he definitely looks beaten up with his red body D:

Naw, that's just the artist's style of shading.

In the classical sense, "rape" doesn't refer to sex without consent, but to the taking of a person against the wishes of the authority under which they resided. For example, Helen was "raped," meaning she happily eloped with Paris to Troy while her family fumed at the indignity of it and began the Trojan War.

I see :) also being carried off by a giant muscle eagle would be cool :D

and in some versions Helen was put under a spell by Aphrodite....and in others she just ran off with him D:

Uhh, you know that
A: Rape referred originally to any kind of abduction, whether sexual or not
B: There was never any intended sexual aspect to Zeus and Ganymede, in fact the theologians at the time went to great lengths to say there weren't, it was all about his mind, personality and intelligence. So no this is not a romantic anything :/

A. Yup, I knew that. See my response to the comment prior to yours.
B. The myth has been interpreted many times throughout history, both in theology and art, and plenty of these interpretations are romantic. I don't consider any version to be any less valid than others. I'm sorry that you don't agree with this one.

Well, fair enough. I guess I'm just a classics man m'self :p

I suppose my only gripe is when the original creators talk about what something exactly isn't... and then people twist it into exactly what they didn't want it to be.

And in terms of his relationship with Zeus, I think making it a straight-up romantic/sexual relationship cheapens the very meaning of the original, the fact that he in and of himself was amazing as to allow Zeus to drop his usual attitude and appreciate a being of such accomplishment and beauty of mind and soul, above and beyond any physical attraction. The fact that Zeus has this kind of relationship with any mortal is astonishingly fresh and unique. Ganymede can have as many homosexual relations with others as he likes, as indeed he does, but with Zeus? It feels wrong to me. Ya get where I'm coming from?

I definitely understand where you're coming from, and that's a great way of looking at it. The only interpretations of the legend I don't *like* are the ones that turn it into a horror story, like the Xenophanes poem. Basically, we're looking at a very unique relationship between god and a mortal. Sex can definitely cheapen things, I agree, but the idea of a romance makes it more satisfying for me. Zeus would or had chased mortals before, which makes it sound more plausible.

I don't know who originally canonized the Ganymede tale, but the translations I've read - like the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite - seem to leave it pretty open as to whether this is a story of heavenly devotion or heavenly lust. That may just be my perspective. But seeing as even the original poet may very well have only written this story down instead of making it up on his own, I think all we have are interpretations, regardless of whether it's a poet or a theologian or a painter doing the telling.

I suppose I'm going with Plato and Socrates in their discussions of the myth, some of the oldest that exist, where they discuss the more personality-based aspects of the myths and flat-out deny the sexual aspects. I find it more meaningful in that way, though I see how the romanticised aspect of the story may appeal. In the end, I suppose it really is all up to interpretation and personal preference, like you said.

Thank you for this discussion, it's rare that I get to talk theology and meaningful interpretations of such myths with anyone, let alone on the internet :p

You're welcome You're also lucky, that I've taken some classes on this in college, or else the exchange would've been a lot shorter and duller from my end

Haha, indeed, you're also lucky that by Dad's a theologian major and my friend is a historian and between them I've had no choice but to know the inner workings and interpretations of stuff like this :p

And I'll check out what Plato and Socrates have to say on this. Now you got me interested.

I may have to brush up on the myth and its various interpretations as well, I'm kinda going on memory from a little while ago talking about it with my dad. It's entirely possible I'm wrong about Plato, but I'm pretty certain it was Socrates that denied the sexual aspects of the relationship, or at least that Zeus was overtly interested in that aspect.

oh yes  furrypuddingthegreat Did a great job on this one c:

Thank you for the subtle hint I had no idea he had an account, here. Lemme correct that part...

your welcome mate

Pudding is my councellor, we're a badass team.

Really love the design of this anthro eagle.

As a god, he's supposed to look impressive

The artist has succeeded then! :>

How lovely. And quite a nice take on such a classic story. If only we could see others in this vein done in such a way, like the story of Leda or even Callisto. =D

For some reason, I knew you were gonna mention Leda I'm pleased you like the picture. If I were better versed in Greek myths, I'd probably pursue a project like you suggested!

There certainly are many possibilities for pics with these myths, no doubt. And while Leda does seem to be the most represented, it is nice to see the others getting attention, too. Especially one involving birds, and a rather attractive bird form at that. =D

Totally. Credit to Readasaur for being the first fellow (at least on this site) to make the retrospectively obvious decision to turn Zeus into a buff, horny, anthro eagle. He's full of good ideas like that.

His face seems to say, "Please don't drop me"!

It takes mortals a while to get used to such godly heights. We hadn't invented airplanes yet.