BARB AND MARTI'S GREEK
MYTHOLOGY EXPLANATION
Hello and welcome to Barb and Marti's 'Greek
Mythology' explanation. This is our attempt to explain to, justify the existence
of and warn all our readers about the (relatively harmless!) fan fiction
on the 'Slash' Fan fiction page to which this is linked. No offence is intended,
and we hope that if you have accessed this page by mistake or on a whim
and you are not a fan of the sexual relationship portrayed within the stories
contained on the following page, then you will turn back now. We're giving
you ample opportunity, so if you go any further, you CAN NOT say you have
not been warned!!!!
The fiction on the following pages is based
on the series, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which is itself based (loosely,
VERY loosely!), on Greek Mythology.
Hercules (Heracles in the Greek books) was
the son of Zeus, King of the Gods and Alcmene, wife of Amphytron, a soldier,
who was away at war a lot (so that's an excuse ...).
His friend, Iolaus, was, in the legends, supposedly
his nephew (his brother, Iphicles' son). However, for the sake of the series,
they have dispensed with that piece of mythology and made the two friends
from boyhood instead.
Greek mythology tells us that the Gods, especially,
did not believe in monogamy - and the fact that they were all related in
one way or another made incest practically impossible to escape! Zeus and
Hera, for instance, were actually brother and sister as well as husband
and wife, and Zeus was a god who enjoyed - erm - getting around!!! Greek
mythology also tells us that partners were not restricted to man/woman,
but were very often same-sex relationships. Which we think makes ancient
Greece somewhat the more enlightened society (if slightly bloodthirsty.
They thought nothing of sacrificing daughters, sisters, wives etc to the
gods to catch fair winds for sailing or in order to avoid war. Nice, huh?).
It is a well-documented fact that older men
took as lovers younger men - and Hercules and Iolaus were no exception,
as Iolaus was 'beloved comrade' of Hercules (according to Robert Graves
- 118.2). It also states in Graves (146.g) that the Thebans awarded Iolaus
a hero-shrine, where lovers plight their troths for Heracles' sake. The
lovers in question are usually young men plighting their troth to other
young men (or older men). Heracles and Iolaus obviously being ideals in
same-sex love.
Thus in the following pieces of fiction we
are being true to the myths which have abounded (if not to the TV series,
although sometimes its innuendo can be interesting!).
The stories on the following pages are explicit.
They do, however, portray a sense of deep and abiding love between two people
about whom we enjoy writing.
WARNING
If you do not approve of this type of thing,
or if this type of thing is illegal in your area, or you are under 18 years
of age, then we urge you to look elsewhere for fiction. try our General Fiction or General
Hercules Fiction pages - they're pretty harmless!
We do not publish this fiction to offend anyone, neither do we wish to corrupt
young minds. This is why we issue this warning and why we have taken the
precaution of inserting this warning before the page itself.
If you enjoy 'slash' fiction, then please join
us - we'll be happy to hear your comments on the email addies given at the
bottom of the contents page!
Go forward to Hercules: T:LJ Slash
Fiction Page
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