tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/greek-mythology-14909/articlesGreek mythology – The Conversation2024-03-14T19:24:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188002024-03-14T19:24:53Z2024-03-14T19:24:53ZFriday essay: from political bees to talking pigs – how ancient thinkers saw the human-animal divide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581424/original/file-20240312-18-f7g0up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C8%2C5467%2C3655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What makes us human? What (if anything) sets us apart from all other creatures? Ever since Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, the answer to these questions has pointed us back to our own animal nature.</p>
<p>Yet the idea that, in one way or another, our humanity is entangled with the non-human has a much longer and more venerable history. In the West, it goes all the way back to Classical antiquity – to Greek and Roman views about humans and animals. </p>
<p>The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322) first argued the human stands out from all other animals through the presence of <em>logos</em> (“speech” but also “reason”). Numerous Greek and Roman thinkers engaged in similar attempts to name what, exactly, sets humans apart. </p>
<p>Who or what is man? The arguments these philosophers came up with verged from the obscure to the outright bizarre: The human alone has the capacity to have sex at all seasons and well into old age; the human alone can sit comfortably on his hip bones; the human alone has hands that can build altars to the gods and craft divine statues. No observation seemed too far-fetched or outlandish. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of a bearded man, Aristotle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581448/original/file-20240312-28-9lkgw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Aristotle, as painted by Raphael.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>And yet, above all, the argument that animals lack logos continued to resonate. In classical antiquity it became powerful enough to coin the very word for animals in ancient Greek: <em>ta aloga</em> – “those without logos”. </p>
<p>This position was taken up by the philosophical school of the Stoics and from there came to influence Christianity, with its view of man made in the image of God. </p>
<p>The idea of an insurmountable gap between humans and other animals soon became the dominant paradigm, informing, for instance, the 18th century naturalist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carolus-Linnaeus">Carl Linnaeus’s</a> influential classification of the human as <em>homo sapiens</em> (literally: the “wise”, or “rational man”). </p>
<p>The practical implications of this idea cannot be underestimated. What has been termed “<a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-animal/">the moral status of animals</a>” – the question of whether they should be included in considerations of justice – has traditionally been linked to the question of whether they have logos. Because animals differ from humans in lacking both speech and reason (so this line of argument goes) they cannot themselves formulate moral positions. Therefore, they do not warrant inclusion in our moral considerations, or at least not in the same way as humans. </p>
<p>Increasingly, of course, as many contemporary philosophers have pointed out, this idea seems too simple. </p>
<p>New research in the behavioural sciences illustrates the at times astonishing capacities of certain animals: crows and otters using tools to crack open nuts or shells to make their contents available for consumption; octopuses lifting the lids to their tanks and successfully escaping to the ocean through pipes; bees optimising their flight path on repeated trips to a food source.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pink octopus in a tank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581188/original/file-20240312-24-3u7e8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Octopus have lifted the lids of their tanks and escaped.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dofleins-octopus-latin-enteroctopus-dofleini-tentacles-2278086727">Victor1153/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But there is, in fact, a considerable body of evidence from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds showcasing the complex behaviours of different kinds of animals.</p>
<p>Ancient authors like <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/person/pliny-the-elder/">Pliny</a>, <a href="https://www.livius.org/sources/content/plutarch/">Plutarch</a>, <a href="https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-4570">Oppian</a>, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095353490">Aelian</a>,<a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/porphyry/"> Porphyry</a>, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095431452">Athenaeus </a>and others have dedicated whole books or treatises to this topic, pushing back on the notion of animals as merely “dumb beasts”. </p>
<p>Their views anticipated the modern debate by attributing animals not only with forms of reason; they also highlighted their capacity to suffer, to feel pain and to feel empathy towards each other and, occasionally, even towards members of the human species. </p>
<p>Then there are the human-animal hybrid creatures of the Greek and Roman myths (more on this later) – the Sirens, the Sphinx, the Minotaur. All combine the body parts of human and animal. Individually and collectively they thus raise a fundamental yet potentially disturbing question: what if we are really, in part at least, animal?</p>
<h2>Ancient animal-smarts</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581189/original/file-20240312-26-17ijsr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581189/original/file-20240312-26-17ijsr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581189/original/file-20240312-26-17ijsr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581189/original/file-20240312-26-17ijsr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581189/original/file-20240312-26-17ijsr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581189/original/file-20240312-26-17ijsr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581189/original/file-20240312-26-17ijsr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/11879565">On the Nature of Animals</a> (late second/early third century CE), Aelian, a Roman author writing in Greek, described fish that helped their unfortunate mates when caught at sea, setting their backs against the trapped creature and “pushing with all their might to try to stop him from being hauled in”. </p>
<p>He wrote, too, of dolphins that helped fisher-folk, pressing the fish in “on all sides” so they couldn’t escape. In return, they were rewarded for their labours by a share of the catch.</p>
<p>He celebrated the clever design of beehives, observing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The first thing that they construct are the chambers of their kings, and they are spacious and above all the rest. Round them they put a barrier, as it were a wall or fence, thereby also enhancing their importance of the royal dwelling. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>By parading animal-smarts in action these examples – of which there are hundreds - astonish, inform, and entertain at the same time – similar perhaps to the ubiquitous reels showing animals doing amazing things circulating in modern social media.</p>
<p>Modern ethological studies variously observe animal behaviours which reverberate with Aelian’s examples.</p>
<p>Pairs of <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150925085344.htm">rabbit fish</a> have been shown to cooperate, with one partner standing on guard protecting the other one while feeding. Honeybees indeed build bigger cells for their queen that are set apart at the bottom of the hive separated by thicker walls. And <a href="https://www.pnas.org/post/podcast/cooperative-fishing-between-humans-and-dolphins">bottlenose dolphins</a> have been found to cooperate with humans in their efforts to capture fish. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dolphins swimming over seagrass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581193/original/file-20240312-16-rsj49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bottlenose dolphins have been seen cooperating with humans while fishing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anita Kainrath/shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>While not all of the ancient anecdotal evidence is confirmed by modern research, the overall thrust is clear: it deserves to be taken seriously and is part of the ancient conversation of what makes us human. </p>
<h2>The power of storytelling</h2>
<p>Some Greek and Roman thinkers resorted to the medium of storytelling to articulate views that are essentially philosophical in nature. The Greek philosopher Plutarch’s treatise <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Gryllus*.html">Beasts are Rational</a> draws on the famous story from Homer’s Odyssey in which some of Odysseus’ comrades are turned into pigs by the sorceress Circe. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-homers-odyssey-82911">Guide to the Classics: Homer's Odyssey</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Odysseus is eventually able to convince the sorceress to turn them back into human beings. In Plutarch’s rendering of the story he returns to Circe’s island to check whether there are any other Greeks turned animal – and finds a pig named Gryllus (“Grunter”).</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of men with animal heads." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581192/original/file-20240312-26-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Detail of a wine cup (kylix) depicting scenes from The Odyssey including men turned into animals, circa 560-550 BCE.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detail_view_-_Odysseus_men_turned_into_animals_by_Circe_receive_antidote_photo_by_Lucas_ancientartpodcast_flickr_cca2.0_8705662763_02d64d713e_o.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>Things take a turn for the unexpected when Grunter declines Odysseus’ offer of help. The reason? He prefers his animal to his human existence.</p>
<p>Grunter sets out to make an impassioned, highly rational case, arguing all animals in one form or another, have reason. Individual species differ from each other merely in the extent of and kind of reason. And, yes, this includes even those animals that have come to serve as the epitome of dumbness: sheep and the ass. </p>
<p>“Please note,” he adds, “that cases of dullness and stupidity in some animals are demonstrated by the cleverness and sharpness of others – as when you compare an ass and a sheep with a fox or a wolf or a bee.”</p>
<p>Grunter is not afraid to push things even further: Don’t individual humans, too, differ from each other in cleverness and wit? Long before the arrival of evolutionary theory, the pig here points towards a gradual view of how certain features, skills, and capacities map onto a continuum of all living creatures (the human included). The implied conclusion: there is no insurmountable gap between the human and other animals.</p>
<p>Grunter’s views are supported by others such as the speaking rooster of Lucian’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/11879565">The Dream or the Cock</a> (second century CE). Claiming to be the latest in a long line of previous incarnations that include (brace yourself) – the philosopher Pythagoras, the Cynic philosopher Crates, the Trojan hero Euphorbus, the Greek courtesan Aspasia, and several animals – this rooster-philosopher, too, prefers his animal to his human existence. </p>
<p>Animals, the rooster argues, are content with the basics; humans, by contrast, over-complicate things because they can’t get enough and greedily strive for ever more. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-darwins-the-descent-of-man-150-years-on-sex-race-and-our-lowly-ape-ancestry-155305">Guide to the classics: Darwin's The Descent of Man 150 years on — sex, race and our 'lowly' ape ancestry</a>
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</em>
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<h2>Myths and hybrid monsters</h2>
<p>Myth is arguably the most influential genre of ancient storytelling. A set of malleable tales of great age and importance, myth constitutes a world apart, a medium just far enough removed from the intricacies (and banalities) of everyday life to allow for the exploration of fundamental questions concerning the human condition. And Greek myths often explore human entanglements with non-human animals in ways that reference the philosophical debate.</p>
<p>The mythical figure of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Minotaur">the Minotaur</a> for example – a hybrid creature sporting the head of a bull and the body of a human male – does not seem to adhere to the norms and conventions applying to either of his composite identities. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of a minotaur." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580856/original/file-20240310-28-ykqvft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Tondo of a Minotaur, circa 515 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tondo_Minotaur_London_E4_MAN.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>His insatiable appetite for young humans sets him apart from accepted behaviour for both humans and cattle alike, identifying him as monstrous. </p>
<p>But what are monsters for?</p>
<p>This question also applies to another famous hybrid beast of the ancient world: the Theban sphinx. Perched high outside the gates of the city of Thebes, in the region of Boeotia in central Greece, this creature (half woman, half lion, often endowed with an extra set of wings) challenges all wishing to enter with the following riddle: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many try and fail to name the right answer, paying for it with their lives. Until Oedipus comes along. He gives the correct answer and thus busts the beast, which dutifully throws itself to death. </p>
<p>The creature in the riddle is, of course, the human: man first crawls on four legs, then walks on two, until in old age when a walking stick may serve as a third “leg”. And yet despite his clever wit, Oedipus is ultimately unable to use reason to his and the city’s advantage (a situation explored in depth in <a href="https://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.html">Sophocles’ famous tragedy Oedipus the King</a>).</p>
<p>What is the point of the riddle of the Sphinx? This story poses the human as a question but also illustrates the limits of logos in gaining self-understanding. Oedipus can solve the beast’s riddle; yet the riddle of his own humanity remains unresolved until it is too late. Here, the monstrous figure holds up a mirror for the human to recognise himself. </p>
<h2>Speaking animals</h2>
<p>Logos (in the sense of speech) also features prominently in the intervention of another iconic creature from classical antiquity: Xanthus, Achilles’ speaking horse. </p>
<p>On the battlefields of Troy (featured in Homer’s Iliad) Xanthus reminds Achilles of his imminent death. In this way the horse seems to tease all those thinkers (ancient and modern) who have argued the human stands out from all other animals in his capacity to speak in complex sentences.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-homers-iliad-80968">Guide to the classics: Homer's Iliad</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of a Greek god with two horses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581226/original/file-20240312-30-tn9od0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Automedon with the Horses of Achilles, painting by Henri Regnault, 1868.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Xanthus’s voice resonates with that of numerous other speaking animals populating Greek and Roman literature, including the gnat of <a href="http://virgil.org/appendix/culex.htm">Pseudo-Virgil’s Culex</a>, the speaking eel in Oppian’s didactic poem <a href="https://www.loebclassics.com/view/oppian-halieutica_fishing/1928/pb_LCL219.279.xml">On Fishing</a>, and the whole chorus of animals speaking to us in ancient fables. </p>
<p>Individually and as a group they raise a question: what if animals could speak to us in human language? What would they have to say to those humans prepared to listen? </p>
<p>As it turns out in these stories, often nothing too flattering. In classical antiquity, speaking animals often use their special position to question or examine the human condition.</p>
<p>Xanthus is a case in point. By reminding Achilles he is fated to die at Troy, the speaking horse reminds the Greek hero of an important aspect of the human condition: his own mortality and the fact that he, too, is ultimately subject to powers beyond human control.</p>
<h2>The political bee</h2>
<p>In Greek and Roman accounts of honeybee politics we find a peculiar human habit with a surprisingly long history: the attribution of political qualities to honeybees. </p>
<p>When we distinguish a “queen bee” from “workers” we are continuing a tradition that goes back to the ancient world (and possibly beyond). Aristotle names honeybees among the <em>zoa politika</em> (the “political animals”) – a category that includes wasps, ants, cranes, and, above all, the human.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581201/original/file-20240312-24-r54i0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Day_85_-_Sweat_Bee_-_Lasioglossum_species,_Leesylvania_State_Park,_Woodbridge,_Virginia.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He and others then set out to explore the intricacies of honeybee society. The ancient Greeks and Romans traditionally considered honeybees to inhabit a monarchy. In line with the gender realities of the ancient world, they imagined this monarchy to be led by a king or male leader. </p>
<p>Does the bee monarch have a stinger? If not, how does he assert his power and leadership? And what does the presence of the obviously unproductive drones in the hive say about the distribution of labour in a community? These are the kind of questions that resonated among Greek and Roman thinkers.</p>
<p>Honeybee society thus provided a perfect microcosm to study a set of questions that concerned human politics and society. The Roman philosopher Seneca, for instance, asserted that the bee monarch leads by <em>clementia</em> (mercy or mildness) - a form of leadership he found woefully lacking in contemporary Roman society. </p>
<h2>Meat and man</h2>
<p>So far we have seen animals mostly playing a symbolic role in Graeco-Roman storytelling. There is also a very real way in which human and animal bodies come to merge: through the human consumption of meat.</p>
<p>The ancient Greeks and Romans were ardent meat-eaters. Indeed meat-eating became a status symbol closely linked to the articulation of masculine identities. </p>
<p>In classical Greece the male citizen received his equal share of meat after communal religious sacrifices carried out by the <em>polis</em> (“city-state”). Meat eating also features prominently in several anecdotes about successful ancient Greek athletes who toned their extraordinary bodies through the consumption of ridiculous amounts of meat.</p>
<p>One of them – a boxer named Theagenes – even claimed to have gobbled up an entire oxen in one sitting. Another one – Milo of Croton – apparently gained his extraordinary strength by carrying a heifer on his back as a young man until both he and the heifer had grown up. </p>
<p>Meanwhile at Rome, the elites sought to outdo each other by hosting ever more lavish dinner parties typically featuring one or several meat dishes. More often than not this involved attempts to serve a bigger or larger quantity of boar than their peers. <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Sumtuariae_Leges.html">Roman sumptuary laws</a> eventually sought to control the worst excesses – albeit with limited success. </p>
<h2>The shearwaters of Diomedea</h2>
<p>The real also blends into the imaginary in the story of a special kind of bird. The Scopoli Shearwater (<em>Calonectris Diomedea</em>) is a species common to the Adriatic and other parts of the Mediterranean Sea. One of its outstanding features is that its cries resemble that of a wailing baby. These birds feed on small fish, crustaceans, squid, and zooplankton and are both migratory and pelagic. </p>
<p>The stories told about these birds by several ancient authors bring us to what is perhaps the most momentous way of exploring the human-animal boundary: the idea that in the realm of myth, at least, some humans, under certain conditions, could turn into animals and back again (metamorphosis). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A shearwater in the sea." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581199/original/file-20240312-28-mfz55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A scopoli shearwater.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.serra1/shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aelian-characteristics_animals/1958/pb_LCL446.15.xml">Aelian</a>, some shearwaters residing on a rocky, otherwise uninhabited island in the Mediterranean Sea showed puzzling behaviour. They duly ignored all non-Greeks arriving on their island. Yet if Greek people reached their shores they welcomed them with stretched wings, even settling down on their laps as if for a joint meal. </p>
<p>What motivated this curious behaviour? </p>
<p>The backstory explains that the birds were once human. They were the comrades of Diomedes, king of Argos, one of the Greeks fighting at Troy, who is said to have died on the same island now inhabited by the birds. Apparently, upon his death, his friends grieved so heavily the goddess Aphrodite turned them into birds – their cries forever bemoaning the passing of their comrade. </p>
<p>On the face of it this story is merely another example of a myth explaining an outstanding feature in nature (the birds’ endearing <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/news/2021/05/31/seabird-month-corys-shearwater-calonectris-borealis/">human-like cry</a>). Yet there is more to the birds’ curious behaviour than meets the eye. In discriminating between Greeks and non-Greeks the birds seem to recall not only their former humanity but specifically their Greekness; they even seem to engage in the central Greek practice of extending friendship to guests (<em>xenia</em>) and the sharing of food. </p>
<p>In doing so they illustrate a central point of ancient (and many modern) tales of metamorphosis: even though the body may turn animal, the mind remains human. As the seat of logos it contains our humanity while the body adds little, if anything, of substance.</p>
<p>As such, rather than imagining what the world looks like from the point of view of a non-human creature, tales of metamorphosis ultimately come to reaffirm the view that the human stands apart from all other animals. </p>
<h2>And so?</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Trojan Horse and other stories: book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581186/original/file-20240312-26-wyc3p2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cambridge University Press</span></span>
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<p>In the myth of the Minotaur, the Greek hero Theseus eventually enters the labyrinth in which the Minotaur is confined, tracking him down, and slaying him. With the help of a thread given to him by Ariadne, he finds his way back out to tell the tale.</p>
<p>But trying to make sense of the Minotaur and other iconic creatures from the ancient world leads us down a rabbit hole into a place of blurred boundaries: where the human emerges as a contested figure somewhere in the space between mind and body, human and animal parts.</p>
<p>In the end, then, there is no hard and fast boundary separating us from all other creatures – notwithstanding all efforts to dress ourselves up as different.
Rather, it is the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/trojan-horse-and-other-stories/6DD8408FDBA4C5C6604536F6EC7406D5">negotiations between different facets of our identity</a> which make us human</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218800/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Kindt received funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and is a member of the Sydney Environment Institute.</span></em></p>What makes us human? Greek and Roman thinkers were preoccupied with this question. And some of their observations of animals foreshadowed recent findings in the behavioural sciences.Julia Kindt, Professor, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163532024-01-31T19:07:47Z2024-01-31T19:07:47ZWho was Narcissus?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563496/original/file-20231204-29-e8pnp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C116%2C4065%2C2109&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">John William Waterhouse, Echo and Narcissus, 1903.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Narcissus is among the best-known figures from Greek mythology. </p>
<p>His beauty has lasted millennia: his name denotes the genus of plants of the <em>amaryllis</em> family, such as the daffodil and jonquil; his personality lends itself to the term “narcissism”, which describes a self-absorbed individual; and his story has inspired great works of art and literature.</p>
<p>The familial origins of Narcissus vary. In the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Metamorphoses-poem-by-Ovid">Metamorphoses</a>, Latin poet and mythographer Ovid names him as the son of the river god, Cephissus and the nymph, Liriope. </p>
<p>Another account, from the Greek author of the late Roman Imperial era, Nonnos, lists his mother as the goddess of the moon, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene">Selene</a> and his father her mortal consort, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Endymion-Greek-mythology">Endymion</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-ovids-metamorphoses-and-reading-rape-65316">Guide to the classics: Ovid's Metamorphoses and reading rape</a>
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<p>The Roman versions of Narcissus’ narrative are clearly based on a much earlier Greek myth. Scant evidence remains of its origins, other than the Greek etymology of his name and his place of birth in Boeotia, in Central Greece.</p>
<h2>Divine retribution</h2>
<p>Ovid’s vivid and dramatic version of the myth is the best known and most cited. He describes the fate of the beautiful youth, Narcissus, as announced by the seer, Tiresias; namely, he will live a long, fruitful life, provided he never recognises himself.</p>
<p>This prediction inevitably comes to fruition after Narcissus is subject to divine punishment for his rejection of the nymph, Echo. (In an alternative tradition, to which Ovid also alludes, Narcissus rejects the advances of a young man, Ameinias.) </p>
<p>Ovid tells of Narcissus’ repulsion at Echo’s advances and the devastating effect this had on her. Distraught at the beautiful youth’s aggressive rejection, Echo literally wastes away until nothing is left of her except her voice. She is able to repeat only the last few words of sentences uttered by others. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Narcissus kneels before a pool." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563497/original/file-20231204-29-1dnyv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Caravaggio, Narcissus, circa 1600.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ovid reveals Echo is merely one in a list of thwarted admirers, including a young man who prays for divine retribution against Narcissus’ arrogance. Sadly for Narcissus, the goddess of retribution – Rhamnusia – is more than happy to fulfil this prayer, thus manifesting Tiresias’ prediction. </p>
<p>While hunting one day and beset by thirst, Narcissus bends down by a pond to drink. Suddenly he gazes upon his own reflection. Narcissus is besotted by the beautiful young man who gazes back at him from the water’s surface. But he is rejected by the object of his desire, who continually disappears each time he reaches for him.</p>
<p>He falls in love with someone who will never return that love – himself. And, like Echo, he begins to fade away. </p>
<h2>A powerful story</h2>
<p>The story of Narcissus is a powerful one. It taught the Greeks and Romans about the cruel and absolute power of divine forces in their lives and the harsh justice they mete out to mortals. It also encapsulates a well-known ancient belief concerning suspicions around beautiful people.</p>
<p>The ancients were intensely cautious about the possible dangers of beauty. They believed it could incite both divine and human envy and conceal hidden evils behind enchanting veneers.</p>
<p>The idea of beauty’s potential to harm and hurt is at the heart of Narcissus’ story, expressing the ancient fear that a stunning face may not be matched by a kind heart.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572309/original/file-20240130-27-kd466p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Paphos Archaeological Park. House of Dionysos: Mosaic of Narcissus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paphos_Haus_des_Dionysos_-_Narkissos_2.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As with the hundreds of tales told in the Metamorphoses, the myth of Narcissus is one of transformation. As the nymphs of the waters and the trees prepare Narcissus’ funeral pyre, no body is found. Instead, a flower with white petals encircling a yellow centre lays in its place, namely, the daffodil. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A picture of a narcissus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572313/original/file-20240130-23-kmdljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A daffodil or ‘Narcissus tazetta’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Narcissus#/media/File:Narcissus_tazetta_var_chinensis1.jpg">KENPEI/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like many of Ovid’s versions of the myths so powerfully and evocatively recorded, the tale of Narcissus has inspired artists and poets as well as, of course, early psychoanalysts. </p>
<p>Austrian psychoanalyst <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Rank">Otto Rank</a> published an early account of narcissism in 1911, A Contribution to Narcissism. Sigmund Freud followed in 1914 with an article entitled, <a href="https://www.sas.upenn.edu/%7Ecavitch/pdf-library/Freud_SE_On_Narcissism_complete.pdf">On Narcissism: An Introduction</a>. </p>
<p>Rank emphasised vanity and grandiosity as aspects of narcissism. Freud linked narcissism with libidinal theories around instinctual sexual urges. Narcissism, he suggested, was not necessarily an abnormal human condition but one tempered by whether the libido was directed inward (towards oneself) or outward (towards others).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-culture-of-narcissism-christopher-lasch-excoriated-his-self-absorbed-society-but-the-books-legacy-is-questionable-216354">In The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch excoriated his self-absorbed society – but the book's legacy is questionable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These forays into narcissism or the increasingly popular term, “”<a href="https://www.sane.org/information-and-resources/facts-and-guides/narcissistic-personality-disorder">narcissistic personality disorder</a>“, are currently understood as being characterised by a fixation on oneself, extending to an exaggerated sense of one’s importance and limited empathy for other people. </p>
<p>For artists and poets, Narcissus’ story perhaps remains less complex. They have preferred to capture the pivotal moment of his self-fixated gaze, leaving interpretations to the viewer.</p>
<p>From antiquity to modernity, artists, from Pompeiian fresco painters of the first century CE to Caravaggio (1571-1610) and John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), have captured the tragic outcome inherent in his obsession with his own reflection.</p>
<p>Today, we may take this myth as a salient warning against our contemporary obsession with taking "selfies” and the self-promoting phenomenon of social networking.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marguerite Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The myth of Narcissus – the beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection – has inspired poets, artists and psychoanalysts.Marguerite Johnson, Honorary Professor, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2156592023-10-17T12:19:37Z2023-10-17T12:19:37ZLouise Glück honed her poetic voice across a lifetime to speak to us from beyond the grave<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554065/original/file-20231016-15-9jajn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1620%2C1079&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Louise Glück was photographed outside her home in Cambridge, Mass., after being named the 2020 Nobel laureate in literature.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2020/gluck/photo-gallery/">Daniel Ebersole/Nobel Prize Outreach</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When asked what her response was to being awarded the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/books/louise-gluck-nobel-prize-literature.html">Nobel Prize in literature in 2020</a>, Louise Glück replied that she was “completely flabbergasted.” She said she had thought it “extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life.”</p>
<p>Glück, who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/10/13/louise-gluck-dead/">died on Oct. 13, 2023</a>, at the age of 80, may have been taken aback that she was granted this exalted honor, the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/louise-gluck-prize-winning-poet-of-terse-and-candid-lyricism-dies-at-80">first American poet</a> to win since T.S. Eliot in 1948. But her win was far less surprising to those who know and love her work, and who now mourn her loss. </p>
<p>The Nobel Committee for Literature selected Glück for this literary achievement to <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2020/gluck/facts/">honor her</a> “unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1062252">poet and professor of writing</a>, I have long been an admirer of Glück’s spare and striking work. Her lyric voice still reverberates after her death, in part because of how consistently she turned her attention to questions of mortality.</p>
<h2>A cruel clarity of vision</h2>
<p>Glück said, in the same interview about her Nobel win, “I’ve written about death since I could write.” Her work turns again and again to the human story, those elemental facets of life that unite people. She went on to say, “I look for archetypal experience, and I assume that my struggles and joys are not unique.” </p>
<p>What’s common to humanity characterizes her work: Her focus on lasting themes of family and heartache and loss has earned her a wide audience and lasting acclaim. Before being awarded the Nobel Prize, Glück won the <a href="https://www.nationalbook.org/people/louise-gluck/">National Book Award</a> for “Faithful and Virtuous Night” in 2014 and the <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/louise-gluck">Pulitzer Prize</a> for “Wild Iris” in 1992, among other accolades. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Louise Glück reads selected poems.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though well received, Glück’s work is not always inviting. It can have an icy abruptness; she often writes speakers who have a cruel clarity of vision. In her poem “<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49601/mock-orange">Mock Orange</a>” she writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is not the moon, I tell you.</p>
<p>It is these flowers</p>
<p>lighting the yard.</p>
<p>I hate them.</p>
<p>I hate them as I hate sex </p>
</blockquote>
<p>which she goes on to describe as “the low, humiliating / premise of union.” As the poem ends, her speaker asks, “How can I be content / when there is still / that odor in the world?” </p>
<p>The lyric “I,” the first-person speaker of Glück’s poems, is rarely content. Though Glück wrote in the voice of many characters and from many perspectives, woven throughout her work is a perspective that tends to find the world – and the self – wanting. </p>
<p>It may be surprising, then, how strongly readers have responded to her still, spare, often quietly devastating work. It attends to daily human struggles as if from a distance, what the critic Helen Vendler described as “almost through the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/159665/poetry-louise-gluck">wrong end of a telescope</a>.” As in the old adage about what poetry can do, Glück <a href="https://theworld.com/%7Eraparker/exploring/tseliot/works/essays/andrew_marvell.html">made the familiar strange</a>, which is perhaps what continues to draw readers to her work: It renders the close-up experiences of heartbreak and hope from a new perspective.</p>
<h2>Ancient voices speaking to the everyday</h2>
<p>Glück also made the strange familiar, especially the distant world of myth. She brought ancient figures down to a human level by exploring everyday dramas through their voices. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Poster with an image of a young Louise Glück leaning against a brick wall, promoting a reading at the Poetry Center of the Museum of Contemporary Art" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554070/original/file-20231016-25-r0pb7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A poster promotes a Louise Glück reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago on Jan. 21, 1977.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://archive.poetrycenter.org/2015/07/21/gluck-louise-1977-2004/">The Poetry Center at the Museum of Contemporary Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She wrote often of families and the ways they fail each other, though slantingly, as when Glück explores strained dynamics between mothers and daughters via the Greek goddesses <a href="https://poets.org/poem/persephone-wanderer">Demeter and Persephone</a>. She makes vivid the challenges of marriage through the characters of Homer’s “Odyssey” in her 1996 book “Meadowlands.” A poem from that work, “<a href="https://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/gluck/Telemachus.html">Telemachus’ Detachment</a>,” envisages the son of Odysseus and Penelope reflecting on his parents’ union as “heartbreaking, but also / insane. Also / very funny.” Her register was wide: Though Glück wrote with a kind of detachment about even the most intimate of emotions, it was often via characters who spoke wryly, abruptly, with gallows humor and a gimlet eye for human frailty.</p>
<p>Failure and loss frequently gave rise to her work: Her fifth book, “Ararat,” published in 1990, arose after her father’s death; her 1999 book, “<a href="https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/louise-glucks-nine-lives/docview/231943493/se-2">Vita Nova,</a>” emerged from the dissolution of her marriage. Even her titles exemplify the dense literary references that characterize her work:
“Ararat” echoes the story of Noah’s flood, and “Vita Nova” is named after Dante Alighieri’s poems on the death of his beloved. In “Vita Nova,” the way we fail those we love is explored via the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. </p>
<h2>Contact even at a distance</h2>
<p>“Wild Iris,” one of Glück’s <a href="https://poets.org/poet/louise-gluck">most honored works</a>, winning both the Pulitzer Prize and The Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award, is exemplary of her style. A book of poems written after a <a href="https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/louise-gl%C3%BCck">paralyzing period of writer’s block</a>, it is the voice of flowers, of prayers, of the soul beyond death and of God speaking back through her poems. Even when talking to God, the speaker remains acerbic and questioning: The <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49758/vespers-once-i-believed-in-you">first line of one poem</a> to God begins “Once, I believed in you … .” </p>
<p>The title piece of the collection speaks in the voice of a flower emerging in spring and as a speaker from beyond the grave, “whatever / returns from oblivion returns / to find a voice.” Another poem in the voice of “<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49760/the-silver-lily">The Silver Lily</a>” says “We have come too far together toward the end now / to fear the end.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iDL8IMLA0Uc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Louise Glück reads from ‘Faithful and Virtuous Night’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Louise Glück’s poems can feel like they come at the drama of life from a distance: The voice in her poems has been described as <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/poems-louise-gl-ck/1120357967">vatic</a>, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/159665/poetry-louise-gluck">divinatory</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/books/louise-gluck-nobel-prize-literature.html">Delphic</a> and <a href="https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3407600191/GVRL?u=usocal_main&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=9003490a">haunting</a>, evoking a ghost speaking across time, able to narrate its own story with a dispassionate disinterest. </p>
<p>In the end, it was this carefully crafted, piercing observation of what is core to our human struggle that continues to animate Glück’s work for so many. If ever a poetic voice was honed across a lifetime to speak to us from beyond the grave, it’s Glück’s.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to clarify that Glück was the first American poet to win the Nobel Prize in literature since T.S. Eliot.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215659/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Cannon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A celebrated poet and Nobel laureate, Louise Glück wrote about mortality, broken families and human frailty with devastating wryness and quiet beauty.Amy Cannon, Associate Professor of Writing, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074622023-09-18T12:18:39Z2023-09-18T12:18:39ZWhat ancient Greek stories of humans transformed into plants can teach us about fragility and resilience<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543533/original/file-20230818-28315-o2b0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C9%2C2041%2C1342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stories from Greek mythology often show the close relationship between humans and plants.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristoffer-trolle/17306790922">Kristoffer Trolle/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For me, gardening is the most joyful summer activity, when I can see my hard work rewarded with colorful blooms and lush greenery. Science explains this feeling by recognizing <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-relationships-we-have-with-plants-contribute-to-human-health-in-many-ways-169817">the deep bond</a> between humans and plants. Being in a nurturing relationship with nature supports our <a href="https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.18-3-201">physical and mental health</a>. </p>
<p>At the same time, <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/classicalstudies/people/faculty/marie-claire-beaulieu">as a scholar of Greek mythology</a>, I also see the close relationship between humans and plants reflected in ancient stories. In fact, Greek literature and poetry often represent human life as plant life. </p>
<p>Just like plant life, human life follows the course of the seasons. Our youth is brief and beautiful like the spring, followed by the full bloom of adulthood in summer and the maturity of middle age, which yields bounty and prosperity like the fall harvest. Finally, in the winter of our life, we wither and die, to be replaced by a new generation, as famously described in the <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Iliad6.php#anchor_Toc239244954">Greek epic “The Iliad</a>”: “Like the generations of leaves are those of men. The wind blows and one year’s leaves are scattered on the ground, but the trees bud and fresh leaves open when spring comes again.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photograph showing yellow and purple flowers outside a church building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543527/original/file-20230818-23-xa3uq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daffodils and hyacinths at Whitwell Church of St Mary and St Radegund in the U.K.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daffodils_and_hyacinths_at_Whitwell_Church_of_St_Mary_and_St_Radegund.JPG">Editor5807 via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this way, Greek mythology spells out that human life, with its beauty and its sufferings, is part of the broader cycle of nature and should be viewed on par with other living creatures, such as plants.</p>
<h2>Unlucky youth</h2>
<p>Spring flowers are brightly colored, but they only last a short time, so they reminded the Greeks of the beauty and promise of youth and the tragedy of young lives cut short.</p>
<p>For instance, Greek myths tell the story of Narcissus, a young hunter who was so beautiful that he fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool. He couldn’t tear himself away, so he eventually withered on that spot and gave his name to a <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:3.435-3.508">pale white and yellow flower</a>, the narcissus, which is called daffodil in English. </p>
<p>Similarly, after the beautiful Adonis, beloved of the goddess Aphrodite, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:10.652">died in a boar hunting accident</a>, the goddess turned his blood into the red anemone flower, the “wind-flower” – <em>Anemone coronoria</em> – named for its fragile stem tossed in the wind.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A fresco showing the back of a young woman, with head slightly turned, wearing a gown with shades of yellow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543531/original/file-20230818-21-1x6wlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Roman goddess Flora depicted on a fresco in the Villa di Arianna in Stabiae near Pompeii, first century C.E.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flora,_fresco_Villa_of_Ariadne_in_Stabiae_near_Pompei,_c._15-45_AD_(38594045730).jpg">ArchaiOptix via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The hyacinth recalls the beautiful boy Hyacinthus, who was killed while he trained with the discus. His lover, the god Apollo, grew a flower on the spot and <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:10.143-10.219">inscribed the letters AI on it</a>, representing the Greek exclamation for grief “Ia! Ia!” Other authors say it represents <a href="https://topostext.org/work/808#46">the beginning of Hyacinthus’ name in Greek</a> – Ὑάκινθος. </p>
<p>Scholars believe that this flower is not the hyacinth commonly grown in our gardens – <em>Hyacinthus orientalis</em>. The exact species of the flower, however, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Narcisse_ou_Le_sang_des_fleurs.html?id=ymhxMAEACAAJ">is still debated</a> because it is difficult to find a flower that looks like it has letters on it, as the ancient descriptions assert.</p>
<p>The beauty of young women was also associated with ephemeral spring flowers. <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg006.perseus-eng1:6">Violets</a> and <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Sappho.php#anchor_Toc76357043">roses</a> appear with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, <a href="https://chs.harvard.edu/read/brockliss-william-homeric-imagery-and-the-natural-environment/">and in love poetry</a>. The ancient rose, unlike our modern heavily hybridized cultivars, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/77/article/591290/pdf">only bloomed briefly in the spring</a> and thus was a fitting image for the fleeting beauty of youth. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A photograph of an open bright pink flower showing its pollen producing parts." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543529/original/file-20230818-19-6qkvqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543529/original/file-20230818-19-6qkvqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543529/original/file-20230818-19-6qkvqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543529/original/file-20230818-19-6qkvqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543529/original/file-20230818-19-6qkvqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543529/original/file-20230818-19-6qkvqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543529/original/file-20230818-19-6qkvqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rosa Gallica, one of the ancient species from which modern roses are descended.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wild_Rosa_gallica_Romania.jpg#filelinks">Via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Picking flowers</h2>
<p>Because flowers are associated with beauty and attractiveness, picking flowers in Greek mythology evokes a young woman’s discovery of sexuality. For instance, the beautiful Europa, a princess from the Eastern Mediterranean, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0893.phi001.perseus-eng1:3.27">was picking flowers</a> when she was abducted by the god Zeus and transported across the sea to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to the mythical king Minos.</p>
<p>As classical scholar <a href="https://www.philo.uliege.be/cms/c_7668233/fr/andre-motte-en-memoire">André Motte</a> demonstrated, the discovery of sexuality was frequently <a href="https://www.academieroyale.be/Academie/documents/LXI5_Motte_Prairiesetjardins_197312905.pdf">formulated in terms of death</a>, and flowery meadows were imagined to be a portal to the underworld. For instance, the beautiful young Persephone, daughter of Demeter, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg002.perseus-eng1:2">was picking a bouquet</a> of lilies, narcissus and violets when she was abducted by Hades, the god of death.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A rectangular stone shaft showing a standing young man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=2690&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=2690&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=2690&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=3380&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=3380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543525/original/file-20230818-29-afeqow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=3380&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Funerary monument of a young Greek athlete holding pomegranates, 550 B.C.E.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mfa.org/objects/151018/funerary-monument-for-an-athlete;jsessionid=968FC7359972332A8CA64DE7D2275133">Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The symbolism of fruit</h2>
<p>While spring flowers represented sexual attraction, the fruit that comes in the summer and fall, to the Greeks, represented the consummation of sexuality. Thus, once Persephone was in the underworld, she accepted a pomegranate from Hades, which sealed her fate <a href="https://topostext.org/work/355#370">to remain in the underworld</a> for a part of each year. </p>
<p>The pomegranate, whose bright red juice recalls blood, was often seen as a symbol of sexuality as well as early death in Greek art. Indeed, Persephone is symbolically dead while in the underworld, and her absence brings about winter on Earth.</p>
<p>Similar to pomegranates, apples are common as <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/PropertiusBkOne.php#anchor_Toc201112142">lover’s gifts</a> and represent female fertility. Gaia, the Earth goddess, created the apple tree <a href="https://topostext.org/work/207/#2.3.1">for Hera’s wedding</a>, emphasizing the beauty and fertility of this divine bride, the goddess of marriage and queen of the Greek pantheon. </p>
<h2>The bleakness of winter</h2>
<p>After the fruit of the harvest has been consumed and the fall has turned to winter, both plants and humans wither and die. </p>
<p>The Greeks imagined that plants were colorless in the underworld because white was the color of ghosts. The <a href="https://topostext.org/work/3#OD.24.10">dead lived in meadows of asphodel</a>, a grayish-white flower, and pale willows and white poplars also grew there. The god Hades created the white poplar in memory of the nymph Leuke, “the White One,” whom he loved before her untimely death. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A circular walled ancient monument with cyprus trees around it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543522/original/file-20230818-27-6n0dv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543522/original/file-20230818-27-6n0dv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543522/original/file-20230818-27-6n0dv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543522/original/file-20230818-27-6n0dv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543522/original/file-20230818-27-6n0dv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543522/original/file-20230818-27-6n0dv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543522/original/file-20230818-27-6n0dv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/184393744@N06/49345593857/">Jamie Heath via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, the dark cypress also represented the dead and was commonly grown on funerary monuments. The tree was named after Cyparissus, a boy who inadvertently killed his pet deer and mourned unceasingly, so much so that he was transformed <a href="https://topostext.org/work/141#10.126">into the tree that symbolized mourning</a>.</p>
<p>However, some plants survive the winter and keep their green color, such as the laurel, myrtle and ivy, which were common in <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/cultural-history-of-gardens-in-antiquity-9781350009868/">ancient Greek and Roman gardens</a>. The ivy offered hope during the dreary season because it was sacred to Dionysus, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501733680-017">a god of joy, wine and freedom who had returned from the dead</a>. Ivy represented Dionysus’ power to spread happiness and the ability to free people from the bonds of everyday experiences.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A rust colored cup with drawings of ivy, vines and dolphins." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543526/original/file-20230818-28498-ftuy32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wine cup showing Dionysus on a boat, from 540–530 B.C.E.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exekias_Dionysos_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_2044_n2.jpg">Collection Staatliche Antikensammlungen via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, ivy is still seen as a symbol of <a href="https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/archivists-garden/index-by-plant-name/rock-ivy">eternal life and everlasting loyalty</a>, and is featured both on funerary monuments and in bridal bouquets.</p>
<h2>Pain and transformation</h2>
<p>Why did the natural beauty of the plant world, for the Greeks, evoke so many sad stories? </p>
<p>As noted by classical scholar <a href="https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/alessandro-barchiesi.html">Alessandro Barchiesi</a>, “Nature is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198864066.003.0002">in perennial flux</a>, everything transforms, but metamorphosis tends to produce a new ‘state of nature’ that no longer changes.”</p>
<p>By acquiring a new form through metamorphosis, the people in these stories attain a stable life that resolves the misfortunes they have gone through. For instance, Cyparissus, mourning for his deer, finds a reprieve from his grief by becoming a cypress. At the same time, his story is not forgotten since it is memorialized in the very name of the cypress and its significance as a tree of mourning.</p>
<p>In this way, metamorphosis <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC100204">offers relief from painful experiences</a> by integrating the sufferer into the eternal and stable cycle of nature, while commemorating the transformation through stories. </p>
<p>Greek mythology suggests that human sufferings, though painful, eventually come to an end because they are part of the broader and everlasting cycle of nature. Still today, these stories teach us to view our own grief and the painful experiences we go through in the broader context of the ever-changing, yet cyclical, natural world. </p>
<p>In this way, like the people in the Greek stories who are transformed into plants by intense grief, we too can find consolation in learning that grief itself changes over time, and most importantly, it changes <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/grieving-changes-brain">who we are as people</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A fresco showing a garden scene with fruits, flowers and birds against the backdrop of a blue sky" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543532/original/file-20230818-48215-h4mqsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roman fresco in the Villa of Livia, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresque_du_nymph%C3%A9e_souterrain_de_la_villa_Livia_-_Mus%C3%A9e_national_romain_-_mur_nord-est_-_4.jpg">Shonagon via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207462/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie-Claire Beaulieu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Stories in Greek mythology on the cycle of nature showing youth, death and rejuvenation can have lessons for us today on how grief changes over time and transforms who we are as people.Marie-Claire Beaulieu, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065922023-07-13T20:05:28Z2023-07-13T20:05:28ZFriday essay: from angry gods and fertile myths to battleships and new technologies – how the wind shapes our world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536487/original/file-20230710-23-rh65ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C68%2C3503%2C2264&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to the natural elements, wind’s role in shaping our world can be overlooked. <a href="https://www.livescience.com/ancient-egyptian-pharaoh-sphinx-statues-unearthed-at-sun-temple">The worship of the sun</a> in ancient cultures such as Egypt is common knowledge, and ancient gods such as the <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Vulcan/">Roman Vulcan</a> deify volcanoes and fire. </p>
<p>But the work of wind – invisible to the naked eye – often goes unnoticed. Yet, for millennia, this unseen force has critically shaped aspects of life as varied as religion, trade, warfare, culture, science and more.</p>
<p>Mysterious and magical, wind has been worshipped, decided the outcome of innumerable military battles and powered the processes of <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/exploration/nasa-parker-probe-solar-wind/">scientific exploration</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536443/original/file-20230710-19-3a8gm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winslow Homer, The West Wind (1891).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wind and the natural world</h2>
<p>Wind can be described simply as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/wind">movement of air from areas of high to low pressure</a>. By definition, wind maintains a perpetual motion. Wind is a critical element for the maintenance of life on Earth – while the sun provides the planet with warmth, <a href="https://www.billnye.com/the-science-guy/wind">wind disperses this solar energy</a>, allowing for a habitable biosphere.</p>
<p>As well as shaping the course of human history, wind has shaped the Earth and its contents. A <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-11-powerful-sculpting-argentina-landscape.html">powerful terraforming force</a>, it is as influential as glaciers and rivers in moulding landmasses and creating mountains. Far from earth, winds blowing through the cosmos are thought to <a href="https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/how-galactic-winds-affect-evolution-of-galaxies/">seed the formation of galaxies</a>, while in the Southern Ocean, westerly winds feed the movement of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-the-antarctic-circumpolar-current-helps-keep-antarctica-frozen-106164">world’s strongest ocean current</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536460/original/file-20230710-29-tb1mqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The largest ocean current on Earth, the Antarctic circumpolar current.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Antarctic Survey/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wind has influenced the growth of plants and the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2017317118">evolution of their physical forms</a>, and has at times wielded an unseen evolutionary force over animals. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32341144/">A recent study of neotropic lizards</a> (tree-dwelling reptiles) found lizards with bigger toepads were more common in areas that <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hurricanes-make-lizards-evolve-bigger-toe-pads-180974772/">experience frequent hurricane activity</a>. Larger feet appeared better able to cling to points of security during powerful winds. Similarly, hurricane activity is thought to be shaping the evolution of some species of spiders, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/08/21/spiders-becoming-more-aggressive-survive-after-hurricanes/2054316001/">making them more aggressive</a>.</p>
<p>Wind <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-12-biologists-mechanism-transition-insect-pollination.html">spreads the seeds, spores and pollens</a> necessary for fertilising the planet. It also carries life-giving rains, at times through aerial pathways known as “<a href="https://www.theamazonwewant.org/flying-rivers/">flying rivers</a>”. </p>
<p>Yet, the damaging potential of wind is as costly as it is unpredictable. In 2022, the Atlantic storm known as Hurricane Ian took 161 lives and caused <a href="https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/weather/2023-01-11/new-report-ian-third-costliest-hurricane-on-record">over US$100 billion dollars in damage</a>. <a href="https://www.history.com/news/hurricane-katrina-facts-legacy">Hurricane Katrina</a>, in 2005, caused catastrophic flooding, widespread damage and the loss of over 1,800 lives. The financial cost of Katrina has been estimated at over US$125 billion. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-costs-of-disasters-like-hurricane-ian-are-calculated-and-why-it-takes-so-long-to-add-them-up-191736">How the costs of disasters like Hurricane Ian are calculated – and why it takes so long to add them up</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Wind and religion</h2>
<p>Wind’s unseen force has been recognised since the times of our earliest written records. In literature from ancient Mesopotamia (an area roughly synonymous with modern-day Iraq), a theme appears that continues throughout much later literature — the fusion of wind and religion in human thought.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536439/original/file-20230710-29-2fw8io.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baked clay statue of the Mesopotamian god Enlil, from Nippur, Iraq, 1800-1600 BCE.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">World History Encylopedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Enlil is a primary deity in the Mesopotamian pantheon, situated at the top of the divine hierarchy from the earliest times. <a href="https://www.history.com/news/hurricane-katrina-facts-legacy">Described as “king” or “supreme lord”</a>, his name can be translated as “Lord Wind”. Enlil’s wife is named Ninlil, meaning “Lady Wind”. </p>
<p>Enlil at times wields wind as a weapon. In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">Epic of Gilgamesh</a>, he sends a great storm to destroy most of humanity. Wind is also weaponised in the Babylonian Creation myth, <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/225/enuma-elish---the-babylonian-epic-of-creation---fu/">Enuma Elish</a>, which dates to around 1200 BCE. In this myth, a cosmic battle involves an array of savage winds, alongside the divine creation of the cardinal winds, North, South, East and West.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">Guide to the classics: the Epic of Gilgamesh</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the Bible, the cardinal winds are frequently connected to apocalyptic settings. The four winds are involved in mediating the power of life and death in the Books of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=job+1&version=NRSVUE">Job</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mathew+24&version=NRSVUE">Matthew</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+13&version=NRSVUE">Mark</a>, and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2037&version=NRSVUE">Ezekiel</a>, while under the power of God or angels (or both). </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534480/original/file-20230628-29-6ms1i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Durer: Four angels holding back the winds, and the marking of the elect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The connection between the cardinal winds and apocalypse is reflected in art. The German Renaissance artist, <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/albrecht-durer-3-things-to-know-1970024">Albrecht Dürer</a>, depicts angels holding the four winds in his work The Apocalypse with Pictures (1498). It represents a passage from the <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/book-revelation-curses-0017927">Book of Revelation</a>, where angels are described “holding back” the four winds, thus representing the staying of divine judgement prior to further cataclysmic events.</p>
<p>In Egyptian religion, the four cardinal winds are found in the <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/148/the-pyramid-texts-guide-to-the-afterlife/">Pyramid texts</a> – sacred texts carved on the walls of the pyramids of Egyptian rulers during the Old Kingdom period. </p>
<p>In these texts, the four winds were viewed as servants of the <a href="https://www.livescience.com/ancient-egyptian-sun-temple-discovered">Egyptian god of creation and the sun, Ra</a>. The four winds were thought to stand behind him. Their power of “looking with two faces” meant their gaze could either be protective or harmful. </p>
<p>In the Egyptian <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1021/the-coffin-texts/">Coffin Texts</a>, the cardinal winds were connected to the afterlife. They also played a complex role in <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1019/magic-in-ancient-egypt/">ancient Egyptian magic</a>. Wind and magic have long been fused in religious thought. In many ancient cultures, religious practitioners were believed capable of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempestarii">magically summoning the wind</a> and manipulating its power. </p>
<h2>Fertile breezes</h2>
<p>As well as recognising the wind’s dangerous and destructive potential, ancient cultures revered its creative capacity. In Greek myth, <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheKhloris.html">unions between wind and plant deities</a>, such as Chloris the flower goddess and Zephyrus, the West-Wind, mirrored the role of the wind in spreading seeds and pollinating plants. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536447/original/file-20230710-27-6ofe7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attic vase thought to depict Zephyrus (on left) and Hyacinthus, from Tarquinia, c. 480 BCE.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">World History Encyclopedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was thought at this time that wind’s fertilising role worked on animals, too. Several early works in the genre of natural history, such as Pliny the Elder’s The Natural History (c. 1st century CE), describe divine, animate winds <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D67">impregnating mares</a>. The Roman poet <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilGeorgicsIII.php">Virgil</a> described this behaviour as inspired by the <a href="https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/aphrodite/venus.html">Roman love goddess, Venus</a>.</p>
<p>In myths from West Africa and South America, wind shows a religious association with <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-77481-3_48">breath, as well as living and ancestral spirits</a>. </p>
<p>The wind deity <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1465923?casa_token=MDVNYTM4o3kAAAAA%3A_N7PN_qaEaE6hB5CRvGp7D0LSXaSgtLrF1KQKm66blwSA482i8Qm1ETaL1LcXev6eC_PXSG-FnbLTh7wmixRWvChuptDFX9f7zQ4bZMbAgytCHVqqQ">Oya</a> is connected to tornadoes, change and rebirth. These connections symbolically represent the role of wind in bringing rains and assisting in the production of new life. </p>
<h2>Winds of war</h2>
<p>The invisible force of wind has helped shape the course of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/16/how-wind-direction-changed-the-course-of-english-history-in-1688">innumerable human battles</a>. An ancient example of the use of wind in warfare comes from the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/ancient-romes-darkest-day-the-battle-of-cannae">Battle of Cannae</a>. In 216 BCE, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/hannibal">Hannibal</a>, the famous Carthaginian general, led his troops to victory over the larger Roman army in a bloody battle that took place in south-eastern Italy. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536444/original/file-20230710-19-w7ak16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Livy, Histoire romaine: The battle of Cannae.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hannibal understood the direction of a scorching local wind, known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libeccio">libeccio</a>, could prove a decisive element in the battle. </p>
<p>Knowing the wind would intensify in the heat of the afternoon, Hannibal positioned his troops so it would blow against their backs – and into the faces of his enemies. Hannibal’s success was recorded by the <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/person/livy/">Roman historian, Livy</a>. The hot wind blew dust and grit into the eyes of the Romans, obstructing their vision. </p>
<p>During the English <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/wars-of-the-roses">War of the Roses </a>(1455-1487), the wind helped the Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians in the <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/The-Battle-of-Towton/">Battle of Towton</a>. While the Lancastrians had claimed the higher ground on the battlefield, the Yorkists had the wind at their backs. This powerful headwind sent their arrows deep into the bodies of the Lancastrians, while limiting the range of their opponents’ arrows.</p>
<p>Sudden changes in the wind were decisive during several points of the 16th century <a href="https://www.tudorsociety.com/30-july-1588-wind-scatters-armada/">battles of the Spanish Armada</a>. Fortuitous winds also played a key role <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/20/weird-weather-saved-america-three-times/">helping George Washington</a> escape a British siege in the <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/battle-of-long-island/">Battle of Long Island</a> during the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history">American Revolutionary War</a> (1775-83). </p>
<p>Washington’s retreat was assisted by the arrival of a fog and a wind shift that filled the sails of his company’s ships. In a later battle, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-tornado-that-saved-washington-33901211/">a tornado </a> pressed the British troops into retreat.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536445/original/file-20230710-19-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 1889 painting of the American retreat from Long Island after the battle of Brooklyn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More contemporary examples show how wind can be a fickle friend on the battlefield. During the first world war, the use of <a href="https://sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/a-brief-history-of-chemical-war/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7uSkBhDGARIsAMCZNJueAShis_-YcLIAM6SNw4iQo99qIU76ucuLzyYE7psNZYfiKI3CqFwaAnjPEALw_wcB">chlorine, mustard and other gases</a> led to both psychological horror and devastating death and injuries. </p>
<p>Wind speeds and direction were carefully measured by military meteorologists, who advised on the optimal time to release gas to cause the greatest damage to the opposing side. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535459/original/file-20230704-22-3ledi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Singer Sargent, Gassed (1919).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But a change in the wind’s direction, or a shift in its intensity, could result in unintended consequences – and potentially, blowback. The nebulous quality of gas borne on wind meant the poisons could not be restricted to the battlefield, easily carrying to villages near the battlefront. This caused civilian deaths, too.</p>
<h2>Nuclear fallout</h2>
<p>In modern times, the unpredictability of wind has influenced the testing and use of nuclear weapons. On August 6, 1945, crosswinds meant the nuclear bomb dropped over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/18/story-of-cities-hiroshima-japan-nuclear-destruction">Hiroshima</a> was carried a short distance from its aiming point – the Aioi Bridge – to the Shima Hospital, which was instantly destroyed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535460/original/file-20230704-27-8jovfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Atomic clouds over Hiroshima, left, and Nagasaki.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1954, the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/nuclear-bomb-tests-bikini-atoll-facts">testing of nuclear fusion bombs on the Bikini Atoll</a> by the US military was <a href="https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/location/marshall-islands/">adversely affected</a> by an unexpected weather event. The wind on the first of March in Bikini did not follow the predicted patterns of the meteorologists. Strong westerly winds carried fallout contamination across the population of the Marshall Islands, and beyond.</p>
<p>More than 70 years later, Bikini Islanders continue to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/us-nuclear-testings-devastating-legacy-lingers-30-years-later?loggedin=true&rnd=1687827127877">face the consequences of the spread of radiation from the nuclear tests</a>. <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/aviation/data/education/wind-shear.pdf">Wind shear</a> and ocean currents carried the fallout from the tests as far as Europe, Australia and India.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536446/original/file-20230710-28-ruryie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The second atom bomb test at Bikini Atoll explodes underwater on July 25, 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shaping technology</h2>
<p>The invisible potency of wind has also powerfully shaped the development of technology. Since the Upper Palaeolithic times, wind-born aerofoils have been used for many purposes including hunting. The first known <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/earliest-evidence-of-the-boomerang-in-australia#:%7E:text=Boomerangs%20and%20throwing%20sticks&text=A%2023%2C000%2Dyear%2Dold%20mammoth,to%20about%2010%2C000%20years%20ago.">boomerang</a> dates to around <a href="https://apnews.com/article/5386e4fc34507bfe5a66dcb9f2753d80">23,000 years ago</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-indigenous-engineering-feats-you-should-know-about-198987">5 Indigenous engineering feats you should know about</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Wind filled the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/mesopotamian-reed-boats-171674">sails of early boats</a> in Mesopotamia over 6,000 years ago, allowing for longer sea voyages, trade and cultural exchanges. </p>
<p>And in China, as well as parts of the Middle East, the invention of <a href="http://www.historyofwindmills.com/">windmills</a> allowed communities to pump water, grind grain and irrigate crops hundreds of years before the industrial revolution. </p>
<p>In modern times, wind-powered kites featured in many early weather experiments. Wind was critical to the discovery and development of electrical power — perhaps <a href="https://www.fi.edu/en/benjamin-franklin/kite-key-experiment">most famously in the experiments</a> of the American polymath, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/benjamin-franklin">Benjamin Franklin</a>, who flew a kite fastened to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyden_jar">Leyden jar</a> into a thunderstorm to research the connection of lightning to electricity (please don’t try this at home).</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535462/original/file-20230704-19-1xh7f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Benjamin West, circa 1816, Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wind power generated <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/12/wind-and-solar-generated-a-record-amount-of-global-power-in-2022.html#:%7E:text=Sustainable%20Future-,'Entering%20the%20clean%20power%20era'%3A%20Wind%20and%20solar%20generated,of%20global%20power%20in%202022&text=An%20analysis%20published%20Wednesday%20by,global%20electricity%20generation%20in%202021.">a record amount of electricity in 2022</a>, becoming the top energy producer in the UK. Further from home, the use of wind turbines <a href="https://www.popsci.com/technology/mars-wind-power-turbines-nasa-study/">on the volcanic highlands and crater rims of Mars</a> has been posited as potentially powering future human bases on the red planet.</p>
<p>Last year, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04363-9">wind dispersal</a> was explored as a means for carrying battery-free, wireless-sensing devices (sometimes called “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/09/16/smart-dust-is-coming-are-you-ready/?sh=70e756785e41">smart dust</a>”) in a study published in Nature. </p>
<p>The authors were inspired by <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/dandelion-seed-flight/">dandelion seeds</a>, which carry adaptions to make them easier to carry on the breeze. Battery-free wireless sensory devices are a relatively new field of research with many potential applications — including the areas of medicine, agriculture and military science.</p>
<p>In the 21st century, the need to understand and appreciate the natural world has become increasingly clear. Wind by its very nature is always shifting, and in recent years, <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/global-stilling-is-climate-change-slowing-the-worlds-wind">changes to global wind patterns have occurred due to climate change </a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cyclone-ilsa-just-broke-an-australian-wind-speed-record-an-expert-explains-why-the-science-behind-this-is-so-complex-203835">Cyclone Ilsa just broke an Australian wind speed record. An expert explains why the science behind this is so complex</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536959/original/file-20230712-24-bdstyv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, climate change has been linked to an increase in <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-isnt-just-making-cyclones-worse-its-making-the-floods-they-cause-worse-too-new-research-182789?gclid=CjwKCAjw44mlBhAQEiwAqP3eVqPwZCGYkGkY9LuAltqIolEqxP7h1AKSYYc1k3IOjUv6AuP2-_ywlRoCX7kQAvD_BwE">catastrophic wind-related weather events</a>, an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65844901">increase in clear air turbulence</a> (also known as “in-flight bumpiness”) and a <a href="https://www.ft.com/video/94669d40-8d30-4e95-8865-a4d034176c59">global reduction in wind speeds</a> known as “The Stilling.” </p>
<p>The impact of climate change on wind is a developing area of study, with the long-term impacts difficult to predict. Delving into the intangible and <a href="https://theconversation.com/cyclone-ilsa-just-broke-an-australian-wind-speed-record-an-expert-explains-why-the-science-behind-this-is-so-complex-203835">unpredictable</a> world of the wind is an encounter with nature’s ephemeral complexity.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Louise M. Pryke is the author of <a href="https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/wind">Wind, the latest volume in Reaktion’s Earth Series</a>. Wind explores the element’s natural history as well as its cultural life in myth, science, religion, art, music and literature.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>_Correction: in the original version of the article, The Book of Revelation was incorrectly listed as the Book of Revelations. _</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Pryke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Invisible to the naked eye, the work of the wind often goes unnoticed. Yet, for millennia, this unseen force has shaped religion, trade, warfare, culture, science and more.Louise Pryke, Honorary Research Associate, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2023182023-05-23T19:16:05Z2023-05-23T19:16:05ZLive performance meets digital to create a powerful love story in the opera ‘Orphée+’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526268/original/file-20230515-12140-3fju5n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=544%2C504%2C3832%2C2673&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Surrounded by what resembles a Zoom chorus, lovers Orpheus and Eurydice descend into a digital hellscape, and later try to navigate a ‘new normal' in their relationship. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nanc Price/Edmonton Opera)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022-2023 season is the first for the Edmonton Opera since its pandemic <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/music/stopping-the-music-edmonton-opera-pro-coro-edmonton-symphony-orchestra-under-covid-19-closure">shutdown in March 2020</a>. Globally, the pandemic forced performers to abandon live performance. After it became clear that this was more than a short shutdown, many performers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08831157.2021.2017241">turned to digital means</a>.</p>
<p>Now live performance practitioners are, to varying degrees, embracing and critically reflecting on digital changes in society even as they return to the stage.</p>
<p>When the opera <a href="https://www.edmontonopera.com/2023/orphee"><em>Orphée+</em>, directed by Joel Ivany</a>, was first co-produced with Against the Grain Theatre, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Opera Columbus in 2018, Ivany noted that its use of <a href="https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2018/04/23/primer-why-against-the-grains-orphee-might-be-the-most-authentic-opera-youll-see-all-year">elements of digital design provided insights on human experiences created by screens</a>.</p>
<p>The Edmonton Opera’s production of <em>Orphée+</em> under Ivany’s direction following the city’s COVID-19 lockdowns is a powerful commentary on pandemic experiences of accelerated technology and human separation — and the adaptive nature of live performance.</p>
<h2>Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice</h2>
<p><em>Orphée+</em> is a contemporary interpretation of <a href="https://www.lyricopera.org/shows/upcoming/2017-18/orphee-et-eurydice/">Christopher Willibald Gluck’s <em>Orphée et Eurydice</em></a> (Orpheus and Eurydice), a 17th-century operatic interpretation of a Greek myth about lovers separated by death.</p>
<p>Orpheus’s devotion to Eurydice attracts the attention of the gods, who give him a chance to win her back from the underworld. But the gods’ restrictions on Orpheus — that he must abstain from looking at Eurydice — prove too difficult for him to follow. His lack of restraint seals Eurydice’s fate of death.</p>
<p>In the opera, however, the pair is given yet another chance. The character Amour (the god of love) rewards their passion, and Eurydice is restored to life. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1618948920326983681"}"></div></p>
<h2>Digital isolation</h2>
<p>Like the original production <a href="https://atgtheatre.com/orphee-tickets">mounted in Toronto</a> and <a href="https://www.operacolumbus.org/portfolio/glucks-orphee-et-eurydice/">Columbus, Ohio</a>, Edmonton Opera’s <em>Orphée+</em> used digital tools in the first act to underscore the isolation Orpheus feels losing Eurydice. The chorus was projected onto hanging fabric, as if on Zoom screens, and was <a href="https://atgtheatre.com/global-chorus/">composed of videos the public was invited to submit</a>.</p>
<p>As we watched this chorus after pandemic lockdowns, this struck us as a profound reflection on the loneliness many experienced as working from home and slogans like “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/together-apart">Together Apart</a>” became the new normal. </p>
<p>In the Edmonton show, after Orpheus lost Eurydice, a shadowy image of Eurydice moved across the sheets, like a faded memory that haunts the stage. Orpheus (Siman Chung) was joined on stage by nymph-like dancers whose movements perfectly reflected Chung’s stirring performance, with talents as both countertenor and violin player that were equally impressive.</p>
<p>Breaking the tension of this first act was <a href="https://www.ettafung.com/aerial-opera">Etta Fung, an “opera-aerialist”</a> whose acrobatics as Amour took this show to new heights.</p>
<p>The character Amour in Gluck’s original opera and in <em>Orphée+</em> highlights a sense of the importance of love and desire. In the ancient <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses10.html">poem <em>Metamorphoses</em>, the Roman poet Ovid</a> narrated the significance of love and desire through his discussion of Orpheus’s actions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Acrobat hanging upside down, singing to man standing on stage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523246/original/file-20230427-18-c80jv0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523246/original/file-20230427-18-c80jv0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523246/original/file-20230427-18-c80jv0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523246/original/file-20230427-18-c80jv0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523246/original/file-20230427-18-c80jv0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523246/original/file-20230427-18-c80jv0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523246/original/file-20230427-18-c80jv0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Etta Fung as Amour and Siman Chung as Orpheus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nanc Price/Edmonton Opera)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The world, separated</h2>
<p>Digital elements punctuated the difficulties Orpheus has in navigating the world separated from his partner. As Orpheus descends to the underworld, the set design emulating pixelization, with electronic sounds and harsh lighting, placed Orpheus inside a digital hell. </p>
<p>Surrounded by dancing demons, Orpheus was steadfast in his quest to find his wife and eventually <a href="https://www.edmontonopera.com/orphee-program#SYNOPSIS">makes it to the Elysian Fields</a>.</p>
<p><em>Orphée+</em> then discarded digital elements to reunite the lovers, making an eloquent argument for the connections that can only be made when we give our full attention to each other in person and remove all external distractions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A figure seen clenching his fists on a stage surrounded by dancing figures wearing double-horned hats." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523247/original/file-20230427-689-bepsko.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523247/original/file-20230427-689-bepsko.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523247/original/file-20230427-689-bepsko.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523247/original/file-20230427-689-bepsko.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523247/original/file-20230427-689-bepsko.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523247/original/file-20230427-689-bepsko.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523247/original/file-20230427-689-bepsko.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dancing demons surround Orpheus (Siman Chung).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nanc Price/Edmonton Opera)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new normal of relationship</h2>
<p>The second half of Edmonton Opera’s show was devoid of digital elements. Eurydice and Orpheus were left alone on stage to try and navigate the new normal of their relationship.</p>
<p>Eurydice, not understanding Orpheus’s need to stay away from her and not look at her to honour the gods’ conditions, argued with her husband. She refused to follow him, questioning why he was blindfolded. </p>
<p>This second half and its conflict between husband and wife paralleled Roman versions of the myth. In the most famous extant version found in Ovid’s <em><a href="https://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses10.html">Metamorphoses</a></em>, Orpheus speaks and, when he fails the test of not turning to look at his wife, Eurydice slips away with a barely audible “farewell.”</p>
<p>In the Roman poet Virgil’s <em><a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilGeorgicsIV.php#anchor_Toc534524384">Georgics</a></em>, also about the myth, Eurydice is the one who speaks, not her husband; when Orpheus turns to look at her, she cries out a bitter farewell while lashing out at him for his weakness.</p>
<p>The practical needs of opera mean that <em>Orphée+</em> combined the two: Orpheus sings, and Eurydice speaks back.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Blindfolded man turning away from woman who grasps his arm, background stark black and white." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523248/original/file-20230427-18-1wm6wa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523248/original/file-20230427-18-1wm6wa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523248/original/file-20230427-18-1wm6wa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523248/original/file-20230427-18-1wm6wa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523248/original/file-20230427-18-1wm6wa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523248/original/file-20230427-18-1wm6wa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523248/original/file-20230427-18-1wm6wa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eurydice (Sharleen Joynt) does not understand why Orpheus (Siman Chung) will not look at her and argues with her husband.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nanc Price/Edmonton Opera)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Human connection transcending separation</h2>
<p>In Ivany’s <em>Orphée+</em>, the ancient treatment of love and loss is replaced with a message of human connection. </p>
<p>In 2023, the show speaks to transcending death and the physical separation of pandemic lockdowns.</p>
<p>By saturating the senses of the audience up to the intermission, the minimalism of the second half forced the audience to reflect on what happens when we give up everything to focus solely on what matters most.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Acrobat looking down on a reunited couple." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523249/original/file-20230427-546-fgl3ea.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523249/original/file-20230427-546-fgl3ea.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523249/original/file-20230427-546-fgl3ea.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523249/original/file-20230427-546-fgl3ea.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523249/original/file-20230427-546-fgl3ea.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523249/original/file-20230427-546-fgl3ea.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523249/original/file-20230427-546-fgl3ea.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Amour (Etta Fung) reunites Orpheus (Siman Chung) and Eurydice (Sharleen Joynt) for the second time in ‘Orphée+.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nanc Price/Edmonton Opera)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Questions about presence, precarity</h2>
<p>Rather than a test of self-control and the moderation of desire as in the original myth, <em>Orphée+</em> presents a testament to the strength of human connection and relationships amid extreme physical separation and disconnect. </p>
<p>In this way, the production echoes concerns identified by literature and culture scholar Monika Pietrzak-Franger and colleagues: the pandemic <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-research-international/article/editorial-presence-and-precarity-in-postpandemic-theatre-and-performance/184427CFDC87483120056ABAE5009982">exposed existing crises about how arts’ organizations’ financial viability is connected to engaging live audiences</a>. This raises questions not only about how our societies value art, but also about arts institutions’ cultural gatekeeping, and how strict adherence to what’s believed to be “traditional form” has creative, cultural and political implications. </p>
<p>It’s our hope, however, and that of many of the theatre practitioners we know, that the changes brought about by the pandemic will instead make “<a href="https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2021/april/experts-say-post-pandemic-theatre-will-be-more-inclusive-for-all.aspx">theatre more inclusive for all</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After COVID-19 closures, Edmonton Opera presented a contemporary telling of the Greek myth of lovers separated by death.Erin Alice Cowling, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Humanities, MacEwan UniversityJessica M Romney, Assistant Professor of Classics, MacEwan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005192023-05-23T12:26:55Z2023-05-23T12:26:55ZWhat Greek mythology teaches us about women’s resistance and rebellion<p>After some hard-fought victories, women’s rights are threatened again in many parts of the world. In the United States, the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-shifting-battle-over-abortion-rights-50-years-after-roe">overturned women’s right to abortion</a> in June 2022; women have also been <a href="https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/how-have-women-workforce-fared-three-years-pandemic">leaving the workforce</a> since the COVID-19 pandemic, in many cases to care for children and elderly relatives. In other parts of the world, especially in developing countries, <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2022/02/explainer-how-gender-inequality-and-climate-change-are-interconnected#:%7E:text=The%20climate%20crisis%20is%20not,less%20access%20to%2C%20natural%20resources">women are disproportionately affected by climate change</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://as.tufts.edu/classicalstudies/people/faculty/marie-claire-beaulieu">As a scholar of ancient mythology</a>, I’m aware of many female characters in Greek mythology who offer us models for today’s challenges. This may be a little surprising, because ancient Greece was under <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Women_in_Ancient_Greece.html?id=Xfx1VaSIOgQC">strict patriarchal rules</a>: Women were considered minors under the guardianship of their fathers or husbands for their whole lives and not allowed to vote. Yet women in these myths spoke truth to power and fiercely resisted injustice and oppression. </p>
<h2>Rebel goddesses</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting showing a scary looking figure with long hair eating a child whose torso has blood trickling down." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1385&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520854/original/file-20230413-24-uceh0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1385&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The god Saturn devouring his child. A painting by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/saturn/18110a75-b0e7-430c-bc73-2a4d55893bd6">Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Female rebellion is at the heart of the Greek story <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104-138">about the creation of the world</a>. Gaia, the Earth goddess, rebels against her husband Ouranos, the Sky, who smothers her and refuses to let her children be free. She orders her son Kronos to castrate his father and take his throne. Once Kronos comes to power, however, he becomes afraid of being dethroned by his children, so <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg001.perseus-eng1:6a">he swallows all the babies his wife Rhea gives birth to</a>. </p>
<p>Rhea rebels against this horrific act. She gives Kronos <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247308?ft=06.1021.144&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=1">a stone wrapped in a blanket</a> to trick him into thinking that he is going to devour this baby as well. Rhea then hides her child, the god Zeus, who grows up and throws his father down into the depths of the Underworld. But history repeats itself, and the new leader of the gods again fears that his wife may plot to overthrow him. As the king of the gods, Zeus is forever afraid of his wife Hera, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108888479">who exacts vengeance for all his transgressions</a>, especially his innumerable affairs. </p>
<p>Similarly, the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone shows a powerful goddess holding her ground in the face of male deities. When Persephone is abducted by Hades, the king of the Underworld, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg002.perseus-eng1:2">refuses to let the crops grow until Persephone is returned</a>. Despite Zeus’ pleading, Demeter does not relent. The entire world is barren of fruit, and humans starve. </p>
<p>Eventually Zeus is forced to negotiate, and Persephone <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/252973">rises from the Underworld</a> to be with her mother for a part of each year. During the months when Persephone is with Hades, Demeter holds back vegetation and it is winter on the Earth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting showing a man carrying a woman away in a chariot being driven by a white horse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=219&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=219&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=219&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520857/original/file-20230413-26-8ppfh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mural with Hades abducting Persephone in a chariot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hades_abducting_Persephone.jpg">From Le Musée absolu, Phaidon, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mortal women</h2>
<p>Greek culture, however, was suspicious of strong-willed women and portrayed them as villains.</p>
<p>Classical scholar <a href="https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/directory/mary-beard">Mary Beard</a> explains that women are characterized in this way by male writers to justify women’s exclusion from power. She argues that the Western definition of power applies intrinsically to males. Therefore, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631494758">Beard explains</a>, “[Women] are, for the most part, portrayed as abusers rather than users of power. They take it illegitimately, in a way that leads to the fracture of the state, to death and destruction. … In fact, it is the unquestionable mess that women make of power that justifies their exclusion from it in real life.”</p>
<p>Beard uses the stories of Clytemnestra and Medea, among others, to illustrate her point. Clytemnestra punishes her husband, Agamemnon, for <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg018.perseus-eng1:506-542">sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia</a> at the beginning of the Trojan War. She seizes power in his kingdom of Mycenae while Agamemnon is still at war, and when he returns, <a href="https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010277267">she murders him in cold blood</a>. </p>
<p>Medea makes her husband, Jason, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg003.perseus-eng1">pay the ultimate price</a> for deserting her – <a href="https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010274318">she kills their children</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black bowl from 400 B.C.E. with several figures painted on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520860/original/file-20230413-18-u8i33o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Painting on a bowl of Medea fleeing in a chariot pulled by dragons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.1">Cleveland Museum of Art</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Medea, as a foreign princess in the Greek city of Corinth, a powerful sorceress, and a Black individual, is marginalized in multiple ways. Yet she refuses to back down. Classical scholar and Black feminist intellectual <a href="https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/our-faculty/directory/faculty-detail/shelley-haley">Shelley Haley</a> stresses that Medea is proud, a characteristic that is viewed as typically masculine in Greek culture. </p>
<p>Haley sees Medea’s actions as a way to assert her individuality in the face of Greek societal expectations. Medea is not willing to give Jason the freedom to start a relationship with another woman, and she negotiates asylum on her own terms with the king of Athens. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kjup9bBv168C&lpg=PA177&pg=PA177#v=onepage&q&f=true">According to Haley, Medea</a> “resists the cultural norms that inscribe child-bearing as the only raison d'être of female existence. Medea loves her children, but like a man, her pride comes first.”</p>
<h2>Comedy and tragedy</h2>
<p>In a more humorous way, in “Lysistrata,” the playwright Aristophanes imagines the women of Athens protesting the destructive <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-eng3">Peloponnesian War</a> by going on a sex strike. Under such dire pressure, their husbands quickly give in and peace is negotiated with Sparta. </p>
<p>Lysistrata, the leader of the striking women, explains that <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg007.perseus-eng1:551-597">women suffer doubly in war</a>, even though they have no say in the decision to enter warfare. They suffer first by bearing children and then by seeing them sent out as soldiers. They can be widowed and enslaved as well as a consequence of war.</p>
<p>Finally, in a famous tragedy by Sophocles, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg002.perseus-eng1">Antigone fights for human decency</a> in the face of autocracy. When Antigone’s brothers Eteocles and Polyneices fight for the throne of Thebes and ultimately kill one another, the new king, Creon, orders that only Eteocles, whom he considers to have been the rightful king, be buried with honor. Antigone revolts and says that she must uphold divine law <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9-W66xB-fM">rather than Creon’s tyrannical human law</a>. She sprinkles Polyneices’ body with a little dust, a symbolic gesture that allows the dead man to move on to the afterlife.</p>
<p>Antigone takes action knowing full well that Creon will kill her to enforce his edict. Yet she is prepared to offer the ultimate sacrifice for her beliefs. </p>
<h2>Women and moral justice</h2>
<p>Throughout these stories, female figures stand for moral justice and as an embodiment of the resistance of disempowered people. Perhaps for this reason the figure of Medusa, traditionally viewed as a terrifying female monster <a href="http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4">defeated by the male hero Perseus</a>, has recently been reinterpreted as a symbol of strength and resilience.</p>
<p>Acknowledging that the <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:4.706">mythological Medusa was turned into a monster</a> as a result of her rape by Poseidon, many survivors of sexual assault <a href="https://twitter.com/emberlilly_/status/1640423393806696469">have adopted the image of Medusa</a> as an image of resilience. </p>
<p>Sculptor <a href="https://www.lucianogarbati.com/">Luciano Garbati</a> turned the myth on its head. In a new take on the traditional image of the victorious <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_with_the_Head_of_Medusa#/media/File:Persee-florence.jpg">Perseus with the head of Medusa</a>, Garbati gave Medusa a powerful new stance with his statue “Medusa with the Head of Perseus.” Medusa’s thoughtful and determined demeanor became a symbol for the #MeToo movement <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/arts/design/medusa-statue-manhattan.html">when the statue was set up outside the courtroom</a> where Harvey Weinstein and many others accused of sexual assault stood trial. </p>
<h2>What does this mean in today’s world?</h2>
<p>Echoes of all these stories resonate strongly <a href="https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/helen-morales/antigone-rising/9781568589343/">today in the words of fearless young female activists</a>. </p>
<p>Malala Yousafzai spoke up for girls’ education in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan although she knew the potential repercussions could be dire. In an interview for a podcast, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-accomplishment-podcast-with-sir-michael-barber/id1605826027?i=1000601684803">she said</a>: “We knew that nothing would change if we remained quiet. Change comes when somebody is willing to step up and speak out.” </p>
<p>Greta Thunberg, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763452863/transcript-greta-thunbergs-speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit">addressing world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in 2019</a>, did not miss a beat: “You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line.”</p>
<p>For the women who continue to fight against oppression, it can be both a comfort and a catalyst for action to know that they have been doing so for millennia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie-Claire Beaulieu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Female characters in Greek mythology lived under strict patriarchal rules, but they spoke truth to power and resisted injustice.Marie-Claire Beaulieu, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1997562023-03-21T12:43:31Z2023-03-21T12:43:31ZIn a Roman villa at the center of a nasty inheritance dispute, a Caravaggio masterpiece is hidden from the public<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515929/original/file-20230316-466-6e6j4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C61%2C4475%2C3044&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Villa Aurora in Rome, which houses works by Caravaggio and Guercino, is up for sale. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-the-casino-news-photo/1237878844?phrase=villa aurora rome&adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://umass.academia.edu/MonikaSchmitter">I teach Italian Renaissance and Baroque art</a>, so when I was visiting Rome in January 2023, how could I not try to see a notorious villa that was up for sale and involved in a nasty inheritance dispute? </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.minorsights.com/2016/08/italy-villa-aurora-ludovisi.html">Villa Aurora</a>, named for the masterful fresco by <a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1364.html">the 17th-century artist Guercino</a> that adorns the ground-floor salon, also happens to house a rare ceiling painting by <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio">Caravaggio</a>, the 17th-century “rebel artist,” whose name makes the art market salivate. </p>
<p>I wanted to see the Caravaggio, and not just because its <a href="https://www.aboutartonline.com/la-vendita-di-villa-ludovisi-dubbi-sulla-metodologia-applicata-per-la-stima-i-precedenti-e-il-caso-degli-affreschi-di-tiepolo-a-palazzo-barbarigo/">assessed value of US$331 million</a> drove up the estimated price for the villa, apparently scaring off buyers. </p>
<p>Perhaps because of the difficulty in reproducing the work or even viewing it, the Caravaggio has received remarkably little attention from art historians. The villa, which has gone through <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/14/us-born-princess-vows-to-stay-in-rome-villa-despite-eviction-order-caravaggio-ceiling-fresco">five failed auctions</a> – the first one asking a cool $502 million – needs maintenance, and Italian law dictates that the Caravaggio and other art cannot be removed.</p>
<p>It is not easy to see privately held art, and given the ongoing controversy, I figured my chances were especially slim. But I duly wrote to the email address I found online. </p>
<p>A week later I got a response, and after some back and forth, on the day before I was to leave Rome, I was invited to come to the villa at 6 p.m. sharp. </p>
<p>A woman named Olga met me at the door: “The principessa will be with you in a moment,” she said.</p>
<h2>More than one masterpiece</h2>
<p>The current inhabitant of the villa is an American-born princess named <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/11/28/the-renovation-rita-jenrette-princess-italy">Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi</a>. </p>
<p>A former Texas GOP opposition researcher, she was once married to a congressman caught in <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/abscam">the Abscam scandal</a> and posed for Playboy twice in the 1980s. Her second husband, <a href="https://villaludovisi.org/2018/03/25/in-memoriam-hsh-prince-nicolo-boncompagni-ludovisi-rome-21-january-1941-rome-8-march-2018/">Nicolò Boncampagni</a> Ludovisi, was Prince of Piombino. He owned the villa and promised her <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/usufruct">usufructuary rights</a>, meaning she should be allowed to occupy the villa until her death. </p>
<p>But the prince’s three sons from his first marriage are forcing the sale because, <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/01/18/when-is-a-caravaggio-worth-zero-when-its-on-a-ceiling-and-you-may-not-remove-it-for-sale">according to Italian law</a>, inheritances must be divided between the surviving spouse and any descendants.</p>
<p>It’s a media story to die for: old-world aristocrats face off against a supposed bimbo and gold digger from Texas – with a Caravaggio thrown in for good measure. </p>
<p>The villa was historically known as the Casino Ludovisi, but it became famous among art historians for its ceiling painting by <a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1364.html">Guercino</a>.</p>
<p>In a tour de force of illusion, the ceiling is painted to look as through the architecture opens up to the sky with the goddess <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eos-Greek-and-Roman-mythology">Aurora</a>, or Dawn, driving her chariot across the space above.</p>
<p>The Caravaggio, by contrast, barely registers in the voluminous scholarship on the artist. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of a ceiling fresco." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516078/original/file-20230317-2393-ue4l9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guercino’s ‘Aurora on Her Triumphal Chariot’ at Villa Aurora.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-the-ceiling-news-photo/1237880015?adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Meeting the principessa</h2>
<p>I looked down in dismay at my sneakers, my corduroy pants, and my purple Eddie Bauer jacket that has seen better days: I hadn’t anticipated meeting the principessa herself. </p>
<p>Olga guided me into a second room and introduced me to the principessa. She is most definitely American – tall, blond and looking much younger than her age of 73. </p>
<p>After talking extensively about the villa and its works of art, Rita, as she calls herself, introduced me to a dapper Italian man from the Ministry of Culture, whom, she explained, could hopefully stop <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/14/princess-rita-jenrette-faces-eviction-from-rome-villa/">her imminent eviction</a> from her home. She then showed me the magnificent painting by Guercino.</p>
<p>Then a journalist from the Italian newspaper La Stampa appeared, and the principessa was whisked away for an interview. She told me, in parting, “Olga will show you the Caravaggio.”</p>
<h2>Encountering the Caravaggio</h2>
<p>Olga led me up a spiral stairway to the second floor: “Here is the other Guercino,” she said. I looked up to see <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guercino_-_Ceiling_painting,_Casino_dell%27Aurora,_11aurora.jpg">a second illusionistic fresco</a>, the same size as the one on the ground floor, this one depicting the figure of Fame flying through the sky.</p>
<p>I hadn’t known this one even existed.</p>
<p>Then Olga turned on the lights in what looked like a small hallway, its walls painted a bright, hospital white. I looked up to see Caravaggio’s painting, which depicts muscular nude men surrounding a translucent white globe.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Ceiling painting of muscular men and mythological creatures surrounding an orb." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515928/original/file-20230316-1658-fy5fg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Since it’s located in a private residence, Caravaggio’s painting at the Villa Aurora has been difficult for the public to view.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-jupiter-neptune-news-photo/1237878868?phrase=villa%20aurora%20rome&adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The detail is intense, the colors bright and sharp in a way that is exceptional for a ceiling painting. </p>
<p>Caravaggio managed to make the three-headed dog <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cerberus">Cerberus</a> look as though it really existed – bringing to life the creature’s soft black and white fur, the red of its eyes, the pink ribbing of one upper mouth and the white glint of its teeth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting detail of a three-headed dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515916/original/file-20230316-19-qc1ez4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail from Caravaggio’s ceiling painting depicts Cerberus, a mythical three-headed dog.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italy-lazio-rome-villa-boncompagni-ludovisi-detail-three-news-photo/132705020?phrase=caravaggio%20villa%20ludovisi&adppopup=true">Mondadori Portfolio/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I later learned that the picture had not been painted <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/fresco-painting">in the traditional fresco technique</a>, on wet plaster, but with the unusual application of oil on dry plaster, allowing Caravaggio to execute the precision, color, detail and texture.</p>
<p>Although some art historians have <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HXc2MNp7ffIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false">questioned the attribution</a>, there is no doubt in my mind that this is Caravaggio. Only he would – even could – paint such a seemingly plausible Cerberus. </p>
<p>The composition works only in its original location, since the scale, height and curvature of the ceiling transform the work. The painting purports to show a rectangular opening in the ceiling through which viewers can see the sky and clouds. In the center, within a white globe depicting the universe, one sees the Sun, Moon and signs of the horoscope. </p>
<p>On each side of the globe are the nude, burly, he-men: on one side, Jupiter, awkwardly flying through the sky on an eagle, pushes the sphere; on the other, Jupiter’s brothers, Pluto and Neptune, stand as if at the edge of the opening in the ceiling, looking down.</p>
<h2>Suffused with impish subtext</h2>
<p>Given its lack of scholarly attention, the Caravaggio is much more compelling than I expected. </p>
<p>One 17th-century biographer, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095457632;jsessionid=F7F4BCEDD2540BB7CF63AFD4296936AA">Pietro Bellori</a>, claimed that Caravaggio <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Giovan_Pietro_Bellori_The_Lives_of_the_M/Lm9gs8mXwOUC?hl=en">painted the work to silence critics</a> who alleged that he lacked the technical skill to pull off the tricks in perspective required for ceiling art.</p>
<p>But I think Caravaggio was up to something more complicated. His aim was not so much to prove he could paint with foreshortened figures and receding architecture, but rather to make fun of the fad for illusionistic ceiling paintings that render scenes “as if seen from below” – “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/sotto-in-su">di sotto in su</a>,” as it is termed in art history.</p>
<p>Running with the concept of “di sotto in su,” Caravaggio cheekily gives onlookers a graphic view from below Pluto’s penis and testicles, not to mention a novel perspective on his buttocks. </p>
<p>Caravaggio didn’t stop there. </p>
<p>Jupiter’s pose is almost incomprehensible, his face concealed, his limbs flailing in different directions – very undignified, particularly for an oversize Olympian god. It’s an NFL linebacker riding an overmatched eagle.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Muscular man riding an eagle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515918/original/file-20230316-386-o65sgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jupiter riding an eagle in a detail of Caravaggio’s painting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italy-lazio-rome-villa-boncompagni-ludovisi-whole-artwork-news-photo/132705019?phrase=caravaggio%20villa%20ludovisi&adppopup=true">Mondadori Portfolio/Hudson Fine Art Collection via Getty Images.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From between Jupiter’s legs emerges the very phallic long neck and beak of the eagle with his bright, dark eye glaring down at the mortals below. (In Italian, “bird” <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/italian-english/uccello">is slang for penis</a>.) </p>
<p>Pluto and Neptune also have their pets, which are themselves rivals: Pluto’s snarling dog frightens Neptune’s seahorse. Neptune, who is Caravaggio’s self-portrait, in turn looks threateningly at Pluto. And then there is the juxtaposition of Cerberus’ bared teeth and Pluto’s very exposed “equipment.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two muscular nude men, a horse and a three-headed dog." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516080/original/file-20230317-20-skboj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail of Pluto and Neptune in Caravaggio’s painting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photograph-taken-on-january-21-shows-jupiter-neptune-news-photo/1237879028?adppopup=true">Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When I consider the patronage of the painting, it all makes sense. </p>
<p>Caravaggio painted the ceiling in 1599 or 1600 when the villa was owned by his first important patron, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caravaggio/The-patronage-of-Cardinal-del-Monte">Cardinal Francesco del Monte</a>.</p>
<p>Caravaggio lived in del Monte’s palace in town, and there is evidence to suggest that <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bersani-caravaggio.html">they both enjoyed the company of young men</a>, and they <a href="http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/caravaggio_A.pdf">may even have been lovers</a>.</p>
<p>While it is difficult to confirm the men’s sexual preferences, there is no question that the ceiling is a product of their shared sensibility: locker room art for sophisticated, 17th-century cultural “jocks.”</p>
<p>The room was Del Monte’s “<a href="http://www.italianrenaissanceresources.com/units/unit-4/essays/a-room-of-ones-own-the-studiolo/">studiolo</a>,” a type of small room usually used by members of the wealthy elite to get away from it all and “study” (whatever that might entail). </p>
<p>The ceiling was to be shared by a bon vivant, learned cardinal with a select audience of like-minded men. Caravaggio never painted another ceiling because tricks of perspective were fundamentally incompatible with <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02717-7.html">his realist inclinations</a>, but perhaps he did this one for his friend and patron as a kind of joke.</p>
<h2>Now what?</h2>
<p>I left the Villa Aurora that night with a new perspective on 17th-century art and full of thoughts about the role these works of art, created for members of an extraordinarily privileged elite of the past, play in our modern democratic society. </p>
<p>The same day as my visit, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/14/us-born-princess-vows-to-stay-in-rome-villa-despite-eviction-order-caravaggio-ceiling-fresco">the judge in the inheritance dispute ruled</a> that the principessa would be evicted from the villa to facilitate its sale. I suspect this is devastating for her, given how much effort she has put into <a href="https://villaludovisi.org/">preserving her husband’s legacy</a>.</p>
<p>But I also wonder what will happen to this villa and its unique collection of 16th- and 17th-century ceiling paintings. </p>
<p>I think it would be a travesty for them to remain in private hands, because everyone, including my students, should be able to see these works. Art historians know about the tensions between private property and cultural heritage, but this is a real opportunity for the new Italian Minister of Culture, <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gennaro-sangiuliano-italy-culture-minister-2200501">Gennaro Sangiuliano</a>, to set an example, as his predecessors have done with the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/arts/venice-grimani-collection-sculpture.html">Palazzo Grimani at Santa Formosa in Venice</a>.</p>
<p>Once the residence of a wealthy and powerful noble family, Palazzo Grimani fell into disrepair until it was purchased in 1981 by the state. After many years of renovation, it opened as a public museum in 2008. </p>
<p>The frescoes in the Palazzo Grimani are not nearly as artistically significant as those in the Villa Aurora, but the museum today is one of the most interesting monuments in Venice.</p>
<p>I believe the Villa Aurora, restored and open to everyone as a museum of Renaissance and Baroque ceiling painting, could do the same for Rome.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika Schmitter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What will happen to this villa and its unique collection of 16th- and 17th-century ceiling paintings?Monika Schmitter, Professor and Chair of History of Art and Architecture, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1977352023-02-08T13:43:00Z2023-02-08T13:43:00ZDon’t underestimate Cupid – he’s not the chubby cherub you associate with Valentine’s Day<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508485/original/file-20230206-31-17810f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C1013%2C787&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Cupid and Psyche' by Italian sculptor Antonio Canova</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/stature-of-cupid-and-psyche-embracing-from-the-villa-news-photo/517391898?phrase=cupid%20and%20psyche&adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ah, Valentine’s Day: that Hallmark holiday of greeting cards and chocolates, its bloody origins almost entirely forgotten over the last 2,000 years! </p>
<p>What began as a Christian feast day honoring two or three early Christian martyrs – <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-st-valentine-was-no-patron-of-love-90518">the original “Valentines</a>” – is now associated with flocks of winged cherubic Cupids, whose innocuous-looking bows and arrows symbolize gentle romance instead of death-dealing war. Somehow, the phrase “struck by Cupid’s arrow” is supposed to be exciting rather than excruciating.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-mythical-cupid-can-teach-us-about-the-meaning-of-love-and-desire-176760">The original Cupid</a> was the son of Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty. He himself was a Roman deity associated with lust and love, based on the Greek Eros. In Greece and Rome, both figures were depicted as handsome young men, not as winged infants.</p>
<p>But ancient poets and artists also imagined a troop of “Erotes” or “Cupidines” as attendants of these gods. The Romans portrayed them as winged infants, <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469628400/inventing-the-renaissance-putto/">or “putti</a>,” as they became known in Italian Renaissance art. These, in turn, became the chubby cherubs of today’s valentines.</p>
<p>Despite envisioning the god with a troop of adorable attendants, even the Romans understood that Cupid had a darker, more dangerous side – one whose power you wouldn’t want to dismiss.</p>
<h2>Small but mighty</h2>
<p>The archer god Apollo found this out the hard way, as the poet Ovid told in his epic of A.D. 8, “Metamorphoses.” Having just <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph.php#anchor_Toc64105469">slain the dragon of Delphi with 1,000 arrows,</a> Apollo provoked the fierce fury of Venus’ son by mocking Cupid’s seemingly toylike weapons.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A painting in black and white shows a winged naked figure talking with a man in a tunic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508469/original/file-20230206-21-fnxjey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508469/original/file-20230206-21-fnxjey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508469/original/file-20230206-21-fnxjey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508469/original/file-20230206-21-fnxjey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508469/original/file-20230206-21-fnxjey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508469/original/file-20230206-21-fnxjey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508469/original/file-20230206-21-fnxjey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Cupid and Apollo’ by Pontormo (attributed to the School of Andrea del Sarto)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2916">Samek Art Museum at Bucknell University/National Art Gallery</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cupid swiftly took his revenge. He pierced Apollo’s heart with a golden arrow, causing him to fall passionately in love with the nymph Daphne. But Daphne was a sworn virgin, and Cupid shot her with a lead arrow, intensifying her loathing for all things amorous. </p>
<p>She fled from Apollo’s advances. The desperate deity pursued her relentlessly, until Daphne’s father <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D452">turned her into a laurel tree to save her</a>. Cupid’s arrows, however diminutive, were more powerful than Apollo’s.</p>
<h2>The unseen spouse</h2>
<p>But the most famous characterization of Cupid in Latin literature appears in the work of Apuleius, who lived during the second century in what is now Algeria. He wrote <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAssIV.php#anchor_Toc347999726">a story about Psyche</a>, a princess so exceedingly beautiful that mortals worshipped her as if she were the goddess of love herself.</p>
<p>Enraged by jealousy, Venus commanded her son to make Psyche fall in love with the most wretched man possible. But an oracle told the royal family that their daughter was destined to marry “a savage, untamed creature” that flew about tormenting everyone with fire – and they abandoned her on a cliff to meet this terrifying fate.</p>
<p>Instead, Psyche found herself borne by a gentle breeze to an elaborate palace inhabited by invisible servants. That night, an “unknown husband arrived and made Psyche his wife,” departing before sunrise.</p>
<p>Her unseen spouse continued to visit nightly, and Psyche was soon overjoyed to find herself pregnant. But she also became increasingly lonely. Her mysterious husband agreed that <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAssV.php">her sisters could visit</a> – as long as she did not try to “investigate his appearance.” She happily agreed, telling him, “Whoever you are I love you deeply. Not even Cupid could compare to you.”</p>
<p>But when Psyche’s two older sisters visited, they became envious of her luxurious life. “She must be married to a god!” they intuited – unlike Psyche, who remained inexplicably clueless. Hoping to break up the marriage, they offered a false explanation for her husband’s secrecy: He must be a monstrous serpent intent on devouring her and her unborn child.</p>
<p>A horrified Psyche believed them, despite her intimate physical knowledge of her spouse – his “perfumed locks, tender cheeks, and warm chest.” Armed with a dagger, she prepared to kill her husband as he slept. But first, ignoring his repeated warnings, she gazed at him by the light of an oil lamp. Here, halfway through the story, the audience finally finds out his identity: none other than Cupid himself!</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A statue of a naked woman looking down at a sleeping man on display in a park in autumn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508488/original/file-20230206-19-2byobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508488/original/file-20230206-19-2byobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508488/original/file-20230206-19-2byobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508488/original/file-20230206-19-2byobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508488/original/file-20230206-19-2byobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508488/original/file-20230206-19-2byobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508488/original/file-20230206-19-2byobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Psyche finally gets a good look at her husband. ‘Cupid and Psyche’ by Giulio Kartar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/marble-sculpture-cupid-and-psyche-royalty-free-image/471366765?phrase=cupid%20and%20psyche&adppopup=true">leoaleks/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the sight, Psyche “fell in love with Love.” But a drop of scalding oil awakened Cupid. Utterly dismayed at his wife’s betrayal, he flew away – but first explained: “I have disobeyed my mother’s orders to fill you with passion for some vile wretch. I flew to you as your lover instead.”</p>
<h2>Love lost – and found</h2>
<p>The rest of the narrative involves Psyche’s long, arduous quest to win Cupid back. Though despairing and exhausted, Psyche willingly submitted herself to a series of brutal tasks imposed by Venus, only to fall into a deathlike slumber just before completing them.</p>
<p>And where is Cupid during all this? If he is characterized as a powerful, dangerous force in the first half of the story, the second half depicts him as a helpless mama’s boy. He flew back to Venus’ palace, where his mother – furious that he had secretly married Psyche – scolded him righteously, screamed that he had embarrassed her, and locked him in his room. </p>
<p>Finally, recalling his love for Psyche, Cupid escaped out the window and saved her from eternal slumber. Then he made a savvy deal with Jupiter, king of the gods: Psyche could be made immortal, clearing the way for her to “officially” marry Cupid in an arrangement that even satisfied Venus.</p>
<h2>Complex vision of love</h2>
<p>Apuleius’ story is rare in focusing on a female character and how love and desire affect her. The audience follows Psyche through several rites of passage. Initially, as an unmarried girl, she has not fulfilled her expected <a href="https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/weddings.html">role of wife and mother</a>. As a frightened bride, she has no say in whom she marries – an experience common for young wives in ancient Roman society. Love does not enter the picture.</p>
<p>But Apuleius’ portrayal of Psyche’s situation suggests a lesson Roman writers of the day wanted readers to believe: that young married women eventually come to desire and love their husbands. Although that process can be long and difficult, wives and husbands both adjust to their roles over time. The birth of Psyche’s child, “Pleasure,” at the end of the story results in harmony all around, an idealized image of marriage. </p>
<p>Ovid and Apuleius remind us that the original Cupid is not the benign little bearer of valentines but an elemental force of human nature – a “savage, untamed creature” that lights the fires of passion in unpredictable ways. Whereas Apollo’s lust for Daphne’s visible beauty remained unsated, Psyche eventually enjoyed sex with her unseen husband. Apollo learned that longing isn’t always mutual, while Psyche realized that love and trust must be earned. </p>
<p>Apuleius’s story suggests that Cupid and all the intense emotions he represents, once tempered, can provide the basis for a loving, long-lasting relationship. In short, both stories contain valuable lessons about the nature of romance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Debbie Felton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ancient Greece and Rome may have handed down the image of rosy-cheeked Cupids, but their myths about him explore the messier – sometimes scarier – sides of love.Debbie Felton, Professor of Classics, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989152023-02-08T12:46:08Z2023-02-08T12:46:08ZArtemis is a new body suit for period pain – here’s why it’s named after a Greek goddess<p>A new body suit to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64397795">control period pain</a> is in the pipeline – and it’s called Artemis. Named after the Greek goddess of chastity, hunting, childbirth and the moon, it works by combining a <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/transcutaneous-electrical-nerve-stimulation-tens/">tens machine</a> (which provides pain relief through the use of a mild electrical current) and heat panels. </p>
<p>If it proves effective, it could be a huge benefit to women who suffer particularly with period pain – which is now acknowledged to sometimes be <a href="https://qz.com/611774/period-pain-can-be-as-bad-as-a-heart-attack-so-why-arent-we-researching-how-to-treat-it">as painful as a heart attack</a>. </p>
<p>There’s a long history in our society of period pain being played down, or just considered <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09612020000200260">“normal”</a> – with so much of history written by men who wouldn’t have understood – alongside the use of euphemisms to avoid even discussing it. But there’s also plenty of evidence on the historical record showing how coping with severe menstrual pain has always been a struggle for some women. </p>
<p>In her 2015 <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maids_Wives_Widows/SXg7CQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Between+the+kidneys+and+the+womb+the+consent+is+evident+in+the+torments+and+pains+in+the+loins+which+women+and+maids&pg=PT84&printsec=frontcover">book</a> Maids, Wives, Widows: Exploring Early Modern Woman’s Lives 1540-1714, historian Sara Read notes a passage in a medical text from the 1600s – the first anatomy text to be written in English – that compares having a period to childbirth. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://shakespeare.lib.uiowa.edu/item/mikrokosmographia-or-a-description-of-the-body-of-man/">Microcosmographia. A Description of the Body of Man</a> London physician Helkiah Crooke physician, discusses “the courses” – a term for menstruation. He writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Between the kidneys and the womb, the consent is evident in the torments and pains in the loins which women and maids have in or about the time of their courses. In so much as some have told me they had at least bear a child as endure that pain; and myself have seen some to my thinking by their deportment; in as great extremity in the one as in the other.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Artemis the great</h2>
<p>The connection between the pain of having a baby and having a period is very appropriate to a product named after Artemis, the ancient Greek goddess associated with both. Artemis was the goddess that was turned to during times of transition, such as menstruation, development, and marriage.</p>
<p>A virgin goddess – one of three, the others being Athena and Hestia – she was involved as girls reached womanhood, with <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Cult/ArtemisCult.html">dedications made to her</a>. <a href="https://diotima-doctafemina.org/translations/anthologies/womens-life-in-greece-and-rome-selections/ix-medicine-and-anatomy/349-hysteria-in-virgins/">These included</a> your childhood toys and, before your sexual initiation, your belt. Indeed, women would dedicate their finest clothing to Artemis when their menstrual periods began.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CktYLkdII0r/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Young Athenian girls who had not yet been through puberty were sent to an early sacred site, the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron (about 30 miles from Athens), to <a href="https://womeninantiquity.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/the-cult-of-artemis-at-brauron/">serve at the shrine of the goddess</a>. Records show gifts given in thanks, possibly for surviving childbirth, another transition in women’s lives involving blood.</p>
<h2>Goddesses sell products</h2>
<p>From the mid-20th century onwards, it has been popular to name women’s products after famous women and goddesses from the ancient Mediterranean. For example, the name of a company developing a modern treatment for breast cancer, Atossa, dates back to around 520BC.</p>
<p>It was the name of a Persian queen, who – according to the historian Herodotus – was troubled by a lump in her breast, which was treated by the Greek doctor Democedes. In his famous <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D133">Histories</a> – an account of the period up to the Persian Wars – Herodotus writes that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A short time after this, something else occurred; there was a swelling on the breast of Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus and wife of Darius, which broke and spread further. As long as it was small, she hid it out of shame and told no one; but when it got bad, she sent for Democedes and showed it to him. He said he would cure her, but made her swear that she would repay him by granting whatever he asked of her, and said that he would ask nothing shameful.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJWd8fiLEyQ">Some scholars</a> have read this as the first recorded instance of breast cancer, but this isn’t clear from this brief description. Nor is the nature of Democedes’ treatment. But we do know that Atossa was cured. </p>
<p>Australian company <a href="https://atossatherapeutics.com/">Atossa Therapeutics</a> is running trials of hormone therapy in patients with invasive breast cancer who are about to have a mastectomy or lumpectomy. As of January 2023, the results were looking encouraging and trials have moved to the next stage. </p>
<h2>The power of the classics</h2>
<p>An early version of the contraceptive pill, marketed as Enovid, used the mythical Ethiopian princess <a href="https://muvs.org/en/contraception/c-media/enovid-badge-id2333/">Andromeda</a> in its advertising. The story runs that after her parents went too far in boasting about her exceptional beauty, the angry gods had Andromeda tied to a rock at the mercy of a sea monster, but <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/stories/andromeda-forgotten-woman-of-greek-mythology">she was saved by the hero Perseus</a>, who then took her as his queen.</p>
<p>For the manufacturers of Enovid, using their drug meant that every woman could “free herself from the chains” of worrying about unwanted pregnancy.</p>
<p>So the solution to women’s health problems is often presented in terms of ancient Greek female figures. Using these names may support the idea of continuity across history in how women have experienced their bodies, playing down how changes in society have affected them. </p>
<p>It also shows the lasting power of the classics, even at a time when few people learn about ancient Mediterranean cultures. And at the same time, it promotes a story in which “now” we can cure anything – even conditions that have been part of women’s lives for millennia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s a long history in our society of period pain being played down, or just considered “normal”. But there’s plenty of evidence in the historical records that women have always experienced it.Helen King, Professor Emerita, Classical Studies, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1941332022-12-15T13:06:07Z2022-12-15T13:06:07ZWhy early Christians wouldn’t have found the Christmas story’s virgin birth so surprising<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500114/original/file-20221209-41413-3bblu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C7%2C997%2C672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The Nativity,' circa 1406-10, by Lorenzo Monaco</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-nativity-circa-1406-10-artist-lorenzo-monaco-news-photo/1206224323?phrase=nativity&adppopup=true">Heritage Images/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/por-que-a-los-primeros-cristianos-no-les-habria-sorprendido-tanto-el-nacimiento-virginal-de-la-historia-de-navidad-219875"><em>Leer en español</em></a>. </p>
<p>Every year on Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of their religion’s founder, Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Part of this celebration includes the claim that Jesus was born from <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+1%3A18&version=NIV">a virgin mother named Mary</a>, which is fundamental to the Christian understanding that Jesus is <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201&version=NIV">the divine son of God</a>.</p>
<p>The virgin birth may seem <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/15/opinion/believe-it-or-not.html">strange</a> to a modern audience – and not just because it runs counter to the science of reproduction. Even in the Bible itself, the idea is rarely mentioned.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4ufVq8gAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a scholar of the New Testament</a>, however, I argue that this story’s original audiences would not have been put off by the supposed “strangeness” of the virgin birth story. The story would have felt much more familiar to listeners at that time, when the ancient Mediterranean was full of tales of legendary men born of gods – and when early Christians were paying close attention to the Hebrew Bible’s prophecies.</p>
<h2>What the Bible does – and doesn’t – say</h2>
<p>Strikingly, the New Testament is relatively silent on the virgin birth except in two places. It appears only in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, written a few decades after Jesus’ death.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%201&version=NIV">Book of Matthew</a> explains that when Joseph was engaged to Mary, she was “found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” The writer links this unexpected pregnancy to an Old Testament prophecy <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+7%3A14&version=NIV">in Isaiah 7:14</a>, which states “the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call him Immanuel.” According to the prophet Isaiah, this child would be a sign to the Jewish people that God would protect them from powerful empires.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A faded illustration shows an angel looking down at a woman kneeling on the ground in a cloak, surrounded by rays of light." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500112/original/file-20221209-30168-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500112/original/file-20221209-30168-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500112/original/file-20221209-30168-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500112/original/file-20221209-30168-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500112/original/file-20221209-30168-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500112/original/file-20221209-30168-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500112/original/file-20221209-30168-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A depiction of the Annunciation to Mary at Our Lady of the Assumption Church.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-annunciation-our-lady-of-the-assumption-church-royalty-free-image/538214856?phrase=the%20annunciation&adppopup=true">Catherine Leblanc/Stone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now the majority of early Christians outside of Judea and throughout the Roman empire did not know the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, but rather a Greek translation known as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Septuagint">the Septuagint</a>. When the Gospel of Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, it uses the Septuagint, which includes the term “parthenos,” commonly understood as “virgin.” This term differs from the Hebrew Old Testament, which uses the word “almah,” properly translated as “young woman.” The slight difference in <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/nt/43/2/article-p144_3.xml">translation</a> between the Hebrew and the Greek may not mean much, but for early Christians who knew Greek, it provided prophetic proof for Jesus’ birth from the Virgin Mary. </p>
<p>Was the belief in the virgin birth based on a mistranslation? Not necessarily. Such terms were sometimes synonymous in Greek and Jewish thought. And the same Greek word, “parthenos,” is also found in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201&version=NIV">Luke’s version of the story</a>. Luke does not cite the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. Instead, this version of the Nativity story describes the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she will give birth even though she is a virgin. Like in Matthew’s version of the story, Mary is told that her baby will be the “son of God.”</p>
<h2>Human and divine?</h2>
<p>For early Christians, the idea of the virgin birth put to rest any rumors about Mary’s honor. It also contributed to their belief that Jesus was the Son of God and Mary the <a href="https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum03.htm">Mother of God</a>. These ideas became even more important during the second century, when some Christians were <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103126.htm">debating Jesus’ origins</a>: Was he <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103321.htm">simply born</a> <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103126.htm">a human being</a> but became the Son of God after <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+1&version=NIV">being baptized</a>? Was he a <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103111.htm">semi-divine being</a>, not really human? Or was he both fully divine and fully human?</p>
<p>The last idea, symbolized by the virgin birth, was most accepted – and is now standard Christian belief. But the relative silence about it in the first few decades of Christianity does not necessarily suggest that early Christians did not believe it. Instead, as biblical scholar <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300140088/the-birth-of-the-messiah-a-new-updated-edition/">Raymond Brown</a> also noted, the virgin birth was likely not a major concern for first-century Christians. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+1&version=NIV">They affirmed</a> that Jesus was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+2&version=NIV">the divine Son of God</a> who <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+2&version=NIV">became a human being</a>, without trying to explain exactly how this happened.</p>
<h2>Greco-Roman roots</h2>
<p>Claiming that someone was divinely born was not a new concept during the first century, when Jesus was born. Many Greco-Roman heroes had divine birth stories. Take three famous figures: Perseus, Ion and Alexander the Great.</p>
<p>One of the oldest Greek legends affirms that Perseus, an ancient ancestor of the Greek people, was born of <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4">a virgin mother named Danaë</a>. The story begins with Danaë imprisoned by her father, the king of Argos, who feared her because it was prophesied that his grandson would kill him. According to the legend, the Greek god Zeus transformed himself into golden rain <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.%3Apoem%3D12">and impregnated her</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A painting shows a nude woman reclining on a bed with soft rain behind her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500113/original/file-20221209-46034-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500113/original/file-20221209-46034-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500113/original/file-20221209-46034-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500113/original/file-20221209-46034-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500113/original/file-20221209-46034-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500113/original/file-20221209-46034-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500113/original/file-20221209-46034-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A painting of Danaë, showing the golden rain above her, by Andrea Schiavone (1522-1563). From the collection of Museo di Capodimonte, Naples.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/danae-mid-of-16th-cen-found-in-the-collection-of-museo-di-news-photo/1155650935?phrase=danae&adppopup=true">Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Danaë gave birth to Perseus, they escaped and eventually landed on an island where he grew up. He eventually became a famous hero who killed the snake-haired Medusa, and <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=4:card=604&highlight=medusa%2C">his great-grandson</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D8">was Hercules</a>, known for his strength and uncontrollable anger.</p>
<p>The playwright Euripides, who lived in the fifth century B.C., describes the story of Ion, whose father was the Greek god Apollo. Apollo raped Creusa, Ion’s mother, who abandoned him at birth. Ion grew up unaware of his divine father, but eventually reconciled with his Athenian mother and became known as <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Ion+1-75&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0110">the founder</a> of various Greek cities in modern-day Turkey.</p>
<p>Lastly, legends held that Zeus was the father of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian ruler who conquered his vast empire before age 33. Alexander was supposedly conceived the night before his mother consummated her marriage with the king of Macedon, when Zeus impregnated her with <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0243%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D2">a lightning bolt from heaven</a>. Philip, the king of Macedon, raised Alexander as his son, but suspected that there was something different about his conception.</p>
<h2>A familiar type of hero</h2>
<p>Overall, divine conception stories were familiar in the ancient Mediterranean world. By the second century A.D., Justin Martyr, a Christian theologian who defended Christianity, recognized this point: that virgin birth <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm">would not have been considered as “extraordinary</a>” in societies familiar with Greco-Roman deities. In fact, in an address to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius and philosophers, Justin <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm#:%7E:text=Chapter%2022.%20Analogies,done%20by%20%C3%86sculapius.">argued</a> that they should tolerate Christian belief in the virgin birth just as they did belief in the stories of Perseus. </p>
<p>The idea of the divine participating in the conception of a child destined for greatness wouldn’t have seemed so unusual to an ancient audience. Even more, early Christians’ interpretation of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 from the Septuagint supported their belief that Jesus’ origin was not only divine, but foretold in their prophetic scriptures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea of virgin birth has been part of Christianity since the start, but its significance has shifted over time.Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III, Assistant Professor of the New Testament, Vanguard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936962022-11-15T13:20:45Z2022-11-15T13:20:45ZWhat Greek myth tells us about modern witchcraft<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494727/original/file-20221110-21-v7dffc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C53%2C5982%2C3916&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fear about women's power was an essential part of ancient anxiety about witchcraft.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/women-practicing-witchcraft-by-burning-candle-in-royalty-free-image/720119557?phrase=witches&adppopup=true">Vinicius Rafael / EyeEm via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Living on the North Shore in Boston in the fall brings the gorgeous turning of the leaves and pumpkin patches. It is also a time for people to <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/travel/2022/10/19/heres-what-its-like-to-live-in-salem-in-october/">head to</a> nearby Salem, Massachusetts, home of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-witches-are-women-because-witch-hunts-were-all-about-persecuting-the-powerless-125427">17th century infamous witch trials</a>, and visit <a href="https://salemwitchmuseum.com/">its popular museum</a>. </p>
<p>Despite a troubled history, there are people today who consider themselves witches. Often, modern witches share their lore, craft and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-63403467?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=5069cbb55d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_10_31_01_45&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-5069cbb55d-400094317">stories on TikTok</a> and other social media platforms. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=1be7ee967d45605afddf7da9ad4ca2c049a26c0b">scholar who works on myth and poetry</a> from ancient Greece – and as a native of New England – I have long been fascinated by the cultural conversations about witches. Witch trials in the Americas and Europe were in part about <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-witches-are-women-because-witch-hunts-were-all-about-persecuting-the-powerless-125427">enforcing power structures</a> and persecuting the weak. From ancient Greece through Puritan New England, witches functioned as easy targets for cultural anxieties about gender, power and mortality. </p>
<h2>Ancient witches: gender and power</h2>
<p>While modern witchcraft is inclusive of many different genders and identities, witches in ancient myth and literature were almost exclusively women. Their stories were in part about navigating gender roles and power in a patriarchal system.</p>
<p>Fear about women’s power was an essential part of ancient anxiety about witchcraft. This fear, moreover, relied on traditional expectations about the abilities innate to a person’s gender. As early as the creation narrative in Hesiod’s “Theogony” – a poem hailing from a poetic tradition between the eighth and fifth centuries B.C. – male gods like Cronus and Zeus were depicted with physical strength, while <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400849086-012/pdf">female figures were endowed with intelligence</a>. In particular, women knew about the mysteries of childbirth and how to raise children. </p>
<p>In the basic framework of Greek myth, then, men were strong and women used intelligence and tricks to cope with their violence. This gendered difference in traits combined with ancient Greek views of bodies and aging. While women were seen to move through stages of life based on biology – childhood, adolescence via menstruation, childbearing and old age – the aging of men was connected to their relationship to women, particularly in getting married and having children.</p>
<p>Both Greek and Latin have a single word for man and husband – “aner” in Greek and “vir” in Latin. Socially and ritually, men were essentially seen as adolescents until they became husbands and fathers. </p>
<p>Female control over reproduction was symbolized as a kind of <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2010/10/from-greek-myth-to-medieval-witches-infertile-women-as-monstrous-and-evil/">ability to control life and death</a>. In ancient Greece, women were expected to bear all responsibilities during early child rearing. They also were the ones to exclusively take on special roles in mourning the dead. Suspicion, anxiety and fear about mortality were then put on to women in general.</p>
<h2>Powerful women</h2>
<p>This was true especially for women who did not fit into typical gendered roles like the virtuous bride, the good mother or the helpful old maid. </p>
<p>While ancient Greek does not have a word that directly translates as “witch,” it does have “pharmakis” (someone who gives out drugs or medicine), “aoidos” (singer, enchantress) and “graus” or “graia” (old woman). Of these names, graus is probably closest to later European stereotypes: the mysterious old woman who is not part of a traditional family structure.</p>
<p>Much like today, foreignness invited suspicion in the ancient world as well. Several of the characters who may qualify as mythical witches were women from distant lands. Medea, famous for killing her children when her husband, Jason, proposes marrying someone else in <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0006,003:1249">Euripides’ play</a>, was a woman from the east, a foreigner who did not adhere to the expectations for a woman’s behavior in Greece.</p>
<p>She started her narrative as a princess who used <a href="https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/potions-and-poisons-classical-ancestors-of-the-wicked-witch-part-2/">concoctions and spells</a> to help Jason. Her powers increased male virility and life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white engraved illustration of Medea, known as a sorceress in Greek literature, as Jason prepares the departure of the expedition of the Argonauts." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494731/original/file-20221110-15-969u88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Medea killed her children when her husband, Jason, proposes marrying someone else in Euripides’ play.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/old-engraved-illustration-of-the-sorceress-medea-royalty-free-image/1277624941?phrase=Medea%20greek&adppopup=true">mikroman6/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Medea allegedly learned her magical craft from her aunt, Circe, who shows up in Homer’s “Odyssey.” She lived alone on an island, luring men to her cabin with seductive food and drink to turn them into animals. Odysseus defeated her with an antidote provided by the god Hermes. Once her magic failed, Circe believed she had no choice but to submit to Odysseus. </p>
<h2>Witches over time</h2>
<p>Elsewhere in the “Odyssey” there are similar themes: the Sirens who sing to Odysseus are enchantresses who try to take control of the hero. Earlier in the epic, the audience witnesses Helen, whose departure with the Trojan prince Paris was the cause of the Trojan War, add <a href="https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/weaving-pseudea-homoia-etumoisin-false-things-like-to-real-things-5-helens-good-drug/">an Egyptian drug called nepenthe</a> to the wine she gives <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D219">to her husband, Menelaos, and Odysseus’ son</a>, Telemachus. This wine was so strong, it made people forget about the pain of losing even a loved one. </p>
<p>In each of these cases, women who practice magic threaten to exert control over men with tools that can also be part of a pleasurable life: songs, sex and families. Other myths of monstrous women reinforce how misogynistic stereotypes animate these beliefs. The <a href="https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2020/10/26/the-child-killing-lamia-whats-really-scary-on-halloween-is-misogyny-3/">ancient figure Lamia</a>, for example, was a once beautiful woman who stole and killed infants because her children had died. </p>
<p><a href="https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2017/10/21/ancient-greek-vampires-empousa-and-lamia/">Empousa</a> was a vampiric creature who fed on the sex and blood of young men. Even Medusa, well-known as the snake-haired Gorgon who turned men to stone, was reported in some sources to have actually been a woman so beautiful that Perseus cut her head off <a href="https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2016/10/08/an-alternate-telling-of-medusa-male-discourse-leads-to-sexual-violence/">to show it off to his friends</a>.</p>
<p>These examples are from myth. There were many living traditions of women’s healing and song cultures that have been lost over time. Many academic authors have traced the modern practices of witchcraft <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674663244">to ancient cults</a> and the survival of pagan traditions outside of mainstream Christianity. Recent <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20411/20411-h/20411-h.htm">studies of ancient magical practices</a> show how widespread and varied they were. </p>
<p>While ancient women were likely subject to suspicion and slander for witchcraft, there is no evidence that they faced the kind of widespread persecution of witches that swept Europe and the Americas a few centuries ago. The later 20th century, however, saw renewed interest in witchcraft, often in concert with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1300/J015v16n02_13">movements empowering women</a>. </p>
<p>Modern witches are crossing international borders and learning from each other without leaving their homes by creating communities on social media, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-63403467">like TikTok</a>. If fear about women’s power led to paranoia in the past, exploring and embracing witchcraft has become part of reclaiming women’s histories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Christensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From ancient Greece to modern-day TikTok witchcraft, the world of witches has been a changing one.Joel Christensen, Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1895042022-08-30T17:50:24Z2022-08-30T17:50:24ZWho is Artemis? NASA’s latest mission to the Moon is named after an ancient lunar goddess turned feminist icon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481419/original/file-20220828-49487-qajm6m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C2592%2C1901&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Diana by Augustus Saint Gaudens, 1928, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Diana_by_Augustus_Saint-Gaudens_02.jpg">Postdlf via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>NASA <a href="https://qz.com/artemis-1-moon-launch-1849788717">launched the Artemis I moon rocket</a> on the morning of Nov. 16, 2022, after several delays earlier this year. This first flight is without a crew and expected to last four to six weeks. The program aims to increase women’s participation in space exploration – <a href="https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/blogs/2021/the-artemis-program-women-going-to-the-moon">30% of its engineers are women</a>. In addition, the Artemis I mission is carrying two mannequins designed to study the effects <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/orion-passengers-on-artemis-i-to-test-radiation-vest-for-deep-space-missions">of radiation on women’s bodies</a> so that NASA can learn how to protect female astronauts better.</p>
<p>Female astronauts are currently less likely to be selected for missions than men because their bodies tend to hit NASA’s <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02293-8">maximum acceptable threshold of radiation</a> earlier. NASA expects to bring the first woman and person of color to the Moon on <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/">Artemis III</a> sometime after 2024.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://as.tufts.edu/classicalstudies/people/faculty/marie-claire-beaulieu">scholar of Greek mythology</a>, I find the name of the mission quite evocative: The Greeks and Romans associated Artemis <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0472.phi001.perseus-eng2:34">with the Moon</a>, and she has also become a modern-day feminist icon.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Greek goddess Artemis with a mass of curls along her face that flow down her neck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481421/original/file-20220828-10694-hfrglg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481421/original/file-20220828-10694-hfrglg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481421/original/file-20220828-10694-hfrglg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481421/original/file-20220828-10694-hfrglg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481421/original/file-20220828-10694-hfrglg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481421/original/file-20220828-10694-hfrglg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481421/original/file-20220828-10694-hfrglg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bust of Artemis with crescent moon headband.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mfa.org/objects/180369/oval-gem-with-bust-of-artemis?ctx=51a2d53b-11bc-4547-891c-21b0c8389732&idx=0">Museum of Fine Arts, Boston </a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Artemis was a major deity in ancient Greece, worshiped at least as early as the <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/F/bo14317059.html">beginning of the first millennium B.C., or even earlier</a>. She was a daughter of Zeus, the chief god of the Olympians, who ruled the world from the summit of Mount Olympus. She was also the twin sister of Apollo, god of the Sun and oracles.</p>
<p>Artemis was a virgin goddess of the wilderness and hunting. Her independence and strength have long inspired women in a wide range of activities. For example, in a poem titled “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44978722">Artemis</a>,” author <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/author/Allison+Eir+Jenks">Allison Eir Jenks</a> writes: “I’m no longer your god-mother … your chef, your bus-stop, your therapist, your junk-drawer,” emphasizing women’s freedom and autonomy.</p>
<p>As the goddess of animals and the wilderness, Artemis has also inspired <a href="https://artemis.nwf.org/">environmental conservancy programs</a>, in which the goddess is viewed as an example of a woman exercising her power by caring for the planet.</p>
<p>However, while the Greek Artemis was strong and courageous, she wasn’t always kind and caring, even toward women. Her rashness was used to explain a <a href="http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.138-11.179">woman’s sudden death</a>, especially while giving birth. This aspect of the goddess has faded away with time. With the rise of feminism, Artemis has become an icon of feminine power and self-reliance.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A black vase from 470 B.C. showing two figures, one turning toward a hunter to shoot him with her bow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481626/original/file-20220829-6503-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481626/original/file-20220829-6503-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481626/original/file-20220829-6503-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481626/original/file-20220829-6503-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481626/original/file-20220829-6503-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481626/original/file-20220829-6503-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481626/original/file-20220829-6503-phq2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mixing bowl showing Artemis killing the hunter Actaeon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.mfa.org/objects/153654/mixing-bowl-bell-krater-with-the-death-of-aktaion-and-a-pu?ctx=3953ce93-11da-4ac3-957b-4242cc63cb7c&idx=9">Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bradford Huntington James Fund and Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4402.pdf">NASA has a long history</a> of naming its missions after mythological figures. Starting in the 1950s, many rockets and launch systems were named after Greek sky deities, like <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/atlas">Atlas</a> and <a href="https://spacecenter.org/exhibits-and-experiences/nasa-tram-tour/saturn-v-at-rocket-park/">Saturn</a>, whose Greek name is Cronos.</p>
<p>Atlas and Saturn weren’t just gods, they were Titans. In Greek mythology, Titans represent the untamed, primordial forces of nature, and so they evoke the prodigious vastness of space exploration. Although the Titans were known for their immense strength and power, they were also rebellious and dangerous and were eventually defeated by the Olympians, who represent civilization in Greek mythology.</p>
<p>Following the advent of human space flight, NASA began naming missions after children of Zeus who are associated with the sky. The <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mercury/missions/program-toc.html">Mercury program</a>, active from 1958 to 1963, was named after Hermes’ Roman counterpart, the messenger god who flies between Olympus, Earth and the underworld with his winged sandals. </p>
<p>Starting in 1963, the three-year-long <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/specials/gemini_gallery/">Gemini program</a> featured a capsule designed for two astronauts and was named after the twin sons of Zeus – Castor and Pollux, known as the Dioscuri in Greek – who were cast in the stars as the <a href="https://topostext.org/work/207">constellation of Gemini</a>. They were regularly represented with a star above their heads in Greek and Roman art.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/flyout/index.html">space shuttle program</a>, which lasted from 1981 to 2011, diverted from mythological monikers, and the names Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour were meant to evoke a spirit of innovation. </p>
<p>With Artemis, NASA is nodding back to the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/index.html">Apollo program</a>, which lasted from 1963 to 1972 and put the first men on the Moon in 1969. Over 50 years later, Artemis picks up where her twin brother left off, ushering in a more diverse era of human space flight.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bronze coin showing two engraved faces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481424/original/file-20220828-30736-t3iovl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A coin showing the Dioscuri, also known as the Gemini in Latin (Castor and Pollux) with a star above their heads.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.8104">American Numismatic Society, Bequest of E.T. Newell</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This piece has been updated to include the date of the launch.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie-Claire Beaulieu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of Greek mythology explains the naming of NASA’s missions after mythological figures and why the name Artemis is indicative of a more diverse era of space exploration.Marie-Claire Beaulieu, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1881722022-08-25T10:32:57Z2022-08-25T10:32:57ZFive books you’ll like if you love The Odyssey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479377/original/file-20220816-6097-5eioce.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=77%2C113%2C3916%2C2982&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Goddess Athena appearing to Odysseus to reveal the Island of Ithaca by Giuseppe Bottani.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Athena_appearing_to_Odysseus_to_reveal_the_Island_of_Ithaca_by_Giuseppe_Bottani.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In The Odyssey, an almost 3,000-year-old epic attributed to a poet known as Homer, the soldier Odysseus narrates most adventures in retrospect. The poem, which tells of Odysseus’ return from the Trojan War, is both the origin of our concept of nostalgia (from the Greek <em>nostos</em> meaning the journey home) and one of the first travel narratives. Whether or not you’re already familiar with The Odyssey, <a href="https://www.emilyrcwilson.com/the-odyssey">Emily Wilson’s celebrated English translation</a> is a must-read (or listen).</p>
<p>The epic has inspired many writers. For anyone hungry for more, these suggested reads take Homer’s Odyssey as a springboard to expand on the myths, offering additional perspectives, especially from female characters and taking the story to new and imagined worlds.</p>
<h2>1. Ithaka by Adele Geras</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Cover of book featuring a greek woman looking out to sea." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480851/original/file-20220824-4311-pwpqn5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480851/original/file-20220824-4311-pwpqn5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480851/original/file-20220824-4311-pwpqn5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480851/original/file-20220824-4311-pwpqn5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480851/original/file-20220824-4311-pwpqn5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480851/original/file-20220824-4311-pwpqn5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480851/original/file-20220824-4311-pwpqn5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin Random House Children's UK</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/100/1005168/ithaka/9780552574150">Geras’ novel</a> tells the story of what happened to Odysseus’ family and household while he was away. Both parents and young adults can enjoy her shift of focus (featuring descriptions of the dog’s daydreams) which opens with children playing on the beach and moves among peach orchards and almond groves. Told from the perspective of Penelope, Odysseus’ son Telemachus and their friends, Geras capture “kitchen gossip” and tangible details of a place seemingly caught in limbo in Odysseus’ absence.</p>
<h2>2. Meadowlands by Louise Gluck</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Cover of Meadowlands featuring an abstract island painting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480850/original/file-20220824-4473-dyjtgm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480850/original/file-20220824-4473-dyjtgm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480850/original/file-20220824-4473-dyjtgm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480850/original/file-20220824-4473-dyjtgm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480850/original/file-20220824-4473-dyjtgm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480850/original/file-20220824-4473-dyjtgm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480850/original/file-20220824-4473-dyjtgm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ecco</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A collection of poems, Gluck’s <a href="https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857543919">Meadowlands</a> weaves a portrait of the end of a marriage with the story of The Odyssey. Timeless myth is set against everyday struggle. There are poems written from the perspective of Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, about being raised by one parent. There are also the voices of Penelope and Circe. These epic figures become knowable as Gluck makes their lives seem at times ordinary. For instance, in the poem “Quiet Evening” she writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the quiet evenings in summer,<br>
the sky still light at this hour.<br>
So Penelope took the hand of Odysseus,<br>
not to hold him back but to impress<br>
this peace on his memory.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is a collection full of wit and humour as well as emotion. </p>
<h2>3. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Cover of book featuring mythic harpies." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479368/original/file-20220816-25-ertrdm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479368/original/file-20220816-25-ertrdm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479368/original/file-20220816-25-ertrdm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479368/original/file-20220816-25-ertrdm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479368/original/file-20220816-25-ertrdm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479368/original/file-20220816-25-ertrdm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479368/original/file-20220816-25-ertrdm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Canongate Canons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Odyssey ranges across wildernesses, beaches, gardens, orchards and palaces, but as the writer Madeline Miller notes, “however far afield [Odysseus] travelled, always [his stories] came back to Ithaca.” Odysseus eventually returns to his wife Penelope. In the epic poem of shifting locations and identities, Odysseus’ immoveable “here” is his marital bed, built around “an olive tree/ with delicate long leaves, full-grown and green,/ as sturdy as a pillar”.</p>
<p>Written also in the style of an epic poem, <a href="https://canongate.co.uk/books/72-the-penelopiad/">Margaret Attwood’s The Penelopiad</a> (2005) gives Odysseus’ long-suffering wife a chance to tell her side of the story. Penelope and her maids narrate Odysseus’ violent homecoming in hindsight from their afterlife location in the mythical underworld. Atwood’s retelling pioneered this approach to novels which give the perspectives of characters often marginalised in canonical ancient texts – especially the women. </p>
<h2>4. Circe by Madeline Miller</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Cover of the book Circe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479366/original/file-20220816-14-hiye6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479366/original/file-20220816-14-hiye6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479366/original/file-20220816-14-hiye6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479366/original/file-20220816-14-hiye6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479366/original/file-20220816-14-hiye6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479366/original/file-20220816-14-hiye6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479366/original/file-20220816-14-hiye6v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bloomsbury</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of Odysseus’ most memorable adventures is his sojourn with the goddess Circe, who turns Odysseus’ crew into pigs. <a href="http://madelinemiller.com/circe/">Madeline Miller’s Circe</a> powerfully re-conceives her story from several Greek myths. The daughter of the song god and titan Helios, she is an unremarkable child born into a life of luxurious tedium. But Circe wants more and seeks the companionship of humans. In trying to twist her fate and defy the will of the gods she discovers she possesses powers. For this, she is exiled. </p>
<p>This story of Circe’s life in exile on her island challenges The Odyssey’s focus on Odysseus. Miller emphasises Circe’s isolation as intended punishment that grows to become so much more. </p>
<p>In contrast to her “father’s halls”, Miller’s Circe experiences her island as “the wildest, most giddy freedom”. Circe discovers that “to swim in the tide, to walk the earth […] is what it means to be alive. […] All my life, I have been moving forward, and now I am here.”</p>
<h2>5. An Odyssey: a Father, a Son and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Book cover featuring greek artwork." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479367/original/file-20220816-5564-z7u5be.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479367/original/file-20220816-5564-z7u5be.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479367/original/file-20220816-5564-z7u5be.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479367/original/file-20220816-5564-z7u5be.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479367/original/file-20220816-5564-z7u5be.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479367/original/file-20220816-5564-z7u5be.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479367/original/file-20220816-5564-z7u5be.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vintage</span></span>
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<p>The critic and writer Daniel Mendelsohn’s memoir, <a href="https://www.williamcollinsbooks.co.uk/products/an-odyssey-a-father-a-son-and-an-epic-shortlisted-for-the-baillie-gifford-prize-2017-daniel-mendelsohn-9780007545124/">An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic</a>, relates his experience exploring The Odyssey with his father, first in his classroom and then as they travel around the Mediterranean recreating Odysseus’ journey. The book is part literary crash course on The Odyssey, part touching memoir and part travelogue. An informative and moving read.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Bryant Davies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These books and poems give the women of the Odyssey a say and other new perspectives on the classic tale.Rachel Bryant Davies, Lecturer in Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1843642022-06-06T12:50:13Z2022-06-06T12:50:13ZTallying the dead is one thing, giving them names would take an ‘inexhaustible voice,’ as the ancient Greeks knew<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466988/original/file-20220603-9439-v1ds5y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C1491%2C1129&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Antigone leads Oedipus out of Thebes' painting by Charles Francois Jalabert.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/The_Plague_of_Thebes.jpg">Collection Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille via Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The official count of Americans lost to COVID-19 <a href="https://apnews.com/article/one-million-dead-US-COVID-ea745d462d47a65029a8c507c94e679e">has surpassed 1 million</a>. It is the latest grim milestone that has marked the progression of deaths and infections since the virus took hold in the U.S. in March 2020. </p>
<p>Such numbers make it hard to memorialize individuals – a problem that has existed throughout the ages.</p>
<p>As a scholar who studies Greek myth and has written a <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501752346/the-many-minded-man/">book about psychology and Homer’s epic poem, the “Odyssey</a>,” I keep trying to understand what we have experienced in the U.S. during the COVID-19 era through my research.</p>
<p>Greek texts cannot name all their countless fallen heroes, but they show how to honor the lives of those lost to war or plague, and the significance of doing so.</p>
<h2>Moral tales and the countless dead</h2>
<p>Some of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/plagues-follow-bad-leadership-in-ancient-greek-tales-133139">earliest texts about deaths in plagues and war</a> from ancient Greece emphasize the difference between the individuals who lead their citizens into disasters and the masses of people who suffer and die because of them. </p>
<p>Homer’s other epic, the “Iliad,” set in the conflict between the Greeks and the city of Troy, starts out by lamenting the “<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134">myriad Greeks sent to their doom</a>” not by the war itself but the superhuman rage of Achilles, son of the goddess Thetis, and the most powerful of the Greek warriors. Achilles’ rage during the war against his commanding officer, Agamemnon, leads to the deaths of his own people.</p>
<p>Nameless victims also haunt Sophocles’ Athenian tragedy, “Oedipus Tyrannus,” or “Oedipus the King,” when a plague afflicts the city of Thebes. An oracle says the plague will not end until the killer of Oedipus’ father Laius is brought to justice. Oedipus struggles to realize that he is the killer and cause of the plague, as the one who murdered his father and married his mother, not knowing who they are. </p>
<p>Probably the most famous account of a plague from ancient Greece comes from Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War,” a generation-long war between the city-states of Athens and Sparta from 432 to 404 B.C. Thucydides describes how a plague overtook Athens in 430 B.C.</p>
<p>Thucydides’ first-person account <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D51">describes fevers and boils and frustrated doctors</a>, but little sense of the individuals who suffered from it. Instead, he focuses on the breakdown of social order, how people abandoned their neighbors and loved ones, and how, shockingly, traditional <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D52">burial rites were abandoned</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19787658/#:%7E:text=In%20430%20BC%2C%20a%20plague,of%20the%20city's%20population%2C%20died.">Modern estimates put the Athenian losses in this plague at 25%</a> of the population, perhaps over 75,000 people. </p>
<h2>Can we even conceive of the numbers?</h2>
<p>Homer and Sophocles do not give names to individuals among the dead masses. As the narrator in the Iliad announces, someone would need “<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D459">ten mouths and an inexhaustible voice</a>” to name all those who fought at Troy. The contrast between the large numbers of undifferentiated dead and the heroes or leaders responsible for them helps the readers think about culpability. But this might also be a reflection of the limits of human cognition.</p>
<p>Our brains are not well suited to comprehending large numbers: We are good at comparing sums, but the larger a number gets, the harder it is for us to attach concrete meaning to it. This is in part why the milestone COVID-19 <a href="https://theconversation.com/brains-are-bad-at-big-numbers-making-it-impossible-to-grasp-what-a-million-covid-19-deaths-really-means-179081">death tolls of 100,000 and 1,000,000</a> may mean as much to us as the “myriad deaths of Greeks” at the beginning of the “Iliad.” </p>
<p>Our ability to identify with and feel compassion for victims of violence decreases as the number lost increases, <a href="https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2007/11/slovic">leaving us numb</a>. We are also psychologically better suited at mourning our near and dear ones, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/this-is-not-just-a-number-these-are-real-people">or a handful of people, than a group</a>. This is, lamentably, why mass killings and genocides are so difficult for many people to process emotionally. </p>
<h2>Burial and rhetoric</h2>
<p>Our inability to comprehend large numbers of the dead render them faceless and nameless. This can create a tension with practices for honoring those we have lost. Greek myth centers burial <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-greek-classics-tell-us-about-grief-and-the-importance-of-mourning-the-dead-145827">rites as the honor due to the dead</a>. Their practices included caring for the body through cremation or burial, but also through lamentation and the creation of memory.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting showing the corpse of a dead man being held by wailing men and women while some warriors look on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466998/original/file-20220603-15396-vvhzdh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Achilles lamenting the death of his friend Patroclus. Painting by artist Gavin Hamilton (1723 - 1798).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/5009">Scottish National Gallery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Indeed, the final two books of Homer’s “Iliad” are lessons in how to memorialize the dead. First, Achilles holds a funeral and <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D23%3Acard%3D1">games in honor of his friend Patroclus</a>, and then the Trojans retrieve and mourn their fallen defender, Hektor.</p>
<p>The eulogies of modern funerals function in part to help create a shared memory of a lost loved one. COVID-19, however, has not only exhausted people’s capacity to grieve through sheer numbers, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-greek-classics-tell-us-about-grief-and-the-importance-of-mourning-the-dead-145827">it has also disrupted memorial practices</a>.</p>
<p>In ancient Athens, there was a practice of providing an <a href="https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2461">annual funeral speech</a> for those who had died in service to the city. The speech was a sacred occasion that provided honor to the dead as a group. These speeches connected their sacrifice to civic survival and the glory of the state, situating their deaths in a story that connected their survivors’ past with future endeavors.</p>
<p>One of the most famous examples of ancient rhetoric comes from this practice. Thucydides places the <a href="http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/education/thucydides.html">funeral speech of Pericles</a>, the leader of Athens and architect of its war with Sparta, at the end of the first year of the conflict, right before the onset of the plague. Pericles rallies his people not to mourn their losses but to praise their sacrifice. </p>
<h2>The politics of counting</h2>
<p>Nations can choose to memorialize the dead through a monument or a holiday. Such memorialization arises from a public and political will. But the number of lives lost are subject to selection.</p>
<p>U.S. COVID-19 deaths, for example, may be <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2020/us-covid-deaths-may-be-undercounted-by-36-percent/">undercounted by a third</a> because of local and national decisions on record keeping and classification. The impact of these losses is impossible to estimate. Worldwide, COVID-19 has become a <a href="https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/03/27/an-enormous-disabling-event-long-covid-could-have-inequitable-impact-on-californians/">long-term disabling event for millions</a>. In the United States alone, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-one-million-covid-dead-mean-for-the-u-s-s-future/">a quarter of a million children</a> have lost a caregiver to the pandemic.</p>
<p>It is important to count the numbers and to tell their stories, because what countries officially count in part communicates who they think matters. Consider, for instance, that the <a href="https://web.mit.edu/humancostiraq/">the number of Iraqis and Afghans</a> killed during America’s wars in those regions is not known. By contrast, the <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/national/fallen/">number of American servicemen killed is well known</a>.</p>
<p>The contrast between what is countable and what is felt brings tension to the stories of the Iliad, Oedipus and Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War.” Poorly read, these narratives glorify their failed leaders, but careful consideration can help readers see how many were lost to preserve a handful of names.</p>
<p>Who our nations count today will go a long way in telling future generations the story of the COVID-19 era. And it will also help define those who lived through it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Christensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of Greek classics revisits the texts to bring lessons on how to honor the lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.Joel Christensen, Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1804842022-04-13T21:51:22Z2022-04-13T21:51:22ZSacred hares, banished winter witches and pagan worship – the roots of Easter Bunny traditions are ancient<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458017/original/file-20220413-15-x0e57b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=222%2C49%2C7959%2C5425&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children celebrating Easter, with their Easter Bunnies and Easter eggs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/two-young-boys-wearing-easter-bunny-ears-royalty-free-image/1388063471?adppopup=true">Sanja Radin/Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Easter Bunny is a much celebrated character in American Easter celebrations. On Easter Sunday, children look for hidden special treats, often chocolate Easter eggs, that the Easter Bunny might have left behind.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=prZyKrMAAAAJ&hl=en">folklorist</a>, I’m aware of the origins of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346357286_The_Shifting_Baselines_of_the_British_Hare_Goddess">long and interesting journey</a> this mythical figure has taken from European prehistory to today. </p>
<h2>Religious role of the hare</h2>
<p>Easter is a celebration of spring and new life. Eggs and flowers are rather obvious symbols of female fertility, but in European traditions, the bunny, with its amazing reproduction potential, is not far behind.</p>
<p>In European traditions, the Easter Bunny is known as the Easter Hare. The symbolism of the hare has had many tantalizing ritual and religious roles down through the years.</p>
<p>Hares were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102672">given ritual burials</a> alongside humans during the Neolithic age in Europe. Archaeologists have interpreted this as a religious ritual, with hares representing <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_787590_en.html">rebirth</a>. </p>
<p>Over a thousand years later, during the Iron Age, ritual burials for hares were common, and in 51 B.C., Julius Caesar mentions that in Britain, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346357286_The_Shifting_Baselines_of_the_British_Hare_Goddess">hares were not eaten</a>, due to their religious significance.</p>
<p>Caesar would likely have known that in the Classical Greek tradition, <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Text/PhilostratusElder1A.html">hares were sacred to Aphrodite</a>, the goddess of love. Meanwhile, Aphrodite’s son Eros was often depicted carrying a hare, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110308815.311">as a symbol of unquenchable desire</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting depicting a young woman handing baby Jesus to Virgin Mary, who puts one hand around him, while holding a hare with the other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458014/original/file-20220413-26-khhsks.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Madonna of the Rabbit,’ a painting from 1530, depicting the Virgin Mary with a hare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Tizian_018.jpg">A painting by artist Titian (1490-1576), Louvre Museum, Paris.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the Greek world through the Renaissance, hares often appear as symbols of sexuality in literature and art. For example, the Virgin Mary is often <a href="http://musee.louvre.fr/oal/viergeaulapinTitien/viergeaulapinTitien_acc_en.html">shown with a white hare or rabbit</a>, symbolizing that she overcame sexual temptation.</p>
<h2>Hare meat and witches’ mischief</h2>
<p>But it is in the folk traditions of England and Germany that the figure of the hare is specifically connected to Easter. Accounts from the 1600s in Germany describe children hunting for Easter eggs hidden by the Easter Hare, much as in the contemporary United States today. </p>
<p>Written accounts from England around the same time also mention the Easter Hare, particularly in terms of traditional Easter hare hunts, and the eating of hare meat at Easter. </p>
<p>One tradition, known as the “Hare Pie Scramble,” was held at Hallaton, a village in Leicestershire, England, which involved eating a pie made with hare meat and people “scrambling” for a slice. In 1790, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1253567">local parson tried to stop the custom</a> due to its pagan associations, but he was unsuccessful, and the custom continues in that village until this day. </p>
<p>The eating of the hare may have been associated with various longstanding folk traditions of scaring away witches at Easter. Throughout Northern Europe, folk traditions record a strong belief that witches would often <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1260796">take the form of the hare</a>, usually for causing mischief such as stealing milk from neighbors’ cows. Witches in medieval Europe were often believed to be able to suck out the life energy of others, making them ill, and suffer.</p>
<p>The idea that the witches of winter should be <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24862791">banished at Easter</a> is a common European folk motif, appearing in several festivities and rituals. The spring equinox, with its promise of new life, was held symbolically in opposition to the life-draining activities of witches and winter.</p>
<p>This idea provides the underlying rationale behind various festivities and rituals, such as the “Osterfeuer,” or the Easter Fire, a celebration in Germany involving large outdoor bonfires <a href="https://www.twosmallpotatoes.com/osterfeuer-embracing-easter-traditions-in-germany/">meant to scare away witches</a>. In Sweden, the popular folklore states that at Easter, the witches all fly away on their broomsticks <a href="http://realscandinavia.com/in-sweden-easter-is-a-time-for-witches/">to feast and dance with the Devil</a> on the legendary island of Blåkulla, in the Baltic Sea. </p>
<h2>Pagan origins</h2>
<p>In 1835, the folklorist <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jacob_Grimm">Jacob Grimm</a>, one of the famous team of the fairy tale “Brothers Grimm,” argued that the Easter Hare <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1515655">was connected with a goddess</a>, whom he imagined would have been called “Ostara” in ancient German. He derived this name from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, that <a href="https://exploringcelticciv.web.unc.edu/bede-the-history-of-the-english-church/">Bede</a>, an Anglo-Saxon monk considered to be the father of English history, mentioned in 731. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The goddess Ēostre/*Ostara flies through the heavens surrounded by winged angels, beams of light and animals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458019/original/file-20220413-26-jdne8p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Ostara’ by Johannes Gehrts, created in 1884. The goddess Ēostre flies through the heavens surrounded by Roman-inspired putti, beams of light, and animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre#/media/File:Ostara_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg">Felix Dahn, Therese Dahn, Therese (von Droste-Hülshoff) Dahn, Frau, Therese von Droste-Hülshoff Dahn (1901) via Wikimedia Commons.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bede noted that in eighth-century England the month of April was called Eosturmonath, or Eostre Month, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1253567">named after the goddess Eostre</a>. He wrote that a pagan festival of spring in the name of the goddess had become assimilated into the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that while most European languages refer to the Christian holiday with names that come from the Jewish holiday of Passover, such as Pâques in French, or Påsk in Swedish, German and English languages retain this older, non-biblical word, Easter.</p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346357286_The_Shifting_Baselines_of_the_British_Hare_Goddess">archaeological research</a> appears to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2752/175169708X329372">confirm the worship of Eostre</a> in parts of England and in Germany, with the hare as her main symbol. The Easter Bunny therefore seems to recall these <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1515655">pre-Christian celebrations of spring</a>, heralded by the vernal equinox and personified by the Goddess Eostre.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>After a long, cold, northern winter, it seems natural enough for people to celebrate themes of resurrection and rebirth. The flowers are blooming, birds are laying eggs, and baby bunnies are hopping about. </p>
<p>As new life emerges in spring, the Easter Bunny hops back once again, providing a longstanding cultural symbol to remind us of the cycles and stages of our own lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tok Thompson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A folklorist explains the prehistoric origins of the mythical Easter Bunny and why this longstanding cultural symbol keeps returning each spring.Tok Thompson, Professor of Anthropology and Communication, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767602022-02-10T22:17:09Z2022-02-10T22:17:09ZWhat the mythical Cupid can teach us about the meaning of love and desire<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445736/original/file-20220210-17-1y1uhco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C6417%2C4707&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A part of the fresco "Triumph of Galatea," created by Raphael around 1512 for the Villa Farnesina in Rome.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-triumph-of-galatea-1512-14-news-photo/151324283?adppopup=true">Art Images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each Valentine’s Day, when I see images of the chubby winged god Cupid taking aim with his bow and arrow at his unsuspecting victims, I take refuge in my training as <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=1be7ee967d45605afddf7da9ad4ca2c049a26c0b">a scholar of early Greek poetry and myth</a> to muse on the strangeness of this image and the nature of love.</p>
<p>In Roman culture, Cupid was the child of the goddess Venus, popularly known today as the goddess of love, and Mars, the god of war. But for ancient audiences, as myths and texts show, she was really the patron deity of “sexual intercourse” and “procreation.” The name Cupid, which comes from the <a href="https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/latin-english-dictionary.php?parola=cupido">Latin verb cupere</a>, means desire, love or lust. But in the odd combination of a baby’s body with lethal weapons, along with parents associated with both love and war, Cupid is a figure of contradictions – a symbol of conflict and desire.</p>
<p>This history isn’t often reflected in the modern-day Valentine celebrations. The Feast of Saint Valentine started out as a celebration of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-st-valentine-was-no-patron-of-love-90518">St. Valentine of Rome</a>. As <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/tr/moss-candida.aspx">Candida Moss</a>, a scholar of theology and late antiquity, explains, the courtly romance of holiday advertisements may have more to do with <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/arts-blog/did-love-begin-middle-ages">the Middle Ages</a> than with ancient Rome. </p>
<p>The winged cupid was a favorite of artists and authors in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but he was more than just a symbol of love to them.</p>
<h2>Born of sex and war</h2>
<p>The Romans’ Cupid was the equivalent of the Greek god Eros, the origin of the word “erotic.” In ancient Greece, Eros is often seen as the son of Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, as well as sex and desire.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration of Greek god Eros, showing a young boy withe wings against a black background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445735/original/file-20220210-27-esyybo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C104%2C1896%2C1571&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445735/original/file-20220210-27-esyybo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445735/original/file-20220210-27-esyybo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445735/original/file-20220210-27-esyybo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445735/original/file-20220210-27-esyybo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445735/original/file-20220210-27-esyybo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445735/original/file-20220210-27-esyybo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting of Eros from 470 B.C.– 450 B.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/EROS_Louvre.jpg">The Louvre via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Greek Eros often appears in early Greek iconography along with <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1888-1015-13">other Erotes</a>, a group of winged gods associated with love and sexual intercourse. These ancient figures <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Erotes.html">were often pictured as older adolescents</a> – winged bodies sometimes personified as a trio: eros (lust), himeros (desire) and pothos (passion).</p>
<p>There were younger, more playful versions of Eros, however. Art depictions from the fifth century B.C. show <a href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/2068/red-figure-chous-with-eros/">Eros as a child</a> pulling a cart on a red figure vase. A famous <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254502">sleeping bronze of Eros</a> from the Hellenistic period of second century B.C. also shows him as a child.</p>
<p>By the time of the Roman Empire, however, the image of chubby <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251403">little Cupid</a> became more common. The Roman poet Ovid writes about <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0029%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D452">two types of Cupid’s arrows</a>: one that metes out uncontrollable desire and another that fills its target with revulsion. Such depiction of Greek and Roman deities holding the power to do both good and bad was common. The god Apollo, for example, could heal people of disease or cause a plague to ruin a city.</p>
<p>Earlier Greek myths also made it clear that Eros was not merely a force for distraction. At the beginning of Hesiod’s “Theogony” – a poem telling the history of the creation of the universe told through the reproduction of the gods – Eros appears early as a necessary natural force since he “<a href="http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104-138">troubles the limbs and overcomes the mind and counsels of all mortals and gods</a>.” This line was an acknowledgment of the power of the sexual desire even over gods. </p>
<h2>Balancing conflict and desire</h2>
<p>And yet, Eros was not all about the sexual act. For the <a href="https://history.hanover.edu/texts/presoc/emp.html">early Greek philosopher Empedocles</a>, Eros was paired with Eris, the goddess of strife and conflict, as the two most influential forces in the universe. For philosophers like Empedocles, Eros and Eris personified attraction and division at an elemental level, the natural powers that cause matter to bring life into existence and then tear it apart again.</p>
<p>In the ancient world, sex and desire were considered an essential part of life, but dangerous if they become too dominant. Plato’s <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0174:text=Sym.">Symposium</a>, a dialogue on the nature of Eros, provides a survey of different ideas of desire at the time – moving from its effects on the body to its nature and ability to reflect who people are.</p>
<p>One of the most memorable segments from this dialogue is when the speaker Aristophanes humorously describes the origins of Eros. He explains that all humans were once two people combined in one. The gods punished humans for their arrogance by separating them into individuals. So, desire is really a longing to be whole again.</p>
<h2>Playing with Cupid</h2>
<p>Today it might be commonplace to say that you are what you love, but for ancient philosophers, you are both what and how you love. This is illustrated in one of the most memorable Roman accounts of Cupid that combines elements lust along with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3556532?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">philosophical reflections</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting showing a young woman holding a lamp to view a sleeping, naked Cupid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445748/original/file-20220210-47794-1atc7xd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Psyche lifts a lamp to view the sleeping Cupid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Vouet-Psych%C3%A9-Lyon.jpg">Painting by Simon Vouet, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon Collection via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this account, the second-century North African writer Apuleius puts Cupid at the center of his Latin novel, “The Golden Ass.” The main character, a man turned into a donkey, recounts how an older woman tells a kidnapped bride, Charite, the story of how Cupid used to visit the young Psyche at night in the darkness of her room. When she betrays his trust and lights an oil lamp to see who he is, the god is burned and flees. Psyche must wander and complete nearly impossible tasks for Venus before she is allowed to reunite with him.</p>
<p>Later authors explained this story as an allegory about the relationship between <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20188784?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">the human soul and desire</a>. And Christian interpretations built upon this notion, seeing it as detailing the <a href="https://pillars.taylor.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1181&context=inklings_forever">fall of the soul thanks to temptation</a>. This approach, however, ignores the part of the plot where Psyche is granted immortality to remain by Cupid’s side and then gives birth to a child named “Pleasure.” </p>
<p>In the end, Apuleius’ story is a lesson about finding balance between matters of the body and spirit. The child “Pleasure” is born not from secret nightly trysts, but from reconciling the struggle of the mind with matters of the heart.</p>
<p>There’s more than a bit of play to our modern Cupid. But this little archer comes from a long tradition of wrestling with a force that exerts so much influence over mortal minds. Tracing his path through Greek and Roman myth shows the vital importance of understanding the pleasures and dangers of desire.</p>
<p>[<em>This Week in Religion, a global roundup each Thursday.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-global-roundup">Sign up.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176760/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Christensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of early Greek classics explains what the myth of the weapon-carrying god of love, Cupid, a child of the gods of love and war, conveys about the pleasures and dangers of desire.Joel Christensen, Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1620712021-08-06T12:40:43Z2021-08-06T12:40:43ZDinosaur bones became griffins, volcanic eruptions were gods fighting – geomythology looks to ancient stories for hints of scientific truth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414601/original/file-20210804-17-1waxsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=350%2C161%2C5218%2C3826&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mythical creature born of a misinterpreted fossil?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/statue-of-griffin-or-griffon-a-legendary-creature-royalty-free-image/1148411968">Akkharat Jarusilawong/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Everyone loves a good story, especially if it’s based on something true.</p>
<p>Consider the Greek legend of the Titanomachy, in which the Olympian gods, led by Zeus, vanquish the previous generation of immortals, the Titans. As <a href="https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm">recounted by the Greek poet Hesiod</a>, this conflict makes for a thrilling tale – and it may preserve kernels of truth.</p>
<p>The eruption <a href="https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/greece/gr1040e.html">around 1650 B.C. of the Thera volcano</a> could have inspired Hesiod’s narrative. More powerful than Krakatoa, this ancient cataclysm in the southern Aegean Sea would have been witnessed by anyone living within hundreds of miles of the blast.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="aerial view of Santorini Caldera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The massive eruption of the Thera volcano more than 3,500 years ago left behind a hollowed out island, today known as Santorini.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/7449551878/">Steve Jurvetson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/natural-knowledge-preclassical-antiquity">Historian of science Mott Greene argues</a> that key moments from the Titanomachy map on to the eruption’s “signature.” For example, Hesiod notes that loud rumbles emanated from the ground as the armies clashed; seismologists now know that harmonic tremors – small earthquakes that sometimes precede eruptions – often produce similar sounds. And the impression of the sky – “wide Heaven” – shaking during the battle could have been inspired by <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/33431/volcanic-shockwave-captured-by-iss-imagery/">shock waves in the air</a> caused by the volcanic explosion. Hence, the Titanomachy may represent the creative misreading of a natural event.</p>
<p>Greene’s conjecture is an example of geomythology, a field of study that gleans scientific truths from legends and myths. Created by geologist Dorothy Vitaliano nearly 50 years ago, geomythology focuses on tales that may record, however dimly, occurrences like volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes, as well as their aftereffects, such as the exposures of strange-looking bones. These events appear to have been, in some cases, so traumatic or wonder-inducing that they may have inspired preliterate peoples to “explain” them through fables.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mqZSQ1QAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">In 2021 I published</a> the first textbook in the field, “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Geomythology-How-Common-Stories-Reflect-Earth-Events/Burbery/p/book/9780367711061">Geomythology: How Common Stories Reflect Earth Events</a>.” As the book demonstrates, researchers in both the sciences and the humanities practice geomythology. In fact, geomythology’s hybrid nature may help to bridge the gap between the two cultures. And despite its orientation toward the past, geomythology might also provide powerful resources for meeting environmental challenges in the future.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Moken children play on the beach, with small boats tied up in the shallows" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The legend of a monster wave told by the Moken people gave them a leg up during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photo-taken-on-september-30-2020-shows-moken-children-news-photo/1229742933">Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Passed-down tales that explain the world</h2>
<p>Some geomyths are relatively well known. One comes from the Moken people in Thailand, who survived the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a catastrophe that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30034501">killed some 228,000 people</a>. On that terrible day, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/dec/10/indian-ocean-tsunami-moken-sea-nomads-thailand">Moken heeded an old tale about the “laboon”</a>, or “monster wave,” a legend passed down to them over countless campfires.</p>
<p>According to the fable, from time to time a people-devouring wave would surge and move far inland. However, those who fled to high ground in time, or, counterintuitively, put out into deeper waters, would survive. Following the legend’s advice, the Moken preserved their lives. </p>
<p>Other geomyths might have started as explanations for prehistoric remains that didn’t readily map onto any known creature.</p>
<p>The Cyclopes, the tribe of one-eyed ogres that terrorized Odysseus and his crew, might have sprung from the findings of prehistoric elephant skulls in Greece and Italy. In 1914, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/animali-del-passato/oclc/878781319?referer=br&ht=edition">paleontologist Othenio Abel pointed out</a> that these fossils feature large facial cavities in front, from which the trunk would have protruded. The eye sockets, by contrast, are easily overlooked on the sides of the cranium. To the ancient Greeks who dug them up, these skulls might have seemed like the remains of monocular, humanoid giants.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land/griffin-bones">seemingly fanciful griffin</a> – the eagle-headed, lion-bodied hybrid – might have a similar origin story and could be based on the creative misrecognition of <em>Protoceratops</em> dinosaur remains in the Gobi Desert.</p>
<p>Still other geomyths may point to natural events. Indigenous tales tell of “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-32701311">fire devils</a>” that flew down from the Sun and plunged to Earth, killing everything in the vicinity when they landed. These “devils” were probably meteors witnessed by Aboriginal Australians. In some cases, the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.6368">tales anticipate findings of Western science</a> by decades, even centuries.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people on small boat and raft setting up scientific equipment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers set up monitoring equipment at Africa’s Lake Nyos that will sound an alarm if carbon dioxide levels become dangerous again.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/multinational-group-of-researchers-set-up-carbon-dioxide-news-photo/585863268">Louise Gubb/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Numerous African folktales ascribe mischief to certain lakes, including the lakes’ apparent ability to change color, shift locations and even turn deadly. <a href="https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/273/1/NP">Such legends have been corroborated by actual events</a>. The most notorious example is the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.236.4798.169">explosion” of Cameroon’s Lake Nyos in 1986</a> when carbon dioxide, long trapped on the bottom, abruptly surfaced. Within a day, 1,746 people, along with thousands of birds, insects and livestock, were <a href="https://youtu.be/o8AonDeS8HY">suffocated by the CO2 cloud the lake burped up</a>. Lakes are sometimes associated with death and the underworld in Mediterranean stories as well: Lake Avernus, near Naples, is mythologized <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.6.vi.html">as such in Virgil’s “Aeneid</a>.”</p>
<p>Animal encounters may inform other geomyths. <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-histories-by-herodotus-53748">Herodotus’ “Histories”</a>, written about 430 B.C., claims that dog-sized ants guard certain gold deposits in regions of East Asia. In his 1984 book “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/ants-gold/oclc/251832995&referer=brief_results">The Ants’s Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas</a>,” ethnologist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/world/europe/michel-peissel-tibet-scholar-and-adventurer-dies-at-74.html">Michel Peissel</a> uncovered Herodotus’ possible inspiration: mountain-dwelling marmots, who to this day “mine” gold by layering their nests with gold dust.</p>
<h2>Fanciful stories that feed into science</h2>
<p>Geomythology is not a science. The old stories are often garbled or contradictory, and it’s always possible that they preceded the real events that today’s researchers link them with. Imaginative pre-scientific peoples might well have dreamed up various tales out of whole cloth and only later found “confirmation” in Earth events or discoveries. </p>
<p>Yet as noted, geomyths like the griffin and Cyclopes arose from specific geographical regions that feature remains not found elsewhere. The likelihood of preliterate peoples first inventing tales that then somehow corresponded closely to later fossil finds seems like a stunning coincidence. More likely, at least with some geotales, the discoveries preceded the narratives. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Etruscan pottery with black figures blinding the cyclops with a spear" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pottery from the fifth century B.C. depicting the blinding of a Cyclops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/etruscan-civilization-5th-century-b-c-black-figure-pottery-news-photo/122214433">DEA/G. Nimatallah/De Agostini Editorial via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Either way, geomythology can serve as a valuable ally to science. Most often, it can help to corroborate scientific findings.</p>
<p>Yet geomyths can sometimes go further and correct scientific results or raise alternative hypotheses. For example, geologist <a href="https://www.geosociety.org/awards/16speeches/mgpv.htm">Donald Swanson</a> argues that the Pele legends of Hawaii suggest that the Kilauea volcanic caldera was formed considerably earlier than previous studies had indicated. He alleges that “volcanologists were led astray” in their research on the caldera’s age “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2008.01.033">by not paying close attention to the Hawaiian oral traditions</a>.”</p>
<p>Though focused on the past, geomythology may also help to set future scientific agendas. Today’s researchers might become familiar with myths that feature weird creatures or extreme weather, and then examine the stories’ places of origins for geological and paleontological clues. Such tales might provide invaluable links with real occurrences that took place long before there was a scientist around to record them. Indeed, such stories could have endured precisely because they memorialized a traumatic or wrenching incident and were thus passed down from one generation to the next as a literal cautionary tale. </p>
<h2>Creating geomyths today for future generations</h2>
<p>Another exciting area for geomythical study is not just the researching of old myths but the creation of new ones that could alert future generations of potential dangers, whether these peoples might live in tsunami-prone regions, near nuclear waste sites like Yucca Mountain, or in some equally risky area. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="warning sign for radioactive waste" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What if, millennia from now, no one can read or understand a sign like this?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIPP_-_Small_Subsurface_Markers.svg">Department of Energy – Carlsbad Field Office</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nuclear waste can remain radioactive for mind-boggling amounts of time, in some cases <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html#waste">up to many tens of thousands of years</a>. While placing warning labels on deposits of radioactive materials seems sensible, languages morph constantly and there’s no guarantee that present-day ones will even be spoken, let alone be understandable, in the distant future. Indeed, even stranger to contemplate is the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/were-underestimating-the-risk-of-human-extinction/253821/">extinction of the human race</a>, an event that some philosophers see as potentially closer than we might think. How, if at all, might we warn our distant progeny or, beyond them, our eventual post-human successors? </p>
<p>[<em>Get fascinating science, health and technology news.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-fascinating">Sign up for The Conversation’s weekly science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Creating notification systems that persist throughout time is an area in which myths could be useful. Famous tales often last for many generations, sometimes proving more durable than the languages in which they were first told or spoken. Indeed, C.S. Lewis wrote that one hallmark of myth is that it “would <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/george-macdonald-c-s-lewis?variant=32117835202594">equally delight and nourish</a> if it had reached [us] by some medium which involved no words at all – say by a mime, or a film.”</p>
<p>Because they are less tied to language than literature is, myths may be easier to transmit across cultures and time. The oldest one currently on record is an <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told">Aboriginal tale concerning a volcano</a>; it may be 35,000 years old.</p>
<p>Geomythology could thus contribute to a linguistic field known as nuclear semiotics, which <a href="https://mosaicscience.com/story/how-do-you-leave-warning-lasts-long-nuclear-waste/">grapples with the problem of</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200731-how-to-build-a-nuclear-warning-for-10000-years-time">warning distant generations about hazardous waste</a>. An intentionally created geomyth might preserve and transmit crucial information from the nuclear age to our descendants, with considerable effectiveness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy John Burbery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People tell tales to explain what they see – centuries later, scientists try to map handed-down myths onto real geological events.Timothy John Burbery, Professor of English, Marshall UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643572021-07-26T19:55:19Z2021-07-26T19:55:19ZIf I could go anywhere: Greek cake shops, the Athenian countryside and the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411587/original/file-20210716-13-1shbw9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C13%2C4580%2C3414&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ancient-sanctuary-artemis-columns-arcade-stoa-1668363172">Konstantinos Livadas/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/if-i-could-go-anywhere-102157">this series</a> we pay tribute to the art we wish could visit — and hope to see once travel restrictions are lifted.</em></p>
<p>In Book Two of the Republic, Plato famously describes the “fevered” city, a town bustling with artists, musicians, actors, butchers, barbers, courtesans, and … confectionery! </p>
<p>Plato was clearly talking about the Athens of his day, but, over 2,000 years later, he could have easily been talking about modern Athens. </p>
<p>The city remains just as hectic and sweet treats remain just as much a part of the city’s landscape. </p>
<h2>Sweet retreat</h2>
<p>There are few words more wonderful in the Greek language than <em>zacharoplasteio</em>, the Greek word for a cake shop. </p>
<p>Literally meaning “a place of sugar sculpture”, these shops treat the subject of cake-making with the seriousness it deserves. How I miss the great piles of silver and gold foil-wrapped chocolates, the baklava and <a href="https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/homemade-kataifi-recipe/">kataifi</a> pastries dripping in syrup, and, most of all, the trays of <a href="https://www.kalofagas.ca/2011/10/28/halva-farsalon/">halvas farsalon</a> caramelized on top and studded with almonds quivering in amber unctuousness. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="greek cake shop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411590/original/file-20210716-19-103dfa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Towers of sweet treats on offer in Athens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/athens-greece-march-22-2018beautiful-modern-1078011047">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, as much as I love all the chaos of modern Athens, it also a place that can quickly become overwhelming. This is especially the case in summer when crowds clog up the streets and the baking heat extends well into the evening. </p>
<p>Fortunately, a trip to the countryside of Athens allows you to escape the pandemonium. It is also home to a wide variety of fascinating archaeological sites.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unearthing-falerii-novis-secrets-in-the-hot-italian-summer-an-archaeologist-reports-from-the-dig-162527">Unearthing Falerii Novi's secrets in the hot Italian summer: an archaeologist reports from the dig</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ancient wandering</h2>
<p>Within an hour’s drive from the centre of Athens, you can wander among the extensive remains of an ancient town at Rhamnous, or stroll among seas of wild flowers bursting with colour on the plains that witnessed the battle of Marathon. </p>
<p>Nearby you can visit the shrine of the Greek hero Amphiaraos, where Greeks would sleep in the hope that the hero would visit them in their dreams and provide them with oracular visions.</p>
<p>South of Athens you can explore a cave devoted to the wild god Pan and nymphs. The sanctuary was built by a passionate devotee called Archedemus, literally the world’s first nymphomaniac. Alternatively, you can visit one of the oldest surviving stone theatres at Thorikos or watch the sun set into the sea by the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion.</p>
<p>One of my favourite sites is the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. Like many sanctuaries to Artemis, it is located in a marsh. The Greeks were always fascinated by places where fresh water turned salty. It seemed a great mystery to them why fresh water rivers kept running into the sea, yet the ocean remained permanently undrinkable.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/11YWBbZV8CA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A sunny day to walk the site.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-i-could-go-anywhere-florences-san-marco-museum-where-mystical-faith-and-classical-knowledge-meet-157863">If I could go anywhere: Florence's San Marco Museum, where mystical faith and classical knowledge meet</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A goddess of puberty and fertility</h2>
<p>Artemis was the virgin goddess of the hunt. Yet, this sanctuary acknowledges another aspect of the deity, her strong connection with childbirth. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="statue head of goddess" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411600/original/file-20210716-27-y9jke9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue head thought to depict huntress Artemis at the Brauron archaeological museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Brauron_-_Head_of_Artemis.jpg/1024px-Brauron_-_Head_of_Artemis.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Artemis was particularly associated with puberty and the transition to fertility. Women worried about issues of fertility or the dangers of childbirth would make offerings to the goddess. These were particularly grave concerns in a culture where women were primarily valued in terms of their ability to produce children, and where every woman would know someone who had not survived their pregnancy.</p>
<p>The nearby Brauron museum preserves many of the gifts made by these women. These include numerous statues of children. Many survive intact. </p>
<p>The museum also features cases of disembodied children’s marble heads and limbs. Depending on your feelings towards children, it is one of the cutest or creepiest exhibitions on display in Greece.</p>
<p>The sanctuary played an important role in the lives of young Athenian girls. It was here that an important coming of age ritual was staged. At some point, around the age of ten, young girls came to the sanctuary and “became bears”. The precise details of this ritual remain unclear. The most plausible suggestion involves the young girls dressing up in bear costumes or wearing bear masks as well as taking part in naked races and dances. </p>
<p>Scholars looking for a metaphorical explanation of the ritual point to the way that “becoming a bear” symbolises the wild, dangerous, untamed nature of pubescent girls. Parents with teenage daughters might be able to relate.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="ancient greek statues" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411597/original/file-20210716-19-9fymxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Statues of children in the Archaeological Museum of Brauron.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archaeological_Museum_of_Brauron_05.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/tomisti</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-i-could-go-anywhere-japanese-art-island-chichu-a-meditation-and-an-education-133439">If I could go anywhere: Japanese art island Chichu, a meditation and an education</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>Working up an appetite</h2>
<p>Only the foundations of the temple to Artemis survive. The most intact remains are a row of columns associated with dining rooms that would have housed the feasts of visitors to the sanctuary. Standing in an open field, below a rocky outcrop, they make a picturesque sight amongst the reeds, the croaking of the frogs, the humming of the cicadas, and the occasional banging sounds of amorous tortoises. </p>
<p>There is also a shrine to Iphigenia, the daughter of King Agamemnon, who was offered as a human sacrifice to Artemis by her father in order to get fair winds to allow his fleet to sail to Troy and begin the Trojan War. Fortunately, Artemis swapped Iphigenia with a deer at the last moment and whisked the girl to safety. </p>
<p>After a number of adventures, Iphigenia was eventually rescued by her brother Orestes and came to Brauron, where she spent her remaining days as a priestess of Artemis. </p>
<p>The site makes a wonderful day trip from Athens. Close to the sea, the nearby tavernas are replete with local seafood. Perfect for a late lunch of fava, ouzo, and octopus or fried fish and a Horiatiki (Greek) salad or, better yet, <a href="https://triedandsupplied.com/saucydressings/horta/">horta</a>. Just make sure that you leave room for a slice of <a href="https://www.thehellenicodyssey.com/karidopita-greek-walnut-cake/">karidopita</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Athens view" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411593/original/file-20210716-25-zxe0qo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sometimes you can have too many cakes and need a retreat from bustling Athens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/acropolis-athensgreece-188628197">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alastair Blanshard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From the towering sweet treats of Athens to the place where rituals saw young girls become fierce bears — there is much to explore on this day trip.Alastair Blanshard, Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics and Ancient History, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1640382021-07-23T12:15:40Z2021-07-23T12:15:40ZWhat would the ancient Greeks think of an Olympics with no fans?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412725/original/file-20210722-17-fsy5rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C7%2C4862%2C3248&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In ancient Greece, the heart and soul of the festival was the experience shared by all who attended.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXOlympicsTokyoTestEvent/e84cff78e2444d3599282d4b5a3a48d6/photo?Query=(headline:APTOPIX%20OR%20slug:APTOPIX)%20AND%20Tokyo%20Olympics%20stadium&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=30&currentItemNo=9">AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Because of a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2021 Olympics will unfold in a stadium <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/world/asia/tokyo-state-of-emergency-olympics.html">absent the eyes, ears and voices</a> of a once-anticipated 68,000 ticket holders from around the world. Events during the intervening days will likewise occur in silent arenas missing the hundreds of thousands of spectators who paid US$815 million for their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/sports/olympics/tokyo-olympics-ticket-refunds.html">now-useless tickets</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1003238">After 48 years teaching classics</a>, I can’t help but wonder what the Greeks – who invented the Games nearly 3,000 years ago, in 776 B.C. – would make of such a ghostly version of their Olympic festival.</p>
<p>In many ways, they’d view the prospect as absurd.</p>
<p>In ancient Greece, the Olympics were never solely about the athletes themselves; instead, the heart and soul of the festival was the experience shared by all who attended. Every four years, athletes and spectators traveled from far-flung corners of the Greek-speaking world to Olympia, lured by a longing for contact with their compatriots and their gods. </p>
<h2>In the shadow of dreams</h2>
<p>For the Greeks, during five days in the late-summer heat, two worlds miraculously merged at Olympia: the domain of everyday life, with its human limits, and a supernatural sphere from the days superior beings, gods and heroes populated Earth. </p>
<p>Greek athletics, like today’s, plunged participants into performances that pushed the envelope of human ability to its breaking point. But to the Greeks, the cauldron of competition could trigger revelations in which ordinary mortals might briefly intermingle with the extraordinary immortals. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/pindar">The poet Pindar</a>, famous for the victory songs he composed for winners at Olympia, captured this sort of transcendent moment <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Pind.+P.+8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162">when he wrote</a>, “Humans are creatures of a day. But what is humankind? What is it not? A human is just the shadow of a dream – but when a flash of light from Zeus comes down, a shining light falls on humans and their lifetime can be sweet as honey.”</p>
<p>However, these epiphanies could occur only if witnesses were physically present to immerse themselves – and share in – the spine-tingling flirtation with the divine. </p>
<p>Simply put, Greek athletics and religious experience were inseparable.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The ruins – which include an intact section of the arched entrance tunnel – of the Greek Stadium of Olympia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412729/original/file-20210722-27-1wrz6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412729/original/file-20210722-27-1wrz6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412729/original/file-20210722-27-1wrz6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412729/original/file-20210722-27-1wrz6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412729/original/file-20210722-27-1wrz6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412729/original/file-20210722-27-1wrz6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412729/original/file-20210722-27-1wrz6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Crypt, the entrance to the Stadium of Olympia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-crypt-entrance-to-the-stadium-of-olympia-greece-greek-news-photo/587760609?adppopup=true">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>At Olympia, both athletes and spectators were making a pilgrimage to a sacred place. A modern Olympics can legitimately take place in any city selected by the International Olympic Committee. But the ancient games could occur in only one location in western Greece. The most profoundly moving events didn’t even occur in the stadium that accommodated 40,000 or in the wrestling and boxing arenas. </p>
<p>Instead, they took place in a grove <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/517/">called the Althis</a>, where Hercules is said to have first erected an altar, sacrificed oxen to Zeus and planted a wild olive tree. Easily half the events during the festival engrossed spectators not in feats like discus, javelin, long jump, foot race and wrestling, but in feasts <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/olympic-self-sacrifice">where animals were sacrificed</a> to gods in heaven and long-dead heroes whose spirits still lingered. </p>
<p>On the evening of the second day, thousands gathered in the Althis to reenact the <a href="http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/TP022EN.html">funeral rites of Pelops</a>, a human hero who once raced a chariot to win a local chief’s daughter. But the climactic sacrifice was on the morning of the third day at the <a href="https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4905.html">Great Altar of Zeus</a>, a mound of plastered ashes from previous sacrifices that stood 22 feet tall and 125 feet around. <a href="https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/health/sport-and-fitness/the-ancient-olympics-bridging-past-and-present/content-section-7">In a ritual called the hecatomb</a>, 100 bulls were slaughtered and their thigh bones, wrapped in fat, burned atop the altar so that the rising smoke and aroma would reach the sky where Zeus could savor it. </p>
<p>No doubt many a spectator shivered at the thought of Zeus hovering above them, smiling and remembering Hercules’ first sacrifice.</p>
<p>Just a few yards from the Great Altar another, more visual encounter with the god awaited. <a href="https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/hesperia/25067954.pdf">In the Temple of Zeus</a>, which was erected around 468 to 456 B.C., stood a colossal image, 40 feet high, of the god on a throne, his skin carved from ivory and his clothing made of gold. In one hand he held the elusive goddess of victory, Nike, and in the other a staff on which his sacred bird, the eagle, perched. The towering statue was reflected in <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Statue_of_Zeus_at_Olympia/">a shimmering pool of olive oil</a> surrounding it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ruins surround a lone pillar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412716/original/file-20210722-19-7n5tml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412716/original/file-20210722-19-7n5tml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412716/original/file-20210722-19-7n5tml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412716/original/file-20210722-19-7n5tml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412716/original/file-20210722-19-7n5tml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412716/original/file-20210722-19-7n5tml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412716/original/file-20210722-19-7n5tml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The remains of the Ancient Temple of Zeus at Olympia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-ancient-temple-of-zeus-at-olympia-royalty-free-image/552042863?adppopup=true">SPC#JAYJAY/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During events, the athletes performed in the nude, imitating heroic figures like Hercules, Theseus or Achilles, who all crossed the dividing line between human and superhuman and were usually represented nude in painting and sculpture.</p>
<p>The athletes’ nudity declared to spectators that in this holy place, contestants hoped to reenact, in the ritual of sport, the shudder of contact with divinity. In the Althis stood a forest of <a href="https://www.greek-thesaurus.gr/Ancient-Olympia-the-sanctuary.html">hundreds of nude statues of men and boys</a>, all previous victors whose images set the bar for aspiring newcomers. </p>
<p>“There are a lot of truly marvelous things one can see and hear about in Greece,” the Greek travel writer <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.10.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160">Pausanias noted in the second century B.C.</a>, “but there is something unique about how the divine is encountered at … the games at Olympia.”</p>
<h2>Communion and community</h2>
<p>The Greeks lived in roughly <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/greek-city-states/">1,500 to 2,000 small-scale states</a> scattered across the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. </p>
<p>Since sea travel in summertime was the only viable way to cross this fragile geographical web, the Olympics might entice a Greek living in Southern Europe and another residing in modern-day Ukraine to interact briefly in a festival celebrating not only Zeus and Heracles but also the Hellenic language and culture that produced them. </p>
<p>Besides athletes, poets, philosophers and orators came to perform before crowds that included politicians and businessmen, with everyone communing in an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_feeling">“oceanic feeling”</a> of what it meant to be momentarily united as Greeks.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412727/original/file-20210722-19-s2friq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412727/original/file-20210722-19-s2friq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412727/original/file-20210722-19-s2friq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412727/original/file-20210722-19-s2friq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412727/original/file-20210722-19-s2friq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412727/original/file-20210722-19-s2friq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412727/original/file-20210722-19-s2friq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail of a Greek cauldron depicts spectators cheering on a chariot race.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/69716881@N02/24553835868">Egisto Sani/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now, there’s no way we could explain the miracle of TV to the Greeks and how its electronic eye recruits millions of spectators to the modern games by proxy. But visitors to Olympia engaged in a distinct type of spectating.</p>
<p>The ordinary Greek word for someone who observes – “theatês” – connects not only to “theater” but also to “<a href="https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/spectacles-of-truth-in-classical-greek-philosophy-theoria-in-its-cultural-context/">theôria</a>,” a special kind of seeing that requires a journey from home to a place where something wondrous unfolds. Theôria opens a door into the sacred, whether it’s visiting an oracle or participating in a religious cult.</p>
<p>Attending an athletic-religious festival like the Olympics transformed an ordinary spectator, a theatês, into a theôros – a witness observing the sacred, an ambassador reporting home the wonders observed abroad. </p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine TV images from Tokyo achieving similar ends.</p>
<p>No matter how many world records are broken and unprecedented feats accomplished at the 2020 games, the empty arenas will attract no gods or genuine heroes: The Tokyo games are even less enchanted than previous modern games.</p>
<p>But while medal counts will confer fleeting glory on some nations and disappointing shame on others, perhaps a dramatic moment or two might unite athletes and TV viewers in an oceanic feeling of what it means to be “kosmopolitai,” citizens of the world, celebrants of the wonder of what it means to be human – and perhaps, briefly, superhuman as well.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N6a-wHATBVI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The ancient Greeks wouldn’t recognize some aspects of the modern Olympics.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent Farenga is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at USC.</span></em></p>Athletes and spectators were lured to Olympia by a longing for contact with their compatriots and their gods.Vincent Farenga, Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1625212021-06-24T20:10:29Z2021-06-24T20:10:29ZFriday essay: rethinking the myth of Daphne, a woman who chooses eternal silence over sexual assault<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407802/original/file-20210623-25-1wrg6mc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=221%2C14%2C4662%2C3238&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, made between 1622 and 1625.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefano Chiacchiarini/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ancient Greek myths and folktales are shaping popular culture, from big-budget <a href="https://screenrant.com/best-movies-greek-mythology-fans-ranked-300-hercules-clash-titans/">films</a> to television <a href="https://screenrant.com/best-tv-shows-greek-mythology/">series</a> to <a href="https://usflis.libguides.com/c.php?g=826763&p=5911146">novels</a>. You can even find <a href="https://www.stillwhite.com/blog/goddess-vibes">advice</a> on how to look like a Greek goddess or heroine on your wedding day, with gowns inspired by Aphrodite and Helen of Troy (among others).</p>
<p>In particular, myths of transformation have appeal to artists and writers who are attracted to the challenge of retelling stories of shifting forms — the strange movements between human and animal or plant. Such states of flux can shed light on our own understanding of identity.</p>
<p>Among the many mythical figures changed through metamorphosis is the nymph or dryad, Daphne. One of the mythical beings who cared for trees, springs and other natural elements, Daphne was the child of Peneus, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Thessaly">Thessalian</a> river god. </p>
<p>Her decidedly sad and violent story, in which she is transformed into a tree to escape the lustful attention of the god Apollo, gives rise to the ancient explanation of the creation of the laurel tree, known as “daphne” by the ancient Greeks. </p>
<p>Daphne’s plight continues to intrigue artists. Today, new interpretations are finding fresh ways of reading this influential, much contested myth, with its themes of sexual violence and bodily autonomy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407801/original/file-20210623-22-hafaml.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=682&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrea Schiavone, Apollo and Daphne, 1542.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D5%3Aentry%3Dparthenius-harpers">Parthenius</a> (1st Century BCE-1st Century CE) provides the earliest complete extant version of the myth of Daphne and Apollo. As a grammarian, Parthenius collected stories from texts now lost to us. Still, his version of the story can be traced to earlier works dating to the 3rd century BCE, suggesting the myth is even older.</p>
<p>Parthenius’ version begins with <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Heros/LeukipposPisatios.html">Leucippus</a>, the son of a mythic king of Pisa, falling in love with the beautiful nymph. Daphne was favoured by the goddess Artemis, who bestowed upon her the gift of shooting a straight arrow. Leucippus contrived to spend time with Daphne by dressing as a woman and joining her during a hunt. </p>
<p>But this enraged Apollo, who also desired Daphne. He encouraged Daphne and her fellow female hunters to bathe in a nearby stream. When Leucippus refused to join them, the women stripped him, discovering his ruse and stabbing him with their spears.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theoi.com/Text/Parthenius.html#15">Apollo, then took his chance</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>but Daphne, seeing Apollo advancing upon her, took vigorously to flight; then, as he pursued her, she implored Zeus that she might be translated away from mortal sight, and she is supposed to have become the bay tree which is called daphne after her.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407796/original/file-20210623-26-3njv51.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apollo and Daphne by Rupert Bunny, early 1920s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Destroy this beautiful figure’</h2>
<p>The Latin poet, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ovid-Roman-poet">Ovid</a> (43 BCE-17 CE) retells Daphne’s story in Book 1 of his epic poem of transformation myths, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-ovids-metamorphoses-and-reading-rape-65316">Metamorphoses</a>. Ovid explains that Apollo’s desire was caused by Cupid, whom Apollo had slighted. In response, Cupid shot Apollo, causing him to feel intense passion for Daphne. But she was shot with another type of arrow, ensuring she would not reciprocate his attraction.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-ovids-metamorphoses-and-reading-rape-65316">Guide to the classics: Ovid's Metamorphoses and reading rape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Ovid’s version depicts a frightened Daphne fleeing her pursuer with language that paints her as a hare hunted by a greyhound. Daphne’s fear of being caught by Apollo as he chases her is evoked with visceral realism. Her transformation comes when she no longer has the strength to run:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>With her strength used up, she went pale with fear and,
overcome by the effort of her frantic flight and gazing upon the waters of Peneus,
she cried: ‘bring help, father, if your waters possess divine power!
By changing it, destroy this beautiful figure by which I generated too much desire.’</p>
<p>With her prayer scarcely completed, a heavy torpor took possession of her limbs: her soft breasts were bound by a thin layer of bark,
her hair grew into foliage, her arms into branches;
her feet, just now so swift, hold fast in sluggish roots,
a crest possessed her facial features, radiance alone remained in her.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even without human form, Daphne is not saved from Apollo’s lust. After her transformation, Apollo reaches out to touch the trunk of the tree, which shrinks from him. </p>
<p>In the final lines of this episode, Ovid reveals what Apollo does with this tree’s leaves: they are woven into a laurel wreath and around his quiver and lyre, to be used in rituals performed in his honour.</p>
<p>While Daphne is saved from the assault of her human form, she is nonetheless forcibly objectified for the sake of Apollo’s desire.</p>
<h2>Loss of self</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1268&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407793/original/file-20210623-27-4ft9e3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1268&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since antiquity, the story of Daphne has been retold over and over again – painted, sculpted, performed and analysed.</p>
<p>We can gaze at Daphne in all manner of poses in museums and galleries throughout Europe. The Galleria Borghese in Rome displays Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Daphne being seized by Apollo in a life-size, marble statue. </p>
<p>Completed in 1625, it depicts Apollo’s intense determination as he seizes the nymph by the waist with one hand even though she is in the very process of turning into a tree. </p>
<p>While his face is eerily peaceful, Daphne’s replicates the fear that underscores Ovid’s description. </p>
<p>In this way, Bernini’s sculpture is Ovid’s poetry in material form. Masterpieces of art and literature, respectively, compromise us by the beauty that depicts a narrative of attempted rape.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407803/original/file-20210623-24-outwxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rear view of the Bernini sculpture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eva Petrilllo/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Louvre has Giambattista Tiepolo’s version of the myth, dating to approximately 1774. Here, a baby Cupid hoists Daphne as if she were a ballerina while Apollo seems somewhat discombobulated. An aged Peneus slumps on the ground, seemingly exhausted from his transformative magic. </p>
<p>While Bernini’s Daphne is shocked and traumatised, Tiepolo’s nymph — with her attendant narrative of fear and suffering — has been tamed for a genteel Baroque audience. This silly and passive rendition of sexual assault is accentuated by the delicate shoots of foliage that grow from Daphne’s right hand.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407794/original/file-20210623-28-naynlp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=938&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giambattista Tiepolo, Apollo and Daphne, circa 1774.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historically, scholarship has shown a deep-seated patriarchal interpretation of the myth, rendering Daphne’s role in her own transformation as secondary to the actions of masculine power, represented by Apollo.</p>
<p>The creation of the laurel wreath, for instance, recorded by Ovid, has been interpreted as an act of mourning, turning Daphne’s transformed body into a symbol of <a href="https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195397703/student/materials/chapter11/summary/">Apollo’s grief</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/reading-ovid-in-the-age-of-metoo">Feminist interpretations</a>, however, remind us Apollo’s intention was to rape Daphne. Thus his grief was firmly based on his failed attempt and nothing more. These interpretations encourage us to consider the intense violence inherent in the myth.</p>
<p>As a tree, leafy and earth-bound, Daphne’s loss of self is both physical and psychological. No longer human, she loses the ability to express herself through her facial features, and the power of speech. Like so many women in the myths of transformation, Daphne is perpetually silenced. She can only “speak” through the rustling of leaves.</p>
<p>The burden of women’s historic experience of sexual harassment, violation and rape is also vividly chronicled in Daphne’s story. Ovid, a master of narratives of violence and abuse, reveals Daphne’s burden by suggesting she sees herself as partly accountable for Apollo’s pursuit of her. In her prayer to her father, she begs to be relieved of her beauty, which she believes has caused the god’s actions.</p>
<p>Her pleas have echoed across millennia in the self-admonishment of many women and their desire to become invisible to the male gaze. Daphne achieves a form of invisibility — or so she thinks — in her new form as a mass of leaves and bark. But, as Ovid tells us, not even as a tree can she escape the god’s persistent lust.</p>
<p>The sheer absurdity of the entire myth begs the question: would a woman prefer to become a tree than be raped?</p>
<h2>Modern interpretations</h2>
<p>In the 20th century, Salvador Dalí, <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artist/paul-delvaux">Paul Delvaux</a> and <a href="https://www.zadkine.com/">Ossip Zadkine</a> all reworked Daphne; painting and sculpting her for a modernist audience. </p>
<p>Zadkine’s sculpture, <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/ossip-zadkine/daphne-2">Daphné (1958)</a> mirrors yet mocks Bernini’s work, rendering the nymph as a powerful root-bound tree of monumental grandeur and ungainly defiance. She, however, remains silent.</p>
<p>In a new exhibition opening at Melbourne’s Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Australian audiences can see some of Daphne’s incarnations over the centuries, including early works, such as <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/382796">Anthonie Waterloo</a>’s etching of Apollo and Daphne (1650s) and Agostino dei Musi’s engraving from 1515. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407799/original/file-20210623-22-5j5f58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agostino dei Musi, Apollo and Daphne 1515, engraving, 23.0 x 17.0 cm. Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased 1937.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: AGNSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traditional works celebrating the so-called grandeur of classical mythology so much in vogue in the Renaissance (and beyond) are joined and contested by competing interpretations. These include Erik Bünger’s Nature see you (2021), a video essay on the world-famous but inherently vulnerable gorilla, Koko; and Ho Tzu Nyen’s 2 or 3 Tigers (2015), a digital projection that meditates on tigers in the Malay context. </p>
<p>In both works, we see the story of Daphne as sentient nature in the form of gorilla and tiger, and nature both mythical and metaphorical. We also see nature as silent and therefore fragile in a world of human gods who are just as ruthless and destructive as their mythical counterparts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407800/original/file-20210623-21-mh7r4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ho Tzu Nyen, 2 or 3 Tigers 2015 (video still), synchronized two-channel HD projection, 12 channel sound, 18:46 mins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Daphne’s humanity — her womanhood — is also referenced in Wingu Tingima’s paint on canvas, Kawun (2005). Based on the traditional Indigenous Australian story of the Seven Sisters, Tingima’s work suggests the trauma of women as they travel to escape the desires of the Ancestral Being <a href="https://songlines.nma.gov.au/walinynga-rock-art/4/hotspot/wati-nyiru/content/2/layer/1/">Nyiru</a>, who is determined to take one of them as his wife. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/songlines-tracking-the-seven-sisters-is-a-must-visit-exhibition-for-all-australians-89293">Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters is a must-visit exhibition for all Australians</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Like Daphne, the sisters escape by ascending to the sky and transforming into the constellation known as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-oldest-story-astronomers-say-global-myths-about-seven-sisters-stars-may-reach-back-100-000-years-151568">Pleiades</a>.</p>
<p>This rich exhibition approaches the myth of Daphne from many angles. Working back and forth through time, mixing traditional ways of seeing with vital contemporary narratives (including the Anthropocene, #MeToo, and <a href="https://ethics.org.au/ethics-explainer-post-humanism/">post-humanism</a>), it is an uncomfortable reminder of the power of myth and its own vulnerability to the forces of transformation.</p>
<p><em>A Biography of Daphne opens at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in Melbourne on June 26 and runs to September 5 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This ancient myth, in which a nymph transforms herself into a tree to escape the lustful attention of the god Apollo, has inspired countless retellings in art. Its themes resonate today.Marguerite Johnson, Professor of Classics, University of NewcastleTanika Koosmen, PhD Candidate, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1628142021-06-17T12:51:41Z2021-06-17T12:51:41ZAmazons and warrior princesses on screen – the legacy of Xena 20 years on<p>Xena the warrior princess, played by Lucy Lawless, captivated audiences around the world for six series with her high kicks, sword skills and distinctive war cry. The series followed her as she fought her way through armies, monsters and gods, alongside her soul mate and moral compass, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor). </p>
<p>Xena travelled across space and time, taking us from ancient Greece to Rome, Egypt, Britain, China, India, Scandinavia and finally to Japan, where it all came to an end 20 years ago on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwsIUZELIJM">June 18 2001</a>. </p>
<p>Starting life as an antagonist of Hercules in three episodes of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111999/">Hercules: The Legendary Journeys</a>, Xena was so popular as a character that she was given her spin-off series that ran from 1995 to 2001. At the time, Xena: Warrior Princess was considered groundbreaking as it started a strong female action heroine and was the only popular adventure, action, science fiction or fantasy show that featured female leads without male counterparts. </p>
<p>On the 20th anniversary of the final episode, it worth revisiting this great show and exploring why it was loved by a truly broad spectrum of viewers, from young girls drawn in by an active female role model and ancient history buffs to sci-fi fans and the LGBTQ community.</p>
<h2>Xena and the Amazons</h2>
<p>A reformed warlord from ancient Greece, Xena was not an Amazon but a friend to the tribes of warrior women. To ancient Greek writers, the <a href="https://thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/article/view/85">Amazons</a> were women who fought and behaved like men and were unnatural barbarians. They have since been adopted as <a href="https://aaia.sydney.edu.au/amazons-ancient-warrior-women-as-powerful-role-models-for-women-today/">positive female role models</a> who break with misogynistic stereotypes of womanhood – they live in a self-sufficient, female-dominated society as warriors and intellects. The term <a href="https://beingfeministblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/amazon-feminism-erasing-biology-as-a-barrier-to-equality/">Amazon feminism</a> is now used to describe a branch of feminism that promotes female physical prowess as a way to achieve gender equality.</p>
<p>Before Xena, the Amazons featured in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRo4SJ2ck_s">1970s Wonder Woman series</a>. Not quite the feminist icons we expect today, these women wore pastel-coloured negligees as they adopted a peaceful life without men on Paradise Island.</p>
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<p>In Xena, while the Amazons may also have been attired in revealing costumes made of furs and skins, their separatist society values martial as well as academic skills. An Amazon tells Gabrielle that the Amazon world is based on “truth and an individual woman’s strength”. </p>
<p>The Amazons from Greek mythology lived apart from men, at the edge of the known world, and fought bravely against male heroes such as Hercules, Theseus and Achilles. In Xena, the Amazons also live in a matriarchal society and are skilled fighters who can hold their own against men. </p>
<p>The Amazons in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9IYZrF4Eo8">Wonder Woman (2017)</a> can be seen as Xena’s big-screen descendants. The costumes and fighting prowess of Penthesilea (Nina Milner) in the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/KSHHQYyjN5tStwhBqZgLWn/penthesilea">BBC drama Troy: Fall of a City (2018)</a> has tinges of Xena. While the leadership ability of the immortal Amazon Andy (Charlize Theron) in the Netflix film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK-X2d0lJ_s">The Old Guard</a>, can also be seen as inspired by Xena.</p>
<p>But while Troy: Fall of a City and The Old Guard are aimed at older audiences, Xena was popular <a href="https://ew.com/article/1997/03/07/xena-warrior-princess-actions-new-heroine/">across all age groups</a>. For instance, episodes of Xena were broadcast in the UK on Channel Five’s Milkshake! Saturday morning slot in the 90s and early noughties for young viewers. This led many young girls to adopt Xena as their role model.</p>
<h2>The Xena subtext</h2>
<p>Xena was also popular with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWPmtV8ifFM">gay and lesbian viewers</a>. In the 1990s, openly gay relationships were mostly missing from popular US television series. However, Xena’s relationship with Gabrielle was interpreted as much as that of hero and sidekick as it was friends and lovers. Series producers began to play with this idea, for example, putting Xena and Gabrielle together in a sexy bath in season two <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqMnCHSe3ig">fan-favourite episode</a> A Day in the Life, so that for many, the subtext became the main text.</p>
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<p>Although a lot of fans were dismayed that Xena died in the final episode they were treated to a long goodbye kiss between Gabrielle and Xena’s ghost. Series producers never openly made <a href="https://screenrant.com/xena-gabrielle-lesbians-couple-no-why/">Xena and Gabrielle a lesbian couple</a>. But LGBTQ+ fans championed their relationship, which is believed to have <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061019015939/http://www.afterellen.com/TV/xena.html">paved the way for openly gay relationships</a> we see in television series today.</p>
<p>One of the joys of looking back at Xena 20 years on is its playfulness when compared with dark fantasy sci-fi fantasies like Game of Thrones. It features seriously badass female characters, and at times offers a serious message about female solidarity and feminism, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. Some of the special effects may now seem dated, but the storylines still ring true and the characters of Xena and Gabrielle can continue to be inspirational for a new generation of young female viewers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162814/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Potter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From its strong female lead who could take down anything in her path to its LGBT undertones, Xena: Warrior Princess stole the hearts of a truly diverse audience.Amanda Potter, Visiting Research Fellow, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1623302021-06-15T13:42:27Z2021-06-15T13:42:27ZWhat Greek epics taught me about the special relationship between fathers and sons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405985/original/file-20210611-27-1140y10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C81%2C3615%2C2489&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Odysseus reuniting with his father, Laertes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/odysseus-and-his-father-laertes-king-of-the-cephallenians-news-photo/167069604?adppopup=true">Leemage/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Father’s Day inspires mixed emotions for many of us. Looking at advertisements of happy families could recall difficult memories and broken relationships for some. But for others, the day could invite unbidden nostalgic thoughts of parents who have long since died.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=1be7ee967d45605afddf7da9ad4ca2c049a26c0b">scholar of ancient Greek poetry</a>, I find myself reflecting on two of the most powerful paternal moments in Greek literature. <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D24%3Acard%3D507">At the end of Homer’s classic poem, “The Iliad</a>,” Priam, the king of Troy, begs his son’s killer, Achilles, to return the body of Hektor, the city’s greatest warrior, for burial. Once Achilles puts aside his famous rage and agrees, the two weep together before sharing a meal, Priam lamenting the loss of his son while Achilles contemplates that he will never see his own father again.</p>
<p>The final book of another Greek classic, “The Odyssey,” brings together a father and son as well. After 10 years of war and as many traveling at sea, Odysseus returns home and goes through a series of reunions, ending with his father, Laertes. <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D24%3Acard%3D232">When Odysseus meets his father</a>, however, he doesn’t greet him right away. Instead, he pretends to be someone who met Odysseus and lies about his location. </p>
<p>When Laertes weeps over his son’s continued absence, Odysseus loses control of his emotions too, shouting his name to his father only to be disbelieved. He reveals a scar he received as a child and Laertes still doubts him. But then Odysseus points to the trees in their orchards and begins to recount their numbers and names, the stories Laertes told him when he was young.</p>
<p>Since the time of Aristotle, interpreters have questioned “The Odyssey"’s final book. Some have wondered why Odysseus is cruel to his father, while others have asked why reuniting with him even matters. Why spend precious narrative time talking about trees when the audience is waiting to hear if Odysseus will suffer at the hands of the families whose sons he has killed?</p>
<p>I lingered in such confusion myself until I lost my own father, John, too young at 61. Reading and teaching "The Odyssey” in the same two-year period that I lost him and welcomed two children to the world changed the way I understood the father-son relationship in these poems. I realized then in the final scene, what Odysseus needed from his father was something more important: the comfort of being a son. </p>
<h2>Fathers and sons</h2>
<p>Fathers occupy an outsized place in Greek myth. They are kings and models, and too often challenges to be overcome. In Greek epic, fathers are markers of absence and dislocation. When Achilles learns his lover and friend, Patroklos, has died in “The Iliad,” he weeps and says that he always imagined his best friend returning home and <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D19%3Acard%3D309">introducing Achilles’ son, Neoptolemus, to Achilles’s father, Peleus</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia in a scene from the Greek mythology." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406240/original/file-20210614-125373-kj2k0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Greek myths highlight many moments in father-son relationships.</span>
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<p>The Trojan Prince Hektor’s most humanizing moment is when he laughs at his son’s <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D414">startled cry at seeing his father’s</a> bloodied armor. Priam’s grief for Hektor’s loss stands in for the grief of all parents bereft of children taken too soon. When he hears of the death of his son, he lies prostrate on the earth, covering his head with ash and weeping. The sweetness of Hektor’s laugh foreshadows the bitter agony of his father’s pain.</p>
<p>I don’t think I had a grasp of either before I became a father and lost one.</p>
<h2>How stories bring us home</h2>
<p>Odysseus’ reunion with his father is crucial to the completion of his story, of his return home. In Greek the word “nostos,” or homecoming, is more than about a mere return to a place: It is a restoration of the self, a kind of reentry to the world of the living. For Odysseus, as I explore in my recent book “<a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501752346/the-many-minded-man/">The Many-Minded Man: The Odyssey, Modern Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic</a>,” this means returning to who he was before the war, trying to reconcile his identities as a king, a suffering veteran, a man with a wife and a father, as well as a son himself.</p>
<p>Odysseus achieves his “nostos” by telling and listening to stories. As psychologists who specialize in <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501752346/the-many-minded-man/">narrative therapy</a> explain, our identity <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4317515">comprises the stories we tell and believe about ourselves</a>. </p>
<p>The stories we tell about ourselves condition how we act in the world. Psychological studies have shown how losing a sense of agency, the belief that we can shape what happens to us, can keep us trapped in cycles of inaction and make us more prone to depression and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905522/">addiction</a>. </p>
<p>And the pain of losing a loved one can make anyone feel helpless. In recent years, researchers have investigated how <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2012.14.2/mshear">unresolved or complicated</a> grief – an ongoing, heightened state of mourning – upends lives and changes the way someone sees oneself in the world. And more pain comes from other people not knowing our stories, from not truly knowing who we are. Psychologists have shown that when people do not acknowledge their mental or emotional states, they experience “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6212305/">emotional invalidation</a>” that can have negative mental and physical consequences from depression to chronic pain.</p>
<p>Odysseus does not recognize the landscape of his home island of Ithaca when he first arrives; he needs to go through a process of reunions and observation first. But when Odysseus tells his father the stories of the trees they tended together, he reminds them both of their shared story, of the relationship and the place that brings them together. </p>
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<h2>Family trees</h2>
<p>“The Odyssey” teaches us that home is not just a physical place, it is where memories live – it is a reminder of the stories that have shaped us.</p>
<p>When I was in third grade, my father bought several acres in the middle of the woods in southern Maine. He spent the rest of his life clearing those acres, shaping gardens, planting trees. By the time I was in high school, it took several hours to mow the lawn. He and I repaired old stone walls, dug beds for phlox, and planted rhododendron bushes and a maple tree.</p>
<p>My father was not an uncomplicated man. I probably remember the work we did on that property so well because our relationship was otherwise distant. He was almost completely deaf from birth, and this shaped the way he engaged with the world and the kinds of experiences he shared with his family. My mother tells me he was worried about having children because he wouldn’t be able to hear them cry. </p>
<p>He died in the winter of 2011, and I returned home in the summer to honor his wishes and spread his ashes on a mountain in central Maine with my brother. I had not lived in Maine for over a decade before his passing. The pine trees I used to climb were unrecognizable; the trees and bushes I had planted with my father were in the same place, but they had changed: they were larger, grown wilder, identifiable only because of where they were planted in relation to one another.</p>
<p>That was when I was no longer confused about the walk Odysseus took through the trees with his father, Laertes. I cannot help but imagine what it would be like to walk that land with my father again, to joke about the absurdity of turning pine forests into lawn.</p>
<p>“The Odyssey” ends with Laertes and Odysseus standing together with the third generation, the young Telemachus. In a way, Odysseus gets the fantasy ending Achilles couldn’t even imagine for himself: He stands together in his home with his father and his son.</p>
<p>In my father’s last year, I introduced him to his first grandchild, my daughter. Ten years later, as I try to ignore another painful reminder of his absence, I can only imagine how the birth of my third, another daughter, would have lit up his face. </p>
<p>“The Odyssey,” I believe, teaches us that we are shaped by the people who recognize us and the stories we share together. When we lose our loved ones, we can fear that there are no new stories to be told. But then we find the stories that we can tell our children. </p>
<p>This year, as I celebrate a 10th Father’s Day as a father and without one, I keep this close to heart: Telling these stories to my children creates a new home and makes that impossible return less painful.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Christensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On Father’s Day, a scholar of ancient Greek poetry explains how he came to understand the father-son relationship and his journey of loss and yearning through reading the epics.Joel Christensen, Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1610642021-05-27T12:06:08Z2021-05-27T12:06:08Z‘WandaVision’ echoes myths of Isis, Orpheus and Kisa Gotami to explain how grief and love persevere<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402879/original/file-20210526-15-v4yroz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3834%2C2155&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What is Marvel if not mythology persevering?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dmedmedia.disney.com/disney-plus/wandavision/images">WandaVision Images/Disney Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During a flashback scene in Marvel’s Disney Plus show “<a href="https://www.disneyplus.com/series/wandavision/4SrN28ZjDLwH">WandaVision</a>,” the <a href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Vision">superpowered android Vision</a> comforts his wife, Wanda Maximoff, after the death of her twin brother. “But what is grief,” he tells her, “if not love persevering?” </p>
<p>The line has become famous among Marvel fans and inspired <a href="https://junkee.com/wandavision-vision-grief-meme/289488">an internet meme</a>. But it also neatly summarizes the events of the show. Later, distraught over Vision’s death after battling the <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Thanos_(Earth-616)">villain Thanos</a>, Wanda uses her magic powers to bring a version of him back to life. He becomes her husband in a sitcom fantasy world of her own creation. In order to establish this dream world, Wanda pulls an entire town of people into her magic bubble to play roles of her choosing.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://variety.com/vip/wandavision-audience-bigger-than-netflixs-bridgerton-in-january-data-suggests-1234913691/">success of “WandaVision”</a> continues <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/31/the-13-highest-grossing-film-franchises-at-the-box-office.html">Marvel’s impressive record</a>. But besides extending the studio’s string of box office hits into television, “WandaVision” also continues another familiar pattern from Marvel: echoing much older stories from world mythologies.</p>
<h2>Marvel and mythology</h2>
<p>As I show in my recent book, “<a href="https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/religion-and-myth-in-the-marvel-cinematic-universe/">Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe</a>,” examples of that pattern are not hard to find. </p>
<p>The origin stories where Marvel heroes discover their powers often resemble initiation rituals found around the world. In those rituals, the hero often dies – literally or symbolically – and achieves a new status upon coming back to life.</p>
<p>For instance, it shows up frequently in stories of shamans from around the globe, where individuals grow very sick or even briefly die, then return with supernatural powers. Similarly, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Black Panther all gain their powers after near-death experiences.</p>
<p>In some cases, as when the Avengers battle one another – such as in 2016’s “<a href="https://www.marvel.com/movies/captain-america-civil-war">Captain America: Civil War</a>” – the tragic battle between heroes resembles the scale and savagery of Achilles fighting Hector in the Greek “<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-homers-iliad-80968">Iliad</a>” or Arjuna battling Karna in the Hindu “<a href="https://aeon.co/essays/the-indian-epic-mahabharata-imparts-a-dark-nuanced-moral-vision">Mahabharata</a>.” Among the Avengers, when it is revealed that Captain America hid knowledge of who killed Iron Man’s parents, it results in a similarly vicious battle between the two heroes. </p>
<p>And when the Avengers battle monsters and villains, those antagonists often mirror the giants, dragons and beasts of much older stories. Think, for instance, of the <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Emil_Blonsky_(Earth-616)">Abomination</a> and <a href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Skull">Red Skull</a>, who resemble ogres found in stories like the <a href="http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ar-Be/Beowulf.html">Norse myth “Beowulf”</a> or the Chinese folk tale “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-39728636">Journey to the West</a>.”</p>
<p>The primary villains also have mythic connections. <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Thanos_(Earth-616)">Thanos</a>, whose name means “death” in Greek, has similarities to mythic figures of death from around the world. Like the Greek god <a href="https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Hades/hades.html">Hades</a>, at times he appears regal, surrounded by servants and followers, sitting in a throne while wearing armor and a crown. Other times he is like <a href="https://www.learnreligions.com/the-demon-mara-449981">Mara</a>, the god of death in Buddhism, who assumes monstrous forms and commands an army of frightening and misshapen creatures. </p>
<p>The Avengers’ final attempt to defeat Thanos also parallels quests to overcome death found in stories like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">Mesopotamian epic “Gilgamesh</a>” or the <a href="https://1baikal.ru/en/istoriya/bezzhalostnye-dukhi-buryatskogo-shamanizma">tales of Siberian shamans</a>. Like those ancient heroes, the Avengers undertake a great journey to acquire magical objects – in their case, the Infinity Stones – to overcome death.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The android superhero Vision and Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel TV series 'WandaVision'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402888/original/file-20210526-15-1vu5xn0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The suburban newlyweds share similarities with Isis and Osiris from Egyptian mythology.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dmedmedia.disney.com/disney-plus/wandavision/images">WandaVision Images/Disney Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Wanda’s grief</h2>
<p>In the case of “WandaVision,” its portrayal of grief and loss brings to mind many famous world myths. In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Isis searches for the dismembered body parts of <a href="https://www.laits.utexas.edu/cairo/teachers/osiris.pdf">her murdered husband Osiris</a>. After Isis reassembles Osiris, the couple have a son, Horus. Similarly, when Wanda cannot put Vision’s destroyed body back together, she recreates it out of magic and goes on to have twins with him.</p>
<p>Wanda’s actions also bring to mind <a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/thig/thig.10.01.than.html">a famous tale</a> from the Buddhist tradition. In that story, a woman named Kisa Gotami is heartbroken when her only child dies. She begs the Buddha to bring the child back to life. The Buddha tells her to bring him a mustard seed from a house where no one has died. Going from house to house, Kisa Gotami discovers there is no family that has not experienced death, grief and loss. In the end, she comes to terms with her sorrow and joins the Buddhist path.</p>
<p>Interestingly, “WandaVision” arrives at a similar ending. For most of the series, Wanda clings to the idea that she can keep Vision alive and live happily ever after with him. But she eventually realizes it is wrong to keep her fantasy family alive at the cost of imprisoning an entire town. Like Kisa Gotami, she ultimately acknowledges the reality of death and lets Vision and their children go by ending the spell that animates them. </p>
<p>As Wanda watches Vision slowly vanish before her eyes, viewers may be reminded of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/orpheus-and-eurydice-review-a-bold-reimagining-through-circus-and-opera-124004">myth of Orpheus</a>, a Greek hero, and his wife, Eurydice. After Eurydice dies from a snakebite, Orpheus persuades Hades to release her from the underworld. Unfortunately, on the journey back, Orpheus breaks the one rule Hades gave him: Do not look at her before reaching the surface. When he does, he watches Eurydice disappear all over again.</p>
<h2>Timeless lessons</h2>
<p>It’s possible that these parallels between the Marvel stories and ancient myths are part of their ongoing popularity. Both genres tap into fundamental questions that people have been trying to answer for thousands of years. What is worth fighting for? How do I live my best life? Why do we have to die?</p>
<p>“WandaVision,” meanwhile, is all about grief, but – like many myths before it – there is a sprinkle of hope. As Vision begins to disappear, he tells Wanda, “I have been a voice with no body, a body but not human, and now, a memory made real. Who knows what I might be next? We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason, we’ll say hello again.”</p>
<p>Those words capture the same ache felt by Isis, Orpheus, Kisa Gotami and any person – ancient or modern – who has ever lost a loved one. The mythological tales remain relevant across time and across cultures, reappearing in these Marvel stories. That fact makes me wonder if we can alter Vision’s famous words just a bit: “What is Marvel, if not mythology persevering?”</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Nichols does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘WandaVision’ reimagines stories from Egyptian and Greek mythology, as well as Buddhist tradition.Michael Nichols, Professor of Religious Studies, Martin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1541392021-02-22T13:26:29Z2021-02-22T13:26:29ZAn ancient Greek approach to risk and the lessons it can offer the modern world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384795/original/file-20210217-17-vewg68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C3306%2C2802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A vase from ancient Greek civilization depicts Apollo consulting the oracle of Delphi.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fragment-of-a-vase-depicting-apollo-consulting-pythia-the-news-photo/143053002?adppopup=true">G. Dagli Orti/DeAgostini Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us take big and small risks in our lives every day. But COVID-19 has made us more aware of how we think about taking risks.</p>
<p>Since the start of the pandemic, people have been forced to weigh their options about how much risk is worth taking for ordinary activities – should they, for example, go to the grocery store or even turn up for a long-scheduled doctor’s visit?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=5IVmEOYAAAAJ">As a scholar of ancient Greek history</a>, I am interested in what the classics can teach us about risk-taking as a way to make sense of our current situation.</p>
<p>Greek mythology features godlike heroes, but Greek history was filled with men and women who were exposed to great risks without the comforts of modern life.</p>
<h2>The iron generation</h2>
<p>One of the earliest written works in Greek is “Works and Days,” a poem by a farmer named Hesiod in the eighth century B.C. In it, Hesiod addresses his lazy brother, Perses. </p>
<p>The most famous section of “Works and Days” describes a cycle of generations. First, Hesiod says, Zeus created a golden generation who “<a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc%3DPerseus%253Atext%253A1999.01.0132%253Acard%253D109&sa=D&ust=1611357176899000&usg=AOvVaw30-lzVGCzSCFPGtJIKIfnG">lived like the gods</a>, having hearts free from sorrow, far from work and misery.” </p>
<p>Then came a silver generation, arrogant and proud. </p>
<p>Third was a bronze generation, violent and self-destructive. </p>
<p>Fourth was the age of heroes who went to their graves at Troy. </p>
<p>Finally, Hesiod says, Zeus made an iron generation marked by a balance of pain and joy.</p>
<p>While the earliest generations lived life free of worries, according to Hesiod, life in the current iron generation is shaped by risk, which leads to pain and sorrow. </p>
<p>Throughout the poem, Hesiod develops an idea of risk and its management that was common in ancient Greece: People can and should take steps to prepare for risk, but it is ultimately inescapable.</p>
<p>As Hesiod says, “<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0132:card=504&highlight=summer">summer won’t last forever, build granaries</a>,” but for people of the current generation, “<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0132%3Acard%3D174">there is neither a stop to toil and sorrow by day, nor to death by night</a>.” </p>
<p>In other words, people face the consequences of risk – including suffering – because that is the will of Zeus. </p>
<h2>Omens and divination</h2>
<p>If the outcome of risk was determined by the gods, then one critical part of preparing to face uncertainty was to try to find out the will of Zeus. For this, the Greeks relied on oracles and omens.</p>
<p>While the rich might pay to petition the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, most people turned to simpler techniques to seek guidance from the gods, such as <a href="https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2021/01/29/gambling-and-work/">throwing dice</a> made of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2972/hesperia.81.2.0177">animal knuckle bones</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C25%2C4253%2C3110&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dice made of bone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C25%2C4253%2C3110&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384505/original/file-20210216-13-1qv3v12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marry, or stay single? Ancient Greeks, at times, let the dice decide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/roman-art-board-game-cube-and-bone-dice-national-museum-of-news-photo/494580973?adppopup=true">PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A second technique involved inscribing a question on a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844549.003.0009">lead tablet</a>, to which the god would provide an answer such as “yes” or “no.” These tablets record a wide range of concerns from ordinary Greeks. In one, a man named Lysias asks the god whether he should invest in shipping. In another, a man named Epilytos asks whether he should continue in his current career and whether he ought to wed a woman who shows up, or wait. Nothing is known about either man except that they turned to the gods when confronted with uncertainty.</p>
<p>Omens were also used to inform almost every decision, whether public or private. Men called “chresmologoi,” oracle collectors who interpreted the signs from the gods, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30103051">had enormous influence in Athens</a>. When the Spartans invaded in 431 B.C., the historian Thucydides says, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+2.21.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0026">they were everywhere reciting oracular responses</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/thucydides-and-the-plague-of-athens-what-it-can-teach-us-now-133155">When plague struck Athens</a>, he notes that the Athenians <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D54">called to mind just such a prophecy</a>.</p>
<p>Chresmologoi played so much of a role in bolstering public confidence that the wealthy Athenian politician Alcibiades <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0051%3Achapter%3D13">privately contracted them as spin doctors</a> in order to persuade people to overlook the risks of an expedition to Sicily in 415 B.C. </p>
<h2>Mitigating risks</h2>
<p>For the Greeks, putting faith in the gods alone did not fully protect them from risk. As Hesiod explained, risk mitigation required attending to both the gods and human actions.</p>
<p>Generals, for example, made sacrifices to gods like Artemis or Ares in advance of battle, and the best commanders knew how to interpret every omen as a positive sign. At the same time, though, generals also <a href="https://brill.com/view/title/35834">paid attention to strategy and tactics</a> in order to give their armies every advantage. </p>
<p>Neither was every omen heeded. Before the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 B.C., statues sacred to Hermes, the god of travel, were found with their <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+6.27">faces scratched out</a>.</p>
<p>The Athenians interpreted this as a bad omen, which may have been what <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43767981">the perpetrators intended</a>. The expedition sailed anyway, but it ended in a crushing defeat. <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D87">Few of the people</a> who left ever returned to Athens. </p>
<p>The evidence was clear to the Athenians: The desecration of the statues had put everyone in the expedition at risk. The only solution was to <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0154%3Aspeech%3D6%3Asection%3D13">punish the wrongdoers</a>. Fifteen years later, the orator Andocides had to <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Andoc.+1+1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0018">defend himself in court</a> against accusations that he had been involved.</p>
<p>This history explains that individuals might escape divine punishment, but ignoring omens and failing to take precautions were often communal rather than individual problems. Andocides was acquitted, but his trial shows that when someone’s actions put everyone at risk, it was a community’s responsibility to hold them accountable. </p>
<p>Oracles and knuckle bones are not in vogue today, but the ancient Greeks show us the very real dangers of risky behavior, and why it is important that risk not be left to a simple toss of the dice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua P. Nudell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The pandemic has made many of us acutely aware of the daily risks we need to take. The ancient Greeks often did not leave risky choices up to individuals alone.Joshua P. Nudell, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics, Westminster CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.