is there such a thing as "Greek myth"?

plus: the most hilariously chaotic myth choices made in KAOS

the fates, including the perfect Suzy Izzard

When I applied to grad school, I said in my personal statement that I wanted to study literary adaptations of myth. Naturally, during my interview at Princeton, the first words spoken to me by the man who would one day chair my dissertation were, “What would you say if I said there’s no such thing as Greek myth?”

After opening and closing my mouth like a fish for a few seconds, I must have said something that wasn’t totally moronic, because I did get into the program. I think it was a version of — yes, there’s “no such thing” as Greek myth, because myth is less of a thing and more of a complex system. Trying to describe any specific myth is next to impossible. At the end of the day, mythiness is mostly about vibes. (I didn’t say that last part, although it’s definitely true.)

Each version of a story exists in equilibrium with the other versions. Percy Jackson is part of the tapestry of myth, Disney’s Hercules is part of the tapestry of myth, Troy is (unfortunately) part of the tapestry of myth.

That means that KAOS is now part of that tapestry too. Which is great news, because KAOS makes a ton of really interesting choices, including some that are straight-up hilarious.

Only very light spoilers follow.

Caeneus’ deadname rhymes with “penis”

I love that they chose to include Caeneus (pronounced like the first syllable rhymes with “eye”), one of Ovid’s trans characters. There’s so little transmasculine representation on TV, and he even gets to be the romantic lead.

Unfortunately, because Ovid, his source story is full of sexual violence and misogyny. Fun! Caenis is walking on a beach when the god Poseidon sees her and rapes her. After, he offers to grant her a wish, because that’s totally a fair deal in exchange for sexual assault. She tells him she wants to become a man so she can never be hurt again. Poseidon not only effects Caeneus’ transition but also makes him impenetrable. In ancient medicine, male bodies were seen as less permeable than female bodies, which basically suck in everything around them through osmosis.

Later, during the battle of the Lapiths and centaurs, a centaur deadnames and misgenders him and taunts him about his trauma, and instead of answering he throws a spear and impales the centaur right where man part becomes the horse part. Total wish fulfillment. Unfortunately he then gets buried alive.

In KAOS, Caeneus’ story (thankfully) relies less on problematic tropes around trans men transitioning to escape misogyny and people wanting to transition because of trauma and sexual violence. He’s just an Amazon who knows he’s a boy and is terrified to admit it — justifiably, because the other Amazons don’t react to him coming out well.

In the afterlife, he runs into Hippolyta, one of the Amazons who killed him. She deadnames him, of course. And it turns out that even though the show pronounces his name kai-NAY-us, his deadname Caenis is pronounced kee-nis. Why?! I legitimately thought she was shouting “Penis! Penis!” as she walked toward him on the beach!

Poseidon is a pescatarian

The show makes a big deal out of how Poseidon only eats fish, and… wouldn’t he be more likely to eat everything except fish? I couldn’t help thinking of the scene in The Boys when Homelander forces a horrified The Deep to eat a live octopus:

It’s like they wanted Poseidon to be god of the ocean and all its creatures, but also be like, “You know, fuck fish. Those guys are jerks.”

Orpheus can apparently only say “fuuuuuuuck!”

Almost every one of his lines is just the word “fuck,” drawn out as long as possible. Seriously. He basically goes through entire scenes without saying another word. And look, I get it — he’s in a tough spot. But this is the man who, in myth, sings so beautifully that the trees themselves move to get closer to him so they can hear better. You’d think his cursing would be a little more creative! But no.

They went with “meander water” instead of ambrosia

Myth already has a liquid that makes the gods immortal. In fact, its very name means “undying.” So why introduce an entirely new one?

Hera has been circulating the story that Hades raped Persephone just for kicks

One of the things I liked the most about the show was that it manages to fit in a lot of myth without including a ton of sexual violence. It’s SO REFRESHING. I really hope people writing adaptations of myths take note: it’s entirely possible to tell a story where the human characters are tortured and the gods are kind of monsters without inflicting sexual violence on every female character. If only this show could have come before Game of Thrones. But I digress.

But it’s easier to tell some stories about myth without rape than others. With Caeneus’ story, the shift is easy — just give him a male gender identity from childhood, and there’s no need for the sexual violence backstory. Other stories require more creativity. I love how the video game Hades rewrote Hades and Persephone’s story to make it completely consensual:

Loving Your Mom in Hades

KAOS goes for a more straightforward solve that I also really enjoy. There’s nothing mythier than nodding toward other variants of your own myth, and in a scene in the last episode Persephone complains that Hera has been perpetuating the traditional abduction version of her story and she doesn’t really understand why. In the show, Persephone genuinely loves her soft-spoken middle-manager husband. Also, for no goddamn reason, they made her allergic to pomegranates!

At the end of the day, maybe there is no such thing as Greek myth. Telling a myth is about making a series of choices.

Let the creators of KAOS remind us: we can, and indeed should, always choose chaos and make our choices as absurd as possible. If you’re going to add to the tapestry of myth, make your contribution interesting. The gods demand it.