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The Adventures of Perseus – Greek Mythology Explained
12 hours ago
46 Comments
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Regarding the location of "Aethiopia"
The word in Greek (Αἰθιοπία) means "land of the burnt-face" and is first known to have been used by Homer, referring to two lands on the furthest eastern and western coasts of the earth.
"Poseidon had gone among the far-off Ethiopians — the Ethiopians who dwell divided in two, the farthermost of men, some where Hyperion sets and some where he rises" (Od. 22-4)
Homer doesn't seem to have had a good sense of the geography beyond his slice of the Mediterranean. It seems like he just had a notion that there were dark-skinned people on the edges of the known world, and that they must look like that because they're closer to where the sun rises and sets.
Centuries later, Euripides set his (now lost) Andromeda play in the "western" Aethiopia, located a bit more concretely on the Atlantic coast (presumably of Africa).
"I saw the monster hurrying from the Atlantic water towards its maiden-feast." (fragment 145)
Around the same time, Herodotus identified this Aethiopia as lying south of Egypt and extending west from there.
"Where south inclines westwards, the part of the world stretching farthest towards the sunset is Ethiopia; this produces gold in abundance, and huge elephants, and all sorts of wild trees, and ebony, and the tallest and handsomest and longest-lived people." (3.114)
So basically all of sub-saharan Africa he'd identify as the western Aethiopia.
However, sometime in the Hellenistic period, Joppa (in modern-day Tel-Aviv) became identified as the location where Andromeda was rescued by Perseus.
"and Joppe, a city of the Phoenicians, which existed, it is said, before the deluge of the earth. It is situate on the slope of a hill, and in front of it lies a rock, upon which they point out the vestiges of the chains by which Andromeda was bound." (Pliny, 5.69)
I'm not as well-read on this matter, but I don't think Andromeda and her family were ever considered native to Joppa – rather they went there from Aethiopia to perform the sacrifice. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. In any case, her association with Joppa seems to have come later.
My version of the story is based primarily on Pseudo-Apollodorus' Library, which traces Andromeda's lineage to the Egyptian king Belus (her common ancestor with Perseus). And so I thought a Nubian kingdom just south of Egypt would make the most sense for this story's "Aethiopia".
The elephant in the room is that ancient Greek artworks never depict Andromeda as a black woman. She's usually shown looking like a Greek woman or in generic "foreigner" attire (long sleeves & pants and a pointy hat). But interestingly I've found one Greek vase where she's being chained by black men: ( https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/H1.6.html ), and another where Cepheus is shown with short tightly-curled hair: ( https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/H1.5.html ). These indicate that the artists had a sense of what Aethiopians should look like, but consciously chose to depict Andromeda differently. They weren't ignorant, they just privileged their culture's beauty standards, the same way as in Greek literature where pretty much every beautiful woman is given the same stock-descriptors ("fair-cheeked", "trim-ankle", "quick-glancing", "golden-haired", "low-girdled", etc.)
Rather than following the Greeks' artistic conventions, I like to take inspiration from the myths' actual settings (if there's archeological evidence to go off of). So my Greek characters are all in Mycenaean/Minoan inspired costume rather than the chitons and hoplite armor the later Greeks imagined them in. Likewise for the Aethiopian characters I referenced ancient Egyptian depictions of Nubians and other black Africans. I would not describe my character designs as "historically accurate". I take as much artistic license as anyone, and in fact I often have to make stuff up or use anachronistic outfits because the record of the Bronze Age is so spotty. For instance Andromeda's outfit was inspired by depictions of Nubians from Ramsses III's tomb at the very end of the Bronze Age, and Cepheus is modeled after Kushite kings from the 7th century BC, after even Homer's lifetime – not Bronze Age at all, but I didn't have much else to work with. I'm making cartoons, not a living history exhibit… but I'd like to think I do a decent job capturing how cool and colorful the ancient world was.
Anyway, stop being weird.
8:09 Mycenae is spelled "Myenae"
Off topic but your art has been Improved so much !!
Oh my, i have never seen a such culturaly diverse and precise representation of the greek myth, and finally someone despict Andromeda as an African women!! Your videos are just amazing
bro im BEGGING you to do Hindu mythology, PLEASEE, its so interesting
My goodness. You are the absolute best ❤
Uuuh i did not know Hermes had aged since after his last appereance so lets leave it to be also Jake can You Make an animation about oceanus
1:45 assume he didn’t pay for a fancier name card this time?
4:51 Stheno and Euryale: Where did stupɺd Perseus go?!
Are the characters beauty marks related to their constellations?
I love the new artstyle
This is legit one of my favorite of all your videos. Along with your great history of Medusa & the Jason series.
Why did you draw Hermes as a jew instead of how he is described in the myths?
Pegasus' wings being baby bird wings is so funny and fitting.
I haven't mentioned yet, but I do love Danae's outfit in this video!
1:06 a golden what
7:55 " oh stupid monkey's paw"
Version two: slightly more lore to get through
3:50 Pretty selfish of Hermes to not give Perseus the winged boots he already had. Hermes has wings in his hair, he doesn't need them.
6:16 "So, what kind of music are you into?" -Perseus
Can u do the Odyssey
5:03 Zeus: I'm so Proud 🥲
2:16 is that a refrence to daedalus? Like. I Recall in that Video a Shell that Looks exactly the Same has one hole driller into it and an ant Crawl through to String a thread through it. Maybe the drilled hole is what He Points Out as broken. Would He funny If.
0:10 Esau-Jacob kinda relationship
I'm gonna quote something "ew ew it's wet why didn't I think it's wet"
Dude your art has improved so much
Appreciate the lore accuracy and armor.
thank I have blad line with hem now
Achievement: Get Ahead
*chef's kiss*
4:58 like father like son
Is the Andromeda sea monster inspired in any way by the Leviathan from the Terraria Calamity mod? They have some uncanny similarities.
Really dig the attention to detail having the designs look like they actually are from the Bronze age.
Here to openly admit I was shocked and delighted to learn Andromeda was black.
8:09 The Cyclopes look cute
Funny enough, Perseus holds the honor of being virtually the only greek hero that never cheated on his wife. Is this why Hera left him alone?
I like how like this one’s wayyyy more detailed than the og Perseus video
Ok so
>Perseus grew up in an insignificant island
>He killed a creature with powerword: kill as a built in feature
>He married a gorgeous black woman
>He founded the most powerful city state of bronze age Greece, while in an alliance with the strongest nation of the Mediterranean
>No other Greek hero ever did that
These writers ain't sleek
Thanks a lot for using the greek myth for medusa and not ovid's crap.
Thanks jake
Perseus is the Frodo Baggins of Greek mythology
This is one of the best videos I've ever watched
You guys know everything, you should know that he washed his hands or not 3:42
I love the Bronze Age costumes in this. See Nolan, this is how you do it.
this is such a good remake of the old video and look and the new designs theyre so amazing to look at
4:02 I noticed the fact that Persercus(look I'll probably mess up his name a lot so forgive me) is scared of flying over the water, which.. It’s probably the normal human reaction to somehow flying with shoes that have wings being the only thing keeping you in the air.. I mean, im pretty sure anyone in that situation would be scared as to make a wrong move and fall STRAIGHT into the ocean and drown.. nice attention to detail, Jake!
Okay Zack Snyder I see that aspect ratio.
The older version that you made of this is way better