The Midterm Monster

I could go on and on about how much work I need to do (al lot) and how stressed out I am (very), but this drawing says it all.

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Also, I really am too busy studying for my midterms... I'll be back on monday with a Mythology Monday post though!

P.S. You can read Hannah's full post on the Midterm Monster here. She's a genius. She also did a series on How to be a Hipster which you should read because it is really funny (and kind of confrontational for me...)

Mythology Monday: The Good-looking, the Ugly and the White

My teacher said this was an African myth, but I have no idea from what part of Africa it is and I couldn't find it anywhere else. My teacher kept calling the deity in this myth "Great God" and since I don't know where this myth is from, I don't know if he meant Mumba or someone else, so I'll just call him "Great God". This myth explains why some people are good-looking, some people are ugly and some people are white.

Great God creates all the people, and most of the time he really tries to make the best he can. He gives them handsome features, some nice muscles and keeps everything nicely in proportion. But even Great God gets struck by a case of the Mondays sometimes... On those days  he makes the ugly people, with way to large ears, crooked teath and gangly arms. And sometimes, when he gets drunk, he really messes up and makes white people.

Mythology Monday: Procrustes

Sadly, today will be a short one with no painting by me because I have a test tomorrow. I was kind of looking forward to painting a bed with some bloody limbs next to it, so I might make one later on :)

This is the myth of Procustes the Stretcher.

Procrustes had a home near the road between Athens and Eleusis. Many people came along this road and Procrustes always invited every weary traveller into his home for a nice meal and some well deserved rest. He was even kind enough to let people sleep in his own bed! He probably had some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder though, because he couldn't stand it if his guest didn't fit his bed exactly. So if the person was too small, they'd have to be stretched, and if he was too tall, Procrusted would just chop of all the parts that stuck out. And nobody ever did fit...
Eventually Theseus came along and wrestles Procrustes onto his own bed and killed him. It isn't told if he had to be stretched or "shortened" but on the picture below he seems to be sticking out quite a lot.

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I must say there are some very strange things about this myth though. First, as my teacher pointed out: the bed is Procrustes' own, so it should fit, right? Very weird indeed...

Secondly, they both appear to be very naked. If Procrusted was always unclothed when inviting his guests in, I really think they shouldn't be that surprised to find out he was a bit of a psychopath. And I don't even want to think about what Theseus has done with his clothes...

Oh well, so much to think about :) I'm heading back to my soliloquys, sonnets and consonances... Wish me luck!

Mythology Monday: the Owl-eyed Athena

In many myths Athena is described as "owl-eyed" and this is how I imagine her as a girl:

According to the myth however, she sprang fully grown and armoured from the head of her father, Zeus.
This is the story of her quite remarkable birth.

When Zeus had defeated the titans and became the ruler of Olympus, he married his first wife: Metis, the goddess of wisdom. Though she was a good wife and a true equal of Zeus, it was foretold by Gaia that she would be the one who could bear a child strong enough to defeat Zeus himself. Zeus wasn't too happy with this news, so to prevent Metis from bringing forth this child, he tricked her into changing herself into a fly and swallowed her.
Metis, however, was already pregnant with Athena and, while inside Zeus, she began to forge an armour for her daughter. The hammering caused Zeus such a headache, that he asked Hephaistos to split open his head. Out of the crack sprang Athena, the new goddess of wisdom. Though she is also the goddess of warefare, strength and strategy, a woman could obviously never overthrow her father and Zeus' reign over the gods and mankind was secure.
An additional advantage of swallowing Metis, was that Zeus now had Wisdom inside of him. Therefore he became a much wiser god and he could go on to marry his sister Hera and have many affairs with mortal girls.

Athena, very unlike her father, vowed to remain a virgin. She does have a very cute little owl called after her, aptly named "Little Owl" or Athene noctua.

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