Is The Cyclops Struck With Guilt When He Kills? (No, But Odysseus Is)

Is the cyclops struck with guilt when he kills? (No, but Odysseus is)

Is he up in the middle of the night? (Yes, he constantly says that he can't sleep through the saga)

Or does he end my men to avenge his friend (He didn't end the Cyclops to avenge his friend, he felt too guilty perhaps.)

And then sleep knowing he has done him right? (He hasn't done Polites right. His best friend is dead and the killer remains alive and well. He wishes he was the Cyclops..?)

Talking about Odysseus after disappearing for months

Ah greek mythos tumblr, one of my first tumblr stomping grounds. Alright ima make this short and sweet on my current thoughts on Odysseus

Ancient greek Odysseus is such a fun character and one of my fav ancient greek heroes that I've studied so hard I know things about him by heart. However it's hard to outwardly enjoy his character with the public as ppl either take things heavily out of context because they don't know ancient Greek and translations suck, and they read stuff about him also heavily taken out of context by those same ppl that paint him as an asshole, abusive, aggressive, womanizer who cheated, which none of these are true, and the asshole part is only half true as it could be seen as an asshole by our standards but back then he was genuinely a good sane guy with the hubris the size of an ox and heavily undiagnosed adhd. Or they see Odysseus as one character which a lot of ppl, even ppl who love his character, do so they claim everything the character has ever done to being one person, both good and bad, when that is furtherest from the truth.

In reality Odysseus is not one single person and never has been. Homer did not create his character, he created an adapted and revised version of his character that many have created before he came along and many have created after him. Even non Greeks created stories about him. The story about Odysseus leaving that one guy on the island? Yeah never actually happened in greek terms, in reality Odysseus wasn't actually there in the story at all and didn't do or say much of anything other than "🕴" the whole time, yet because of that one story ppl blame him for being the main cause of it anyway. Odysseus has never been and never will be one person, you basically find a variation of him that you like and enjoy it and add bits from other stories to it and boom there ya go, enjoy it. That's how it works and always has worked for centuries.

And Odysseus is being brought back and rewritten all over again in our modern era via Epic the musical by taking a character that was created beforehand and adapting and revising said character, just like homer once did, and so did the others before them. And in the future ppl may question the morals of said musical and make another Odysseus to fit their modern time. It's an endless cycle that will repeat itself forever.

If you were to ask me who my favorite Odysseus is? The Odysseus in EPIC the musical while adding a few bits of the Iliad here and there (hoping he makes an Iliad musical one day), it's the one I grew most attached to and love as an adaption. Ancient Odysseus is an amazing one but Modern Odysseus is my personal favorite.

So enjoy your variation of Odysseus and have fun with it as long as you stay respectful to the greek culture and it's original source (aka don't make Odysseus a horrible man and his two rapists girlbosses and label him a cheater, that shit AIN'T flying around here. Period.)

And I hope you all have an amazing day and night! ^^

Literally this

(@forestfullofberries )

"I no longer dream, only nightmares of those who've died"

Do you guys get it?? It's not just now, it's not just in the underworld, it is not just some short, hard moment. It is just it. Just nightmares instead of dreams. No more dreaming about Penelope, no more Telemachus, Ithaca, no more anything good, anything providing an escape from reality and longing. Since this, all he's dreaming about are nightmares of dead people, nightmares of people whose deaths he blames himself.

To the very end, probebly even when he's back. He wakes up, next to his sleeping wife, safe, at home, yet, still with all this pain in his head.

Yes I’m waking up but do you think Odysseus woke up every day thinking about his homeland and his family? Yes I need to brush my teeth but Odysseus had to drop an infant off the walls of Troy, unless Neoptolemus did that for him Yes breakfast is good but Odysseus is trapped in a Cyclops’s cave Yes I have to do my work but Odysseus had to go to bed with Circe only then will his men be released Yes lunch is appetizing but Odysseus is in the Underworld meeting his past now Yes I should decide whether to take a nap or not, but Odysseus had to go between Scylla and Charybdis Yes I still have work to do but Odysseus’s crew just disobeyed his order and ate Helios’s cattle Yes dinner is delicious but Odysseus is still trapped on Ogygia ;-; Yes I know we have to do the dishes after dinner, but do you know that Odysseus had to kill all the suitors just to reunite with Penelope? Yes I should sleep now but do you think that Odysseus could finally feel happiness when he was in the olive-tree bed with Penelope, while Athena was prolonging the night just for them?

Some doodles

"Moreover Stesichorus writes that Odysseus bore a dolphin painted upon his shield; and for what reason the Zacynthian records tell us, as Critheus testifies. For they say that as a small boy, Telemachus, having fallen into the sea, was saved by dolphins that took him up and swam with him to the beach. And therefore he made use of a dolphin for the impression of his seal and the ornament of his shield." - Plutarch De sollertia animalium 36.

This one is for all the Epic the musical girlies out there. Cute story ain't it.