this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
446 points (99.3% liked)
196
16710 readers
3357 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I thought Artemis was definitely ace?
Maybe it's splitting hairs, but I recall the "chaste goddess of the hunt" and one of the three goddesses whom Aphrodite had no power. Additionally, goddess of healing, midwifery, and children. So I don't know if the contemporary understanding of Ace matches that or not, as she is unaffected by love or lust.
To add to what krellor already mentioned: It's hard to find one definitive image of a specific Greek deities, because they were worshipped over hundreds of years and not only in Greece, but also in Greek colonies (for example Sicily) and places that were heavily influenced by Greek culture (for example around the Black Sea). Most of these places had their own particular interpretation of what a Greek deity was or wasn't.
So it was no contradiction that Artemis could be a "man hating, out lesbian" in one place and an "aro-ace ascetic" in another. Unlike in modern monotheism, there was no overarching dogma people could refer to and places often had their very own myths and stories about the deities. Only some of those have survived until today.
So our modern interpretation of Greek deities is something of a puzzle with many pieces missing and no way to confirm if the pieces that we have ever were part of the same picture in the first place.
That's a good point. One of the things people struggle with I think is understanding the full scope of what was considered Greek and over what period of time. That and the competing representations of figures and the timeline of events means it really is like taking in a series of vignettes, each with its own take.
Stephen Fry did an excellent job making an updated and streamlined version of the mythology, effectively choosing from the myths what to accept as cannon in his retelling. If you haven't read his books I would recommend them as being a wonderful story. He also narrated them himself on audible, which were also excellent.
experiencing no sexual attraction no matter if one is sex-repulsed or sex-positive still lands you somewhere in the ace spectrum. and tbh you don't need to have kids of your own to be a midwife, or just in general care about them
Yes, but what about love? As in, the emotion? Because Artemis is supposed to be unaffected by love, hence one of the three the goddess of love, Aphrodite, had no power over. But being ace doesn't preclude someone from being in love.
Then she is also aromantic
Right. It just seems worth pointing out specifically rather than just using the term ace like the thread OP, because lumping those together doesn't seem fair to ace folks. And at least for people like me who have read a lot of the Greek mythology, her aromantic nature is at least, if not more prominent in her personality than her chaste nature.
Is ace short for asexual? Im not hip with the lingo
Yes
thank you!
She could be interpreted that way
Considering this is ancient GREECE (one of the gayest countries ever) we're talking about, there has to be a story of a woman attempting to court her.