At a  Dinner of Atheists-Les Diaboliques- Barbey d’Aurevilly-Illustration Felicien Rops After the scandal and subsequent prosecution that attended the publication of Les Fleurs Du Mal (see The Flowers of Evil: Litanies Of Satan), the decadent writer and theorist of Dandyism, Barbey D’Aurevilly told his friend Charles Baudelaire that after such a book it only remains for him to choose between the muzzle of the pistol and the foot of the cross.

It was nicely put and neatly summarized the dilemma facing the true decadent. D’Aurevilly, like many other decadents, including J.K Huysmans, Leon Bloy (see The Captives of Longjumeau) and Villers de l’isle Adam (see To the Dreamers, To the Deriders) opted for the cross. However the Catholicism re-adopted by the decadents retained more than a whiff of sulphur about it. Often it seems as if they decided to pledge their devotion to God just in order to celebrate Satan and…

►Greek Mythology: “The Golden Apple of Discord” /

►Poetry: “Who is The Fairest?”, by Christy Birmingham:

“The Judgment of Paris” by Guillaume Guillon Lethière (1812).-

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The Garden of the Hesperides was Hera´s  orchard, where either a single tree or a grove of immortality-giving golden apples grew. The apples were planted from the fruited branches that Gaia gave to Hera as a wedding gift when Hera accepted Zeus. The Hesperides were given the task of tending to the grove, but occasionally plucked from it themselves. Not trusting them, Hera also placed in the garden a never-sleeping, hundred-headed dragon named Ladon as an additional safeguard. 

However, in the mythology surrounding “the Judgement of Paris”, the goddess of Discord Eris managed to enter the garden and pluck a golden apple.

Eris had become  disgruntled after she was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Tetis (Achilles ‘ parents).

Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the…

►Greek Mythology:

“Agamemnon’s Family and the War of Troy”:

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The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave them a golden apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked “for the fairest” (Kallisti in greek).

Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the “fairest”, should receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Prince Paris, who took her to Troy.

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“Venus Induces Helen to Fall in Love with Paris” by Angelica Kauffmann (1790).-

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Agamemnon,  the king of Argos or Mycenae, was  the husband of Clytemnestra and the father of Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes and Chrysotemis. 

Menelaus was Agamemnon’ s brother, and, besides, the king of Sparta. 

When Helen, Menelaus’ wife, was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon commanded the…

“Hélène glorifiée” by Gustave Moreau (1897).

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Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda and sister of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux.

Pollux shared a father with Helen (Zeus), whilst Castor’s and Clytemnestra’s father was he king of Sparta, Tyndareus.

In Greek myths, Helen was considered the most beautiful woman in the world.

By marriage she was Queen of Laconia, a province within Homeric Greece, the wife of King Menelaus, who was Agamemnon‘s brother.

When it was time for Helen to marry, many princes came to seek her hand.

During the contest, Castor and Pollux had a prominent role in dealing with the suitors, although the final decision was in the hands of King Tyndareus, Helen’s father.

Menelaus, her future husband, did not attend but sent his brother, Agamemnon on his behalf.

Before this, when Helen was a…

►Greek Mythology: “Pandora and Helen of Troy, Misogynistic Stereotypes” /

“Collaboration with Carolee Croft”🍎:

“Pandora” by John William Waterhouse. 1896.

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“With the curse, comes a blessing. Zeus wanted to punish humanity by creating you, the first woman, and by giving you that box filled with curses such as illness, war, and poverty. But if you look inside the box, one thing remains. It is hope”… (“After the Evil Spirits are Unleashed”. Carolee Croft).-

⇒♦ Introduction and Sketch of this post:

Greece is widely known as the birthplace of democracy, freedom of speech and thought, and egalitarian life. But in ancient Greece, women had no political or social rights. In Ancient Greece, males hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, political and social privileges and authority. This, in practice came along with prejudices against women, belittling of women, and their exclusion, and Misogyny in many ways. 

“The Abduction of Ganymede” by Eustache Le Sueur (1650).

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Ganymede pouring Zeus a libation. 480 BC.

Ganymede was a Trojan prince in Greek mythology, known for his beauty. He was the son of the king Tros of Dardania, after whom Troy took its name, and Callirrhoe.

According to the myth, Zeus spotted Ganymede while the latter was attending to his father’s flocks and he became enchanted with his looks. Therefore, he took the form of turned into aneagle (Source: A Wing and A Day) and abducted Ganymede, bringing him to Mount Olympus.

In Olympus, Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality and the office of cupbearer to the gods. From then on, Ganymede became water bearer to the Gods.

To compensate his father, Zeus  offered him the best horses possible, and told him that his son would now be immortal and serve as a cupbearer for the gods, as well…

“Apollo Receiving the Shepherds’ Offerings” by Gustave Moreau (1895).

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Apollo was the son of Zeus andLeto.

The Roman worship of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks. Apollo had no direct Roman equivalent, although later Roman poets often referred to him as Phoebus.

Apollo had a twin sister, Artemis, the Goddess of Hunting.

Mythographers agree that Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo, or that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.

As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular go, the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle.

As the god of prophecy. Apollo exercised this power in his numerous oracles, and especially in that of Delphi. The source of all his prophetic powers was Zeus himself and Apollo is accordingly called “the…

►Greek Mythology: “Eros and Psyche”:

“The abduction of Psyche” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1894).

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The myth of Eros and Psyche was originally a story by Apuleius, written in the 2nd century BC.

The Greek name for “Butterfly” is “Psyche”, which also means “Soul”. 

Hence Psyche represented the soul, being as she was an extremely beautiful Princess from Sicily.

Being jealous due to men’s admiration for Psyche, Goddess Aphrodite asked her son, Eros, to poison men’ souls in order to kill off their desire for Psyche.

But when he intended in vain to do that, Eros also fell in love with Psyche.

As Psyche was single, her parents became so desperate because of their daughter’s destiny and had no choice but to ask for an oracle, hoping that they would manage to solve the mystery and give a husband to their daughter.

The oracle said that Psyche would marry an ugly beast…