![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So, I asked about knowledge of Greek Mythology and a BUNCH of you guys volunteered so I'm just going to throw this out there and hope someone has time tonight or tomorrow. ♥
You know the story of Philoctetes and Neoptolemus? I basically want to rewrite the story in such a way that Philoctetes was left behind partly/wholly because of his grieving Heracles. (Wikipedia mentions that he was one of Heracles' eromenoi and either he or his father lit Heracles' funeral pyre.)
I don't know if grieving too much would be considered being overattached or not? (One of the complaints of the Greeks when they left him behind was that he was moaning in pain and interrupting their rituals. Due to snakebite... or grief?) In general, I'm confused about how male-male relationships were viewed in Trojan War era, because it seems like the stories were filtered through later Greek writers who imposed the views of their time. I've read that the only really acceptable m/m relationships were men with adolescent boys, but I've also read that warrior-companion lovers were acceptable and that seems to be borne out by the Achilles/Patroclus relationship (for one.)
I'm imagining that Heracles could pretty much do whatever he wanted but Philoctetes might have been under more pressure to "man up." And I'm not sure whether or how to work the snakebite in. I'm definitely rewriting the story in the sense that I'm going to be liberally using whatever bits work, but I also don't want to completely lose the sense of the original (and most of what we know is from the play by Sophocles.)
Also to give some context for all this, here is the prompt I'm (more or less) writing:
Mythology - Greek: any characters. A male character prefers men, but no other Greek male would ever consider a long-term homosexual relationship; that right in the ancient world is exclusive to women. How does he come to terms with his own romantic notions? How does his social status effect others expectations of him and his opportunities? Is he able to find happiness?
So, Philoctetes as a homosexually-inclined man, having been exiled/left behind for ten years, and now offered/seduced by a young man to get him to rejoin the Archaeans in the Trojan War. I'm seeing it as a status offer as well -- masterminded by Odysseus who was responsible for him getting left behind in the first place. The other big question is whether/why Philoctetes decides to go with them... whether to use the "Heracles descends from the sky and tells him to go" deus ex machina or not. "If you go, you'll be cured!" Or leave the decision up in the air.
P.S. Any tips on how to write lyrically or in a way that mimics epic style (without trying to write in dactylic hexameter, omg)?
You know the story of Philoctetes and Neoptolemus? I basically want to rewrite the story in such a way that Philoctetes was left behind partly/wholly because of his grieving Heracles. (Wikipedia mentions that he was one of Heracles' eromenoi and either he or his father lit Heracles' funeral pyre.)
I don't know if grieving too much would be considered being overattached or not? (One of the complaints of the Greeks when they left him behind was that he was moaning in pain and interrupting their rituals. Due to snakebite... or grief?) In general, I'm confused about how male-male relationships were viewed in Trojan War era, because it seems like the stories were filtered through later Greek writers who imposed the views of their time. I've read that the only really acceptable m/m relationships were men with adolescent boys, but I've also read that warrior-companion lovers were acceptable and that seems to be borne out by the Achilles/Patroclus relationship (for one.)
I'm imagining that Heracles could pretty much do whatever he wanted but Philoctetes might have been under more pressure to "man up." And I'm not sure whether or how to work the snakebite in. I'm definitely rewriting the story in the sense that I'm going to be liberally using whatever bits work, but I also don't want to completely lose the sense of the original (and most of what we know is from the play by Sophocles.)
Also to give some context for all this, here is the prompt I'm (more or less) writing:
Mythology - Greek: any characters. A male character prefers men, but no other Greek male would ever consider a long-term homosexual relationship; that right in the ancient world is exclusive to women. How does he come to terms with his own romantic notions? How does his social status effect others expectations of him and his opportunities? Is he able to find happiness?
So, Philoctetes as a homosexually-inclined man, having been exiled/left behind for ten years, and now offered/seduced by a young man to get him to rejoin the Archaeans in the Trojan War. I'm seeing it as a status offer as well -- masterminded by Odysseus who was responsible for him getting left behind in the first place. The other big question is whether/why Philoctetes decides to go with them... whether to use the "Heracles descends from the sky and tells him to go" deus ex machina or not. "If you go, you'll be cured!" Or leave the decision up in the air.
P.S. Any tips on how to write lyrically or in a way that mimics epic style (without trying to write in dactylic hexameter, omg)?