Classics and the Western Canon discussion
The Library of Greek Mythology
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Week 4: Book II Chapter 4 Early Argive Mythology
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David wrote: "Wouldn’t the offspring of two immortals also be immortal? If so, how did Aigialeus die?..."A very reasonable question, but not part of the logic of the myth.
Phoroneus is apparently one of the "first men" figures of localized mythology, and thus is human by default: he could be assigned a brother who could be used as an eponym (source of, in this case, a geographical name), accounting for an archaic piece of information, but the brother couldn't be allowed to complicate the genealogies at such an early stage.
The Roman story of Romulus and Remus is only one example of a myth in which one of two founding brothers (in that case twins) is eliminated.
There is some evidence that, although presented as history, this theme goes back to an Indo-European mythic prototype, in which one of the brothers, being the first mortal to actually die, becomes King of the Dead.
There are fairly clear examples of that aspect from India and Iran, where the first to die is named Yama (or Yima), "Twin," but there is no direct evidence of this in the Greek or Latin.* (There are debatable similarities in Norse stories of the origin of the world, such as the primeval giant Ymir, but they are broken down and disconnected from each other.)
*A disputed etymology for "Remus" suggests that the name, before it was alliterated with Romulus, was *Gemus, or "twin" (a hypothetical singular, meaning one of a pair of "Gemini"). If this is accepted, the argument would be stronger, but unfortunately, without other evidence, it is circular.
Cphe wrote: "Melampous ..... could he be considered the first doctor? Also what exactly was considered a purification?"There doesn't seem to be a good example of a Greek purification ceremony -- either it is missing by accident from the surviving record, along with much else, or ancient Greeks thought it too obvious and well-known to describe in any detail. Maybe a bit of both.
However, we do know it was a ritual, and by archaic (pre-Classical) times it was already associated with objective blood-guilt in the violent death of a human being, which generated "miasma,"* a sort of almost palpable pollution. that attached itself to the killer. The person involved had to leave the area, using the polis, where the death had taken place, and find someone willing to take responsibility for being in contact with him, and to perform the required ceremony.
It seems to have involved "washing" in the blood of a sacrificial animal, as if to wipe away the human blood with something equally strong. This was criticized as illogical by some philosophers, and attacked by vegetarians of various sorts, but it seems to have had general public acceptance as the proper procedure.
This left aside the questions of moral and legal guilt. in the case of accidental deaths, there was often a financial penalty before the killer could be re-integrated into society, what the medieval English would call a wergild ("man-price"). This was well-established already in the Ancient Near East. Murder was, in theory, much more serious, and could not be settled by such a private arrangement, but there is evidence that sometimes it was.
(This is specifically forbidden in Biblical law, which is good evidence people were doing it at the time. Icelandic sagas are full of such settlements, and their breakdowns.)
Treatment of blood-guilt sometimes became weirdly baroque. In Athens, there was a regular sacrifice of a plow-ox, a "friend to man" which was normally exempt from being offered.
A trial was then held to determine who was responsible for the "murder," and the blame was passed from person to person, until it came to rest in the sacrificial axe, which, when it failed to defend itself in court, was condemned and thrown into the sea, thus purifying the city.
In a theoretical law-case, represented (I think) by a rhetorical composition, the same logic is used to remove legal responsibility from those involved in the death of a spectator at an athletic competition.
The discus, javelin, or other lethal object, was condemned, clearing the athlete (who presumably had to be purified, too). It has been pointed out that no one seems to have thought of charging the event organizers, who had let spectators wander into the likely path of dangerous thrown objects.
Despite this seemingly whimsical attitude, miasma was taken seriously. In the plot of Oedipus Rex, the city of Thebes is afflicted by a plague, and the Delphic Oracle reveals that it is due to the pollution of harboring the killer of the previous king, Laius. The new king, Oedipus sets out to find the killer, despite warnings from a blind prophet that he might better leave it alone....
*If anyone is interested, in the eighteenth-century (if not earlier) the term "miasma" was revived for a sort of poisonous emission that was thought to cause diseases.
This theory lasted well into the nineteenth century, continuing to be invoked, at least in literature and journalism, well after the germ theory had been established. It was considered so common-sensical that it was forgotten that it was a recent theory, and it was seriously proposed that Grendel was an allegorical representation of the lethal miasma from a Danish bog.
Exactly how Beowulf wrestled a personified poison gas, and what good it would have done, was not considered part of this "rational explanation" for a typical Scandinavian cannibalistic troll.
Fortunately, this theory didn't last very long, going out of vogue with "Natur-Mythologie" rather than in the face of medical advances.
It took considerable medical detective work, even once the germ theory was in place, to establish that malaria ("bad air") was NOT associated with bad smells (except incidentally) -- or even airborne microbes, a likely-sounding guess -- but with blood-drinking mosquitoes breeding in stagnant water, which might very well smell bad.
This approach was somewhat later applied successfully to another killer epidemic often associated with stenches, Yellow Fever.
That discovery was part of the US effort to build a Panama Canal. It did nothing for the thousands of ill-housed, poorly-paid workers who died of pneumonia during the excavation, but it did make the route safe for passengers on ships traversing the canal, and was a boon to the Panamanians themselves.
David wrote: "This time Perseus saves Andromeda, kills the monster, and turns Andromeda’s uncle, her betrothed, to stone with the Gorgon’s head."I have also learned that:
A marriage was a contract between the husband and theThis prompts two questions.
bride’s father. Marriage of an only daughter with no brothers to her uncle was perfectly acceptable. Such a girl was called an epikleros.
Classical Mythology by Elizabeth Vandiver
1. Does Perseus killing Andromeda's uncle in order to marry her represent a rebellion of sorts against the culture's marriage practices?
2. Does the fact that marriages were business contracts, make us see Hera, the goddess of marriage, in a different light?
David wrote: "For these tasks he is given flying sandals, a wallet to hold Medusa’s head, and Athene’s shield."Correction: Perseus is given Hermes’ flying sandals, a wallet and the cap of Hades (which caused the wearer to be invisible). The cap was important because it saved Perseus from Medusa’s immortal sisters after he cut her head off and they woke up. He later gives Medusa’s head to Athena— after using it to turn his enemies to stone, of course. Athena affixes it to the center of the Aegis, the divine shield Hephaestus forged for Zeus that she often uses.
Aiden wrote: "David wrote: "For these tasks he is given flying sandals, a wallet to hold Medusa’s head, and Athene’s shield."Correction: Perseus is given Hermes’ flying sandals, a wallet and the cap of Hades (..."
Yes, the important part here being that Perseus did not escape on Pegasus. Too much Hollywood will also imply Athene provided the shield as well, her shield. but that does not seem to be the case here.
David wrote: "Yes, the important part here being that Perseus did not escape on Pegasus. Too much Hollywood will also imply Athene provided the shield as well, her shield. but that does not seem to be the case here. ..."Various tellings of the story relate that, among other gifts of the gods, Athena supplied a polished shield (not her own, the aegis), which reflected the gorgons. It is usually said that he used it as a mirror while looking at Medusa, so he didn't see her directly, but the eye-hand coordination here seems implausible.
A more likely suggestion, given ancient theories of sight and the "Evil Eye," was that it was not the face of the gorgons, but emanations from their eyes, that was deadly, so he used it to reflect them back.
Still awkward to imagine, though. (We are accustomed to imagine the gorgons as hideous, as in early Greek art, but in some versions they have beautiful faces, despite the snaky hair.)
Wikipedia has the following comment on Perseus and Pegasus:
"The replacement of Bellerophon as the tamer and rider of Pegasus by the more familiar culture hero Perseus was not simply an error of painters and poets of the Renaissance. The transition was a development of Classical times which became the standard image during the Middle Ages and has been adopted by the European poets of the Renaissance and later: Giovanni Boccaccio's Genealogia deorum gentilium libri (10.27) identifies Pegasus as the steed of Perseus, and Pierre Corneille places Perseus upon Pegasus in Andromède.[27] Various modern representations of Pegasus depict the winged horse with Perseus, including the fantasy film Clash of the Titans and its 2010 remake."
To my way of thinking, one of the best things about the original "Clash of the Titans" was that we got to see Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion version of a flying horse.
While on the gifts of Athena: in some versions she is said to have provided Bellerophon with the bridal which tamed Pegasus.
Her role as a supporter of heroes (Perseus, Bellerophon, and Herakles in just one lineage) is quite consistent, and gave rise to a theory (by the Swedish classicist M.P. Nilsson) that she was originally a Mycenaean protective goddess of kings, later generalized to legendary heroes, and cities where she was worshiped, as monarchy went out of style.
Wouldn’t the offspring of two immortals also be immortal? If so, how did Aigialeus die?
The wanderings of Io, and division of the Inachid line
More Cattle, this time Io is turned into a cow by Zeus to hide her from Hera after raping her. Io wanders around a great deal and ends up in Egypt.
Aigyptos, Danaos, and the Danaids
For fans of Game of Thrones we seem to have the origins of the “Red Wedding”.Proitos and Acrisios divide the Argolid
The title sums it up nicely.
Bias, Melampous, and the daughters of Proitos
Melampous somehow cures Proitos daughters who went mad for an impiety of some sort. Melampus and his brother Bias marry the two remaining daughters and inherit two thirds of Proitos’ kingdom.
Excursus: the story of Bellerophon
Iobates is another in a list of rulers who sends a hero out to perform tasks in which they are certain to result in the hero’s death from which the hero instead returns victorious. In this case Bellerophon, with the help of his flying horse Pegasus, defeats the Chimaera, the Amazons, and the Lycians. Apparently this boosted Bellerophon’s ego a little too much and a footnote indicates he is said to have died trying to fly Pegasus to Olympus.
Danae and the birth of Perseus
As Promethus put his son in a chest to preserve his life from the flood, Acrisios places Perseus in a chest at sea to end it because an oracle said his daughter Danae’s son would kill him. I have to say, there are many women in these stories who, like Mary in the New Testament, claim divine causes for their pregnancy. It seems to be a common excuse for ancient oopsies.
Perseus fetches the Gorgon's head
Perseus survives floating around in the chest and we learn the origins of Pegasus, in which Bellerophon used in previous story to perform his tasks. For these tasks he is given flying sandals, a wallet to hold Medusa’s head, and
Athene’s shieldHades' cap. Apparently flying sandals are boring because Hollywood can’t seem to resist flying Perseus around on Pegasus.[edited to remove Athene's shield and add Hades' cap - thanks for catching that Aiden]
Perseus and Andromeda
Mythology seems to enjoy sacrificing daughters. This time Perseus saves Andromeda, kills the monster, and turns Andromeda’s uncle, her betrothed, to stone with the Gorgon’s head.
The later history of Perseus
Perseus returns the divine items to the gods and accidentally kills Acrisios with a discus fulfilling the oracle’s prophecy. At least Perseus had the decency to inherit Acrisios’ lands and titles by exchanging kingdoms with his cousin and ruling Argos instead.
The immediate descendants of Perseus
Perseus has a bunch of kids, one of whom it is said the kings of Persia are descended.
The Exile of Amphitryon
It seems one of Perseus’ grandchildren, Amphitryon, accidentally kills one of Perseus’ sons, Electryon, and is exiled.