I beg you, by these fearful places, by this immense abyss, and the silence of your vast realms, reverse Eurydice’s swift death.
I read somewhere that no one could go against fate and nature, not even Zeus, but Persephone reverses death, which seems like she is going against nature.
Medusa’s child
I did not know Medusa had a child
Eurydice, was walking through the grass, with a crowd of naiads as her companions, she was killed, by a bite on her ankle, from a snake, sheltering there.
This could be a very unfortunate coincidence or an act of a god disguising himself as an animal. If that is a case, that's a very cunning move to kill Eurydice
Grief and vengeful Care have made their beds, and pallid Sickness lives there, and sad Old Age, and Fear, and persuasive Hunger, and vile Need, forms terrible to look on, and Death and Pain:
This is kind of like deadly sins or similar rules in other religions, which are meant to be followed by those who practice the religion to help them be better people
Others slit the victim’s throats and caught the warm blood
I felt this
Aeneas himself sacrificed a black-fleeced lamb to Night, mother of the Furies, and Earth, her mighty sister, and a barren heifer to you, Persephone.
Its interesting to note how similar animals and objects are used in sacrifices across many literary works. Also, how is it decided which god sacrifices themselves?
He was tortured by thirst, but could not drink, since every time he stooped eagerly the water was swallowed up and vanished, and at his feet only black earth remained, parched by some god.
This is another example of how important the afterlife is, and shows how Tantalus is tortured by the gods due to what he did in his life
The shade of Elpenor explains that he died by falling off Circe’s roof. He begs Odysseus to properly bury him before Odysseus continues on his way home to Ithaca. Odysseus agrees to build a funeral pyre for Elpenor.
Odysseus agrees to stop his journey to bury the body respectfully. This shows how important the afterlife is to them and how important a proper burial is. Many other ancient religions, such as the Egyptians, also put a huge importance on the afterlife.
Circe of the lovely tresses, dread goddess with a human voice
Great description
Cyclopes, a lawless, aggressive people, who never lift their hands to plant or plough, but rely on the immortal gods. Wheat, barley, and vines with their richly clustered grapes, grow there without ploughing or sowing, and rain from Zeus makes them flourish. The Cyclopes have no council meetings, no code of law, but live in echoing caves on the mountain slopes, and each man lays down the law to his wives and children, and disregards his neighbours.
This depicts the Cyclops as unintelligent, barbaric, and ruthless creatures with no social order who rely heavily on the gods, especially Zeus, to survive. I find this interesting because Cyclopes was the one who made Zeus' lightning bolt, which is what makes him so powerful
Twenty-two four-wheeled wagons could not have carried it, yet such was the great rocky mass he used for a door
This shows the sheer strength of the giant
So saying, he raised and hurled his long-shadowed spear, striking Achilles’ shield square on, though the spear simply rebounded
I always found the myth of Achilles fascinating, and it's one of the first Greek myths I ever read. This story, and this specific instance especially, is a great example of the immortal power of Achilles' armor.
‘Lady,’ said Hector of the gleaming helm, ‘I too am concerned, but if I hid from the fighting like a coward, I would be shamed before all the Trojans and their wives in their trailing robes.
Many soldiers would rather die in battle and die an honourable death, even if it means they die young and leave behind their wife and children. This shows how patriotic these soldiers were. Also, Hector mentions he has to fight since the Trojan women are fighting as well, or else it would bring him shame, which I'm not surprised by as this society thinks of men as better than women.
white-armed Andromache
I wonder what the repetition of white armed indicates
Latinus advanced in front of his lines and invited the leader of the strangers to a conference
It's very rare to see someone in these stories choose the peaceful option and have a civilized conversation to try to put an end to their conflict before resorting to all out warfare.
and gave his daughter in marriage to Aeneas.
This is a recurring theme throughout the mythologies and stories we cover in this course. Women are treated as property or objects and simply given away for financial gain or social status. This is seen here and earlier in this passage when the men wanted to surrender Helen
six vultures
Why 6 vultures?
and Minerva’s desecrated shrine, will destroy Agamemnon’s Mycenae, and Argos, and Perseus the Aeacid himself, descendant of war-mighty Achilles.
This represents the overwhelming amount of power the Gods held. Despite the shrine being desecrated, it still has enough power to destroy and conquer
will wage a mighty war in Italy, destroy proud peoples, and establish laws, and city walls, for his warriors,
This shows that since the beginning people use war to establish laws, claim land, and gain power over a city, country, or larger area. In this case it seems like they're trying to take over Italy
she had the face of a woman, the breast and feet and tail of a lion, and the wings of a bird.
This is one of the many instances in this passage where Egyptian and Greek mythology intertwine. I was not aware that both mythologies interacted with each other this often. However, both have different versions of some things that are in both cultures. For example, the Sphinx here is described as having wings, while in Egypt the Sphinx does not have wings.
Zeus loved her, and turning himself into a tame bull, he mounted her on his back and conveyed her through the sea to Crete
This is one of the first major instances I've seen where Zeus genuinely loves someone and makes sacrifices for them. Despite this love, he kidnaps her and took her away from her family. I wonder if in Zeus' head he thought he was doing a good deed
Mortals bring no help to me; no! Hera has her way.
It's interesting how he acts as mortals are so beneath him although he is half mortal himself. But, it also makes sense because he is as brave if not braver than some immortal gods and how he eventually got immortality, which is something I think he deserved due to his feats of bravery
The god has been remorseless to me; so I will be the same to the gods
This statement is ironic because it is unintentionally foreshadowing the fact that Hercules would soon be immortal and live on Mount Olympus with the other Gods.
This dark saying Pittheus apparently understood, and persuaded him, or beguiled him, to have intercourse with his daughter Aethra.
Here's another example of women being seen as nothing more than objects to be used to gain power and wealth. Having a child with the leader of Athens would give a huge amount of power to Aethra's father Pittheus, which is why he is trying to persuade him to do so.
Aristotle the philosopher
I took first year philosophy and we talked about Aristotle many times, so it's cool seeing him being talked about here as well. He was probably very highly regarded in Greek society, which is why they're using him a source for this information.
how much of that night for me was spent in tears. Before my eyes were the brazen bulls, the impious harvest, before my sleepless eyes was the serpent.
This perfectly shows how heartbroken and sad Medea was due to Jason leaving her. This makes her relatable because of her very human emotions of pain and heartbreak, and you can't help but feel bad for her in this situation.
Medea was, there, what your new bride is here: as rich as her father is, my father was as rich.
This is another example of how women are seen as nothing but objects are not nearly equal to men. Medea is comparing herself to the other woman by comparing the wealths of their fathers. It's sad how that is how the wealth and value of a woman is measured.
Then, the Sisters who spin mortality’s threads,
Great imagery
there are two things, young man that are most important to people: It is. goddess Demetre (call her by whatever other name you want) who feeds the folk on Earth and who IS Earth; and her counterpart, Dionysos, the son of Semele, this god, the god who discovered the juice of the grape and which he brought to us mortals.
I find it fascinating that the goddess of agriculture, who provides the population with food, is held at the same importance as the god of wine. It goes to show how much this society values wine and other similar pleasures.
This city must learn one way or another, whether it likes it or not, that it can’t stay uninitiated and ignorant of my rites! This city must learn, one way or another, whether it likes it not that my mother was innocent and this city must apologise to her!
Although Dionysus is a trickster and is mostly portrayed as such, this shows a vulnerable and human-like side of him. He is so upset by the fact that the city and population don't believe that his mother had him with Zeus that he makes it his goal to prove them wrong.
So here I am! Thebes! I am Dionysos, son of Zeus. My mother was Semele and she was Kadmos’ daughter. Zeus delivered me from my mother with one of his awesome lightening bolts.
Dionysus announces himself with great confidence
because Leto with the lovely tresses was soon to bear a son faultless and strong.
It's funny how here Apollo, before his birth, is described as faultless and strong, but closer to his birth everyone thought he would be "haughty," but at the end everyone ended up liking him anyways.
But Leto alone stays by the side of Zeus who delights in thunder; and then she unstrings his bow, and closes his quiver, and takes his archery from his strong shoulders in her hands and hangs them on a golden peg against a pillar of his father’s house. Then she leads him to a seat and makes him sit: [10] and the Father gives him nectar in a golden cup welcoming his dear son, while the other gods make him sit down there, and queenly Leto rejoices because she bare a mighty son and an archer
This passage provides a great contrast between how Ares and Apollo were treated. Although Apollo was supposed to be an arrogant god before birth, everyone grew to like him throughout his life and he was treated relatively well, while Ares was disliked by most Greek gods and was treated harshly.
. She struck the angry Ares on the neck, and knocked him down, with a clash of armour, and he lay stretched out over an acre of ground, his hair in the dust, Pallas Athene laughed in triumph: ‘You have still not learnt to know my strength: it’s greater than yours, you fool, if you try and match it with mine. That’s how you’ll shake off the Furies your mother invoked against you, plotting trouble, since you angered her by siding with the insolent Trojans against her Greeks.’
Although Ares is the god of war, he easily gets defeated here, which leads me to question his true capabilities and if his reputation is a lot more dangerous than he actually is.
Ares showed Zeus the divine ichor flowing from the wound
This is another example of how similar the Greek gods were to humans, which is something I did not expect at all coming into this course. The gods are technically immortal, but can bleed.
. Gazed at by all, praised by all, no one, neither prince nor commoner, wishing to marry her, sought her hand. They admired her divine beauty of course, but as we admire a perfectly finished statue.
This is the first time I've ever heard of the concept of a woman being too beautiful. This shows that being too beautiful can actually be detrimental, as everyone admires you from a distance, but for various reasons no one wants to make you their wife. This could be because people are intimidated or because they do not want their wife getting so much unwanted male attention.
So Psyche regained the little jar, now full, and quickly brought it to Venus. But still the cruel goddess’s will was not appeased. Menacing her with greater, more terrible threats, Venus glared at her balefully: “Now I see how readily you’ve performed those impossible tasks of mine, I’m certain you must be some kind of high and mighty witch. But there’s one more little service you must perform, my dear. Take the jar and plunge from the light of day to the underworld, to the dismal abode of Pluto himself.
This is the moment Psyche realizes that she was meant to fail all the tasks she was given, and this final task would lead her to her inevitable demise.
The Loves cry woe again saying “Woe for Cytherea.”
The repetition of these italicized phrases in these lines in between the paragraphs put an emphasis on the pain felt both by Adonis and all those around him who were impacted by his death.
Aphrodite, she unbraids her tresses and goes wandering distraught, unkempt, unslippered in the wild wood, and for all the briers may tear and rend her and cull her hallowed blood, she flies through the long glades shrieking amain, crying upon her Assyrian lord, calling upon the lad of her love.
It is very unusual for Aphrodite to be seen as distraught or unkempt, as she is the goddess of beauty. This shows how much she loves and cares for Adonis
his thigh pierced with the tusk, the white with the white, and Cypris is sore vexed at the gentle passing of his breath; for the red blood drips down his snow-white flesh, and the eyes beneath his brow wax dim; the rose departs from his lip, and the kiss that Cypris shall never have so again, that kiss dies upon it and is gone.
It's fascinating how the writer made something as grotesque as death seem so beautiful.
She was given away by Zeus, the loud-thunderer, the one who sees far and wide.
This excerpt shows the fact that this is a misogynistic society where women are treated like objects and given away. It also reinforces the power and might of Zeus, which is a common theme in Greek mythology,
And there they abide at the side of Zeus, who delights in the thunderbolt
It's very interesting that the thunderbolt is synonymous with Zeus, and it is not even something he earned through trials and tribulations, but something he was given. I think the thunderbolt is the reason Zeus has so much power over the other gods, and it is reiterated at every opportunity so everyone remembers the might of Zeus.
The insolent can only offer insults.
I love this line
These are the wages you’ve been paid for your sin of loving the mortals.
This shows a double standard, as Zeus has affairs and children with mortals all the time and is not punished, yet Prometheus is being reprimanded for loving the mortals
But when the gods completed this deception of sheer doom, against which there is no remedy,
This story depicts women as a cunning and deceptive creature who is as beautiful as an immortal goddess on the surface but in reality depicts doom for all of mankind.
The gods had hidden away the true means of livelihood for humankind, and they still keep it that way.
This relates to an earlier work where the author described humans being evil and cunning during the bronze age, but in reality they were becoming more efficient and self sustaining instead of depending on the gods for everything, which angered them and resulted in the gods punishing humans
But Zeus hid it [the true means of livelihood for humankind], angry in his thoughts,
Damn he's salty
Just as to mortal men high-thundering Zeus gave women as an evil, accomplices of painful toils: another evil too did he provide instead of good; to wit whosoever shunning marriage and the ills that women work, declines to marry, and has come to old age pernicious
This shows the ingrained misogyny and hatred for women in the Greek mythology. Women were not seen as humans and were given to men, instead of them choosing to go to a man.
placed around her about her head lovely garlands fresh-budding with meadow-flowers, and around her head she set a golden coronet,
beautiful imagery
[921] Lastly, he made Hera his blooming wife: and she was joined in love with the king of gods and men, and brought forth Hebe and Ares and Eileithyia.
One thing I did not know coming into this course is how many partners Zeus had and how often he forced himself on women. It seems like he had a child with just about every female god he could get his hands on.
, Zeus craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her in his own belly, as Earth and starry Heaven advised. For they advised him so, to the end that no other should hold royal sway over the eternal gods in place of Zeus;
This highlights the hypocrisy of Zeus. He killed his own father because he swallowed his children and tried to swallow Zeus and his brothers as well. Despite fighting his father for that reason, he attempts to do the same thing by swallowing the mother of their future child
Zeus smote and destroyed with thunderbolts and all of them Hercules shot with arrows as they were dying.
In my opinion this part highlights Hercules' bravery. Zeus is a mighty immortal god who has arguably the most powerful weapon in the world, his thunderbolt, at his side, while Hercules is a mortal who has fighting alongside with Zeus with his arrows.
But when these recoiled on him through the force of the thunderbolt, a stream of blood gushed out on the mountain
This is very vivid and grotesque imagery that puts a graphic picture into the mind of whoever reads it
These were matchless in the bulk of their bodies and invincible in their might; terrible of aspect did they appear, with long locks drooping from their head and chin, and with the scales of dragons for feet.
This descriptions shows the sheer size and strength of the Titans, and perfectly summarizes how overpowered they were. Its kind of like villains in superhero movies, who seem invincible but end up not being unbeatable
Immediately every kind of wickedness erupted into this age of baser natures: truth, shame and honour vanished; in their place were fraud, deceit, and trickery, violence and pernicious desires.
I feel like as the humans gained more power, technology, and intelligence, and stopped worshipping the gods mindlessly, they were seen has being evil and selfish, just because the gods weren't getting all the attention anymore.
When whichever god it was had ordered and divided the mass, and collected it into separate parts, he first gathered the earth into a great ball so that it was uniform on all sides
Many creation myths depict a god or god like figure creating everything from essentially nothing, yet here the god is depicted as someone who simply molds what was already there into distinct zones which the humans and gods inhabited.
And many evidences o the birth and upbringing of this god remain to this day on the island.
Despite the fact he believes there are multiple versions of this myth, he still tries to show that this one is the one that is true by providing evidence.
Regarding the birth of Zeus and the manner in which he came to be king, there is no agreement. Some say that he succeeded to the kingship after Cronus passed from among men into the company of the gods, not by overcoming his father with violence, but in the manner prescribed by custom and justly, having been judged worthy of that honour. But others recount a myth which runs as follows: There was delivered to Cronus an oracle regarding the birth of Zeus which stated that the son who would be born to him would wrest the kingship from him by force.
It's very telling that the writer of this poem himself declares that everything written may not be true and there are multiple version of the same myth. My question would be that why are there multiple versions of how Zeus came into power. Are there different sects of Greeks who believe in different versions of these myths?
and then she [Mētis] was going to give birth to a son, as king of gods and men, with an overbearing spirit,
It's interesting how he is referred to a king of gods and men, and it further emphasizes the patriarchy and how much of Greek mythology is seen from the male perspective, despite females being so important in many of the stories.
Now these were in other respects, it is true, like to gods, but a single eye was fixed in their mid-foreheads. And Kyklopes was their appropriate name, because 145 in their foreheads one circular eye was fixed.
This is one of the many examples that this poem was recited orally, due to the repetition of the fact that the Cyclops have one eye.