XXIV.

[hellshaped]

[Hey students!!

Today Greek Mythology will be taught outside under some shady trees because it's nice out, okay. Some of you campers could use some more sun. So I hope you're okay with sitting on the ground.

Hellboy is seated on a short, crumbled pillar, smoking a cigarette because he is an excellent role model. Whatever, most of you are adults anyway.]

I don't really have a classroom agenda or anything. Is there anything you guys want to know about?

[ooc. open greek mythology class post! i suppose if any other teachers/non-campers wanted to stumble upon him, they could c:]

Comments

[jimfromit]

[Somebody doesn't want to play in the mud with all the other children doing physical activities, but does have an interest in Mythology.]

No not from you Mr Teacher man.

But I will take any books you have to offer.

[hellshaped]

I don't have any books.

[jimfromit]

Just loving the teaching methods you've got.

Do you have any idea where I can get mythology books around here?

[hellshaped]

Yeah, sure, I guess I should have prepared better for the magical world change that happened without warning.

I don't think there's a library here. It's a summer camp.

[ino]

[ino's been skipping most of the stuff that she's got on her schedule, but -- she's come to this one, because she's a little curious]

What about the names on the cabins? I get they're all gods, but ...

[cyan_maid]

[Here's a hand reaching out from the mass of sitting students.]

Um! I have a question, sir! Although I hope you won't find it rude.

[She pauses for a second, hoping she's phrased this right.] What exactly are you?

[hellshaped]

[JANE..........]

Right now, I'm a teacher.

[hellshaped]

Yeah. Do you want to know about them?

[ino]

Yeah, sure, if you don't mind.

[cyan_maid]

[Yes Hellboy?]

I can see that, sir.

Your body is all red, though. I've never seen a red person before - but please don't take that the wrong way, it's a lovely shade of red!

[hellshaped]

[jane please]

I could just be really sunburned.

[jimfromit]

How can there be a Mythology class without any books?

[Yeeah Jim didn't get to many summer camp's as a child.]

[cyan_maid]

[Oh, alright, if you're so insistent about it.]

Hm...alright, then, if you say so.

[She'll find out at some point!]

Then, do you know what our cabin names mean? Do they hold any significance?

[hellshaped]

Okay. [He drops his cigarette and crushes it under his hoof, then lights another one.]

It looks like the cabins are named after the principal deities. So, Zeus, Hera, Apollo -- all of them. Zeus is sort of the "main" god; I think the ancient Greeks held him in the most regard. He's sort of the king of all the other deities, and his domain is lightning, thunder, that sort of stuff. He liked to turn into animals and seduce mortal women, so a lot of demi-gods have Zeus as a father.

Hera is his wife, and she didn't really like that he was always messing around behind her back. Understandably. So she tried to kill a lot of them, and a lot of Zeus' demi-god children, too.

Zeus had kids with other goddesses and mythological creatures, too. So he kind of got around. Some of his kids are the other cabins -- Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Ares, Hermes ... come to think of it, they're all Zeus' kids except for Hera, Poseidon, and Demeter. Oh, and Hades.

[He pauses, realizing this can get kind of long and boring ...] Err, which cabin are you in? I can tell you about that one.

[hellshaped]

[That's what you think!!! Hellboy is very mysterious.]

They're the names of the Greek gods who lived on Mount Olympus.

[hellshaped]

Probably they expect the teacher to know a lot of this stuff already.

[ino]

Wow. He sounds like a total asshole! Why didn't Hera just break up with him??

I'm in Artemis. [she's kind of curious about the others, too, but -- mostly about her]

[hellshaped]

They were married. In ancient Greece, it was really hard for a woman to get a divorce. Plus I think she was just really proud; Zeus had a bunch of kids with other women and goddesses, but she never cheated on him. So it was probably a matter of pride, too.

Okay, Artemis is one of Zeus' kids with a minor goddess named Leto. She's the goddess of the hunt, and is associated with the moon and I think deer too, if I'm remembering right. She's a maiden goddess, who never took a consort or a husband or anything. A lot of the gods tried to woo her, but she didn't like any of them, I guess.

[ino]

That's still kind of awful ... [but she guesses she gets the pride thing ... still, Zeus. YOU DICKBAG. 8|]

I guess deer wouldn't surprise me, because -- [ ... wait a second. no consort or husband? she just blinks ... WHY IS SHE IN THE VIRGIN CABIN ...] ... uh, because of the whole hunting and archery thing.

[hellshaped]

[KEEP THAT ON THE DOWNLOW, INO, he doesn't want to hear about your ~escapades~ ... Mr. Hellboy, Mythology Teacher and Professional Prude.]

A lot of Greek mythology has to do with symbolism. A lot of people during that time period were literate, but they still depended on symbols to understand what god they were looking at in the case of statues or art and things like that. So Artemis is associated with deer, bows and arrows, the moon, hunting dogs ... if you saw any of that stuff on a temple, you'd know whose domain you're entering.

[ino]

[LMFAO SHE DOESN'T REALLY WANT TO TALK ABOUT THEM SO do not worry, hellboy! she is just a teensy bit weirded out rn is all]

I guess that's handy.

... So, are any of these gods or goddesses not one of Zeus' kids, besides Hera, I guess ...

[cyan_maid]

[Any mystery only prompts Jane to be more curious!]

So this camp has a Greek theme, then? Interesting.

Do you know anything of Demeter, then? That's the cabin I'm in, and I'd like to be a bit more informed.

[hellshaped]

Oh, sure. She's the goddess of the harvest. And since everybody depends on the harvest to live, she tends to be associated with life and death, too.

Her relationship with daughter's really interesting -- Hades, the god of the Underworld, fell in love with her daughter Persephone. So the four months out of the year that Persephone is with Hades, all the plants on Earth die because Demeter's sad. Persephone visits her mother the other part of the year, and all the plant life's green again. That's how the Greeks explained the seasons, anyway.

[hellshaped]

Yeah -- Poseidon, Demeter, and Hades are sort of his siblings. They're all descendants of the Titans, which are sort of an older race of gods, if that makes sense. Depending on who you ask, Aphrodite is either Zeus' daughter or another descendant of the Titans.

[cyan_maid]

I see! That's kind of interesting, actually. Thank you.