Download Escaping the Labyrinth

Escaping the Labyrinth
Greek Mythology
10/28/08
Cathedral at
Chartres,
France
Cathedral at
Chartres,
France
The cathedral
of Chartres,
France
(SW of Paris)
11-circuit
labyrinth
Built in the 13th
century
The cathedral
of Chartres,
France
(SW of Paris)
11-circuit
labyrinth
Built in the 13th
century
Late Roman villa mosaic labyrinth
Salzburg, Austria, late 3rd cent. A.D.
????
Coins of Knossos, Crete
(of various dates: Classical to early Roman)
The dark heart of Greek myth
• In the middle of the generations of heroes
• On the great island of Crete in the middle
of the Aegean
• The subtlest craftsman of Athens built a
dark, mysterious maze
• To hide the bestial shame of the daughter
of great king Minos, son of Zeus and
Europa
“Labyrinthus Hic Habitat Minotaurus”
Graffito of 7-circuit labyrinth, Pompeii (before 79 A.D.)
Remember Europa…
Remember Europa…
European Council -- Brussels
Europa and Crete
• After Zeus turned into a bull and raped
Agenor’s daughter Europa, carrying her
across the sea to Crete (Ovid Met. Book 2,
end)
• She marries king of Crete Asterios, has
sons by Zeus: Minos, Rhadamanthys,
Sarpedon
• [READ ACM pp. 45-6, sect. L1-2]
The sons of Europa
Zeus + Europa
Rhadamanthys
Becomes stern and
just judge in the
underworld
Minos
King and lawgiver
on Crete (also judge
in underworld)
Sarpedon
lives 3 generations
Trojan War hero
(see Iliad)
Minos & Pasiphae
• Minos becomes king of Crete
• Marries Pasiphae, daughter of Helios and
Perseis (thus sister of Aietes and Circe)
• Among their children: son Androgeos,
daughters Ariadne and Phaidra
• And Pasiphae’s son, Asterios / Asterion
or…
The Cretan Bull
• King Minos boasted of his power, prayed
that Poseidon send a bull up from the sea,
said he would sacrifice it
• Poseidon sends the bull, but Minos
refused to sacrifice it
• Or, Pasiphae neglected sacrifices to
Aphrodite
• So Minos/Pasiphae are punished: queen
lusts for the bull
Daidalos
• Pasiphae gets the clever Athenian
craftsman Daidalos to help her
• He builds a hollow mechanical cow in
which Pasiphae mates with the bull
• She gets pregnant and has a son Asterios
/ Asterion – a.k.a. The Bull of Minos
“Minotaur”
Daidalos
• Minos then has Daidalos build the
labyrinth—a maze—in which to hide the
shameful monstrous Minotaur
• Daidalos and the labyrinth is among the
stories which Ovid places in the central
book of the Metamorphoses (book 8 of 15)
Pasiphae and baby
Minotaur
Daedalus & Pasiphae
(Giulio Romano 15th century)
“Pasiphae”
(Henri Matisse,
1869-1954)
“Pasiphae” (Diane Victor, 2002)
Minotaur and wife
(Pablo Picasso 1881-1973)
Minotaur in 20th century art
• The 20th century saw a resurgence of the
minotaur and Cretan myths as themes in
art and literature
• Recall Europa = Europe
• Minos, Pasiphae, Daidalos, Minotaur,
Labyrinth become symbols of crisis of
modernity
Minotaur in
th
20
century art
• Daidalos : the artists (enforced?) collusion in
creation of false masks and prisons of “civilized”
culture
• Pasiphae : primal animal passions which
bourgeois culture attempts to conceal
• Minotaur : modern man (?) the hybrid man-bull
monster
• Labyrinth : the dark maze of…human psyche
(Freud), technological civilization
• Symbolic of the barbarities of war/genocide
which erupted in “civilized” Europe 1914-1945
Le labyrinthe
Andre
Masson
1938
Picasso
Minotaur
“If all the ways I have been along were
marked on a map and joined up with a
line, it might represent a Minotaur.”
(Picasso, when 80 years old)
Minotaur
1933
Minotaur 1933
Picasso Minotaur
Minotaur and
his wife
1937
Palatte, Candlestick, and head of Minotaur (1938)
Blind Minotaur 1934
1937 : Nazis and Italian Fascists bombed Basque town of Guernica, Spain on Apr.
24, 1937 during Spanish Civil War. Painting first displayed at 1937 Paris International
Exhibition
Picasso’s Guernica
• 1937-1950s : toured world, regularly in
exhibitions against war
• Until 1981 : at MOMA in NYC, became focus of
anti-war vigils during Vietnam War
• 1981 : MOMA gave painting to Spain, following
death of Franco and establishment of a
democratic constitutional monarchy (in accord
with Picasso’s wishes)
• 1985 : Nelson Rockefeller’s estate bequeaths
tapestry copy to UN – it hangs outside Security
Council
• 2003 : Tapestry draped upon occasion of
Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to
UN arguing case for war in Iraq
Minotaure designer fragrance
•
“The Minotaur is a
reoccurring theme in
Pablo Picasso's work,
and this is where his
daughter got the name
for her only masculine
fragrance. Minotaure
cologne by Pablo [sic:
should read Paloma]
Picasso has top notes of
citrus and middle notes
of Lavender, Geranium,
and Jasmine. Minotaure
base notes include
Sandalwood, Vanilla,
and Leather.”
What happens next?
• What happens when prince Theseus of
Athens is sacrificed to the Minotaur?
• How does Minos’ daughter Ariadne
become the bride of Dionysos?
• How does Theseus escape the murderous
wiles of Medea?
• Read ACM pp. 54-57, and stay tuned…
• What grade did I get on the midterm?
• Check Sakai later today