Gods Of Arcadia

Eons ago the gods of Mt. Olympus ruled over the developing civilization of ancient Greece. From the heights of their mountain retreat the gods manipulated and forced mankind to their will. But one day the Olympians grew bored with the mundane world - as immortals are predisposed to do. They looked away from their children for just a moment and the Earth changed. No longer were the names Zeus, Hera, and Athena whispered with awe and terror, but forgotten until they were nothing more than myths from the dawn of time. To their regret the Olympians discovered no amount of manipulation or terror could bring mankind back into the fold, and so they were obliged to start again. Transplanting a small group of humans to the distant world of Arcadia, the gods created their own perfect Utopian society. In their self-absorbed way each Olympian reigned over a cult of followers in a personal city-state where their word was law. To promote harmony, the Great Law of the Olympians sought to suppress the volatile nature of humanity by forbidding war on Arcadia. Unfortunately, the Olympians learned nothing is ever perfect. Once every hundred years the Son of Ares is born to disturb the delicate balance of their world. Although Ardella of New Athens was the chosen of Athena, blessed with the gift of empathy, she was young and naive. She made the ultimate mistake - she allowed the Son of Ares to manipulate her and escape. Almost a decade later, the Daughter of Athena is still battling the chaos caused by that moment of weakness, when her brother is captured by the enemy. To save her twin, Ardella travels to Metropolis, the fortress at the heart of the Son of Ares' empire, and offers herself in exchange. Exiled in a strange new city, the Daughter of Athena soon learns that the enemy she had come to know reading reports in her Tower in New Athens is not the same as the one she now faces in the thriving, very human culture of Metropolis. Bewildered by her growing admiration for the Son of Ares, Ardella must not only save her brother, but decide if she stands with or against the Gods of Arcadia."

In a world where the Olympians rule, the Son of Ares pushes the boundaries of territory and customs to create a little chaos. Despite his fearsome reputation, the Son of Ares is really struggling to free mankind from the Gods of Arcadia. This is the second book in the Gods of Arcadia series and continues the tale begun in Daughter of Athena.

The Gods of Arcadia Saga Continues: Lyessa is the Queen of the Amazons. Her life is filled with duty, responsibility, and the endless struggle to be the perfect Amazon. Her best friend Ardella is the Daughter of Athena, and until recently lived a similar existence in Athena's Tower in New Athens. But now Ardella has fallen in love with the Son of Ares and begun to defy the Olympians. Lyessa thought this was a mistake - at least at first. Dealing with unexpected truths and challenges to her reign, Lyessa must decide if it best for her Amazons to work with or against the Gods of Arcadia.

The Gods of Arcadia: OriginsSci-Fi MythologyLong ago the Olympian gods lived with the mortals on Earth. It was a time of menacing monsters and brave heroes. It was the Age of Mythology, but it did not last. The Olympians were careless and let mankind escape from their grasp. There were too many mortals with too many new ideas to control. No matter how hard they tried, the Olympians discovered they could not stop the progress of human history. So they took the only option left to them - they started over. Transplanting a small group of human colonists to the distant planet of Arcadia, the Olympians created a new mythical world filled with robots, Amazons, computers and mythical monsters. Arcadia is a world where the future and the past live side by side in perfect harmony. Arcadia is a world where Olympians rule and mortals obey. Ardella is a follower of Athena attending the Academy in New Athens. Lyessa is the youngest daughter of the Queen of the Amazons. The unexpected meeting of these two girls turns into a life-long friendship. It does not matter that one follows Hera and the other Athena. No matter what the Gods of Arcadia have to say about it - Ardella and Lyessa will be best friends forever.

The story of Ardella and Lyessa continues as the future queen of the Amazons comes to New Athens to attend the Academy. The Daughter of Athena and her best friend discover that not all learning takes place in the classroom.

From ancient myth to contemporary art and literature, a beguiling look at the many incarnations of the mischievous—and culturally immortal—god Pan, now in paperback. Pan—he of the cloven hoof and lustful grin, beckoning through the trees. From classical myth to modern literature, film, and music, the god Pan has long fascinated and terrified the western imagination. “Panic” is the name given to the peculiar feeling we experience in his presence. Still, the ways in which Pan has been imagined have varied wildly—fitting for a god whose very name the ancients confused with the Greek word meaning “all.” Part-goat, part-man, Pan bridges the divide between the human and animal worlds. In exquisite prose, Paul Robichaud explores how Pan has been imagined in mythology, art, literature, music, spirituality, and popular culture through the centuries. At times, Pan is a dangerous, destabilizing force; sometimes, a source of fertility and renewal. His portrayals reveal shifting anxieties about our own animal impulses and our relationship to nature. Always the outsider, he has been the god of choice for gay writers, occult practitioners, and New Age mystics. And although ancient sources announced his death, he has lived on through the work of Arthur Machen, Gustav Mahler, Kenneth Grahame, D. H. Lawrence, and countless others. Pan: The Great God’s Modern Return traces his intoxicating dance.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy and Bloodline series returns with the second installment in her acclaimed Age of X series. Religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen—the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him—have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion. Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity. Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

Many of the beings in this book – Cheiron, Pan, Acheloos, the Sirens and others – will be familiar from the narratives of Greek mythology, in which fabulous anatomies abound. However, they have never previously been studied together from a religious perspective, as recipients of cult and as members of the ancient pantheon. This book is the first major treatment of the use of part-animal – mixanthropic – form in the representation and visual imagination of Greek gods and goddesses, and of its significance with regard to divine character and function. What did it mean to depict deities in a form so strongly associated in the ancient imagination with monstrous adversaries? How did iconography, myth and ritual interact in particular sites of worship? Drawing together literary and visual material, this study establishes the themes dominant in the worship of divine mixanthropes, and argues that, so far from being insignificant curiosities, they make possible a greater understanding of the fabric of ancient religious practice, in particular the tense and challenging relationship between divinity and visual representation.

This play takes readers back and forth between the 19th and 20th centuries. Set in a large country house in Derbyshire, a cast of characters from each century play out their respective dramas.