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

Under the Sea...

Whew, it's been a long time! Sorry, guys, I did not mean to neglect the mythological world for so long, but work has been crazy.

But it's finally truly summer, and last weekend the family went to the beach for the first time of the season. (Blessed as we are to live in West Michigan, where the summers are hot and humid, and a myriad of lovely beaches are just an hour away, our family has always been part fish.) The night before that, Finding Nemo was on TV, and the song "Beyond the Sea" came on my Frank Sinatra Pandora channel. (Love that song. So classy.) At last, I had to conclude: Poseidon is stalking me.

Actually, I'm surprised (and fortunate) that a rip tide did not swallow me in Lake Michigan for practically skipping over this very-important Olympian--I mean, I gabbed on and on about Zeus and Hades, but Poseidon scarcely got a word in edgewise there. Granted, Lake Michigan is fresh water, so maybe it was outside the sea-god's jurisdiction, but...

Allow me to rectify this.

Poseidon is the middle child of Kronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Hades. The three of them being the most powerful of the gods, they are generally referred to as a trio since their powers represent the three aspects of the world besides the terrestrial earth itself (air, sea, and underground). When the three were divvying up the world after the Titan War, Poseidon was fairly satisfied with his lot, because he feels perfectly at home in the sea and gets a certain degree of autonomy from Zeus. The sea was very important to the Greeks, given that the country is composed mainly of coast and hundreds of tiny islands, so Poseidon was widely revered, and there are many statues and temples dedicated to him. (The Romans, on the other hand, were afraid of the sea and had a comparatively pitiful navy, so Neptune was generally avoided rather than invoked.)

The God of the Sea--sometimes called "Earthshaker" and "Stormbringer" because he is responsible for earthquakes and hurricanes--lives in a spectacular underwater palace decorated with shells, sunken treasure, and countless pearls. He usually appears as a bearded man holding a Trident, his three-pronged spear and symbol of power.
He is married to a mermaid named Amphitrite, but much like his younger brother he is not what you'd call husband of the year. Some famous heroes, such as Theseus (slayer of the Minotaur), Orion (the hunter), and more recently the plucky young Percy Jackson, are his children. Strangely enough, the Cyclopes, the one-eyed giants who work in Poseidon's underwater forges, are his children too--sometimes children of gods and nature spirits turn out a little...messed up.

This explains Poseidon's less-than-favorable involvement in The Odyssey. He is famous for his attempts to thwart the hero Odysseus in his journey through the Mediterranean, enraged that the mortal blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Zeus, however, approved of Odysseus' action and protected him, because Polyphemus had broken the strict code of hospitality by betraying his own guest. This only added to the friction between Zeus and Poseidon.

Poseidon and Zeus, like many brothers who are close in age, are known for their rivalry. It's always a competition with them--who can have the most spectacular disasters, who can sleep with the most ladies... Both are known for their fiery tempers and obstinacy, but Poseidon I imagine to be a little less stern than his brother, a little more friendly. Poseidon, much like the sea itself, is a complicated and ever-changing god, sometimes cruel and vengeful, an unstoppable force, and sometimes benevolent and helpful.

Even more famous than his rivalry with Zeus, however, is his bitter enmity with Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The two of them are polar opposites, so their competition is truly a battle of philosophies: reason versus emotion, logic versus passion. Athena never allows her emotional reactions to get in the way of what needs to be done, and can make any sacrifice necessary to win, but Poseidon's strength and weakness lies in his capacity to feel. This epic, allegorical struggle between head and heart is evident in The Odyssey: Odysseus, being very clever, is taken under Athena's wing, while Poseidon constantly tries to delay his journey home.

But how did such a bitter rivalry begin, you ask? Well, how did the Capulets become so angry with the Montagues? Actually, the competition began when a great city in Greece was trying to decide on a godly patron, Poseidon or Athena. The two gods gave the city gifts--Poseidon, an intricate salt water fountain; Athena, the olive tree. Seeing how useful the olive tree would be (in fact, olive oil is what made Ancient Greece the richest civilzation of its time), the citizens triumphantly chose Athena as their protector, and named their city--Athens--after her.

This did not sit well with Poseidon, obviously. Later, in retaliation, he and his girlfriend Medusa snuck into Athena's temple as though it were a Lover's Lane. When Athena caught them, because she couldn't do anything directly to Poseidon, she cursed Medusa and her sisters by turning them into hideous beings, the Gorgons. Medusa became so ugly that all who looked on her would turn to stone.

Despite their differences, Poseidon and Athena did collaborate peacefully on one occasion, to make something truly spectacular: the chariot. Poseidon created horses out of the sea foam (and is therefore referred to as the Father of Horses), and Athena, always the inventor, created the chariot. A perfect combination!

To conclude, I've always liked Poseidon. Like the sea, he's sometimes a little hard to read, sometimes dangerous, sometimes friendly, essentially benevolent, and more deserving of respect than fear. I actually think the Greeks were on the right track with this view of the ocean--it is so vast and so powerful, and when humans fail to respect nature as they should and admit that it is more powerful than themselves, it can really bite them in the butt. So, go enjoy your summer, and remember to give the water some proper respect, or else Poseidon might send a rip tide after you for your impudence. Happy swimming!

Enjoy your week,
~Meg

Hades, Lord of the Shadows

Every once in a while, I get these weird fanatic obsessions about some book or movie or TV show, and it hijacks my daydreams for weeks at a time until it runs its course. It must have started when I discovered the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas a few days ago and I became an embarrassing fangirl (hey, don't judge), and now I have felt a weird pull towards Tim Burton movies and macabre topics in general this week. It's like a craving...an Edgar Allan Poe addiction...and a Hitchcock obsession... And then it hit me. It's divine inspiration, you silly!Hades, the God of the Dead, is obviously using his influence to point my thoughts towards the ghostly and the grim. He doesn't want to wait around for Halloween or something. He knows that he has my sympathy and respect, so he wants me to talk about him next.
So I shall.
Hades is the constantly misunderstood God of the Dead, who may have a ghostly realm and rather morbid interests, but is the farthest thing from evil. His parents are Rhea and Kronos, the titans, and he and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, are sort of a trio of power representing all aspects of the earth besides Gaia, the terrestrial earth itself: sea, sky, and underground.

Now, it often bothers me that his portrayal in popular culture is often skewed and prejudiced. Sometimes he is erroneously equated with the Devil, simply because his realm is underground, and his kingdom is misrepresented as Hell--but nothing could be more inaccurate. This was what vexed me the most about the Percy Jackson film adaptation--even more than the twelve-year-old protagonists suddenly becoming sixteen, or Grover's character randomly becoming a racial stereotype--Hades and his realm were both shown as evil and hellish, which it wasn't in the book. So everyone gets punished after they die, no matter what sort of life they led? Gosh. The Greek weren't that cynical!

True, he does punish evildoers, and they go to a place called the Fields of Punishment that is somewhat akin to the Christian concept of Hell. But he also rewards the just and the noble, and sends them to a blissful eternity in Elysium, the Greeks' Heaven. If a soul chooses to be reincarnated three times, and achieves Elysium all three times, then he or she is allowed an "all-access pass" to another, even more wonderful, part of Elysium: the Isles of the Blessed. Most people, however, are neither extremely good or extremely evil, and so their souls drift about in the nuetral Fields of Asphodel forever.

Does that sound Satanic or evil to you? All Hades does is make sure people get what they truly deserve--whatever that might be. He is devoted to justice--and that's more than I can say for Zeus or the other Olympians, who pursue fairly selfish interests and fail to see any kind of objective morality. Zeus is above his own rules. Poseidon's temper and emotions get in the way of his judgement. Aphrodite thinks that "love" can justify any wrong. And even the beloved Athena is more concerned about what is wise than what is right.

I guess justice is never popular, and Hades can come across as merciless and even cruel, because he is so unrelenting. But he is not without the capacity for empathy, as shown in the story of Orpheus. Orpheus was a talented musician that completely adored his wife, Eurydice. They lived in matrimonial bliss for some time, but one day, she was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. Orpheus, nearly mad with grief, descended to the Underworld to bring Eurydice back, and charmed his way past the guards (Charon the ferryman, Cerberus the dog, etc) with his enchanting music on the lyre. Finally, he reached Hades' palace. Persephone was moved by his tale of devotion and grief, and persuaded her husband to give Orpheus an audience. Orpheus began to play for them, a song that was a wordless expression of the love he felt, and the pain at losing his beloved--and Hades, the calculating ruler of darkness, wept.

Hades decided to show Orpheus pity, and said he would relinquish Eurydice's soul--on one condition: Orpheus must make his way through the tunnel to the world above without looking back to be sure that Eurydice was following him. He would need to trust the Lord of the Dead. Orpheus agreed to the terms and began to trek through the tunnel--but he couldn't hear his wife's footsteps. He forced himself to keep moving. Finally, just as he was about to break out into the sunlight, he couldn't bear it any longer, and he looked back to see if she was there--and Eurydice was dragged back to the Underworld, lost to him forever because of his lack of faith.
[In case you didn't know this before, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (or Philosopher's) Stone, the three-headed dog Fluffy is charmed to sleep with an enchanted harp, in order to slip past him to what he is guarding. Rowling knows her Greek mythology.]

When he received the Underworld as his domain after the Titan War, Hades was banished from the world above and the heavenly abode of the gods, Mount Olympus, except for one day out of the year: the Winter Solstice (just a few days before Christmas), the shortest day of the year which is almost in complete darkness.

Now, granted, I understand why the Olympians are not too crazy about having Hades at their family reunions. He is certainly a frightening being to behold, armed with the Helm of Darkness (a helmet that allows him to become invisible and to spread fear), with demons called the Furies as his minions and Cerberus, the vicious three-headed dog, as his pet. Hades always was the "different" one of the family, far more introverted and cold than his brothers. It's not that Hades doesn't feel emotions acutely, but he has far more control over his anger--instead of exploding, he lets it brew and fester into resentment for centuries. Ahem. A little passive-aggressive. But it's a refreshing change of pace from his melodramatic relatives.

Unlike his brothers, Hades is known only for his one romantic exploit, his beloved wife. I guess, because it is harder to move his heart, when he falls in love, he falls permanently. This situation just further shows that Hades is unchanging, resolute, unlike his brothers who are known for being ever-changing like the tides and the storms. Abducting the goddess of spring is the only selfish thing we ever really see Hades do, and, well, if you were that desperate and lonely, you might do something unwise too. I can understand, too, why he fell in love with her--though she has her mother's innocence and humility, she's also her father's daughter, and is therefore queenly and proud too. Hades probably had no trouble imagining her the Queen of the Underworld. And because Persephone was kept apart from the rest of the gods by her mother's sheltering, she could probably relate to his feeling of isolation.

Despite the shunning his relatives give him, Hades doesn't exist in a constant state of misery. He is extremely powerful, and has more autonomy than any of the gods--because he is so removed from Zeus' authority, he doesn't really have to answer to anybody. He owns all the riches under the earth. He has a magnificent palace in the Underworld, and an orchard that Persephone tends to in the winter. And I think it gives him personal satisfaction, knowing that he has integrity while his relatives have very little, although this probably also makes him bitter, witnessing their hypocrisy.

Besides the Helm of Darkness, Hades' symbols include the color black, shadows, skulls and spirits, and his dog, Cerberus.

The natural fear of Hades and what he stands has interesting psychological implications. Humans instinctively fear the dark, not because darkness is necessarily evil, but because it shrouds things from our vision--we fear what we don't know, and death is the very greatest chasm of the unknown. Just remember, there is nothing in the dark that wasn't there when the light was turned on. (That last bit is a little Twilight Zone quote for you.)

All in all, he might be intimidating and a bit unnerving, but Hades was literally given a bad lot in life when he and his brothers gambled for the domains of the world. It was his Fate to be an outcast.

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

GREECE IS STILL ALIVE (At least in America! Not so sure about the geographical Greece being very alive....)

I TOTALLY WANT THESE SHOES!

Hermes' Awesome Flying kicks on the Goodyear logo

Prometheus getting tortured for bringing fire to Rockefeller Center

Prometheus bringing fire to Rockefeller Center

Hermes watching over the medical field with his caduceus

Hermes Rocks. No exceptions.

Pegasus appears in the Mobil logo

Pegasus also appears on cracked clay pots!

America's symbol also happens to be the animal of Zeus

Zeus's Eagle was a sign of great power. I think America liked that ;)

The Capitol building has a lot of Greek architecture present

I really wish this wasn't crumbling.

Hey folks. Hoppy Easter!

So I comprised here a couple of examples of where Greek influence bleeds into American culture. The gods claim to be "above those tiny mortals," but they can't help but keep nudging them to keep the old style alive. Greece certainly is not forgotten. It is still residing subliminally woven into modern civilization. The gods would never let themselves blend into the shadows. They're too vain.

My Apollo-gies for the weird formatting that happened to this post. I really don't understand why it's so stupid for me. Anywho, I hope you guys had a good Easter if you're Christian and a good... Passover... if you're Jewish. I feel kinda strange being so Pagan on Easter. Anyways, look for the gods inserting their symbols into our culture. Leave a comment if you found one of the many this that i missed :)

Actually, we are making a competition out of this little excercise! We want to see who can come up with the most examples of Greek influence in modern day! Not just in architecture and visible things, but modern literature and other such nonsense (no, you can't use Disney's Hercules, we've already used that one!). Be creative in your sources, links are appreciated!

So far we have only had one person post anything, so you better get cracking!

^

|

|

|

Look at my face!

-adios,

Hades/RJ/luvthecheat/Ryan 

The Messed Up Story of the Wine Dude's Birth (aka Mardi Gras)

Hello! I hope everybody had a lovely Mardi Gras.

For those of you who don't celebrate it, Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday, depending on your preference) is a day of partying, immoderation, and merriment for Christians before Ash Wednesday, which starts the fasting season of Lent. What better day to talk about Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and the spirit of the party?

Mardi Gras embodies everything that the wine god represents—costumes, masquerade, music, dancing, singing, parades, extravagance, decadence, and essentially eating, drinking, and being merry. No Greek party was complete without a toast to Dionysus and invoking his presence. He is the patron of theater, too, so the Greek theater masks (you’ve probably seen them: one smiling, one frowning) are some of his symbols, besides grapevines and wine. He is the god of ecstasy—not the drug, the feeling—and euphoria, both of which were said to be invoking his spirit. He is also the patron of epiphany; that is, the rush of intuitive realization when things suddenly fall into place.

Satyrs, the human-goat hybrids, follow Dionysus’ command, since he is kind of a woodland nature god, with powers over all fruit-bearing plants, though grapes are his specialty. Leopards (and sometimes tigers) are his sacred animal, and they pull his chariot. The color purple is also sacred to him.

Dionysus was actually a demigod—his father was Zeus, the sleazy king of the gods, and his mother was Semele, a mortal woman. The story of his birth and ‘rebirth’ is pretty strange, and varies widely from source to source, but this is the simplest version: After Semele became pregnant, Zeus’s wife Hera went into a jealous rage (what else is new?) and formulated a plot of revenge. She disguised herself as a midwife so that she could gain Semele’s confidence, and then started to plant thoughts in her mind: If Zeus really loved her, if Semele really was special to him, then he would reveal his true divine form to her.

Eventually, Semele took the bait and demanded this from Zeus, to feed her ego. Zeus, having already sworn by the River Styx, an unbreakable vow, to give her whatever she asked for, had no choice but to grant her wish. He revealed his divine form, a sight which no mortal could behold without turning to ashes—but as Semele was dying, Zeus saved their unborn child by (this is the weird part) sewing him into the flesh of his thigh until it was time for him to be born. I guess I’m not going to wonder about the logistics of that.

Bacchus Consoling Ariadne, a sculpture I saw at the Chicago art museum that really moved me

And, lest you think that he’s just a shallow womanizing playboy, Dionysus was a married man—surprisingly happily married by Greek god standards. He made Ariadne, Princess of Crete, his immortal wife on Olympus, whisking her away after demigod Theseus broke her heart. Seeing her weeping wretchedly on the beach of Naxos, where the so-called hero abandoned her, Dionysus was moved with pity and comforted her—and fell in love with her. They ended up having eleven kids together. While I’m sure Dionysus has plenty of capacity for eros, I guess it’s directed completely or almost completely towards his wife—which, compared with his father Zeus, really speaks volumes about his affection for her.

On a similar note, Dionysus was not just about lighthearted fun and frolicking in the meadow. The Greeks recognized the dark side to drunkenness and excess. Dionysus is also the god of madness—at his will, he could literally make you raving mad for the rest of your life. Basically, don’t make him angry.

So, on that happy note, have a great week! See you next Wednesday.
--Meg