The Iliad - Blog Posts

Stop Treating Greek Mythology Like Just Another Fictional Franchise

I am honestly tired of seeing people lump Greek mythology into the same category as DC Comics, anime, or any other modern fictional universe. There’s this frustrating trend where people discuss figures like Odysseus or Achilles in the same breath as Batman or Goku, as if they’re just characters in a long-running franchise rather than deeply rooted cultural and literary icons from one of the most influential civilizations in history.

Yes, myths contain fantastical elements—gods turning into animals, heroes slaying monsters, mortals being punished or rewarded in ways that defy logic. But that does not mean Greek mythology is the same as a modern fantasy novel. These myths were part of an entire civilization’s identity. The ancient Greeks didn’t just tell these stories for entertainment; they used them to explain the world, explore human nature, justify traditions, and even shape their religious practices. The Odyssey isn’t just an adventurous tale about a guy struggling to get home—it’s a reflection of Greek values, an exploration of heroism, fate, and the gods' role in human life. When people treat it as nothing more than “fiction,” they erase the cultural weight it carried for the people who created it.

Greek mythology functioned in antiquity—these were their sacred stories, their way of making sense of the universe. And yet, people will still argue that the Odyssey is no different from a DC Elseworlds story, as if it was just an early attempt at serialized storytelling rather than a cornerstone of Western literature.

Part of the problem comes from how myths have been adapted in modern media. Hollywood and pop culture have turned Greek mythology into a shallow aesthetic, cherry-picking elements for the sake of spectacle while stripping away any historical or cultural depth. Movies like Clash of the Titans or games like God of War reimagine the myths in ways that make them feel like superhero stories—cool battles, flashy gods, exaggerated personalities. And while those adaptations can be fun, they’ve also contributed to this weird idea that Greek myths are just another IP (intellectual property) that anyone can rewrite however they want, without considering their original context.

This becomes especially frustrating when people defend radical reinterpretations of Greek mythology under the “it’s just fiction” excuse. No, Greek mythology is not just fiction! It’s cultural heritage. It’s part of history. It’s literature. It’s philosophy. If someone drastically rewrote a Shakespearean play and justified it by saying, “Well, it’s just an old story,” people would push back. If someone did the same to the Mahabharata or The Tale of Genji , there would be outrage. But when it happens to Greek myths? Suddenly, it’s “just fiction,” and any criticism is dismissed as overreacting.

I am not saying mythology should be untouchable. Reinterpretation and adaptation have always been a part of how these stories survive—Euripides retold myths differently from Homer, and Ovid gave his own spin on Greek legends in his Metamorphoses. The difference is that those ancient reinterpretations still respected the source material as cultural history, rather than treating it as some creative sandbox where anything goes. When people defend blatant inaccuracies in modern adaptations by saying, “It’s just a story, why does it matter?” they are ignoring the fact that these myths are a major link to an ancient civilization that shaped so much of what we call Western culture today.

Ultimately, Greek mythology deserves the same level of respect as any major historical and literary tradition. It’s not a superhero franchise. It’s not a random fantasy series. It’s the legacy of a civilization that continues to influence philosophy, literature, art, and even modern storytelling itself. So let’s stop treating it like disposable entertainment and start appreciating it for the depth, complexity, and significance it truly holds.

Hold on a sec

"all in all the Hellenic Republic as we know it today is a very recent concept in the large scheme of theings"

I hope you're talking about the Hellenic Republic as in the nation-state (and even then, it's not that recent), and not the people.

Because Greeks, as in, the people, didn't appear 200 years ago, nor did we conjure up an ethnic identity the moment we became a nation-state (200 years ago). We've held and preserved our ethnic identity for thousands of years. We've been Greeks for thousands of years.

"And is not a race because people of different backgrounds can have the Greek citizenship"

First of all, let's not confuse 'nationality' with 'ethnicity'. What you're talking about here is Nationality Law, which is a thing in a lot of countries, not exclusively in Greece.

Let's say I, a Greek person, became a Nigerian citizen through naturalisation. And someone decided to make a movie/show about the Yoruba deities. By your logic, some of the gods in this movie/show could very well look like me, a Greek person, or a Swedish person who is a Nigerian citizen, or a Chinese person who is a Nigerian citizen, and so on and so on.

Do you see the problem?

"And it's not the same as whitewashing"

Excuse me, your logic here; this wrong thing (whitewashing) has been happening for a while, therefore we will fight it by also doing the wrong thing (casting/designing other characters inaccurately).

How is that going to help anyone? Two wrongs don't make a right.

You say "there's not a finite amount of representation" but then you essentially say misrepresention is fine as long as it's at the expense of specific groups of people.

Your US-centric concept of race doesn't apply to every other region in the world.

When you force 'fake' diversity unto Greek mythology, not only are you erasing Greeks as an ethnic group, you're also ignoring mythologies from other cultures and of other ethnic groups, in the process.

And I find it tactless of you to police what we look like and what kind of representation befits us, in stories taken straight from our culture.

"But let's humor them for a moment"

I'd advise you not to make assumptions for a country and a people (and a culture) you're clearly not familiar with.

Once again I saw people complaining about making Greek mythology things with people who have dark skin, because they aren't "ethnically Greek". But they actually mean "racially Greek" because Ethnicity is not just skin color, it also refers to a shared culture, customs, traditions etc etc, but I digress

And before annoying people on tumblr start sending me hate messages accusing me of being racist against Greek people (again lol) for saying that is not bad for something Greek mythology related to have a couple of Dark skinned characters out of the majority light skinned characters (coughHadescough) allow me to explain

Now, Greek isn't actually a race, all in all the Hellenic Republic as we know it today is a very recent concept in the large scheme of theings. And is not a race because people of different backgrounds can have the Greek citizenship

But let's humor them for a moment

I went to Google images to search for the average Greek person and these are the results:

Now, we see here the so called "ethnically correct" way to look Greek

Light olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes

The way Greeks look, right?

Well

Surprise assholes, they are all Mexicans JAJAJAJA

And what does that mean? Are Mexicans stealing the Greek look? Are those people in Mexico stealing representation by looking like that? Wait, it's all Mexico? Always has been

No, but seriously. What does that means?

It means that Light olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes... It's a pretty common look everywhere

Yeah, even in South Africa you're going to find people looking like that

Now, mind you, not all Mexicans look like that, there are Indigenous people, Afro Mexicans, wHite Mexicans, Chinese Mexicans, etc etc

And I'm sure there are people in the Hellenic Republic that look different, with lighter skin, with darker skin, you know the drill

But that's the thing, you can't assign just one right way to look to a country, if you start assigning a race to a nationality you're on your way to create an ethnostate (which is bad mind you)

And people who complain about dark people taking away representation from them. Honey; Representation is not something that has a finite amount, if you don't like how some people make Patroclus dark skinned, you can always make your own version or support an artist that makes a representation you like instead of complaining about people who make him "not ethnically correct"

(Mind you, making Patroclus wHite isn't bad and has been done before)

Besides, making something culturally accurate about Greek culture doesn't have anything to do with race, as culture doesn't equal race

Like if somebody made something about Mexico and put Afro Mexicans or Chinese Mexicans in there, it's not taking anything away from me, because there's not a finite amount of representation

And it's not the same as whitewashing, as people complain about whitewashing because there are already A LOT of things with white people in it, and plus, complaining about whitewashing does next to nothing, as it's still happening (like how in the most recent adaptation of wuthering heights they choose a white actor for a character that's implied to be Romani)

BTW, I lied, in the picture above, two people are Greek actually and 2 are mexican (allegedly, I just found the pictures on Google, so who know where they're from really, they could be from anywhere lmao)

What I think Iliad's caracherts favourite curse word is

Achilles: he doesn't actually curse, he uses mostly words like "freak" "shoot" etc

Patroclus: f*ck (and everything that has f*ck inside like f*cking sh*t etc)

Agamemnon: c*nt (really ugly as he is)

Odysseus: doesn't usually curse, but when he's mad he uses sh*t

Diomedes: any curse word will do

Ajax: anything not too offensive, like he would definitely use b*tch but not wh*re

Thesis: motherf*cker or bast*rd

Achilles

I

To them I am the brute not the lover

The raging king’s hound, his gold spear – death’s kiss

Was this the way, was there no other?

II

History, prayèrs did try to cover –

Those violent delights, and that violent bliss

- To them I am the brute not the lover.

III

Yet, if time would but only uncover

Those extra curves of your smiles that they miss – I miss.

Was this the way – was there no other?

IV

If the Prince of Troy did not hover over

My mind and your ghost – in debt to the Styx –

To them I am the brute not the lover!

V

They forget romeo, the pre-mover;

Was it for this you died, was it for this?

Alas, I am the brute. Not your lover.

Was this the way? Was there no other?

"Achilles" by Sadbh Kellett. First published in The Attic XX, 2017.

People who have read "the song of Achilles" need to read "the silence of the girls" and Homer's Iliad, as in song of Achilles the story is told from Patroclus' perspective, someone who loved Achilles so he's incredibly biased and mainly focuses on how amazing Achilles was,

when actually he's the reason so many died during the trojan was because of his massive tantrum over Briseis (who would not have been like a close friend to them she would have just been a slave for Achilles to use)

Then again after Patroclus dies he commits horrific acts "in the name of love" but in Homer's Iliad the entire plot is off Achilles anger, it starts with his annoyance of being dishonoured and ends with his rage as his lover is killed because of his original anger.

Had the most British conversation in my classical civilisation class

teacher: can anyone give a good modern day example of epic poetry like homer's Iliad? here's what we came up with: gangster granny the minecraft movie Mulan kung fu panda Narnia

The Iliad is probably one of the funniest books I ever read

Like I'll be having a not-so-good day, then remember how Hector had given himself an entire pep talk to fight Achilles. He saw Achilles running full speed towards him and proceeds to just book it.

Or when Menelaus got shot by an arrow in like in an ultimately nonfatal spot, and Agamemnon begins prematurely mourning him while he's standing there like 🧍‍♂️” you're scaring the men.”

Or when Odysseus is walking around the camps with a royal scepter and is just beating people with it if he finds them packing or suggesting to leave.

Or when Hector is brainstorming on how to face Achilles and for a moment goes, “Maybe I could talk with him, we’re both princes, we can both be rational, I could reason with him… that's a horrible fucking idea.”

I have more, but these, in particular, really tickle me.

Just had my moral compass surgically removed!

"these flowers suit your hair so well"

achilles to distract myself from life's miseries

Greek myths modern Au (Pt.1)

since I was bored and I’m reading a book about the myths for school here you go! >:)

Notes: -This Au is settled in southern Italy

-In Italy, the “Liceo Classico” is a high school major in humanities: it is possibly the only high school in the world where pupils study both Latin and Ancient Greek and it’s internationally renowned for its advanced curricula in philosophy, literature and history. I will refer to it as ‘Classic lyceum’ though the Hc and all 

The Iliad

-Achilles is a 16yo artistic gymnastics agonist from Milan who moved to Naples with his Mom since she’s from there.

- Patroclus is a 16yo Classic lyceum student. He could be the best but doesn’t put enough effort in it.

-Hector is a friendly and caring university student, 21yo, is already married with a kid. He’s friend with Patroclus, since he’s an ex student from his same high school.

-Paris is an arrogant and stupid upperclassmen, 18yo, brother of Hector

-Odysseus is Patroclus’s class 37yo Geography-History teacher

-Agamemnon is a short-tempered 40yo gymnastic coach who heads Achilles’s Agonists group

-Briseis is a 16yo brilliant student and Patroclus’s classmate, being one of the major authors in the school’s journal..and helping Patroclus to not fail his classes.

-Deidamia is a rich and boring 15yo freshmen from a city near Naples, Sorrento

-Helen is a lovely and caring 35yo Greek teacher

-Chiron is a fresh and joyful 40yo fencing, parkour and archery coach

(a plus!)

-Aeneas is a curios and observant 16yo classmate of Briseis and Patroclus. He always fights with them ‘cause he likes Latin over greek

-Telemachus is a shy and lovely 17yo upperclassmen in the same school of Patroclus. He loves his family and he’s trying to find a job to earn some money and go abroad to study when he’s older

Aristos Achaion and his Philatos 🌌

i feel like sometimes ppl forget Helen is a spartan woman, spartan women exercised and did sports, unlike most women in greece. So i made her a bit buff🙏

guys don’t let your boyfriend borrow your clothes

no seriously trust me 

"And down in Hades, your father will care for all the rest" -from Euripides' "The Trojan Women"

I will never be free of the Hector sadness. also Scamandrius was technically the last king of Troy which is something I think about sometimes and feel normal and sane.

Athena holding Achilles back in the agora, first chant

Every time I open tiktok comments I keep seeing the sentiment of "I love EPIC Odysseus but Homeric Odysseus sucks" to which I say! Cowards, all of you

I absolutely love your interpretations, especially Cassandra: she would definitely be a victim of the Web.

I also have a couple more entities opinions even if they aren't really tied to greek heroes:

Calypso would be either an avatar of the Web or, the option I like more, an avatar of the Corruption because it's often tied to toxic types of love and I could confidently say that she is the definition of it: she kept him against his will, wanting him close to her, wanting to be with him.

I could confidently say that Circe would be an avatar of the Flesh for her transmutation abilities.

Tiresias would be either an avatar of the End (because he is, y'know, a ghost) or an avatar of the Eye for his prophetic abilities.

I feel that Orpheus would be either marked or aligned with the End for his little adventures in the underworld, or the web for his abilities to enchant, or control (that might be a little of a reach), others with his music.

Medea would probably be an avatar of the Slaughter because of the extremely violent acts that she committed during her play; I'm not sure though, I'm only at season three of tma so I'm not really an expert on entities and avatars.

Just gonna throw this into the void:

Odyssey Odysseus would either be aligned with the stranger or the eye, even though I'm leaning more into the stranger due to the continuous shedding of his Identity and constant deception; Ulysses from The Divine Comedy would definitely be aligned with the eye for his even bigger want for knowledge (he literally got killed by God because he went were no human could, for him humans were made to constantly try to get more knowledge ("considerate la vostra semenza: fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza", translation: "Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; Ye were not made to love like unto brutes, But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.")

Smintheus, the mouse god of plagues, feels bad after making people sick in the Iliad

"my apollocheese"

"A last request—grant it, please.

Never bury my bones apart from yours, Achilles,

Let them lie together . . .

Just as we grew up together in your house"

Patroclus to Achilles

The Iliad - Homer

I love Percy Jackson because it introduced me to Greek mythology. I love Hamilton because it made me interested in US history. I love the Song of Achilles because it got me to read the Iliad. I don’t care if it’s canonical, interpretations are great because they get people more interested in the source material.

Idk abt y’all but one of my favorite things about Homers literature is thinking less about morality, since the culture and context the text was written in was wildly different from our own

This concludes my thesis on why Odysseus and Achilles are my favorite

I love Hector and Achilles so much why’d daddy Zeus have to make them fight :(

Man Ajax is so real like oh no Odysseus won the armor guess I’ll just die

Troy story is my eighth favorite book. I love my hopeless homos

Paris: *does anything*

Everyone else: Paris! You pretty bastard! You suck and your haircut is bad!

my personal achilles heel would probably be my heel. If I got hit there I would most likely die.

just two beautiful boys who Hector has done nothing to

I can't stop thinking about this rabbit hole I went down a few weeks ago when I was procrastinating on my Iliad paper.

So basically. In the Lattimore translation of the Iliad (the one we read in class), he has Helen call herself a slut.

"That man is Atreus’ son Agamemnon, widely powerful,  at the same time a good king and a strong spearfighter,  once my kinsman, slut that I am. Did this ever happen?” (Lattimore 3.178-180)

Naturally I'm like yikes. Then I started wondering whether this was actually what it said in the Greek, and whether other translators disagreed.

(This is not a new thing to wonder about; people talked about this quite a bit after Emily Wilson discussed it.)

To summarize: the Greek word used here is kunops, which literally translates to dog-face or dog-eyed. This word is used precisely two other times in the Iliad: once in book one when Achilles is insulting Agamemnon and once in book eighteen when Hephaestus is talking about how his mother (Hera) threw him out. Surprise surprise, the male translators usually don't use the same word in those two places.

I could have stopped here, but naturally at this point I was like, obviously the best possible use of my time would be to go down into the depths of the library and see what word is used in these three places in every single translation of the Iliad that we have.

Too much time later, I ended up with this:

I think this table kind of speaks for itself.

Just. The way that the male translators all decide that when a woman is called "dog-face," that must mean that she's a shameless bitch, but when a man is called "dog-face," he can just be a dog-face. The bias is REALLY showing through here. I can understand shameless, but where are they getting slut bitch whore?

Lattimore is supposed to be the most literal translation! But then he just has to go and call Helen a slut for no apparent reason! Why would he do this where did it come from I want to scream. why do they assume that a woman criticizing herself has to be about sexual condemnation??

Some things that are worth noting!

As I mentioned, people have talked about this a lot in regards to Emily Wilson's translation! She gave a couple great interviews about her translation of this word (here and here). What many people forget is that she wasn't actually the first woman to translate the Iliad into English, nor was she the first person to translate the word as "dog-face." That was Caroline Alexander, eight years earlier. I love Wilson as much as the next person but let's not forget Alexander.

Yes dog-face is an insult! And yes it arguably is associated with shamelessness! There's a lot to unpack about why Helen was talking about herself this way. But it's really hard to analyze that when the bias of the male translators is bleeding through so much. I appreciate the decision to translate it literally and let readers decide for ourselves what she meant.

It's not worth it, Achilles...