Greek Mythology

[Jackalope89]

Its because of reading so much Greek mythology that I've always been against Zeus being Wonder Woman's father. Just so much wrong there.

Anyway; there's a lot to explore. From Theseus to Perseus, King Lycoan (Greek myth on werewolves), to Arachne.

[LordLeviathan]

Theseus and the Minotaur is perfect for a virtual world.

nah as a R-rated gornfest

[CRaymond]

Its because of reading so much Greek mythology that I've always been against Zeus being Wonder Woman's father. Just so much wrong there.

And one of the reasons I like Zeus as her father is because it feels right for a hero whose origins are from Greek Mythology.

[ChrisIII]

If you play video games, the latest AC game, Odyssey, is heavy on Greek mythology and history.


In the 00s there seemed to be a major return to sword & sandal/semi-historical stuff when Gladiator came out, followed by Troy, 300, Passion and many others as well as Rome and Spartacus on TV. However I think it eventually sort of fizzled out, and we're kind of back to standard fantasy as far as similar stuff goes.


I recall there were also plans for an I Claudius reboot but I guess that kind of fizzed out too.

[Jackalope89]

And one of the reasons I like Zeus as her father is because it feels right for a hero whose origins are from Greek Mythology.

Make her a demi-goddess? Fine. But there's gods like Apollo running around that aren't rapey, cliche, or a walking trope.

[Gray Lensman]

Make her a demi-goddess? Fine. But there's gods like Apollo running around that aren't rapey, cliche, or a walking trope.

By modern standards, Apollo makes Zeus look like a choir boy. Apollo might be the absolute worst god in the entire pantheon - at least half a dozen women commited suicide as the only way to escape his advances. And depending on the version of the story of Marsyas, he is sometimes killed for someone else comparing his music to Apollo's, and that contest is won by changing the rules after it has begun no matter the version.

[CRaymond]

Make her a demi-goddess? Fine. But there's gods like Apollo running around that aren't rapey, cliche, or a walking trope.

You're reacting so it's unlikely my reasoning will make a dent, but the rapey cliches and tropes are exactly why Zeus makes sense. He's the center of the old cosmos. Wonder Woman ethos is that she's going to change the world. Skirting the worst bits by avoiding Zeus' antics just pulls the fangs out of everything.

[Gray Lensman]

You're reacting so it's unlikely my reasoning will make a dent, but the rapey cliches and tropes are exactly why Zeus makes sense. He's the center of the old cosmos. Wonder Woman ethos is that she's going to change the world. Skirting the worst bits by avoiding Zeus' antics just pulls the fangs out of everything.

Although the clay given life bit doesn't actually do that when you think about it. It affirms the worst of many of the Greek gods, and deliberately chooses to divorce Diana from that by having her birthed by a different method.

[LordLeviathan]

Make her a demi-goddess? Fine. But there's gods like Apollo running around that aren't rapey, cliche, or a walking trope.

A.) Zeus IS also a god of justice. and to the ancient greek the most gods were simply put a$$holes.

By modern standards, Apollo makes Zeus look like a choir boy. Apollo might be the absolute worst god in the entire pantheon - at least half a dozen women commited suicide as the only way to escape his advances. And depending on the version of the story of Marsyas, he is sometimes killed for someone else comparing his music to Apollo's, and that contest is won by changing the rules after it has begun no matter the version.

not to mention Cassandra. the True Choir boys among the guys are considered
Hermes(the god of liars, travellers, merchants, and messengers and the guide of the dead souls to the underworld),
Dionysos (long answer short every conservative's nightmare)
Hades ( the god of the dead)
Pan (the god of shepherds and the wilds laso the root of the word PANIC)

[Jim Kelly]

The ancient Greeks believed that man was created out of mud (or clay) by Prometheus and Athena breathed life into man. And then you have a lot of other origin stories in the myths where someone is brought to life from an object or someone becomes an object.

There are also lots of Greek stories about people, where the gods are only in the background.

Modern adaptations seem to be obsessed with making it all about the gods and mostly about Zeus. I ascribe this to no one ever wanting to crack open a book and read some of the actual myths and legends. Their primary reference material seems to be Saturday morning cartoons.

[Cerridwen]

I wish there was a proper Titanomachy movie from the Creation up to the Fall of Cronus.

[CRaymond]

I wish there was a proper Titanomachy movie from the Creation up to the Fall of Cronus.

Sounds like a job for Jim Henson Studios.

[CRaymond]

Although the clay given life bit doesn't actually do that when you think about it. It affirms the worst of many of the Greek gods, and deliberately chooses to divorce Diana from that by having her birthed by a different method.

I don’t understand. I don’t like the clay birth. I like the fact that Diana believes that is her origin, and that the truth is far far far more complicated.

[Jim Kelly]

Since Zeus isn't a biological human, however Hippolyte conceived Diana, it wasn't by natural means. So you have all of Greek mythology before you and you pick the most obvious, most over-used agent for Diana's conception. You could pick Gaia, you could pick Aphrodite. Since it's a divine conception, there's no need for the agent to be one or the other sex. It could just be a spontaneous miracle. It would be different if the writers wanted to say there was nothing miraculous about Diana's birth and Hippolyte got pregnant the old fashioned way. But once you bring Zeus into it, it just seems the most generic version of what folks think is Greek mythology--rather than looking to all the other ways that beings were divinely created in the ancient myths.

[C_Miller]

I'd like to see a treatment of Greek mythology that's faithful to the actual ancient stories. I don't think there's ever been a modern usage that sticks to what the actual stories tell. They are always taking short cuts, conflating things, making up stuff out of whole cloth and simply cheating the myth.

That's a relatively tall order because Greek mythology is not a static thing. The stories were passed down for generations and there's very little evidence that the stories that we know as Greek mythology today bares any resemblance to how they were originally told. They too likely evolved by taking short cuts, conflating things and making stuff out of whole cloth when details were either forgotten or misremembered.