Download October 2016 - Classical Wisdom Weekly

It’s the month for all things
eerie...monsters, dragons and
scary stories.
But gods could also be frightening. Many like to
imagine Dionysus as the fun, theater-loving
drinking buddy from ancient pantheon...but did
you know he was also a flesh-eater? (Get the full
story on page XIII).
Fortunately for us, the ancient
world is full of interesting tales and
characters, all perfectly fit for the season.
For instance, there is the Gorgon Medusa.
And then there are stories that you just know will
be horrifying...especially for those with
arachnophobia (read more on page II).
Don’t let her recent comeback on Starbucks
cups fool you, she was a very frightful sight for
eyes...though she wasn’t always that way. (You’ll
find her tragic tale on page XVI.)
Of course, there are so many more fascinating
legends, these are a tiny sampling. In fact, we
have a larger than usual issue just trying to
cover the most interesting ones.
So, with that in mind, it’s best we just plunge
right in. Enjoy this special October issue of
Classical Wisdom Litterae on myths and
monsters...
Anya Leonard
Co-Founder and Project Director
Classical Wisdom
IN THIS ISSUE:
II. The Itsy-Bitsy Spider: Nicole Saldarriaga
X. Monster Memory Game
V. Top 5 Dragon Slayers: John Mancini
XI. Fierce Females of the Odyssey: Julie Huse
VII. The Riddle of the Sphinx
XIII. Dionysus the Mild: Eater of Flesh: Ben Potter
VIII. Myths & Monstrosities: Ben Potter
XV. The Top Five Most Terrifying Monsters
XVI. Pursuing the Gorgon: John Mancini
I
THE ITSY-BITSY SPIDER...
(or, The Girl who Told the
Truth about the Gods)
BY NICOLE SALDARRIAGA
Reader, let me tell you that I thought
long and hard before deciding on my
topic for this article.
I’m speaking here about the myth of Arachne, of course.
Though it’s considered one of the “lesser myths” of
Greco-Roman mythology—probably because it’s not
quite as detailed as other myths—it still gives us
wonderful insight into ancient culture.
A theme like “monsters and myths” isn’t
so easy for me, considering the fact that
monster myths happen to be my favorite aspect
of Greco-Roman mythology.
So...all these monsters to choose from...which to choose?
Essentially, it functions as three different things: a
moralistic warning, a subtle jab at the gods, and an origin
story.
At the end of the day, I made a decision that surprised
me: this time I wouldn’t discuss bloodthirsty wraiths or
barbaric hybrids—instead, I’d take a look at the humble
spider.
Before we get into the details of the myth, however, it’s
important to point out that—like most myths—Arachne’s
story has warped and changed over time, resulting in a
few different versions of the myth.
(Then again, if you’re anything like me, you do place
spiders firmly in the category of “monster.”)
For the purpose of this article we’ll be focusing on the
most well-recorded version, which can be found in that
great book of transformations, Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Monster myths are interesting and important for a
variety of reasons—perhaps mostly for the insight they
give us into the cultures that create them.
According to Ovid, Arachne was the beautiful young
daughter of a simple shepherd. She took up the craft of
weaving at a very young age and quickly demonstrated
an incredible amount of talent.
By examining the “things that go bump in the night,” we
essentially get insight into a culture’s fears and therefore
its core values. Though spiders may not qualify as the
most terrifying of creatures, their inclusion in a popular
myth about Roman goddess, Minerva, certainly clues us
into what the Greeks and Romans found chilling.
As she grew into a young woman her talent only grew
with her, and many people gathered to see her beautiful
tapestries or to simply watch her at the loom—a sight
that was said to be mesmerizing.
II
However, after years of having her work effusively
praised, Arache gets a bit cocky. She begins to boast that
her work is more beautiful than Minerva’s (the Roman
equivalent of Athena).
So, goddess and mortal sit down to work, and both
produce beautiful—but incredibly different tapestries.
Ovid spends a relatively lengthy amount of time
describing the scenes woven into each tapestry, and for
good reason.
Keep in mind here that Minerva is to weaving what
Vulcan is to smithing—she is considered the patron
goddess of the craft, yet Arachne refuses to acknowledge
Minerva’s hand in her great talent and even claims
superiority. As you can imagine, this is incredibly
infuriating to the goddess.
Minerva weaves a perfectly symmetrical tapestry that
depicts the glory of the gods (and her own glorious
achievements in particular) in the center, and four
separate corner scenes depicting mortals who were
severely punished for challenging or insulting the gods.
The work is technically flawless, and stunning.
So, Minerva does what most of the Greco-Roman gods
and goddesses seem to do when a mortal ticks them off—
she disguises herself and pays Arachne a little visit.
Arachne, on the other hand, weaves a very different
tapestry. While hers is also gorgeously worked, it depicts
the gods in a very unfavorable light.
Appearing as an old crone, Minerva warns Arachne that
she should not boast so carelessly, and that she should beg
the goddess for forgiveness:
“Not everything old age
has is to be shunned:
knowledge comes with
advancing years. Do
not reject my advice:
seek great fame
amongst mortals for
your skill in weaving,
but give way to the
goddess, and ask her
forgiveness, rash girl,
with a humble voice:
she will forgive if you
will ask.”
The tapestry is packed with scenes of gods raping
women, deceiving
innocent mortals, and
generally displaying
embarrassing behavior.
Minerva is completely
outraged at this further
sign of arrogance and
insult—and is only
angered more by the
undeniable fact that the
tapestry is perfect.
“SO, GODDESS AND MORTAL
SIT DOWN TO WORK,
AND BOTH PRODUCE
BEAUTIFUL—BUT
INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT
TAPESTRIES.”
There is no clear
winner, but Minerva
can’t contain her rage-she tears the offensive
tapestry into pieces and
begins to beat Arachne
with her shuttle (a tool
used for weaving). Arachne can’t bear this abuse, and
suddenly hangs herself.
Arachne responds with
surprise and rage:
“Weak-minded and
worn out by tedious old age, you come here, and having
lived too long destroys you. Let your daughter-in-law if
you have one...listen to your voice. I have wisdom enough
of my own. You think your advice is never heeded: that is
my feeling too. Why does [Minerva] not come herself ?
Why does she shirk this contest?”
This extreme reaction actually causes Minerva to feel
pity for Arachne, and the goddess chooses to bring
Arachne back to life—but in the form of a spider, so that
Arachne can both continue to weave and continue to
“hang.”
Enraged by Arachne’s impudence, Minerva reveals
herself as the goddess (which, interestingly, barely affects
Arachne), and the two ladies challenge each other to a
contest: whoever can produce the most beautiful, the
most flawless tapestry wins. In order to ensure fairness,
the contest would be judged by the goddess Envy.
“Live on then,” says Minerva, “and yet hang, condemned
one, but, lest you are careless in future, this same
condition is declared, in punishment, against your
descendants, to the last generation!”
III
René-Antoine Houasse, Minerve et Arachne, 1706.
There you have it—the creation of the first spider; but as
I mentioned earlier, this myth is much more than a
simple origin tale for those creepy-crawlies you find in
your basement.
The basic function of the
myth is, of course, to act as a
warning.
Like many of the
transformation myths found
in the Metamorphoses,
Arachne’s story is a
reminder to never challenge
the gods.
It may have been unpopular and even dangerous to
express this opinion, but the opinion existed, there is no
doubt.
“IN FACT, THIS MYTH IS MUCH MORE THAN JUST A
WARNING—BECAUSE IN THE END, IT’S VERY
IMPORTANT FOR US AS MODERN READERS TO
RECOGNIZE THAT EVEN THE ANCIENTS WERE WELL
AWARE THAT THEIR GODS WERE FLAWED.
Even more interesting is that
fact that in the myth itself,
the two different
perspectives expressed by
Minerva and Arachne are
both actually substantiated.
IT MAY HAVE BEEN UNPOPULAR AND EVEN
DANGEROUS TO EXPRESS THIS OPINION, BUT THE
OPINION EXISTED, THERE IS NO DOUBT.”
Minerva punishes Arachne
for her insolence, just like
the mortals on her tapestry
were punished. She clearly
believes that the gods have
that natural right to command respect.
No matter the validity of your claims, it will not go well
for you—that is a guarantee.
Arachne, on the other hand, whose tapestry displays
mortals being treated unfairly and horribly hurt by the
gods, is in fact reprimanded and beaten by Minerva.
But Arachne’s story is also interesting in that it subtly
shows us an unpopular opinion about the gods.
Because of this, we could theoretically argue that
Arachne’s behavior is not truly arrogant. Instead, it’s
simply an example of a young woman telling the truth
about her world as she perceives it, and being severely
punished for doing so—and that is an entirely different
sort of warning.
It’s no secret that the Greco-Roman pantheon is made up
of gods who are flawed, petty, and often cruel. Arachne
could not ignore this and paid the price for calling
attention to it.
In fact, this myth is much more than just a warning—
because in the end, it’s very important for us as modern
readers to recognize that even the ancients were well
aware that their gods were flawed.
One that, as modern readers, we must hope no longer
applies today.
IV
THE TOP FIVE
DRAGON-SLAYERS
OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY
BY JOHN MANCINI
The original sword-wielding dragon
slayer of legend was not the knightly
Orlando saving Angelica, nor was it
Sigurd killing Fafnir… And it wasn’t
even the Archangel Michael or St.
George.
champions for us to cheer on.
So, without further adieu, let us look at the five original
weapon-wielding dragon slayers from Greek
mythology...
1. APOLLO
It goes much further back than all of those...straight to
the Ancient world.
Our first hero was more than just a
man, but a god all together. Where
better to start really, than with one of
the most famous and favored of the
Olympians, Apollo, the god of light and
the sun, truth and prophecy, healing,
plague, music, poetry, etc, etc.
In fact, the ancients had a fairly well-documented
obsession with snakes, especially the large fire-breathing
winged variety.
From India to Egypt to Peru, a plethora of cultures
around the world had some version of a snake-myth.
His story begins with his house of worship: the temple of
Apollo at Delphi. Appearing on coinage for centuries and
supremely important to every culture that knew it, the
temple was rebuilt five times in its several thousand year
history.
It was in Classical Greece, however, that the story
elements were arguably perfected (at least in our opinion).
There, the dragon-serpent antagonist was none other
than the primeval water god, Poseidon, a close relative of
Gaia, the earth goddess. He was, you could say, from the
beginning of their time.
In fact, the earliest version of the temple predated
Homeric poetry and was likely devoted to an earth deity,
not so dissimilar to our antagonist Poseidon, who was
thought to be the most ancient possessor of the oracle.
But what good is a story with the ideal “bad guy” without
the perfect hero?
Funnily enough, it was also supposedly the “earthshaker”
Poseidon who was responsible for the earthquakes that
destroyed the temple time and time again.
Not much according to Ancient Greek mythology, which
supplied some fantastic examples of monster vanquishing
V
According to the mythology, a spring nearby the location
of the temple was guarded by the large Python or shedragon, which Apollo slayed upon arrival, thus freeing
the people from their fear of the earth and its power.
Harmonia then turned into the reptiles and slithered
away into the forest together. Other versions of the myth,
however, say that the gods transformed them into snakes
as punishment.
3. JASON
After Apollo’s triumph at Delphi, the traditional omphalos
(a rounded stone artifact and early focal point of the
temple) came to feature a snake wrapped around it.
Our next dragon slayer is just like a
comic book hero. His team, the
Argonauts, were a seafaring crew that
included Heracles, Asclepius,
Orpheus, and Atalanta, among
dozens of others.
This marked it as a symbol of Apollo, the dragon slayer,
god of wisdom and healing. The last trait he passed on to
his son, Asclepius, who, according to Ovid, transformed
into a snake and founded Rome.
2. CADMUS
These larger-than-life lads
accompanied Jason in his heroic quest for the Golden
Fleece, which was, of course, guarded by a dragon.
The second dragon slayer on our list
is Cadmus, a Phoenician prince who
introduced the alphabet to Greece
around 2000 B.C.
Jason was sent by Poseidon’s son, Pelias, to fetch the
Golden Fleece. Along the way, he acquired additional
tasks: to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen, to steal a
tooth from a dragon, and to slay the dragon that guarded
the fleece.
On a quest to find his sister, Europa,
he stopped at the Delphic temple to
consult Apollo’s oracle, which led him to found the city
of Thebes.
Luckily for Jason, his lover Medea was trained in Hecate’s
dark arts and gave him an ointment that would keep him
from being burned by the oxen, in addition to a herbal
potion with which he could put the dragon to sleep.
While building the Theban temple, Cadmus’ assistants
were slain by a dragon as they attempted to collect water
from a nearby spring. (Apparently dragons like hanging
around springs.)
He did as advised and stole the tooth from the sleeping
monster. Then, like Cadmus, he sowed the dragon tooth
into the field, which grew into an army...and, again like
Cadmus, he threw a rock into the middle of the crowd.
Athena instructed Cadmus to slay the dragon and then
sow its teeth into the ground like seeds. These seeds then
grew into a fierce army.
Not knowing where the blow had come from, the army
once more turned on each other and self-destructed.
In one version of this myth (and there are many), Jason is
swallowed and then regurgitated by the dragon, thus
reborn a bonafide hero.
Following Athena’s orders yet again, Cadmus threw a
stone into the center of the advancing warriors, causing
them to attack each other until only five remained. With
these men, or Spartoi, he was able to complete the citadel.
4. PERSEUS
Unfortunately for Cadmus, this wasn’t just any dragon; it
had been sacred to the god Ares. After its death, Cadmus
had to do eight years penance, but was plagued
nonetheless by the slaying. Cadmus’ family, as well as the
city of Thebes, was cursed with innumerable tragedies,
including the death of his four daughters and the fate of
his grandson, Oedipus.
Next up is Perseus, the legendary
founder of Mycenae and of the
Perseid dynasty of Danaans. In fact,
Perseus’ deeds were so grand that
they went on to provide the founding
myths of the Twelve Olympians, a
first of the heroes of Greek
mythology.
Eventually, overcome with his misfortune, he exclaimed
that if the gods loved snakes so much, then he wished to
become one. Ovid claimed that Cadmus and his wife
VI
Of his conquests, one of the most memorable is the
beheading of Medusa, the snake haired gorgon, with the
aid of Athena’s polished shield. Afterwards, Perseus went
on to slay another monster, the sea serpent Cetus sent by
Poseidon.
ruler of the zodiac who rings in the new season by
continuously slaying the old. Throughout his twelve
labors he conquered two multi-headed snakes, including
the Hydra and the Ladon.
In an interesting relationship to Jason’s and Perseus’ story,
This time it was to save Andromeda, his prize for slaying
Heracles was instructed for his tenth labor to capture the
both dragons.
“golden haired” cattle of the tripleheaded Geryon (the son of Chryasaor,
It is interesting to note that Cetus is
“FROM INDIA TO EGYPT TO PERU, who, like his grandmother Medusa,
lived on an island at the far edge of
essentially another aspect of Poseidon
A PLETHORA OF CULTURES AROUND
the western sea).
(being sent by him) and Medusa is
THE WORLD HAD SOME VERSION OF
often thought to be representative of
A SNAKE-MYTH.”
nature’s wrath, something for which
Besides mirroring Perseus’ earlier
the sea God is notorious.
victory over Medusa, Heracles’
slaying of the Geryon follows as all his labors do...the
archetypal pattern of the hero’s journey to slay the
5. HERACLES
metaphorical dragon.
The most accomplished of the Greek
dragon slayers, Heracles, strangled
his first snake when he was still just a
baby in the cradle.
This, of course, begs the question: what does dragon
slaying represent?
Of course we can never be certain, but it could be seen as
a symbolic act of taming the wild, the natural, the
demonic.
Exhibiting strength, courage and
ingenuity, he is considered the
greatest of the Greek heroes,
especially by the many Roman emperors who came to
identify with him.
Living in water but breathing fire, with the ability to swim
as well as fly, the dragon embodies all the natural forces
the ancients would have feared. Slaying them meant
slaying fear itself.
Heracles, in Greek, is another name for the sun. He is the
RIDDLE
RIDDLE
WHAT GOES ON FOUR LEGS AT DAWN, TWO LEGS
AT NOON, & THREE LEGS IN THE EVENING?
Oedipus and the Solution to the Riddle
As the story goes, the riddle of the Spinx famously
confounded generation after generation — that is,
until Oedipus came along.
“Man, who as a baby crawls on four legs, then walks
on two legs as an adult, and in old age walks with a
cane as his third leg...”
Promised the hand of the queen if he could solve it,
Oedipus proceeded to tell the smug Sphinx:
Its riddle solved, the despairing Sphinx proceeded
to commit suicide.
VII
PLAGU
ANCIENT MYTHS &
THEIR MONSTROSITIES
Were they really to be believed?
BY BEN POTTER
The attitude of the Ancients towards
beasts, monsters, ghouls, ghosts and
other creatures that give us the willies
was significantly different to those of
people today.
Hercules and the Nemean Lion (it is for this reason that
Hercules is usually depicted draped in a lion-skin).
While we’re on the topic, Hercules is worth a special
mention as the archetypal battler of beasts and monsters.
Not only was he the conqueror of the aforementioned
lion, but also faced a particularly ferocious hind, a boar, a
bull, four man-eating horses, the many-headed hydra,
and Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded Hades
(which, like much in the Greek mythological canon, was
given an “intertextual homage” [i.e. stolen] by J.K.
Rowling).
To start on the purely rational/corporeal
level (best to get it out the way), the treatment of fierce
beasts was not one of distant, awed respect...and
certainly not one of conservation. These were real and
quite dangerous animals that walked in their midst.
Indeed, according to writers such as Aristotle and
Herodotus, lions were
commonplace around Greece
“THE TREATMENT OF FIERCE BEASTS WAS NOT
(and perhaps even Spain and
ONE OF DISTANT, AWED RESPECT...AND CERTAINLY
France) in the fifth century
NOT ONE OF CONSERVATION. THESE WERE REAL
BC… though seem to have
AND QUITE DANGEROUS ANIMALS THAT WALKED IN
become extinct in those areas
THEIR MIDST."
by 100 BC.
Hercules’ descent into the
underworld (katabasis) elevates
him to the premier bracket of
ancient heroes, along with
Odysseus, Aeneas, Psyche,
Orpheus and Theseus.
After this, they (along with leopards, tigers etcetera) were
only seen regularly in Europe because the Romans, in
their uniquely altruistic manner, aided and abetted our
dumb chums.
N.B. katabasis is not unique to the Greek/Roman
pantheon; the Egyptian god Osiris and Christianity’s
Jesus Christ literally went to hell and back (for JC, Peter
3:19-20 and Ephesians 4:9).
In other words, these beats, who would otherwise have
needed swimming lessons in order to sample the
delicacies of European cuisine, were brought over from
Asia and Africa in order to devour perfidious criminals
and duel with valiant gladiators in the amphitheaters of
the Empire.
Touching again on wild beasts in the Roman arena, it is
perhaps surprising that the Ancients were such strong
believers in ghosts, ghouls, demons.
Indeed, one Ancient belief that was quite terrifying is the
idea that when we see people in our dreams, we don't
know if we are actually seeing a phantasmical version of
that person, or, if they have already passed beyond the
veil, the actual soul of the deceased on a brief sojourn
from Hades.
This baying bloodlust vis-à-vis our furry friends was not
solely a creation of theatrical expediency, but actually a
reference to possibly the greatest hero of antiquity i.e.
VIII
Perhaps because of these nocturnal chats with wraiths,
specters and spirits, such entities were not universally
feared or reviled. Indeed, in book XI of the Odyssey we
see the eponymous hero chatting away quite cordially
with the dearly departed.
restful year of sex and reputation-building – including
assistance in katabasis). For all these supernatural elements, the very reasonable
and much-debated question is to what extent we should
contend that the Ancients actually believed in their
religious mythology.
However, that’s not to say all those who had shuffled off
their mortal coils were
content to benignly
shoot the breeze with
dreamers or
interlopers into hell –
the Romans actually
dedicated an entire
festival (the Lemuria) to
placating angry souls
who had not received
the correct burial rites.
However, such
musings are largely the
product of our own
cynical/enlightened/
monotheistic/naïve
(delete as makes you
happier) bias, i.e. we
have no more reason
to doubt the faith of
the Greeks or Romans
than the faith of the
Norman English or
the Renaissance
Italians.
One manner in which
ancient and modern
attitudes to the
Ulysses and the Sirens, John William Waterhouse, 1891
supernatural do seem to
There is very little evidence that incredulity was
overlap is with regard to witches who were then, as now,
widespread and huge evidence that it was commonplace.
a good topic for a scary story, but don’t seem to have
been given enough credibility to truly terrify.
Indeed, two famous examples from men who clearly
disbelieved only serve to reinforce that fact.
The difficulty in verifying their scare factor is that witches
do crop up in ribald, picaresque stories like The Golden Ass
Socrates (via Plato) says that we must take an allegorical
and The Satyricon, which presumably, though not
attitude to the religious myths and Polybius states that, if
necessarily, precludes them
people were more intelligent,
from the realm of true fear.
“THIS WAS HISTORY, THESE WERE THE STORIES we could do away with
The other issue is that, without UPON WHICH SOCIETY WAS BUILT… WHEN PEOPLE “superstition” altogether.
HEARD STORIES OF JASON, HERCULES, ACHILLES Polybius leaves us very much
our monotheistic tradition of
with the feeling that, though he
heaven versus hell and good
ET AL, THEY WERE LEARNING ABOUT THE GREAT
himself was not religious, the
versus evil, the boundaries
FEATS OF THEIR ANCESTORS."
masses certainly were...and
between a witch, nymph,
Socrates was actually executed
goddess, maenad et al becomes rather blurred.
for his heretical ideas!
To take Homer’s Odyssey as an example, Circe, the
In reference to the above, one may argue that religion has
character with whom Odysseus stays for a year – the one
nothing to do with fantastical beasts, monsters and
who famously turns his men into pigs – is usually called a
supernatural beings...or that such beliefs are extraneous
witch.
to the wild and wonderful world of three-headed dogs,
However, Calypso, with whom Odysseus stays for seven
hydras, gorgons, furies, sirens, and cyclopes.
years, is usually called a goddess or nymph; this is despite
However, for the Romans and especially for the Greeks,
the fact that there is very little practical difference
these monstrous occurrences were not only at the core of
between the powers or behavior of the two women.
their religion, but of their history.
Indeed, by captivating Odysseus with her magical singing
The date of the Trojan War (we are relatively sure there
for so long, Calypso poses far more a threat to our hero’s
was an actual Trojan War) is c.13th century BC; Homer
life and legacy than Circe does (with whom he enjoys a
IX
was active circa 8th century BC and the Golden Age of
Greece was circa 5th century BC.
Thus the wild, weird and wonderful stories of fierce and
ferocious monsters recounted in this month’s Classical
Wisdom ebook are no mere trifles to be the playthings of
an idle hour.
The tale of the wooden horse, of Achilles and his gammy
heel, of Laocoon and the sea-serpent...these were not
ancient myths.
They are the foundation blocks upon which Greek and
Roman society — and by proxy our own — was built.
They are worthy of serious attention and contemplation.
This was history, these were the stories upon which
society was built.
That said, they are also rather fun, so, if you prefer, you
can always make them the plaything of an idle hour.
When people heard stories of Jason, Hercules, Achilles et
al, they were learning about the great feats of their
ancestors.
Don't have access to the ebook? You can buy it here or get access to
the library here.
MONSTER MEMORY:
CAN YOU MATCH MAN TO MONSTER?
I.OEDIPUS
A.WEREWOLF
II. ODYSSEUS
B. SPHINX
III. LYCAON
C. TYPHON
IV. ZEUS
D. ORTHRUS
V. HERACLES
E. THE SIRENS
VI. BELLEROPHON
F. CHIMERA
Answers on the following page.
X
FIERCEST CREATURES IN THE ODYSSEY?
FEMALES.
Odysseus and the Sirens, Herbert James Draper, c. 1909
BY JULIA HUSE
Of the many monsters and mythological
creatures Odysseus encounters during
his long voyage from Troy to Ithaca,
among the fiercest are female.
while the other half goes in search of Aeaea to see what
people live there.
The search party comes across the home of Circe, which
is described as a large house in a clearing in the middle
of a thick forest. All around the house are lions and
wolves, which at first frighten the crew until they notice
how docile the beasts are.
Three of these are Circe, the Sirens and
Calypso, who all prove to be difficult and
terrifying obstacles to Odysseus’ journey home.
It is later discovered that this is because they are the
drugged victims of Circe and her potions. Meanwhile,
Circe welcomes Odysseus’ band with a meal of cheese
and honey, which she has drugged. The men promptly
turn into pigs.
THE WITCH CIRCE
After escaping the island of the cannibalistic
Laestrygonians, Odysseus and his crew stumble upon
Aeaea and the home of Circe, who is referred to as both
a witch and a nymph.
One member of the crew, however, manages to escape
becoming a pig and warns Odysseus and the other half
of the crew about Circe’s wiles.
In most mythology she is known as the daughter of
Helios and Perse the Oceanid, or sea nymph. She has a
vast knowledge of potions and herbs, which Odysseus
and his crew experience firsthand.
Odysseus goes to Circe’s house to save his crew but is
stopped along the way by the messenger god Hermes,
sent by Athena. Hermes tells Odysseus of an herb called
Odysseus and half his crew stay behind with the ships
Monster memory game answers: I-B, II-E, III-A, IV-C, V-D, VI-F
XI
moly that would protect him from the potions of Circe.
whole cosmic picture. They are bewitched by the idea of
hearing their own story, of witnessing their own epic,
while still living it out.
Armed with immunity, Hermes tells Odysseus he should
act as if he would attack Circe, at which point, according
to Hermes, Circe will try to coax him into bed with her.
Odysseus is told to avoid this at all costs.
THE NYMPH CALYPSO
Towards the end of his journey, Odysseus washes up
alone on the island Ogygia, the home of the nymph
Calypso.
Odysseus, hero that he is, listens to Hermes, proceeds to
convince Circe to turn his crew back into humans, and
he and his crew continue on their merry way...until they
encounter more fearsome females. Homer describes Calypso as the daughter of the Titan
Atlas, who holds up the pillars of the sky and the sea.
THE SIRENS
Her name comes from the Greek word klypto, meaning to
conceal, hide or deceive. The reason for this is soon
explained by Odysseus’ encounter with her.
Odysseus also encounters the famous Sirens during his
wanderings. Homer does not mention the origins of
these half-female, half-bird creatures in the Odyssey, but
other accounts say they were the daughters of the river
god Achelous and Terpsichore (a muse) or Melpomene
(also a muse), Serope or Chthon.
Calypso keeps Odysseus on her island for seven years,
accounting for a large part of his journey home. Calypso
wants to make Odysseus her immortal husband, and
enchants him with her singing as she weaves on her loom.
Odysseus performs all the duties of a husband for
Calypso, including sleeping with her.
Sirens perch on rocks by the sea and sing beautiful songs
that lure men to them. Once listening, their victims are
unable to pull themselves away and eventually die of
starvation.
But even under Calypso’s spell, Odysseus desires a
different life. The promise of immortality does not stop
him from missing his wife Penelope.
In the Odyssey, Circe tells Odysseus about the Sirens and
instructs him to plug his and his crew’s ears with beeswax
in order to prevent their sweet songs from entering their
ears.
Odysseus, a mortal, does not desire the life of a god; he
much prefers his own life, despite its hardships and
eventual end.
But, curious adventurer that he is, Odysseus instead plugs
his crew’s ears with beeswax and has them tie him to the
mast of the ship. He tells them not to untie him no
matter how much he begs for it.
Noticing that Odysseus wants to leave the island, Athena
asks Zeus to order Odysseus’ release. Zeus sends Hermes
to tell Calypso to release Odysseus because it is not his
fate that he should remain on the island forever.
Odysseus hears the music of the Sirens and immediately
demands to be released, but his faithful crew only tighten
the ropes binding him to the mast.
Calypso resists but eventually agrees to free Odysseus,
sending him on his way with wine, bread and materials
for a raft.
It is then revealed that the reason these songs allure and
entice men is because they sing of past and future truths.
Be they singing Sirens or drug-wielding witches, these
women (or part-women), are certainly terrifying in their
abilities to enchant mortals. Odysseus needs a lot of help
to to resist their enchantments.
The Sirens sing to Odysseus about his past endeavors,
such as the glory and suffering he endured on the
battlefields of Troy, and his future actions — what he will
achieve and what they falsely promise that their hearers
will live to tell these truths to others.
Calypso, the least threatening of the three, manages to
keep Odysseus detained for seven years. In fact, she ends
up being one of the greatest obstacles to his journey.
Odysseus, of course, is one of the few—or only—men
that survives after hearing the Sirens’ songs.
Homer’s choice of female mythical creatures to challenge
Odysseus seems to point to the innate powers of all
women as enchantresses, seers, intimaters of past and
future truths, and creatures of dangerously beguiling
beauty. In that, I think we are agreed.
With the Sirens, Homer appeals to the spirit of men and
not their physical desires. Men are lured in by the desire
to know the future and learn from the past, to see the
XII
DIONYSUS
EATER
THE
MILD:
OF
FLESH
BY BEN POTTER
As a figure of myth and superstition
even in his own time, Dionysus could
well have been dismissed by the cynical
as being an unworthy interpolation into
the field of true religion.
Zeus’ fractured skull). The babe was then given to his
human aunt, Ino, for safekeeping.
However, Hera, her spleen not yet fully vented, sent Ino
and her family into a frenzy of madness and suicide.
Thus, Dionysus was passed along to the nymphs of
Mount Nysa (from where he gets his name) and there his
induction into all things sublime, sensational, sexual,
salacious and sinister started.
However, although “he represents an
enchanted world and an extraordinary experience”
according to Albert Henrichs, the scope of his temporal
power is hard to overstate.
He self-proselytized across Greece, Asia and India,
bringing madness and death upon those who denied him.
The chief example of this was the poker-faced wrath he
brought upon his cousin,
“HESIOD REFERS TO THE GOD AS ‘HE OF MANY Pentheus, King of Thebes,
made famous to us through
DELIGHTS’ AND HOMER, IN THE ILIAD, CALLS HIM
Euripides’ The Bacchae.
The twice-born Dionysus is technically, like Heracles, a
demigod, though unlike the twelve-time laborer, his
godliness dominates his humanity.
Dionysus’ bizarre incubation
started when Zeus
impregnated Semele, the
daughter of the Cadmus, king
of Thebes.
THE ‘COMFORTER OF MANKIND’."
Though not all tales on
Dionysus are dark or depraved.
Subsequently, Zeus’ (understandably) jealous wife, Hera,
concocted a plan for revenge. She convinced Semele to
request that she see Zeus in all his divine glory, knowing
that the sight of the god would overload Semele’s frail,
human form, causing instant incineration.
A particularly charming story about him comes from the
seventh Homeric hymn which recounts his capture by
pirates. The unsuspecting brigands got more than they
bargained for when the god’s bonds dropped off and he
turned into a lion, all while a great vine grew around the
ship’s mast.
From these ashes, Zeus recovered Dionysus, sewing the
charred and blackened fetus up in his thigh.
Quite understandably, the pirates all jumped overboard,
only to be turned into dolphins upon hitting the water.
Thus the King of the Gods gave birth to Dionysus (a
bizarre, but not unique feat – Athena was also born from
For this and other tales, Dionysus is, as Henrichs puts it,
XIII
“perceived as both man and animal, male and
effeminate, young and old, he is the most versatile and
elusive of all Greek gods”.
whom Sunday is more than merely a day to watch
football and mow the lawn:
“When mortals drink their fill of wine, the sufferings of
our unhappy race are banished, each day’s troubles are
forgotten in sleep. There is no other cure for sorrow.
Dionysus, himself a god, is thus poured out in offering to
the gods, so that through him come blessings on
mankind”.
Of course, it is the vine motif that flashes first into our
minds when we think about Dionysus.
Indeed, this aspect of his personality is represented in
some of the most famous artwork of which he is the
subject.
Unlike Mr J.C. of Nazareth, Dionysus may well have
been, quite astonishingly, a teetotaler.
Although there are some Renaissance depictions of him
imbibing his own gift, in antiquity this is not the case.
That said, he is almost invariably depicted close to wine,
grapes, or drunkards; his entourage of satyrs are forever
indulging in inebriated dancing, fornicating and reveling
in general.
And if the satyrs represent all the naughty fun and frolics
that go hand in hand with overindulgence, it is the
maenads (or bacchae), female followers of the god, who
lend things a dark and sinister air.
Maenads, on their annual pilgrimage to the mountains,
would pay homage to the god by inducing in each other
a ritualized frenzy, often described (by others) as a
madness.
Though commentators have often used drink or drugs to
explain this away, contemporary accounts put it down to
an infusion of the god into the body; perhaps a form of
intense, liberating meditation.
For example, the seminal Hermes and the Infant Dionysus
above shows the older god dangling grapes over the head
of the younger (above).
Likewise, this facet of the god was a regular feature in
literature.
Both in art and literature this mania culminates in the
bare-handed rending of a live animal (sparagmos) and the
raw consumption of its flesh (omophagia).
Among the earliest poets, it can be seen that the winegiver holds a particular place of affection in the hearts of
the poetical:
The once-popular idea that this carcass was a ritualized
ingestion of the god himself is no longer in vogue
(though remains to be convincingly refuted).
“Cut off all the grape clusters…show them to the sun for
ten days…cover them for five, and on the sixth day draw
off into vessels the gifts of joyful Dionysus.” (Hesiod,
Works and Days)
The fact that Euripides interpolates King Pentheus into
the role of sacrificial animal implies that cannibalism,
though ghastly, does not seem to be wholly inappropriate.
Elsewhere, Hesiod refers to the god as “he of many
delights” and Homer, in the Iliad, calls him the
“comforter of mankind”.
Ignoring the god/man-eating aspect, the fact that the
sacrificial meat was uncooked is a perverse act in and of
itself and an example of how Dionysus revels in his role
as disrupter of the social order.
The following twist on that theme, from Euripides’ The
Bacchae, will be of particular interest to those of us for
This too is reflected in his public festivals, of which there
were at least seven annually in Athens alone.
XIV
Characteristics of these celebrations were excessive and
open drunkenness, obscenity, lubriciousness and
transvestitism; all amidst huge, decorative phalli that lend
a je ne sais quoi to any event.
His beauty and brutality are so pervasive that at times he
is almost the embodiment of a last request; one final
moment of frenzied delight before the trapdoor opens
and the noose tightens.
Along with wine, intoxication and ritual madness,
Dionysus was also a god of theater – comedy and tragedy
reflecting perfectly the dichotomy within his soul – as well
as masks, impersonation and, almost paradoxically, the
afterlife.
He is death, blood, beauty, pain, art, ecstasy, elation, and
envy; a man for whom one would gladly hold a feast day,
perhaps without acknowledging the dreadful truth of
what could potentially be on the menu.
Euripides certainly portrays him as a creature of horror
and violence; one desirous of carrying out torture and
humiliation.
Indeed, this aspect should not be belittled as he
constantly crops up in funeral art. The pre-Socratic
philosopher, Heraclitus, went as far as to say: “Dionysus,
in whose honor they rave in bacchic frenzy, and Hades
are the same”.
Perhaps as one so cruel and beautiful, powerful and
appetitive, he is not merely versatile, but strikes to the
heart of our own divine empathy.
So how are we supposed to view this internally
incongruous, but undoubtedly important god?
After all, there is barely a man who ever existed who
doesn’t have something in common with Dionysus. And
it may be this, more than anything else, that fascinates
and repels in almost equal measure.
Well, Dionysus is certainly a joke, but a joke borne of lust
and power, of wine and spite, of ecstasy and shame.
The Top Five Most Terrifying Monsters of Greek Mythology
1. Typhon
Typhon, born of Gaia (the earth) and Tartarus
(the depths of hell), was said to have been the
most ferocious creature ever to roam the earth.
The lower half of his body consisted of two
coiled viper tails that constantly were hissing.
Instead of fingers, several dragon heads erupted
from his hands. He was said to have wings that,
when spread, could blot out the sun. Fire flashed
from his eyes, striking fear into the heart of any
living creature, even the might Olympians.
4. Cerberus
Hades’ loyal guard dog, Cerberus was a
massive hound with three heads that
guarded the entrance to the underworld. It
was said that the beast only had an
appetite for living flesh and so would only
allow the deceased spirits to pass. It is said
that the three heads were meant to
symbolize the past, present and future. In
other versions of the myth the three heads
represent youth, adult hood, and old age.
2. Medusa
5. Charybdis & Scylla 3. The Minotaur
Charybdis is never explicitly described
other than as a sea monster that lives under
a rock on one side of a narrow strait and
regularly swallows massive amounts of
water., creating monstrous whirlpools
capable of destroying entire ships. Similarly,
the Scylla lives on the opposite side of the
narrow strait and is believed to have been a
many-headed sea monster that fed on the
flesh of sailors who unwittingly traveled too
close to the beasts’ lair.
A monstrous creature who could turn to stone
anyone who looked upon her, Medusa remains
a popular monster of ancient mythology.
Learn more about her on page XVI.
A grotesque abomination that possessed the
body of a man and the head of a bull, the
Minotaur is best remembered for his affinity
for devouring flesh and his cryptic home, deep
within the confines of the twisted labyrinth.
XV
PURSUING THE
GORGON
BY JOHN MANCINI
The Gorgon Medusa, with her
serpentine hair, lolling tongue and
deadly gaze, is one of the most
recognizable icons in mythology.
An attractive feature to both gods and men, Apollo
harnessed the power of the Gorgoneion and used it to
fight the Achaeans, while the mythical Perseus famously
used the entrancing magic of the Gorgoneion gaze as a
weapon, turning his enemy Polydectes to stone.
Her popularity not only predates
Classical Greece, but also extends through
The Middle Ages, and can still be felt today.
A mythical motif for centuries
of artists, the Gorgon image
appears in countless sculptures
and paintings, especially in the
Mediterranean – adorning
everything from doorways of
temples to sarcophagi of
kings...
Real men, too, desired the deadly effects or protection of
the Gorgon. Indeed, some of the earliest depictions of
the Gorgoneion in Greece
appear on the shields of
“[MEDUSA’S] DESCRIPTION HAS CHANGED OVER
warriors in the mid-fifth
TIME AND FROM POET TO POET… BUT WHAT WAS century B.C. where she is
THE FIRST DEPICTION? FROM WHERE DID THIS
represented as a goat-bearded
monster with tusks rather than
MYSTERIOUS CREATURE ORIGINATE?”
a female demon.
Most contemporary readers, however, know the Gorgon
as the snake-haired goddess from the myth of PerseusMedusa in which she is one of three sisters, a trio of sea
nymphs who occupy an island at the far edge of the
ocean.
But was she seen as a Sea Monster or a Mother Goddess?
In the Greco-Roman world, the Gorgoneion-bearing
aegis was a protective amulet, similar to the “evil eye” of
witchcraft, appearing on the shields of Athena and Zeus.
Its power could be transferred to whoever possessed it.
According to the poet Hesiod, after her defeat at the
hands of the hero Perseus, Medusa’s blood spilled from
XVI
her severed head and created the coral reef of the Red
Sea, which tormented ancient mariners.
as the multi-armed Hindu Goddess Bhavani, the wrathful
counterpart of Parvati.
While the “Gorgoneion” was a popular motif in ancient
art long before the Greek story of Perseus-Medusa, it
only caught on rapidly in the sixth and fifth centuries BC.
Perhaps most direct influence to the Greeks was the
Babylonian Humbaba, a demonic grinning monster that
guarded the mythic cedar forest and was slain by the hero
Gilgamesh.
This is when the full-bodied Gorgon began to appear on
temples to Athena and Artemis, as well as on coins,
where she has been pictured opposite the owl of Athena
or sun god Apollo.
The Gilgamesh-Humbaba legend provided the model for
the Perseus-Medusa myth, while visual elements from
other Babylonian deities, like Abzu and Ishtar, which
were also incorporated and re-interpreted by the Greeks.
Around 415 BC in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, the
Gorgon is portrayed as three swanlike snake-haired sisters
who share one eye and loathe mankind. By contrast,
Pindar claimed that Medusa was in fact “fair-cheeked”
and Ovid later confirmed that she was irresistible to
whomever encountered her.
The fact that “sacred prostitution” was an ancient
custom in Babylonian temples devoted to Ishtar may
shed additional light on how the story evolved in Greece
– in particular, the detail of Medusa’s rape by Poseidon
in Athena’s temple.
So...was she hideous or beautiful?
Medusa’s appearances in Greek art during the 7th
century B.C. in early Corinthian pottery were influenced
by Assyrian art.
Like Hermes advised Heracles when he pursued the
Gorgon in the Underworld – it depends very much on
how you look at her.
In these examples, the Gorgon is often pictured with a
snout and tusks of a boar, as well as horns or wings, in
addition to the snakes that traditionally crown her head.
Clearly, her description has changed over time and from
poet to poet...but what was the first depiction? From
where did this mysterious creature originate?
One only has to look at the Mesopotamian terracotta
plaque from 1750 B.C. known as the Burney Relief,
which depicts Ishtar as a vampire-like goddess with
wings, clawed feet and a serpentine halo of hair, to see an
obvious resemblance to the Medusa of Archaic Greek
art:
Well, the Gorgon Medusa is thought to have been a sea
goddess born of Cetus and brought to Greece by way of
seafaring tribes from Babylonia. In these early myths, she
was a female deity who shared lineage with Artemis,
Demeter, Cybele and Rhea.
The Gorgons represented a fear of and reverence for the
awe-inspiring wildness of nature and animals. To the
Greeks, the Gorgon’s challenging grimace was the very
personification of Fear itself: Phobos.
And in tracing the origin of the Gorgon, archeologists
have linked her to just about every natural phenomenon
imaginable, including the roar of the ocean, the eruption
of volcanoes, the crack of thunder-clouds – as well as
beasts such as boars, lions, cephalopods and of course,
owls.
Although Greek depictions of the Gorgon monster did
not properly appear until after the Geometric Period, the
sisterhood of demonic winged snake-goddesses extends
to ancient Phrygia, Phoenicia, Babylonia and Persia.
This includes not only the great nature goddesses of Asia
Minor, like Artemis, but also those from farther east, such
XVII
Medusa, Temple of Artemis, Corfu
Although Medusa’s character may have become more
distinct in the Greek myths, she still retained the features
of the original nature goddess.
In the late 20th century, the mermaid Melusine
experienced worldwide resurgence in popularity when
Starbucks chose her as its company mascot, and the
Versace clothing company also adopted the Roman
Gorgoneion as its logo.
As mentioned, she was related to Artemis, the patroness
of wild animals, whose encounter with Actaeon was
extremely bloody. Actaeon caught Artemis and her
nymphs bathing in a wooded spring, which resulted in his
transformation into a stag and subsequent demise at the
jaws of his own hounds.
It is Sicily, however, that still has the longest-running
claim to the Gorgon Medusa.
Since 300 B.C. that Western Island basking in the
Mediterranean sun has consistently incorporated the
Gorgoneion into coinage and door handles, temples and
sarcophagi.
However, Actaeon only transformed once, while the
Gorgon went through many alterations over the
centuries.
Sicily has even used the Gorgon on its flag since the 13th
century. It can still be seen there today, surrounded by the
triskelion, the three running legs of the Gorgon, as well
as three shafts of wheat.
In The Middle Ages, the Gnostics christianized Medusa
by surrounding her head with a halo of biblical scripture.
In folktales she became the mermaid Melusine who
transforms into a fierce sea creature after she is caught
bathing:
But perhaps one of the most compelling depictions of
Medusa is an earlier one from the Temple of Artemis at
Corfu, an island on the western coast of Greece. Dating
back to 580 B.C., the temple was one of the largest of its
kind.
There, the winged Medusa resides prominently on the
western pediment, flanked by two lions, as well as her
offspring, the flying horse Pegasus and Chrysaor the
warrior. Larger than Zeus, who hurls a lightning bolt over
at the far end, her authority is unmistakable, and the
power of her dual nature can be more clearly
understood.
She is the Earth Mother, guardian of the natural world –
both demon of the oceanic unconscious and mistress of
wild beasts.
To a soul worthy of her gaze, one need not worry about
having the mirrored Athenian shield… as long as one
approaches her with equal amounts of courage and
respect.
XVIII