The presence of Calypso (or at least, a "Calypso") in the Homeric hymn to Demeter and the fact that "Hel" and "Calypso" are both from ḱel-: "to cover, to hide" is also suggestive. (remind anyone of ἀϊδής: "unseen"~Ἅιδης: "Hades"?)
If you've noted a bunch of "m-r" in those names, those are the homophonous or near homophonous roots related to these figures: *mer-: "to disappear, to die" (*mr̥tóes: the dead, mortals) *(s)mer-: "to assign, to allot" ("moirai": the fates) *(s)mer-: "to remember, to care for" ("mourn")
I would note that this aligns Persephone with other death goddesses in the Indo-European tradition (Hel, More/Morana/Marzanna, Morrigan, etc.) as well as the connected figures of the maras (death-phantoms/nightmares) and the weavers of fate (Moirai, Parcae, Norns/dísir, Deivės Valdytojos, etc.)
Spencer McDaniel@spencermcdaniel.bsky.social · 8h agoMost people think Hades is the ruler of the underworld in Greek myth, but, in actual ancient sources, Persephone holds greater prominence and authority. In this post, I argue that she is the underworld's main ruler. #GreekMyth #Hades #Persephone #classics talesoftimesforgotten.com/2026/08/05/i...
Yes, three years ago, I wrote a whole blog post in which I argue this at length. Other people have argued back, but, the more I look at the evidence, the more convinced I become that this argument is correct: talesoftimesforgotten.com/2023/11/25/p...
Persephone Is in the Underworld During the Summer, Not the Winter - Tales of Times Forgotten
For those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, winter will soon be upon us. The ancient Greek myth of the goddess Persephone, who spends one third of the year in the underworld and the remaining...
talesoftimesforgotten.com
Most people think Hades is the ruler of the underworld in Greek myth, but, in actual ancient sources, Persephone holds greater prominence and authority. In this post, I argue that she is the underworld's main ruler. #GreekMyth #Hades #Persephone #classics talesoftimesforgotten.com/2026/08/05/i...
Is Persephone the Main Ruler of the Underworld in Greek Myth? - Tales of Times Forgotten
Most people who know about Greek myth think that Hades is the ruler of the underworld. This is not wrong per se; early Greek poems do describe Hades as “ruler of those beneath the earth.” But, for the...
talesoftimesforgotten.com
Hades and dread Persephone Also shout out to mention of the evidence that it is actually the summer that Persephone spends in the underworld and thus is the season the earth dies. As a Californian, I always appreciate the Cs climate representation 😃
Spencer McDaniel@spencermcdaniel.bsky.social · 8h agoMost people think Hades is the ruler of the underworld in Greek myth, but, in actual ancient sources, Persephone holds greater prominence and authority. In this post, I argue that she is the underworld's main ruler. #GreekMyth #Hades #Persephone #classics talesoftimesforgotten.com/2026/08/05/i...
I'm not sure if I said this explicitly here, but as well as being the Switch launch date, August 14th is also the date we'll be releasing a big PC patch with hard mode, new extras, and just a ton of polish and bug fixes. So if you're thinking of replaying the game, that would be a good day to do it!
Besides, that's one syllable off from 'hetairocracy' where 'hetairo-' might be interpreted as coming from ἐταιρή 'courtesan', which would mean quite a different type of society entirely.
Modern Greek uses εταιρεία for 'corporation' in a secondary sense from primary 'association, social group' (Ancient), 'society' (Modern)', and I suppose an hetaireiocracy doesn't quite meet the semantic target either...
The problem here is that I Ancient Greek doesn't *really* word for 'corporation' in the modern sense. Corporatio is only late Latin (corporō 'fashion, furnish with a body [corpus]), so to back-translate that into a neologism deriving something from σῶμα 'body', but that's not very satisfying.
I am not a political scientist, but my guess is that ἐμπορία would be a possible word for "company". That would give you emporiocracy. What does @mattitiahu.bsky.social think?
Political Science people - is there a word for rule by corporations, which seems to be where we are at the moment? It's not an oligarchy or plutocracy because they are not natural persons but legal fictions.
I already posted this yesterday but it is an extraordinary picture that I need to reshare. Tony Yap, a Caltech grad student, is showing Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 16 astronaut, a sample that he (Tony) is currently measuring zinc isotopes on. The sample was collected by Harrison Schmitt. From the moon.
The last eruption at Sundhnúksgígar ended one year ago today. This is the longest Iceland has gone without an eruption since before Fagradalsfjall woke up in 2021.
Ugaritic word of the day: ybd ("he intones, he improvises a song"). Cf. the (rare in the Bible) Classical Hebrew word בדה or בדא, meaning something like "invent, devise, make up".
Katla has figured out that I'm leaving again, and she has some clear opinions on the matter.
It’s ya girl! This is Lamia. She’s a normal character with normal motivations and normal levels of repressed emotions.
... is that they have skin microchannels that absorb, store & move soil moisture from their body to their mouth. Eat your heart out, Paul Atreides. These guys are born with stillsuits that let them drink morning dew, active camouflaged skin, LORBing & horns built into their skulls. Desert Kings!
The skull of a Flat-tail horned lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii), close relative of the 'Texas horny-toad', native to the Sonoran desert. Unlike the thorny spikes on the body that are made of modified skin keratin, head spikes (horns) are bony skeletal structures covered in keratin. (📷: Emily Chebul)
Its such a patriarchal thing isnt it? Phallic rockets from a misogynst harming the mythical.embodiment of femininity.
Sky News@news.sky.com · yesterdaySpaceX latest: Abandoned rocket about to slam into moon at high speed
I watched the Highland dancing, the bagpipes, the trad, rhe Afghani fusion... And oh! The impromptu seisuns on the trains! Find it hard to understand the odd loyal son and daughter who complain about this. They must be very sad inside themselves all the time
This made it easy, if you want to have your say on Tim Hortons' very upsetting HP tie-in. affirmingconnections.com/tim-hortons-...
Some favorite pictures from Harrison Schmitt’s visit today. See alt text for details!
Imagine working on a cure for malaria and accidentally inventing the first synthetic dye, a new color, and kick-starting a whole textile industry, all at the age of 18.
c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 6mo agoLet's talk about the time that an 18 YEAR OLD invented the COLOR MAUVE (I am not kidding) and completely revolutionized textiles, fashion & eventually cancer diagnosis. The teenager was William Henry Perkin, a bit of a prodigy, who at 15 began studying with August Wilhelm von Hofmann at ICL.
Etruscan sentence of the day: Ei minipi capi ("don't take me!") The words are "spoken" by a bowl owned by a cetain Cupe Althrna; it's quite common for Etruscan objects with inscriptions to "speak" in the first person. Same with Latin inscriptions, sometimes.
The Germanic ancestor of ‘thing’ and its cognates, such as German ‘Ding’ and Danish ‘ting’, meant “folk assembly”. The Latin ancestor of the Romance words for “thing”, such as French ‘chose’ and Spanish ‘cosa’, meant “legal case”. My infographic shows how their meanings shifted to “matter; thing”.
Proto-Celtic *tigernos: "lord" 😀 Famously also appears in the name "Vortigern": "Over-Lord". Modern Irish and Welsh "tiarna" and "teyrn", respectively
Alison Fisk@alisonfisk.bsky.social · 2d agoMeet Tigernos, one of Britain’s earliest named sailors! ⚓️ A Briton and Roman fleet veteran, his story is recorded on the bronze Lanchester Diploma issued by Antoninus Pius in AD 150. It grants him honourable discharge from the Classis Germanica and Roman citizenship. #EpigraphyTuesday #Archaeology
