Persephone and Hecate: The Maiden and the Crone
The myth of Persephone’s connection to the seasons & vegetation is made evident by her yearly ascent from and descent into the Underworld. Most versions of the etiological myth follow...
The Common Cause
All the Little Gods of Love
The pluralization of Aphrodite’s son Eros, the god of love, should come as no surprise. Tradition changes as the myth arches and swells to fill the space in which it...
Some Thoughts on the Molten Goddesses
I sought Common Era several years ago because I saw, fixed within an Instagram ad, the beauty and gravity of an ephemeral dream, familiar but strange like an ancestral memory,...
Ancient Art: Painted Greek Cities
When we think of Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini, there’s a particular vision that resonates. Whitewashed stone, vibrant blue domes, square windows and stone streets. Though they’ve become a tourism dream, the...
An Aesthete’s Guide to Being the Most, or the Logistics of a Hot Girl Summer
Being a hot girl is a spiritual state. A hot girl summer involves embracing frivolity, delight, and romance, and appreciating beauty in detail while defining and curating your tastes. It’s...
Jungian Psychology and Goddess Archetypes
Psychoanalyst Carl Jung maintained that myths can be seen as expressions of the collective unconscious, meaning that the core ideas in mythology and mythological figures reflect inherent and universal truths...
On Caring for Gold Vermeil
In the spirit of ethical business practices, we at Common Era try our hardest to be transparent. We absolutely want you to choose the pieces that are right for you,...
The Sacred Bee of Ancient Greece
The honey bees are back out, buzzing their happy little working tune wherever they go. And why not? They are beloved by all the gods, and they usher in the...
Thargelia: Festival of the Twin Gods
Happy Thargelia! Traditionally held on May 24 and 25 (the 6th and 7th of the Attic month Thargelion), Thargelia was an ancient Greek festival held in honor of the births...
Silphium and Common Ancient Medical Procedures
'In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (lines 208-210), for example, Demeter orders Meta- neira to mix barley and water with pennyroyal. Metaneira makes the potion (kykeon) and offers it to...
Floralia, the Festival of Blooms
"use life's beauty as it blooms" Ovid, Fasti, V.353 Floralia was an ancient Roman festival, a celebration for Flora, a goddess who had no Greek counterpart. As they did with...
Amare: So Much To Love
“I will show you a love potion without drugs, without herbs, without the spell of any witch: if you want to be loved, love.” (Epistle IX) Hecato of Rhodes I...
Daydream of Spring
I am so overjoyed to be met with our first semi-normal spring in two years. I am blissfully dreaming of human connection in the sunshine. Patio cocktails, shared meals, live...
Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons
The race of female warriors known as the Amazons are largely agreed to have dwelt in the Black Sea region, in what is present-day Ukraine. One of the most famous...
Peirene's Fountain
"I have heard people say that this spring and Peirene are the same, the water in the city flowing hence underground.” Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.5.1 The nymph Peirene was...
