she jumps on the bed, she snuggles roughly into my shoulder and does head boops. If I appear to be asleep and don't respond to her, she quietly curls up near the other pillow without lots of movement

I love that I have a window in my bathroom. I can shower in the early morning without having to turn on the light and just bask in those first few rays of sunshine filling the room. Sometimes I can even hear birds chirping. It makes me genuinely happy.

My sister overnighted me crabapple flowers. We grew up with a crabapple tree in the front yard. Every spring it would erupt into white flowers that filled the air with this beautiful scent. My sister and I would climb up into the branches and read our favorite books and just inhale the smell of those flowers. I moved across the country years ago, and crabapple trees don't grow here. It's been over a decade, and I miss that smell every spring. I don't remember ever mentioning that to my sister, but I must have - because today I got a box from her, shipped Priority Express Overnight. It was three small crabapple branches, stems wrapped in damp towels, covered in flowers just starting to bloom. The house smells beautiful. I am so lucky. My sister is the best.

People who stand in their yard and wave at passing trains, I love you so much. I'm going Brattleboro -> NYC on Amtrak and it's a beautiful day. All the sweet little humans are out. EDIT: I realize I worded the title strangely, I was caught in a reverie or something.

Had a really pleasant experience at the Social Security office I've been going through the legal name change process for trans reasons, and last Friday I went to request an updated social security card. The clerk was so sweet! She noticed that I was changing to a feminine name and asked if I'd like to change my gender marker as well, and told me they didn't even need a court order for changing it on their system. At the end she told me that name changes and citizenship cases are her favorites to handle because of how happy it makes the client :) She also said that I should get some cake afterwards to celebrate. So I did! Went out for fancy Italian food with some friends (I framed it as "they specifically said I NEED to get cake for the name change to go through" Imao) and got a chocolate lava cake

called in sick from work, but in reality i just love my bed i just wanted to sleep in today. even though i felt a little under the weather, i probably could've mustered up some energy to go to work today to finish off my work week. but i woke up this morning, and it was raining outside. i also forgot to turn off my speaker, and it was playing animal crossing music really softly. my blanket was laid out on top me in that perfect way that makes you not wanna move an inch. i love my bed. it smells like how i feel after ive just had a long warm shower, and my pillow smells like my laundry detergent and also faintly like my shampoo. my blanket is so warm and fluffy, so i texted my supervisor. then i noticed my dog snoring in her bed, so i decided to fall back asleep too and we both took a nap. it didn't stop raining till i woke up a little after noon. i love my bed and i love rainy days.

Guy in my German class brings me snacks. We don't speak the same language and barely get by with English but he gives me kitkats and a red bull as a thank you when I help him with exercises. He teaches me Arabic during breaks and then we just eat our snacks and try to talk about what we can. I think it's very sweet. I'll bring him some snacks too for next class

i think r/BenignExistence is my favorite subreddit 🥲 i love these pleasant little glimpses into strangers' lives

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orangesandlemons3

7 months ago

Crossposted from BlueSky!

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orangesandlemons3

2 years ago

What I'd give for one of the Cinderella remakes to go into how when you're in an isolated and abusive situation, sometimes you need to be saved and you're not weak if you can't escape by yourself

I've never been a fan of bad faith reinterpretations of fairy tales, especially ones which flatten the originals into "princesses is saved by a prince and nothing else", to then go #girlboss. The princess can save herself because she's a strong female character! (Implying if you're in a bad situation, it's because you're not strong enough to get out)

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disney cinderella prince charming tw abuse mention hot take but cinderella is one of my favourite disney characters she feels real in a way that mulan or moana aren’t they feel too heroic and strong and that’s good!!! it’s good to have heroic female characters but Cinderella is small and weak and needs help and there’s nothing to be ashamed about there asking for help is far harder than doing it alone learning you can ask for help and receive it is a good lesson for all kids I think

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orangesandlemons3

2 years ago

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queer pride ace ace pride asexuality

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orangesandlemons3

4 months ago

on their clit like morse code

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orangesandlemons3

7 months ago

In time travel movies, when the time traveler asks 'What year is this?!?' they're always treated like they're being weird for asking.

When in reality, if you go 'What year is this?!?' people will just say '2024. Crazy huh.' and you go 'Wtf where has my youth gone.'

And if you ask 'And what month??' people won't judge you, they'll just go like 'SEPTEMBER!!! Can you believe it?!?!' and you go 'WHAT?!? Last time I checked we were in May?!?'

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orangesandlemons3

6 years ago

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wow story really cool long story

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orangesandlemons3

7 years ago

Okay, so I asked my community of Aces for meme representations of what it was like to realize that you’re Ace. Imma post a bunch of the responses.

Posted by an aromantic ace.

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orangesandlemons3

1 year ago

Thinking about Edward Elric as the Amestrian Military's specialest little unfireable boy

State alchemists can be fired for underperforming. We know this up front from the likes of Shou Tucker. And this makes a ton of sense from the homunculi's standpoint since the state alchemists are sacrifice candidates, and the homunculi would want to cull the weakest candidates and focus only on cultivating the strongest ones who stand the best chance of opening the portal.

........Then there's Edward. Who's already opened the portal.

There's no need to cultivate him. No gamble taken on whether he's good enough to open the portal. He passed the final test already. Graduated 4 semesters early.

And as such, has a free pass to do Absolute Fuck All.

And I'm imagining how funny this is from like an outside perspective.

Some newish state alchemist who'd only ever read up on the stories of Edward Elric, ready and excited to start their career of being paid handsomely with endless freedom to research and travel and do anything they want in the pursuit of science... surprised and confused to find themselves put on probation their first month for things like "ignoring orders." Which is, as best they had thought, a famous Edward Elric pastime.

Roy showing a slight bit of stress about his yearly state alchemist report, and Ed just snorting and rolling his eyes at Roy because every year HE just hastily does his on the train ride over (canon in the manga, a travesty it was left out of the anime) and it gets rubber stamped. Ed not realizing that other alchemists' reports get genuinely scrutinized and torn apart while Ed is free to turn in whatever absolute bullshit he thinks of 36 hours ahead of time. One year his report was about whether alchemy could be done via dance (conclusion: no it can't) and no one cared. Roy WANTS to tell Ed there's some kind of unknown favoritism around Ed making him literally bullet-proof but Roy has no way to phrase this that doesn't sound like he's just in denial and mad at how good Ed's train-reports are.

Guy from the Internal Amestrian Affairs sector who's responsible for auditing other internal military personel for any suspicious activity hitting about 1 million red flags for Edward Elric, issuing a STRONG and URGENT recommendation to suspend the alchemist pending further investigation into things like "literal bunk-buddies with two members of the Xingese royalty (enemy nation)" and "spent $10,000,000 of his stipend on a librarian to make her re-copy (what he seemed to interpret as?) military records in some extremely transparent effort to unearth state secrets (it was a recipe book but he was literally asking her about state secrets)" and "literally has never once obeyed an order, ever, not even once in his career, and is on public record having said 'I do not care about the goals and protections of the Amestrian Military. I am in fact only pursuing my own interests several of which are diametrically opposed to the safety and well-being of the governing body of Amestris'"

The issued recommendation is intercepted before it even reaches its intended desk. President Bradley himself has taken issue with it and denies it before a single set of eyes has seen it. The President's veto stamp is a terrifying hammer, used rarely, and it is now sitting on the auditor's desk.

The auditor sleeps with one eye open from then on out.

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orangesandlemons3

7 years ago

I just… wanna remind people that asexuality was classed as a mental disorder by the DSM all the way up until 2013…. Because I feel like people don’t know this or like to ignore it because it doesn’t fit into their “asexual people don’t face discrimination” rhetoric.

Asexuality was only removed from the DSM in 2013. Please, know this and remember it.

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