#poem – @theoi-crow on Tumblr

Hylas and the Water Nymphs by Henrietta Rae (1909)

This art piece always breaks my heart because this is Hylas, the male lover of Hercules who was drinking water by the spring when the water nymphs pulled him down into a nearby river and drowned him.

Hylas and Hercules were aboard the Argos with Jason and the Argonauts before this happened. They stopped mid travel for a travel break and Hylas died calling out to Hercules who couldn't find him.

In the end Hercules desperately searched for him for so long that he didn't realize the Argos had left without them.

The Roman poet Propertius wrote a beautiful poem warning his friend Gallus about having a beautiful male lover who will eventually leave him for women due to Roman societal expectations thus he'd be symbolically taken away from him by nymphs in the same way Hylas was taken away from Hercules by the water nymphs.

Here is a small snippet of the poem:

(Link to the full poem)

When you click on the link, look for: Book I:20:1-52: The story of Hylas: a warning to Gallus

#hylas #hylas and the nymphs #hercules #Hylas and Hercules #heracles #roman empire #roman poetry #propertius #poem #Greek mythology #Greek myth #jason and the argonauts #the argonauts

theoi-crow reblogged

my-heavenly-death

theoi-crow

Okay I knew this was gonna make me cry but like damn I am a mess! I know I will be printing this and putting it on my Aphrodite altar. Another masterpiece. Thank you!

#aphrodite #greek gods #greek poem #greek poetry #finding gods #poem

theoi-crow reblogged

my-heavenly-death

theoi-crow

Beautiful.

#ares #greek poetry #greek poem #greek gods #god of war #poem