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Cam's Camera: Mythology

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She's got a nice day for it, anyway. :rolleyes: :devil:
A good image with some nice foreshadowing, I think. Sure it's pleasant now, but what happens when the sun starts to go down? Somewhere, lurking in the deeper water is something. Excellent work with the composite figure, and the current resolution is consistent with the background photo, so it all looks seamless. :)
Actually "something" is already lurking there, in full daylight. But sort of half camouflaged. But I think Andromeda may have seen it down there.
 
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Actually "something" is already lurking there, in full daylight. But sort of half camouflaged. But think Andromeda may have seen it down there.
Good lord! Missed that. See what happens when you don't stay alert? That's a fine job of blending there, and it really makes more sense now, considering her expression. :thumbup: :doh::beer:
 
It illustrates beautifully the beginning of my 'Sea Sacrifice':

A young Andromeda,
full of her nakedness,
chained. The rocks’ harshness,
coarse crusta chafing soft skin,
yet she’s not scared –
she’ll cope when it comes …

When it comes...
Where will it come?
From a trough in the strong surge,
slithering through sea-wrack,
clawing from a cliff-cleft –

Where will it come?
 
Another Andomeda, this time featuring sweet Alice K, whose body and head I have assembled from two different pictures. I would have liked to zoom on the main prrotagonist a little closer, but have not been able to find the same photos with higher definition.
kamerijk andromeda 3.jpg

You are becoming something of an expert on the Andromeda theme, Kam! Your first two essays used Sienna and Ryonen as models for the character of Andromeda, and now Alice features in your latest version. No stranger to your gallery, I believe this is her sixth appearance in one of your manipulations.

Like her predecessor in the same role, Ryonen, the figure of Alice has been composed of separate source images for the head and body. The two sources are consistent, being photographed in approximately the same location on the same day. In fact, they are from Valery Anzilov's coastal sessions in the Crimea which makes the rocky seascape a highly suitable background for the picture.

Alice's face has been flipped so that she looks towards the giant lizard, neatly camouflaged against the rock on the left. Its large, pink tongue licks the salt water from the rock in anticipation of a satisfying meal. I am not very familiar with these reptiles, but this might be some kind of Komodo Dragon? Alice's hair appears remarkably blonde, and this may be the result of a lighting adjustment for blending her face with the body image, which is lit by bright sunlight, coming from almost directly overhead.

Having established a sense of tension in the character interaction, we observe that both characters occupy the appropriate depth of field in the centre of the background. A manacle on Alice's right wrist secures her to a concrete post, which appears to be part of the original background. The relative scale is dictated only by the size of the waves in a sea which looks fairly calm. Since there is no visible horizon, we are looking down from the cliffs, waiting for the action to unfold.

Congratulations on a very convincing composition! :)
 

You are becoming something of an expert on the Andromeda theme, Kam! Your first two essays used Sienna and Ryonen as models for the character of Andromeda, and now Alice features in your latest version. No stranger to your gallery, I believe this is her sixth appearance in one of your manipulations.

Like her predecessor in the same role, Ryonen, the figure of Alice has been composed of separate source images for the head and body. The two sources are consistent, being photographed in approximately the same location on the same day. In fact, they are from Valery Anzilov's coastal sessions in the Crimea which makes the rocky seascape a highly suitable background for the picture.

Alice's face has been flipped so that she looks towards the giant lizard, neatly camouflaged against the rock on the left. Its large, pink tongue licks the salt water from the rock in anticipation of a satisfying meal. I am not very familiar with these reptiles, but this might be some kind of Komodo Dragon? Alice's hair appears remarkably blonde, and this may be the result of a lighting adjustment for blending her face with the body image, which is lit by bright sunlight, coming from almost directly overhead.

Having established a sense of tension in the character interaction, we observe that both characters occupy the appropriate depth of field in the centre of the background. A manacle on Alice's right wrist secures her to a concrete post, which appears to be part of the original background. The relative scale is dictated only by the size of the waves in a sea which looks fairly calm. Since there is no visible horizon, we are looking down from the cliffs, waiting for the action to unfold.

Congratulations on a very convincing composition! :)
Thanks Bob for another close and sympathetic scrutiny of my manipulation. Your Alice Kiss - Crux Legend vol. 3 was what directly prompted me to do "something" with Alice again, and I naturally drifted rather quickly towards the myth of Andomeda, which is threatening to turn into a personal obsession, I'm afraid :)
You are right, Alice's unusally blonde hair in this picture is the result of brightness-contrast and other adjustments to the head so it would match the body as well as possible. I could have darkened the hair again, but I thought there had been enough tampering with it already, as I had to reconstruct it in places with varying degrees of success.
The "monster" is a gila - quite out of place on the coast of antique Hellas, but monstrous enough for the role, and i liked the way it seems to have just crept out of the sea (never has a gila dipped its paw into salt water, I'm sure) and onto the rock to take the time to survey the situation, contemplate its victim and salivate on the anticipated feast.
Poor Alice will have seen it all ...
 
It illustrates beautifully the beginning of my 'Sea Sacrifice':

A young Andromeda,
full of her nakedness,
chained. The rocks’ harshness,
coarse crusta chafing soft skin,
yet she’s not scared –
she’ll cope when it comes …

When it comes...
Where will it come?
From a trough in the strong surge,
slithering through sea-wrack,
clawing from a cliff-cleft –

Where will it come?
I love it ! Where can we find the whole poem ?
And do you give me permission to add this to my page on DA, with due credit of course ?
 
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Sacrificed to the Minotaur

It is said that Androgeon, son of Minos, had been killed in Athens by king Aegeus who was jealous of his victories at the Panathenaic festival.
Minos, who was understandably quite aggrieved by his son's death, waged a war against Athens to avenge him.
In another version reported by Catullus, Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeon."
In either case the end result was that Aegeus had to pay Minos a tribute of "young men at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast" to the Minotaur. Seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, were sent every seventh or ninth year (or some say every year) into the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur.
One those unfortunate Athenian maidens is seen here waiting for her cruel fate.

minotaur's sacrifice.jpg
Model Ariel, assembled from two parts of her own self, is playing the role.
 
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Sacrificed to the Minotaur

It is said that Androgeon, son of Minos, had been killed in Athens by king Aegeus who was jealous of his victories at the Panathenaic festival.
Minos, who was understandably quite aggrieved by his son's death, waged a war against Athens to avenge him.
In another version reported by Catullus, Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeon."
In either case the end result was that Aegeus had to pay Minos a tribute of "young men at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast" to the Minotaur. Seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, were sent every seventh or ninth year (or some say every year) into the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur.
One those unfortunate Athenian maidens is seen here waiting for her cruel fate.

View attachment 1010999
Model Ariel, assembled from two parts of her own self, is playing the role.
The manip inspired me a bit for a few adds. But, now waiting three girls for the Minotaurus.
Waiting for the Minotaurus.
Madiosi-2021-063-camcrux-edit.jpg
 
minotaur's sacrifice.jpg's sacrifice.jpg
Model Ariel, assembled from two parts of her own self, is playing the role.
The manip inspired me a bit for a few adds. But, now waiting three girls for the Minotaurus.
Waiting for the Minotaurus.
Madiosi-2021-063-camcrux-edit.jpg
Ariel has been chained to the wall in the Minotaur's dining room, and it looks as though the shackles around her ankles are joined together. Careful attention to the smooth outlines of inserted components ensures that they blend into the scene convincingly. We are informed that the model is a composite figure, and I think the head and body have been sourced from two pictures of Ariel. Kam is becoming quite experienced in this technique, which provides considerable flexibility in combining the desired poses and expressions without resorting to body doubling.

The skull and bones have been added to the stony floor to indicate the location of an earlier feast. I can see eight new components inserted into the background, although the number may be higher? Certainly the shackles and chain have been applied separately. The background has soft, overhead lighting, producing a curious golden glow from the walls and floor. There is very little definition by shadows, apart from the cracks in the walls and the entrance to the adjoining chamber, and so very little needs to be inserted in the way of new shadows for the added components.

Ariel's pale fleshtones almost begin to merge with the stonework as she stands perfectly still, perhaps hoping that the creature will not become aware of her presence. Either her eyes are closed to the awful reality of her impending fate, or she is glancing down to survey the evidence of previous 'guests'. I see that Madi has been inspired to develop the scene with extra guests and bones, not to mention the arrival of the hungry host himself! :eek:

Nice work on the original manipulation, Kam - and the swiftly composed re-manipulation, Madi! :D
 
Of course the minotaur was nude. Why should he wear clothes? He never leaves home. He's social distancing. I think a lot of us can relate.
The ancient Greeks agreed:
minotaur.1024x0-is.jpg
According to the myth, King Minos of Crete was supposed to sacrifice a white bull to Poseidon, but thought it was too fine an animal so he substituted a lesser bull. Bad idea. A pissed-off Poseidon punished him by cursing his wife Pasiphaë, (I know, that doesn't fair, but, he's a god so fair is not in his vocabulary),
having he develop a sexual attraction for the bull. To satisfy her urges, she had Daedalus build a wooden cow that the bull would have sex with while she was inside.
Desimon2.jpg
The Romans sometimes executed people during the games by staging re-enactments of mythology. So, sometimes they would have women raped by bulls in a re-enactment of the Pasiphaë myth.
Some "artist" did a poorly drawn interpretation of this a few years ago:
RM68.jpg
Sorry about that.:oops:
Here are some other minotaur related images to make up for it.
minotaur.jpgKrut1.jpg
 
Sacrificed to the Minotaur

It is said that Androgeon, son of Minos, had been killed in Athens by king Aegeus who was jealous of his victories at the Panathenaic festival.
Minos, who was understandably quite aggrieved by his son's death, waged a war against Athens to avenge him.
In another version reported by Catullus, Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeon."
In either case the end result was that Aegeus had to pay Minos a tribute of "young men at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast" to the Minotaur. Seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, were sent every seventh or ninth year (or some say every year) into the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur.
One those unfortunate Athenian maidens is seen here waiting for her cruel fate.

View attachment 1010999
Model Ariel, assembled from two parts of her own self, is playing the role.
Well, you will never hear me complain about any appearance by Ariel. She is just one of those models that is exquisitely beautiful, and exudes a wonderful vulnerable innocence, making her perfect for this sort of image. I think I know which series her body is from, although I am less sure of the head. The image itself is nicely composed in its simplicity. We don't need to see the Minotaur - the open doorway provides the foreboding :hambre: , along with the skull and chains. She waits, trying to be brave, but you can almost see her tremble. Eul would likey say it's partly excitement, but I daresay there's a bit of fear there.
:thumbup::clapping:
 
As complements to my previous post, here are the two pictures of Ariel that I used for the composition :
for the body : https://www.elitebabes.com/those-pe...els-them-with-her-gentle-hands/#gallery-01-13
Ariel's expression in this picture is too bold for the situation she's in so I looked for another picture where she looked down. It was not easy as she is one of those models that almost always look straight at the camera. I finally found this : https://www.elitebabes.com/amazing-...es-wild-in-sensual-posing-9259/#gallery-01-14

It is possible that Minos and Minotaur were two faces of the same coin, both representing the Cretan sun-god, also shown as a bull.

A historical interpretation of the myth is that while Crete was the dominant power in the Aegean sea, the fledgling Greek cities, among which Athens, had to pay tributes to Knossos, maybe in the form of slaves or sacrificial victims. The slaying of Minotaur by Theseus from Athens symbolizing the end of Cretan domination.
 
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Of course the minotaur was nude. Why should he wear clothes? He never leaves home. He's social distancing. I think a lot of us can relate.
The ancient Greeks agreed:
View attachment 1011210
According to the myth, King Minos of Crete was supposed to sacrifice a white bull to Poseidon, but thought it was too fine an animal so he substituted a lesser bull. Bad idea. A pissed-off Poseidon punished him by cursing his wife Pasiphaë, (I know, that doesn't fair, but, he's a god so fair is not in his vocabulary),
having he develop a sexual attraction for the bull. To satisfy her urges, she had Daedalus build a wooden cow that the bull would have sex with while she was inside.
View attachment 1011218
The Romans sometimes executed people during the games by staging re-enactments of mythology. So, sometimes they would have women raped by bulls in a re-enactment of the Pasiphaë myth.
Some "artist" did a poorly drawn interpretation of this a few years ago:
View attachment 1011219
Sorry about that.:oops:
Here are some other minotaur related images to make up for it.
View attachment 1011211View attachment 1011217
There's a poem and lots more pictures in our Pasiphaë thread:

 
Well, actually it was one of Cam's manips that inspired me to try my own version of the 'Judgement of Paris.
So I hope you don't mind if I post it here as well together with the text that goes with it.
Comments always welcome!

The Judgement of Paris (small).jpg

Like ‘Andromeda’ this is one of the favourite topics from Greek mythology for artists, so I thought I might have a go as well.

Instead of just showing three lovely but interchangeable women I decided to characterise the goddesses according to what is known about them from mythology.
I used three Archaic korai from the acropolis as inspiration for poses and garments. Naturally not for the ladies themselves, because Greek artists of this period had no real interest in female bodies (very much in contrast to me) but just took the same bodies and faces they used for the male Kouroi added a different hairstyle, garments (girls could not be naked), and two bulbs underneath on the torso.
Naturally this actually makes not much sense, because the mythology was already old when these statues were produced during the Archaic period, but nobody has an idea about how old the idea for these goddesses are (Early Iron Age, Late Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age?) and what garments were in fashion in this unknown period.

In contrast to historical reality, I also did choose white cloth for the garments, just because the modern viewer is so used to the marble statues that lost their original colourful (and often abominable) painting.

I tried to differentiate the goddesses a bit by age, since Hera, wife of Zeus, mother of a number of Olympic gods, and goddess of marriage and childbirth definitely fits the description MILF. She symbolises what a good Greek woman should be: the ‘Lady of the Oikos’, meaning she is in charge of the household, keeping the money together, giving birth to many, many children and raising them. A terror to her husband, who consequently spends most of his time outside, where a good Greek woman does not go.

Athena is a child of Zeus, but not of Hera. She just popped out of Zeus’ head (with a little help of Hephaistos and a big axe). You might imagine that the goddess of childbirth is not too fond of this concept and usually we find Hera and Athena on different sides.

Athena is a virgin not interested in sexual relations. She is goddess of wisdom and (technical) warfare but she has a playful side as well. Once she invented the aulos, a kind of flute. When she presented it to the fellow gods they all started to laugh, because she looked so funny with blown up cheeks and n threw the flute away. In short: she is a spoiled teenage brat and daddy’s little favourite.

Aphrodite now is different. She is not originally part of the happy little family on Mount Olympos and actually older than many of the gods there. Uranos (the sky) was challenged by his son Kronos (time) who cut off his genitals and threw them into the sea. The sea was fertilised and Aphrodite was born (from ‘foam’) and reached the island of Cyprus. Kronos is the father of Zeus, so Aphrodite actually is one generation above him.

Most scholars think, and there is good evidence for this, that she is a Greek version of the Levantine goddess Astarte (Near Eastern Ishtar) and Greeks, when they started to get around a bit again in Early Iron Age, learned about her in Cyprus. Astarte is a very powerful goddess, amongst other aspects a goddess of war. The Greeks already had Athena for this and Hera for childbirth so Aphrodite was reduced to a goddess of ... no, not ‘fertility’ or some other prissy nonsense ... a goddess of sex, desire and enjoyment. Thus, for her appearance I did choose that most attractive type of Cypriote girl, petite, slender, tanned, with thick black curls that vividly demonstrates the closeness of the island to the mainland in the east and south that you can find on both sides of the Green Line, despite the modern myths of origin.

The setting naturally has to be Mediterranean. Paris, the son of Priam King of Troy, was born in what today is western Turkey.
It is a common misconception that the story is part of the Homeric epics. It is not. Homer only wrote about the very last weeks of the last year of the Trojan war. Everything else is known from other sources. Especially the reason, prelude and early war stories are known from the Kypria, which literally means ‘Cypriot Stories’.
Naturally Classical scholars hurry to inform us that this title does not mean these were Cypriot stories, because they have to be Greek and Cyprus was not a part of the Greek world (at least not until Hellenistic times, when it became Egyptian ... erm ...) and Greeks invented everything themselves and never ever were culturally influenced by ... anyway, they insist that the title was chosen only because Aphrodite, one of many goddesses mentioned in them, actually came to Greece as cultural influence from Cyprus ... whoops.
Whatever, I think ‘Cypriote Stories’ means Cypriote stories (revolting idea!) and so I did choose some of the oldest olive trees from that lovely island as a background. A friend told me they were burned in a bushfire some years ago ...

So, what about the ladies?

Hera in the centre just coming from her place in Samos is wearing a chiton, the usual Ionian garment. Made of finest linen, lowered around the neck and not sewn together in the lower half it helps to reveal her assets, while hiding the problematic zones around the waist.
She is perfectly convinced that she will win. After all she is the wife of the king of gods, isn’t she? And what is a hierarchy good for, if it does not mean that those on top will get what they want? Still, she is really, really pissed off that Zeus, that old disloyal jerk, did not just give the apple, that clearly belongs to her, but instead staged this stupid ‘competition’. With a mortal as a jury!
“Disgusting!” she thinks. “But those little humans always can be bought or frightened. I’ll promise him to be ruler of the world. What else would such a stupid slave dream of? And naturally Athena this overweening, spoilt, vane little brat has to take part! Oh my, girl! You are way out of your depth here! You did not even think to dye your hair and your make up is pathetic! And this bit of flimsy jewellery! Poor girl, she did not notice she is still wearing her every-day sandals. And who else is taking part? Ah, this little outlandish slut Aphrodite. Well, who is taking her serious?”

Athena to the right naturally is wearing the Athenian peplos, made from heavy wool and doubled on top to hide female attributes as much as possible. She is not stupid, and thus she does what Athenian girls do when they want to show their goodies: just take advantage of the fact that the garment actually is nothing else but a rectangular piece of cloth, not sewn together at the side. Still, she is pouting as usual, because the effort seems to be wasted on a mere human being. And she wants this beautiful golden apple, so Daddy should have given it to her! But now she has to compete with this old hag Hera and this darky foreigner who always smiles as being secretly amused. The bitch is half naked, like a boy, and look at her sandals! It looks as if her legs were tied up. Does she belief someone thinks this is sexy?!? She isn’t even ashamed to smile at this stinking mortal being, who is not even a Greek! Bah, mortals have to be afraid of gods! And mortal men are so damned stupid, they need a wise woman telling them what to do! If he has just a little bit of brain, he will realise that wisdom is the thing he is most in need of, so he will be overwhelmed with thankfulness about her bribe.

Aphrodite does not wear any jewels, because she is the most precious thing herself. And she knows that she will win. The fat cow and the stupid kid belief they can bribe the judge. But they never realised that this is not important. What is important is to control whoever sets the rules and choses the judge. And did old Zeus not suddenly feel an irresistible desire to spent some quality time with his boy toy Ganymed? And so felt the need to get his wife and daughter out of the way. And so appointed a male human to be the judge?
With a mortal male it does no matter a bit what Hera and Athena have to offer, because human males don’t think with their brain. And this is why Aphrodite just can’t lose.
“And isn’t he cute this little shepherd?” she thinks. “When all is done, I might disguise as a shepherdess to have some fun ... or as a sheep if he prefers.”
 
Very attractive drawing of the three goddesses. Hera certainly looks suitably annoyed. Great work as well on the background scene. You can almost smell the olives. :)

Greek artists of this period had no real interest in female bodies
That's just what they told their wives to keep peace in the house. "Seriously dear, I just take a boy stautue and put a dress on it. I don't look at any stone woman apart from you."

The Greeks already had Athena for this and Hera for childbirth so Aphrodite was reduced to a goddess of ... no, not ‘fertility’ or some other prissy nonsense ... a goddess of sex, desire and enjoyment.
There, you see? I daresay the Greek lads weren't above checking out what was under the neighbour girl's chiton if the olive trees were nice and the sun was just the right angle.

With a mortal male it does no matter a bit what Hera and Athena have to offer, because human males don’t think with their brain. And this is why Aphrodite just can’t lose.
I rest my case. I believe that Greek artists were probably very interested in the female body, but had perhaps not seen one properly if women were not supposed to be naked and indeed if most women did not go out much in public. Best to carve a statue that suggests that you know nothing of what the neighbour's daughter actually looks like under her chiton. ;) :D
 
Well, actually it was one of Cam's manips that inspired me to try my own version of the 'Judgement of Paris.
So I hope you don't mind if I post it here as well together with the text that goes with it.
Comments always welcome!

View attachment 1015187

Like ‘Andromeda’ this is one of the favourite topics from Greek mythology for artists, so I thought I might have a go as well.

Instead of just showing three lovely but interchangeable women I decided to characterise the goddesses according to what is known about them from mythology.
I used three Archaic korai from the acropolis as inspiration for poses and garments. Naturally not for the ladies themselves, because Greek artists of this period had no real interest in female bodies (very much in contrast to me) but just took the same bodies and faces they used for the male Kouroi added a different hairstyle, garments (girls could not be naked), and two bulbs underneath on the torso.
Naturally this actually makes not much sense, because the mythology was already old when these statues were produced during the Archaic period, but nobody has an idea about how old the idea for these goddesses are (Early Iron Age, Late Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age?) and what garments were in fashion in this unknown period.

In contrast to historical reality, I also did choose white cloth for the garments, just because the modern viewer is so used to the marble statues that lost their original colourful (and often abominable) painting.

I tried to differentiate the goddesses a bit by age, since Hera, wife of Zeus, mother of a number of Olympic gods, and goddess of marriage and childbirth definitely fits the description MILF. She symbolises what a good Greek woman should be: the ‘Lady of the Oikos’, meaning she is in charge of the household, keeping the money together, giving birth to many, many children and raising them. A terror to her husband, who consequently spends most of his time outside, where a good Greek woman does not go.

Athena is a child of Zeus, but not of Hera. She just popped out of Zeus’ head (with a little help of Hephaistos and a big axe). You might imagine that the goddess of childbirth is not too fond of this concept and usually we find Hera and Athena on different sides.

Athena is a virgin not interested in sexual relations. She is goddess of wisdom and (technical) warfare but she has a playful side as well. Once she invented the aulos, a kind of flute. When she presented it to the fellow gods they all started to laugh, because she looked so funny with blown up cheeks and n threw the flute away. In short: she is a spoiled teenage brat and daddy’s little favourite.

Aphrodite now is different. She is not originally part of the happy little family on Mount Olympos and actually older than many of the gods there. Uranos (the sky) was challenged by his son Kronos (time) who cut off his genitals and threw them into the sea. The sea was fertilised and Aphrodite was born (from ‘foam’) and reached the island of Cyprus. Kronos is the father of Zeus, so Aphrodite actually is one generation above him.

Most scholars think, and there is good evidence for this, that she is a Greek version of the Levantine goddess Astarte (Near Eastern Ishtar) and Greeks, when they started to get around a bit again in Early Iron Age, learned about her in Cyprus. Astarte is a very powerful goddess, amongst other aspects a goddess of war. The Greeks already had Athena for this and Hera for childbirth so Aphrodite was reduced to a goddess of ... no, not ‘fertility’ or some other prissy nonsense ... a goddess of sex, desire and enjoyment. Thus, for her appearance I did choose that most attractive type of Cypriote girl, petite, slender, tanned, with thick black curls that vividly demonstrates the closeness of the island to the mainland in the east and south that you can find on both sides of the Green Line, despite the modern myths of origin.

The setting naturally has to be Mediterranean. Paris, the son of Priam King of Troy, was born in what today is western Turkey.
It is a common misconception that the story is part of the Homeric epics. It is not. Homer only wrote about the very last weeks of the last year of the Trojan war. Everything else is known from other sources. Especially the reason, prelude and early war stories are known from the Kypria, which literally means ‘Cypriot Stories’.
Naturally Classical scholars hurry to inform us that this title does not mean these were Cypriot stories, because they have to be Greek and Cyprus was not a part of the Greek world (at least not until Hellenistic times, when it became Egyptian ... erm ...) and Greeks invented everything themselves and never ever were culturally influenced by ... anyway, they insist that the title was chosen only because Aphrodite, one of many goddesses mentioned in them, actually came to Greece as cultural influence from Cyprus ... whoops.
Whatever, I think ‘Cypriote Stories’ means Cypriote stories (revolting idea!) and so I did choose some of the oldest olive trees from that lovely island as a background. A friend told me they were burned in a bushfire some years ago ...

So, what about the ladies?

Hera in the centre just coming from her place in Samos is wearing a chiton, the usual Ionian garment. Made of finest linen, lowered around the neck and not sewn together in the lower half it helps to reveal her assets, while hiding the problematic zones around the waist.
She is perfectly convinced that she will win. After all she is the wife of the king of gods, isn’t she? And what is a hierarchy good for, if it does not mean that those on top will get what they want? Still, she is really, really pissed off that Zeus, that old disloyal jerk, did not just give the apple, that clearly belongs to her, but instead staged this stupid ‘competition’. With a mortal as a jury!
“Disgusting!” she thinks. “But those little humans always can be bought or frightened. I’ll promise him to be ruler of the world. What else would such a stupid slave dream of? And naturally Athena this overweening, spoilt, vane little brat has to take part! Oh my, girl! You are way out of your depth here! You did not even think to dye your hair and your make up is pathetic! And this bit of flimsy jewellery! Poor girl, she did not notice she is still wearing her every-day sandals. And who else is taking part? Ah, this little outlandish slut Aphrodite. Well, who is taking her serious?”

Athena to the right naturally is wearing the Athenian peplos, made from heavy wool and doubled on top to hide female attributes as much as possible. She is not stupid, and thus she does what Athenian girls do when they want to show their goodies: just take advantage of the fact that the garment actually is nothing else but a rectangular piece of cloth, not sewn together at the side. Still, she is pouting as usual, because the effort seems to be wasted on a mere human being. And she wants this beautiful golden apple, so Daddy should have given it to her! But now she has to compete with this old hag Hera and this darky foreigner who always smiles as being secretly amused. The bitch is half naked, like a boy, and look at her sandals! It looks as if her legs were tied up. Does she belief someone thinks this is sexy?!? She isn’t even ashamed to smile at this stinking mortal being, who is not even a Greek! Bah, mortals have to be afraid of gods! And mortal men are so damned stupid, they need a wise woman telling them what to do! If he has just a little bit of brain, he will realise that wisdom is the thing he is most in need of, so he will be overwhelmed with thankfulness about her bribe.

Aphrodite does not wear any jewels, because she is the most precious thing herself. And she knows that she will win. The fat cow and the stupid kid belief they can bribe the judge. But they never realised that this is not important. What is important is to control whoever sets the rules and choses the judge. And did old Zeus not suddenly feel an irresistible desire to spent some quality time with his boy toy Ganymed? And so felt the need to get his wife and daughter out of the way. And so appointed a male human to be the judge?
With a mortal male it does no matter a bit what Hera and Athena have to offer, because human males don’t think with their brain. And this is why Aphrodite just can’t lose.
“And isn’t he cute this little shepherd?” she thinks. “When all is done, I might disguise as a shepherdess to have some fun ... or as a sheep if he prefers.”
Very nice illustration and a fascinating interpretation, you've given all three women very believable characters both in drawing and in words.
The Aphrodite - Astarte (and Ishtar etc.) connection has interesting possibilities - the story of her descent into the underworld, stripping off some piece of clothing or ornament at each of seven gates, suffering seven torments when she arrives in her sister's realm, ending up more or less crucified or impaled, then resurrecting but only when her husband Tammuz has come down to look for her and she sacrifices him ... the girl you've imagined looks feisty, sexy and sharp enough to 'pull that off'!
 
Very nice illustration and a fascinating interpretation, you've given all three women very believable characters both in drawing and in words.
The Aphrodite - Astarte (and Ishtar etc.) connection has interesting possibilities - the story of her descent into the underworld, stripping off some piece of clothing or ornament at each of seven gates, suffering seven torments when she arrives in her sister's realm, ending up more or less crucified or impaled, then resurrecting but only when her husband Tammuz has come down to look for her and she sacrifices him ... the girl you've imagined looks feisty, sexy and sharp enough to 'pull that off'!
Illustrating Ishtar's (Astarte's, Inanna's) descent into hell has been on my mind for quite some time but I have yet to find the proper setting and model ...
 
Sacrificed to the Minotaur

It is said that Androgeon, son of Minos, had been killed in Athens by king Aegeus who was jealous of his victories at the Panathenaic festival.
Minos, who was understandably quite aggrieved by his son's death, waged a war against Athens to avenge him.
In another version reported by Catullus, Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeon."
In either case the end result was that Aegeus had to pay Minos a tribute of "young men at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast" to the Minotaur. Seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, were sent every seventh or ninth year (or some say every year) into the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur.
One those unfortunate Athenian maidens is seen here waiting for her cruel fate.

View attachment 1010999
Model Ariel, assembled from two parts of her own self, is playing the role.
@theseus wrote a similar story about Adriana and her sister Briseus, two princesses sacrificed....It began..
" The smell from the sacred cave was terrifying! Revolting! An acrid, feral odour. A mixture of rotting flesh, urine, and the musty smell of a captive animal. What was in there? What was this strange barbarian god they were being offered to?...."
200 The Cave.jpgThe story is HERE
 
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