The Odyssey: Part 2--Poseidon's Wrath

Previously on The Odyssey: Odysseus, finally freed from the bondage of his temptation, leaves the sea-nymph Calypso on a raft she gave him, not knowing where it will take him.

All Odysseus could see for miles was an empty stretch of blue. Calypso had given him food and water for the journey--as well as the assurance that the magic raft would take him to the nearest dry land--but days had gone by without a glimpse of life. Still, he had endured much worse than this, and despite his doubts betrayed not a hint of fear.

Odysseus was a handsome middle-aged man, remarkably clever and resourceful, with a shrewd face and powerfully built. His survival he attributed mainly to his cunning and craft, which had gotten him out of countless hopeless situations--a trait that had caught the attention of the goddess of wisdom, Athena. He had been trapped for seven years on Ogygia--could perhaps his current freedom be Athena's doing?

Just then, Odysseus glimpsed something on the horizon. A blurry, faraway patch of green: land!

As he approached it, Odysseus could see that it was an island--he could even make out some man-made stone structures. Thank the gods, civilization at last! And yet... He had learned not to trust seemingly simple situations. There was no way that he could just land his raft without the slightest difficulty--surely, some sort of complication would arise.

A rumbling sound behind him confirmed his pessimistic prediction. Turning around, he saw a figure rising from the sea--a terrible bearded man the size of the Colossus, his face fierce and vengeful, carrying a three-pronged spear in one hand.

Oh, gods--Poseidon's caught up with me! Odysseus thought, paddling the raft furiously, trying to think fast.

The god of the sea slapped the water with the Trident and created a massive tidal wave--headed straight for Odysseus. There was nothing he could do--his raft was crushed like a twig and he himself was swept away by the tempest. His last thought before the wall of water crashed over him was a desperate plea to Athena and Zeus--they had protected him this far, hadn't they?

The next thing Odysseus knew, he was waking up on a beach, calmer waves lapping over him. Every inch of him was sore, but he was still alive. At first, he was sure his journey had all been a dream, and that he was waking up back on Ogygia, because a pretty young woman was standing over him, trying to rouse him.

But his eyes focused, and he saw that it was a completely different girl.
"My name is Nausicaa," she said. "The goddess Athena told me in a dream that I should come to the shore today--and I found you here. Are you alright, sir? Can you hear me?"

Relieved, he assured her that, though he was a bit worse for wear, he was alright.

"Where did you come from? There is no ship in sight."
"I had a ship...a long time ago...the whole crew is lost but me. I took a raft here."
"You poor man," the girl said kindly. "Let me take you home with me. My mother and father will show you hospitality, I am sure."

And so Nausicaa brought Odysseus to her father's house, gave him fresh clothes and a place to rest, and invited him to the banquet that night. Her parents received him graciously, without once asking for his name. It was a relief to Odysseus to forget about his troubles and his past for a time.

At dinner, however, a minstrel began to perform some narratives about the Trojan War, and all of painful memories began to resurface. He tried to listen indifferently, but it was difficult. Demodocus, the blind singer, told a tale of a brave hero from Greece, the brilliant man who had come up with the Trojan Horse. The Trojans had been winning the war, and the Greeks had needed something to tip the balance in their favor, so this clever hero had decided to use the Trojans' arrogance against them.


They would construct an enormous wooden horse and wheel it to the gates of the city. The Trojans would think it was a gift from the gods to show their favoritism, or else a peace offering from the terrified Greeks. They would bring it inside the city gates, and throw a lavish party in celebration. When everyone slept soundly after their drunken carousing, the horse--which was, in fact, hollow and filled with Greek soldiers--would open, and the Greeks would take the city of Troy. The plan worked, and Troy fell.

That hero's name was Odysseus.

Eventually, Odysseus could bear it no longer. He could not listen to the story while pretending to be unaffected by it. He admitted to his company that he was, in fact, Odysseus himself. The party was astonished--for most had presumed him dead after all these years missing in action--and asked him how in Hades he could have found himself all the way here on the isle of Scherie.

"My raft was wrecked by Poseidon," Odysseus explained. "He has a bit of a grudge against me, you see."

This, of course, only piqued their interest further. What could a mortal man have done to earn the ire of Poseidon? And why hadn't he made it home, nearly ten years after the Trojan War had ended?

"Well...that's a bit of a long story."

How DID Odysseus come to be so far away from home and in such a mess, anyway? Tune in next time for the third installment of The Odyssey (Abridged and Severely Paraphrased) to hear Odysseus tell his tale of adventure and woe from the very beginning.

The Odyssey: Part 1--Calypso's Island

Greetings, fellow mythology lovers! We are about to embark on an epic quest--a journey through the story of Odysseus, a mortal beloved by Athena, and his long travel home from Troy. We will encounter vicious monsters, magic spells, the wrath of gods, and the temptation of beautiful women. Will Odysseus ever make it home to his dear Penelope in one piece? There's only one way to find out: let's dive into Homer's The Odyssey!

Because this is such a long and convoluted story, I'm going to tell it in parts--and the tale itself is structured kind of episodically anyway--and it'll be more of an abridged version. The epic poem is attributed to a blind wandering poet named Homer (all Greek myths began as oral traditions, which is why there are varying accounts of them), who also wrote The Iliad--The Odyssey is, in fact, the sequel to The Iliad, which recounts the tale of the Trojan War.

I hope you enjoy our retelling of this tale--peppered with romance, adventure, and daring heroism--though of course, I am no Homer, and I do recommend reading at least parts of the real Odyssey yourself (most translations are easier to read than Shakespeare or Beowulf, while still preserving some pretty poetic language).

Our story begins on a peaceful island in the Mediterranean called Ogygia (oh-JEE-jee-uh). The pristine beach was of white sand; the sparkling sea was empty as far as the eye could see. A beautiful Nereid named Calypso, who had soft eyes and a kind face, was singing softly and tending to her garden beside the cave she lived in. Suddenly, looking up, she saw something flying across the horizon, skimming the clear water, towards her little island. Was it a bird? No. Shading her eyes, she realized it was the god Hermes, come to visit her.

She smiled and welcomed him to her home, offering him ambrosia and nectar after his long journey from Olympus, happy to see a friendly face. Calypso, being a Titan's daughter, was banished to this island, and--idyllic and peaceful as it was--she was lonely.

Hermes, however, was not there for a social call, but had a message for her from Zeus.

"Zeus knows that you keep Odysseus here, Calypso, and he sent me to tell you that you must let him go."

Calypso, flushing, insisted that she had never prevented Odysseus from leaving if he wanted to, that he was not a prisoner. Hermes sympathized with her loneliness--Calypso had such a softness to her that it was difficult not to feel sorry for her--but reiterated that Odysseus had a journey to complete, and a family to return to, a family that believed him to be dead.

Calypso thought back to the day that a handsome but battered-looking man had washed up on the shore of her island. His ship was destroyed, and his crew lost at sea, and she had nursed him back to health. He was remarkably clever, and a fearless soldier who had clearly endured many trials--things he did not speak of, and she dared not ask him about. She had not expected, however, to fall in love with him. Though it was true that she had never forced Odysseus to stay with her, she feared the day that he would gather enough resolve to leave her. Every night, he would succumb to her charms and lie with her--and every morning, weep with remorse and regret. This had gone on for seven years.

She knew, however, that no matter how attracted to her Odysseus might be, he pined for his home and his family more. Every so often, he would seem to look right past her and see her instead: Penelope, his wife. Calpyso sighed. She knew it was Penelope that Odysseus truly loved and belonged to.

Hermes seemed to understand the conclusion she had come to. "If you truly love him, Calypso," he said, "you will let him go. It is not his destiny to be with you forever."

Reluctantly, with tears in her eyes, she agreed. With her magic, she created a raft that would see Odysseus safely to dry land. She knew that once he left this island, he could never find it again--but that was as it should be. Assured that Calpyso was resolved on following Zeus's command, Hermes left.

Odysseus left Ogygia with a conflicted heart, sailing towards the vast horizon not knowing when or where he might alight. But, though Calpyso watched him go from the shore, he did not look back.

Where will Odysseus land? How did he come to be so far from home, with no ship or crew? Tune in next time for the second installment of...THE ODYSSEY.

My Big Fat Greek Dictionary

In the romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding, much of the humor is derived from the father of the bride, whose pride in his Greek heritage is borderline fanatical. I don't know how accurate or inaccurate the film's portrayal of modern Greek culture is, but I do know that when the father insists that he can take any word and prove that its root is Greek, he's got a point.

English a curious language in that it's not really a language of one people so much as a composite of hundreds of other languages. Much of it is derived from Latin, but I'd say we owe at least a third of our words to Greece--sometimes specifically Greek mythology.

For instance, I already talked about the Narcissus and Echo myth, which gave us two common English words. Atlas, a word we use to refer to a large map, was the name of a Titan who was condemned to hold the entire world on his shoulders (hence the connection to geography). As my dear brother already mentioned, the nine Muses gave us the verb "muse" and of course the noun "music." The more common spelling of Kronos is "Cronus," from which we derive the words "chronology" and "chronological," which refer to the order of events, since Cronus had powers over time. From the love-god Eros, we get the word "erotic." Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, became the word for the colored part of the eye.

Here's a weird one: our English word "hermaphrodite" comes from the myth of Hermaphroditus, a son of Hermes. A young woman fell desperately in love with him, but he was pretty lukewarm towards her, so she clung to him and begged Aphrodite that she would never be seperated from him. Unfortunately, the gods granted her wish a little too literally, and they became one entity.

Nemesis was the goddess of retribution--sometimes interpreted as a goddess of revenge, and other times of justice, depending on your opinion--but now the word has come to mean a person that one regards as a rival or enemy.

Our words "panic" and "pandemonium" are references to the god of the wild, Pan, who had the power to create chaos with his call.

Stoicism was a Greek philosophy, a school of thought, but now it's mostly come to mean remaining fairly emotionless or showing little emotion. Hedonism was a philosophy that promoted the pursuit of pleasure, so when people say "hedonistic" now, they mean superficial and pleasure-seeking.

Ironically, the word "dyslexia" is also Greek, so Percy Jackson really does have Ancient Greece to blame for his learning disorders, haha.

Another weird one--"automaton" was the name of the mechanical giants that Hephaestus the blacksmith made, so the Ancient Greeks predicted robots.

A lot of prefixes and suffixes that we add to words are Greek, too--like "-opolis" means city (such as the word "metropolis"), and "-ocracy" or "-archy" means the word refers to a form of government or society ("aristocracy," "democracy," "oligarchy," "anarchy").

Some other words we owe to the Greeks: apostrophe, apathy, lethargy, academy, tragic, epiphany, orthodox, mathematics, agnostic, hygiene, myriad, dogma, diagnosis, semantics, character, didactic, irony, metaphor, cynical, protagonist, and angel.

Whew. And that's hardly a comprehensive list, it's just a basic overview of some common ones. If you want to spot any more words with Greek origins, anything with a "ph" instead of an "f" is probably Greek, and anything with the suffix "'-ology" is Greek for "study of..." The prefixes "mono-" ("one"), "a-" ("none") and "poly-" ("many") are also Greek: monotheist, polytheist, atheist, amoral, asexual, asymmetical, polygon, polygamy, and monogamy, just to name a few.

 Interestingly, one can notice that the kinds of words we adopted from them tend to be things we associate with Ancient Greece--learning, science, literature, theater, politics, and religion. Chances are, half the words you'll use in literature class will be Greek--synonym, antonym, homonym, syntax, diction, etc.

So, are there any other words or phrases with their origins in Greek mythology or language that I am forgetting? If you have anything else to add, I'd love to hear them.

One final thought for the day--I'd like to close with another My Big Fat Greek Wedding quote: "There are only two kinds of people in the world--those who are Greek, and everybody else who wishes they were Greek."

Hope everyone's having a lovely July, and to all my American readers, I hope you had a lovely Independence Day.
~Meg

Why the Greeks are Cooler than the Romans

Sorry I haven't updated in a while--college exams. :/ Ew. But now that those are all overwith, let's talk about important things, like dead ancient societies and their deities!

Every so often, I think I'm going to give a little tidbit about Romans-versus-Greeks. Now, it's true that the Romans had a superior army, that they were more united and less individualistic, that they did indeed defeat Greece and rule over them with a mighty empire for a very long time. Blah, blah, blah. I don't CARE if Rome conquered Greece, I still think Ancient Greece is cooler. Why? Roman government was relatively fascist--pretty similar to Sparta, actually, a city-state anomaly in Ancient Greece--and while I won't deny its lasting impact on modern civilization, they were somewhat unimaginative. Their more "sophisticated" city life was basically stolen from the Greeks--their architecture, with its arches and pillars, looks awfully familiar, does it not?
True, some of their technological advances were pretty amazing: the aqueducts that gave running water to all their cities was ingenius. But even then, we can't rightfully give them all the credit for our modern plumbing system, because thousands of years prior, the palace at Knossos, Crete had the world's first flushable toilet. (No joke!)

Rome tried to convince the world and themselves that they were not barbarians by showcasing their urban society: music, theater, gruesome gladiator fights to the death--wait, what? Yeah, they'd bring their kids like it was a sporting event, buy their roasted rats-on-a-stick as if they were hot dogs, and watch slaves fight to the death in creative ways. (Just in case you thought The Hunger Games actually invented that concept.) One thing that is cool, though, is that they'd sometimes plug up the arena, fill it with water, and have mock naval battles with small ships. Now that is pretty sweet, even I must admit.
Still, Rome's attempts at being a cultural mecca were kind of...desperate. They knew they could never live up to the sophistication of Greece's philosophy, music, art, and theater--so, instead of trying to stubbornly make their own thing, they just adopted Greece's. I guess that is a virtue, that when they saw someone else's ideas were better, they swallowed their pride and...plaigarized. Well, I guess I can't hate them for respecting Ancient Greece. They had the same gods watching over them, after all.

In fact, let's talk about the gods. Everyone knows that the Romans essentially stole the Greek gods, slapped some different names on them, and called it their own pantheon--I'll list as many as I can think of below. You'll notice that most of our planets are named after Roman gods, and you can probably guess why each of them seemed appropriate (Jupiter was the biggest planet, Neptune is blue, etc). Sometimes in old literature (say, Shakespeare) the names will be used interchangeably, so it's good to be familiar with both so that you understand the allusion.

But there are subtle differences between Roman and Greek religion. The Romans emphasized different aspects and traits of the gods, and emphasized some gods over others--and the differences are highly indicative of the cultural differences. It's quite interesting comparing the two. For instance, in Greek myths, Zeus and Jupiter are pretty similar--except when he's Zeus, the focus is often more on his romantic exploits, his rages and tantrums, his mistakes--his human side. But as Jupiter, he's generally a lot more stern and distant, much more of a responsible leader, and has better control over his human urges--he still has affairs, but there's that different nuance there, that he's more in control, it's merely an excercise of his godly privileges.

In comparing Pluto and Hades, the Romans had a little less dread for the God of the Dead--made mention of him in their literature and prayers, and made oaths by him more frequently--he was more respectable. Why? The Romans did not fear death the way the Greeks did. To the Romans, an honorable death was far more glorious than a long life--Elysium awaited a faithful soldier! Their devotion to Rome was more important than their own lives. While the Greeks did strongly believe in a blessed afterlife for heroes, and believed heroic deaths were noble, they liked their comfortable lives in the world above too much--they did not look forward to the Land of the Dead. Therefore, they avoided speaking his name except with euphemisms, and only the darkest cults made any sacrifices or altars to Hades. (Poor guy. :/ )

Ares, the Greek god of war, is a brutal, cruel god that the Greeks seem to have little respect for. But the Greeks adored Athena, their favorite, Athens' patron, the goddess of wisdom. She was the one they looked to in wartime, because she was an expert strategist--if she made a plan, it would not fail. The Greeks, clearly, valued brains over might. The very opposite is seen in the Roman pantheon: Mars, god of war, is their favorite and most important--and he is portrayed a little more positively. An important distinction is made: he is the god of a just war--not just violence for violence's sake. On the other hand, while Athena becomes Minerva and has her place in the Roman pantheon, she is more obscure, not nearly so important as to the Greeks. Obviously, the difference between their values is clear. Obedience to the State and devotion to Rome is much more important than intelligence or wisdom...I guess...

So you can see why I, a total Romantic, would prefer the passionate Greeks to the Romans. Both have their good and bad points, I admit, and my preference is obviously a matter of opinion. The Romans may have been more successful, but I think the Greeks were happier. So I guess it just depends on what you want more...

Here's a basic list of Greek gods and  their Roman names, just in case you run across them in a T.S. Eliot poem or something:
Zeus = Jupiter (occasionally, "Jove," which is where we get the word "jovial," which means to be "like Jove" but really refers to someone who is merry and boisterous)
Hera = Juno
Poseidon = Neptune
Hades = Pluto (the poor guy finally got a planet named after him and now it's been demoted...story of his life...)
Hermes = Mercury (we also have an English word "mercurial," which, though it literally means "like Mercury," it refers to someone who is always changing)
Kronos = Saturn
Ouranos (Kronos' father) = Uranus
Aphrodite = Venus
Ares = Mars
Artemis = Diana
Apollo = ...still Apollo, for some reason
Athena = Minerva (yes, this is where J.K. Rowling gets the professor Minerva McGonagall)
Persephone = Prosperpina
Demeter = Ceres (this is where we get our English word "cereal"!)
Hephaestus = Vulcan (I'm not even going to get into the Trekkies)
Dionysus = Bacchus
Hestia = Vesta
Eros = Cupid
Gaia (the Earth goddess) = Terra (this is where we get the word "terrestrial," meaning "pertaining to the earth," and "extraterrestrial," or "not of this earth")

So, what do you think? Am I being unfair to the Romans? Is there some accomplishment of theirs I am forgetting to mention? Which civilization do you prefer? I want to hear what you think.
Well, that's all I can think of for now, but if I remember more, you will be the first to know. Have a nice weekend, everybody!
~Meg

In Defense of Hera

After talking about Zeus last post, it seems only fair to next move on to his second-in-command, his partner, wife, and sister--Hera, Queen of the gods. As with Zeus, she is not a simple character, and your opinion of her somewhat depends on who you are.

She is the patroness and protector of marriage and family. No Greek wedding was complete without sacrifices and prayers to Hera. Naturally, women in Ancient Greece tended to be drawn to worshiping her, because she understood their woes.

Zeus was the poster child for infidelity. Hardly a Greek myth begins any other way besides, "So Zeus had a kid with this one mortal lady..." (generally in more poetic wording). Now, as I mentioned last week, he and Hera loved each other once, and it's hard to speculate the chicken-or-egg question: Did Hera become a nagging jealous wife because of her husband's behavior, or did Zeus start to cheat because his wife was nagging and suspicious? I guess either way the behavior of both parties perpetuated the cycle. Because Zeus cheated, Hera became angry. Because of Hera's anger, Zeus felt pushed away and turned to other women. Thus, it never ends.

That being said, Hera was legendary for her revenge plots. The problem is, she took out all her anger on the mortal women and demigod children instead of on her faithless husband--partially because he's the king of the gods and you don't want to mess with that, even when you're his wife. For instance, like I mentioned weeks ago, she tricked Semele into causing her own demise, and very nearly killed her unborn child, Dionysus. In some versions of the story, she later gave baby Dionysus some toys to play with that were actually magic artifacts that summoned the wrath of the titans--the infant wine god barely escaped with his life, thanks to his father.

Perhaps her most famous quest for vengeance, however, was against the hero Heracles (who for some reason is better known by his Roman name, Hercules. I guess it sounds cooler). She put a myriad of deadly obstacles in his path, both in his childhood and his adulthood, but he conquered them all.

It wasn't just demigod children that she punished. When Zeus commissioned a young nymph, Echo, to distract Hera (by incessant talking) from his latest exploit, Hera eventually saw through the plot and became enraged (surprise, surprise). She punished Echo by making her unable to speak, except to repeat other people's words. Sometimes, even to this day, you can hear Echo repeating you!

While you may or may not agree with this punishment, Echo suffered greatly for it. She tried desperately to win the love of Narcissus, a beatiful but outrageously arrogant young man, who rejected her very callously. Aphrodite was indignant at his cruelty and punished him by making him fall desperately in love with his own reflection (hence, from his name we get the English word "narcissistic," meaning utterly self-absorbed). Narcissus was so desperate to be with his own reflection that he dove into the river and drowned.

So obviously, Hera indirectly caused a great deal of grief. Besides being jealous and suspicious, quick-tempered like so many other members of her family, and very proud, she was in constant rivalry with Aphrodite and Athena. She, like Athena, was a chaste goddess (in her case, this meant being completely faithful to her undeserving husband, like a perfect Greek wife)--but she, like Aphrodite, was beautiful and alluring. One day, the three goddesses got into a heated argument about who was the most beautiful, and it ended up causing the Trojan War (more to come on that later).

But was she wholly bad? Of course not. I don't hate Hera, and I don't hate her husband, even though their actions sometimes frustrate or exasperate me. We cannot ignore that fact that she was compassionate and strong, that she looked after the mortals who pleased her. Yes, she held grudges pretty fiercely. Yes, she was proud--the peacock is her symbol because of this--but I believe that stemmed from deep-seated insecurity. After all, if she was so beautiful and so kind, why wasn't she enough for her husband? She had given him two (or three) children and stood by his side through all adversity. Why did he need anyone else? I think that probably hurt her a great deal.
I think Hera gets a bad reputation partially from the long tradition of unfaithful husbands in the ancient world, who resented Hera for cramping her husband's style. But seriously...is it unfair of her to expect him to change his ways now that he's married? If the wife were the unfaithful one, and the husband the jealous one, would we be reacting differently? Double. Standard.

And while you can argue about whether her reaction was proportional to the crime or not, I can't help but feel sorry for her. Anyone who has loved someone and felt alone in love knows the pain she suffers every day. Being in love and feeling like you're the only one is very lonely indeed. Also, I think it wounds her pride to have everyone in Olympus gossip about her philandering husband, and it's hard for her to hold her head up and keep her dignity when everybody knows the intimate details of her messy marriage.

Hera was a pretty strong character, too. There were times that she stood up to Zeus when it was important enough. For instance, when the gods, angry at Zeus's slump in leadership skills, decided to rebel and trap Zeus in his throne, Hera was the driving force behind the plot. She and Poseidon made their brother swear to be a more responsible leader before letting him out of the chair.

p.s. Did you know that the peacock has that curious pattern in its tail because Hera placed eyes in its feathers, to keep a lookout on Zeus? Also, Hera created Argus, a man literally covered in eyes, for the same purpose. (It is from this myth that J.K Rowling gets the name for Hogwarts' caretaker, Argus Filch!)

p.p.s. Hera still has plenty of influence in modern-day US, even among the non-Greek/pagan population. Her Roman name is Juno--remember that movie of the same name that came out a few years back with Ellen Page, about the teenage mom? Yeah, she's named after the patroness of motherhood for good reason. And it is still a tradition for weddings to happen in June, more than any other month--the month dedicated to Juno!

Artemis (not Fowl) and Men

If you're Jewish, you might know that the date for Passover is determined by the full moon (since the Hebrew calendar is, I believe, lunar-based and therefore different every year). Correct me if I've got that wrong. But there were some massive, beautiful full moons last weekend if you took the time to notice outside your window.

In honor of the moon, I'd like to talk about Artemis today. Some traditions point to her as the patroness of the moon (although earlier there were a specific god and goddess for the sun and moon, Helios and Selene, that seem to have died out after a time because, well, they were kinda useless apart from being celestial bodies). Other than the moon, she was the goddess of the hunt and of unmarried women.

It was traditional for young Greek brides to make a sacrifice of a lock of hair to Artemis before the wedding ceremony--hoping to appease her as she left maidenhood behind, praying that Artemis would make that journey easier for her.

You might think it curious that Artemis would be the patroness of childbirth, given that she foreswore romantic love and marriage, and generally protects young maidens. The reason, however, is because her mother gave birth to her easily, but was having trouble delivering Apollo, so the infant goddess became her midwife and delivering her own twin. Gotta love Greek myth weirdness, huh?


Now, I know a lot of people really like Artemis--she was popular in Ancient Greek times, too--but I've never really been crazy about her. Sure, she's kind of badass with her archery skills, and she's supposed to be the nurterer of all things and the protector of innocent creatures, but I just don't see eye to eye with her when it comes to romantic love and men. There's nothing wrong with choosing to live a celibate life--I'm not knocking her for that--but to have such contempt for men in general seems a little unfair and like reverse-sexism. Also, I don't like her implication that, in order to be strong, feminist, and independent, you have to actively dislike men, and that you can't fall in love AND be a feminist. I mean, look at all the "strong" women in Greek mythology: Athena? Took a vow of chastity. Hestia? Took a vow of chastity. The Amazons? They have no use for men except procreation. Hera? Well, I guess she's an exception. And one could argue that Aphrodite is strong in her own way because she does, in fact, wield great power, just not in battle.

Now, I'm not saying that Artemis's viewpoint has no basis at all--I can understand why, in patriarchal Olympus, with all these testosterone-fueled heroes and a seriously philandering father, she would feel the need to break away from men a bit. But at least Athena collaborated with and became friends with men--because she knew she was their equal. Artemis seems to think she's BETTER.

To be fair, I am sort of exaggerating Artemis's opinions on men. For one thing, she really does love her twin brother, Apollo, even though they've got some healthy sibling rivalry. (They're always trying to one-up each other's archery skills.) She might feign disdain for him sometimes (he is kind of a playboy), but I think she feels pretty attached to him, and he to her.

In addition, even Artemis has to bow to love sometimes--or just once. Orion, a mortal hunter, one of the handsomest men in the world at that time, captured Artemis's attention. They were comrades, companions of the hunt, friends--and I feel that Artemis truly loved him, though in a gentler, less passionate way than so many of the gods fell in love. I can understand her affection for him because he respected her, showed her deference because she was a goddess, and didn't expect her to fall at his feet just because he's Orlando Bloom-esque. The accounts on this myth really vary depending on the source--some say it was just a platonic love, while others say they were truly in love, but most people agree it was not physically consummated, not even in a kiss. Artemis remained pure. Then Apollo (who had a weird jealousy at that time, probably feeling that no mere mortal was good enough for his sister, and that she shouldn't be with anyone anyways given her dedication to chastity) tricked her into killing Orion. He challenged her to an archery contest and said, "I bet you can't shoot that shape way out in the distance..." You can guess how that turned out.

I'm sure Artemis forgave him in the end, given that, well, you don't get to pick your family members, but it probably took a pretty long time. At least Orion got his own constellation, right? That tends to be the consolation when a mythical person's luck sucked. Anyways, Artemis's beloved hunter gets to watch over the night sky with her.

(Edit) There's a part in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, during the balcony scene, in which Romeo, weirdly desperate to make some sort of promise to Juliet, starts to swear his love by the moon. Juliet stops him and begs him not to--the reason she gives is that the moon is not constant, but ever shifting with the tides, but the real reason she doesn't want him swearing his love by Artemis' symbol is because she is virgin and foreswears romantic love. So, knowing your myths can help you better understand Shakespeare, and pretty much any other literary writer.
So what do you think of Artemis? Positive feminist heroine, or overzealous Amazon? Do you see her as cold and indifferent, or compassionate and nurturing? I'd like to hear your thoughts. One thing is certain: she, like many of the gods, is not simple or one-dimensional.

Snow? What the Heck?

Okay, remember how I was gushing about the 80 degree weather in March? Yeah, now it's April and snowing. Go figure.

I think I've figured out what happened, though: Hades and Persephone must have gotten into some domestic quarrel (Zeus only knows what about) back in March, she stormed out of the Underworld and went to stay with her mother a month earlier than usual, causing that weird heat wave. Now, of course, they've both had time apart to cool down and think, so they've realized what a silly argument it was, how childishly they behaved, etc. Hades isn't allowed upstairs except on the Winter Solstice, so Persephone went back to talk it out with him. The good news? Once they've kissed and made up, I imagine she'll come right back up to hastily undo this cold spell and give the mortals a nice harvest (and she'll be in a better mood, so we'll have a pleasant summer).

See, I can't be pissed about the snow when I imagine this as the cause--after all, I would feel bad too if I'd left my husband for six months without saying an affectionate good-bye (and sending your apology via Hermes just doesn't cut it), so I don't blame her.

Hope everyone had a nice Easter and/or Passover.
Meg

Welcome Back, Persephone

If you, like us, live anywhere near the Midwestern United States, you've been gleeful with all this crazy good weather. It's March! Usually we're still buried in snow over here in Michigan. It's been eighty degrees this week, and all the cherry and magnolia trees are blossoming.

With the arrival of spring, naturally my thoughts have turned to Persephone, goddess of spring. The Greeks would have perceived that the world of the living was welcoming her back joyfully with the blooming flowering trees, crocuses and daffodils that are starting to emerge, and the grass that is finally becoming green.

I like to think of Persephone and her mother, Demeter, as the two sides of the natural world. Demeter, goddess of agriculture, is all about orderly, disciplined farming—domesticated plants all in a neat row—and she loved homey tasks, simple living, and the everyday mundaneness of peasant lives. She’s utilitarian, in a sense—practical. Persephone, on the other, is all about the wilder nature, flowers (which have no purpose except to look beautiful and brighten up the world) and vines and everything that might make a lovely overgrown garden. She seems to be more about being than doing, if that makes any sense.

There’s a lot of duality in the personality of Persephone. She and her mother make up the two aspects of nature, while she and her husband are also yin and yang—life and death. And there’s also a little bit of duality just with herself: she is Kore, the innocent maiden, the nurturer of life; yet she is also the dreaded Queen of the Underworld, wife and consort of Hades, beautiful and powerful. She’s more multifaceted than she might seem at first glance from the stories—and perhaps she was just too complex to be boxed into her mother’s overly simplistic lifestyle. She does appreciate the quiet life, as she is her mother’s daughter, yet she is also Zeus’s daughter—she has the capacity for pride and majesty and stubbornness just as he does.

She is one of the few goddesses who is portrayed in a mostly positive light. Her compassion was as renowned as her beauty—though sometimes this was exploited by the unscrupulous.

For example, Sisyphus (pronounced SIS-uh-fus) was a mortal man who wanted to cheat death. He ordered his wife that, when he died, she should not give him a proper burial, so that he could not cross over into the next realm via the River Styx. Then, his ghost visited Queen Persephone and wove a sob story for her: “oh woe is me, my cruel wife isn’t giving me a proper burial so I cannot rest!” Persephone, of course, felt sorry for him. Sisyphus begged her to let him go back to the world above to chastise his wife and make her bury him—and poor Persephone, too trusting, let him.

Of course, then Sisyphus was like, “Suckers! No way am I coming back!” He stayed in the world of the living, just as he had planned, incredulous at his own cleverness.

Persephone, now humiliated, broke down and told her husband what happened. Hades was irate—not with his dear wife, but with the mortal who dared to think he could evade him. He dragged Sisyphus back to the Underworld and punished him most severely. In the Fields of Punishment, he was to be eternally rolling an enormous boulder up a mountain, laboring all day in the hot sun. And as soon as he reached the top, the boulder would come crashing down to the bottom, and he would have to start all over again.

Notice how the punishment always fits the crime in the Underworld: Sisyphus was arrogant and ambitious and thought he had the cunning to accomplish something both impossible and against the most ancient of rules. Therefore, he had to spend eternity trying to do something and having his work constantly being undone—as a reminder that the gods are, in fact, more powerful than humans, and that one cannot outwit them.