Isocrates on Helen

Tomorrow, HELEN OF SPARTA is available everywhere (!!!!) and so I thought it only fitting to talk a little bit about Helen herself -- Isocrates makes an interesting argument regarding Helen's beauty which I think is particularly worth sharing:

Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan
via wikimedia commons

16. [...]While most of the demigods owed their existence to Zeus, she was the only woman of whom he condescended to be called the father. While he took most interest in the son of Alcmene and the children of Leda, he so far showed preference for Helen over Heracles, that, having granted such strength to the latter that he was enabled to overcome all by force, he allotted to Helen the gift of beauty, which is destined to bring even strength into subjection to it. 17. Knowing, further, that distinction and renown arise, not from peace, but from wars and combats, and wishing not only to exalt their bodies to heaven, but to bestow upon them an everlasting remembrance, he ordained a life of toil and danger for the one, while he granted to the other beauty that was universally admired and became the object of universal contention.

Basically, he says, Zeus gave Helen the ABSOLUTE most powerful gift, raising her up over Heracles, because even strength is helpless in the face of such beauty as Helen possessed.  And not only that! But as further proof of his favor, he made sure Helen would NEVER be forgotten, because, basically, she would be fought over forever by everyone.

But the thing Isocrates fails to take into consideration is this: Heracles can choose where to leverage his strength. He can decide to ransack a city, or kill a lion with nothing but a club and his bare hands. He has CONTROL over his strengths, for the most part -- unless he's being directly manipulated by the gods, or else has flown into a rage (possibly because of direct manipulation by the gods.)

Helen, on the other hand, is given this incredible gift, this incredible beauty, but left with no control over it. None. And to add insult to injury, she is BLAMED and held solely accountable for the results. She is cursed for causing the Trojan War, cursed for betraying and abandoning her husband and daughter. All the blood of all the men who follow her to Troy, and all the men who fight for her right to remain there is on her hands, all that death on her head, and her head alone.

Yes, Helen was remembered. But not as a hero. Unlike Odysseus, and Heracles, and Theseus, Helen is not famous for her noble deeds.

She is infamous for her lack of virtue.

If that's how Zeus treats his favorites, I'd rather be overlooked altogether.

---

Available April 1, 2015 
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Long before she ran away with Paris to Troy, Helen of Sparta was haunted by nightmares of a burning city under siege. These dreams foretold impending war—a war that only Helen has the power to avert. To do so, she must defy her family and betray her betrothed by fleeing the palace in the dead of night. In need of protection, she finds shelter and comfort in the arms of Theseus, son of Poseidon. With Theseus at her side, she believes she can escape her destiny. But at every turn, new dangers—violence, betrayal, extortion, threat of war—thwart Helen’s plans and bar her path. Still, she refuses to bend to the will of the gods.

A new take on an ancient myth, Helen of Sparta is the story of one woman determined to decide her own fate.

---

* *
Buy Now:
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Affairs of the Gods: How Could These Victims Have Been So Clueless?

There are two ways to approach questions like this:
1) The Events of the Myths Really Happened
2) The Events of the Myths Are Stories/Propaganda/Explanations/Metaphors/etc

If you've been hanging around me or my blog(s) for any length of time, you probably know that the fiction writer in me favors the first approach -- and imagining these characters and trying to discover their motivations and understand the choices they might have made is where a lot of the fun of writing about them comes from. So with this question, it's only natural that I'd start with the more literal perspective. (It's more just more interesting guys!)

The Short Answer:
I suspect that they were less clueless and more just uninformed.

The Long Answer:

The Flight of Europa by Paul Manship
photo by me!

Here's the thing. Today, if some king's daughter were kidnapped by a really pretty bull, the whole world would know about it. Or at least the part of the world that pays attention to that kind of information, anyway. (She'd also be found and returned home, probably, rather than dumped in another country to marry into their royal bloodline, but I digress.) Back in Europa's time? It was probably more of a quiet, regional event. Why should she expect the bull of being a god in disguise, intent on stealing her away, if she'd never heard of Zeus pulling that kind of stunt?* Maybe, possibly, some kind of rumor of Zeus coming down as a shower of gold to... make sweet love? to Danae** might have been making the rounds somewhere in the Peloponnese, but it is REALLY unlikely the story would have made it as far as Phoenicia, where Europa was hanging out with her maiden friends, enjoying the attentions of a particularly tame bull.

Now maybe these two examples are cheating, because both of these women were earlier victims of Zeus' proclivities, but the fact remains that there are no guarantees that any one of the  importuned women who followed would have had extensive knowledge of the god's other exploits. There's a couple of exceptions of course. Alcmene, for example, was the granddaughter of Perseus, so the story of Great-Grandmother Danae could easily have been part of family lore before her run in with Zeus and the subsequent birth of Heracles. But since Zeus took the form of Alcmene's own husband, Amphitryon, there is really no possibly way that forewarning might have helped her avoid his attentions.

It's easy for us to see all these stories laid out neatly and chronologically, with repeated themes of Zeus putting one over on some poor beautiful girl, and wonder why these people couldn't figure it out. But the truth is, those stories weren't assembled into the written word at all until centuries after the fact. If you consider that the Trojan War was basically the end of the Age of Heroes, and all the philandering that entailed, then the majority of these events would have taken place during the Greek Bronze Age -- the Mycenaean and Minoan periods. At the end of which, civilization kind of collapsed and the Greeks not-so-promptly forgot how to write for several hundred years.

Oral history is a lot more limited, regionally, though Homer provides us with evidence that even oral stories could be spread -- if the bard thought the audience would be interested. But if he didn't?

Well. It sure makes me appreciate the bounty of the internet for self-education, that's for sure.


*Europa was mother to Minos, which means she was at least one, maybe two generations before Theseus and Heracles.

**Danae was the mother of Perseus, who was himself the very FIRST of the Greek Heroes. He did not actually ride Pegasus, and the Kraken is a sea monster out of Scandinavia. Just for the record.

---

Available April 1, 2015 
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

Long before she ran away with Paris to Troy, Helen of Sparta was haunted by nightmares of a burning city under siege. These dreams foretold impending war—a war that only Helen has the power to avert. To do so, she must defy her family and betray her betrothed by fleeing the palace in the dead of night. In need of protection, she finds shelter and comfort in the arms of Theseus, son of Poseidon. With Theseus at her side, she believes she can escape her destiny. But at every turn, new dangers—violence, betrayal, extortion, threat of war—thwart Helen’s plans and bar her path. Still, she refuses to bend to the will of the gods.

A new take on an ancient myth, Helen of Sparta is the story of one woman determined to decide her own fate.

---

* *
Buy Now:
Amazon | Barnes&Noble

Inspiration of Mythic Proportions Part II (from Kristina Wojtaszek)

This is part two of a two part series from Kristina Wojtaszek, author of OPAL. Her novella is part of A Winter's Enchantment alongside mine, TAMING FATE. Part One is just one post ago, and discussed Hephaestus, the Tin Soldier, and Hans Christian Andersen, so be sure to check it out! --Amalia

2) Cronus wears a Big Bad Wolf suit

Charles Perrault wrote his fairy tales in defense of courtly society in France.  It was, in fact, his duty to glorify the king in his works.  A large motif in upper class French society was arranged marriage, which depended on the virginity of the young woman, who may have even been cloistered (kept as a nun) to ensure such purity.  All of Perrault's fairy tales ended with a moral, and despite the more modern retellings of Little Red, the original by Perrault was the story of a young woman of society, not that of a little girl.  She wore a red cap; red signifying the color of sin, and hers was a preordained fate believed to befall single women who were allowed to socialize with men.  Not only was her fate the destruction of her worth as a virgin, but death itself; that ultimate fate of sinners.  And that is where Perrault's story ends for Little Red and her grandmother, in death.

But the Brothers Grimm retold the tale with a much younger Little Red, and the sexual connotations pared down.  They also introduced a woodcutter into the tale, to save the grandmother and granddaughter from death.  The woodcutter was careful not to shoot the wolf, lest he injure those inside his belly.  Instead, he cut open the wolf's belly and the grandmother and Little Red leapt out, still alive.  The wolf, too, was still alive (my, what strong anesthetics you must have, Mr. Woodcutter) and in order to fool the wolf so that he wouldn't miss his meal, they filled his belly with stones.  But when the wolf woke, the stones were too heavy for him to run away with, and he fell down dead.

Tell me, why in the world would the woodcutter feel the need to put stones in the belly of the wolf, when he could simply have killed him?  Why try to trick the wolf first?  Was it out of some sinister want of revenge for the wolf's trickery?  Or, could the Brothers Grimm have had other tales in mind as they rewrote this unusual ending?

The image of the wolf's belly full of stones immediately came to mind when I read the story of Zeus's birth.  His father, the Titan Cronus, was determined to avoid the prophesy that foretold his own demise at the hands of one of his children  So he ate every one of his infants as soon as they were born; except his youngest, Zeus.  Zeus's mother hid her newborn (finally!) and fed Cronus a large stone wrapped in swaddling instead.  When Zeus grows up, he confronts his father and either gives him an herb to induce vomiting, or, in some versions, cuts his father's stomach open to free his siblings.

Sound familiar?  The Brothers Grimm weren't, in fact, out to collect tales for children, but were devoted to the study and collection of German folklore and mythology, including sagas about mythical heroes similar to the sagas of ancient Greece.  Although they later softened many of their tales, knowing how popular they were becoming with children, the Brothers Grimm had an initial goal of recording the stories of their Germanic culture before they faded from use, and using these stories to understand the history of their people.  I don't know if a myth similar to that of Cronus influenced their reshaping of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, but they must certainly have known of such a myth, and there is tremendous possibility here.  For my part, I can't help seeing the larger-than-life Cronus in a wolf suit, and the gleam of an all-knowing Zeus in the eyes of the woodcutter.

The analogies between fairy tales and their mythic ancestors are endless, even if they aren't all directly related.  It's a good lesson for any writer, as we find our own imaginings aren't entirely our own, but are often a conglomeration of our emotional lives and those stories that have influenced us more than we know.

---

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Kristina Wojtaszek grew up as a woodland sprite and mermaid, playing around the shores of Lake Michigan. At any given time she could be found with live snakes tangled in her hair and worn out shoes filled with sand. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Management as an excuse to spend her days lost in the woods with a book in hand. She currently resides in the high desert country of Wyoming with her husband and two small children. She is fascinated by fairy tales and fantasy and her favorite haunts are libraries and cemeteries. 

Follow her @KristinaWojtasz  or on her blog, Twice Upon a Time.

And don't forget to grab a copy of OPAL, or our Anthology together, 

A WINTER'S ENCHANTMENT!

NAME THAT BUTT: Stage Two, Round Two, REVEALED!

Stage Two Rules:

• I post a butt and TWO clues, you guess who that butt belongs to in the comments. If you guess right, you get 5 points. (No bonus for being first.)
  
• Comments are moderated, which means they sit in my inbox quietly until I choose to publish them, so you won't see anyone else's guesses.
  
• HOWEVER, if you CORRECTLY identify the artistic work in question, you earn a bonus 5 points. (Provided of course, that it differs from the subject's name alone and the artist is known at all)
  
• The following Friday, I reveal the subject, along with the full backside image of the sculpture in question! If at this point you can correctly identify artist/title of the piece, you can earn an additional 2.5 points, and you may guess artist/title until the next round of NAME THAT BUTT begins.
  
• I'll keep a running tally of correct answers/points, with occasional updates of who is "winning."
  
• For Olympians, Greek AND Roman names are acceptable, because half of these sculptures were probably titled with their Roman names but in my head, they immediately translate to the Greek, and that's how I remember them when I'm organizing my photos.
  
• The game will continue for as long as I have photographs of backsides to share, but a new NAME THAT BUTT may not be posted every week, depending on Things. 

And This week's Backside belongs to...

*drumroll*

ZEUS!

Yes, it was kind of maybe a trick-butt, but(t) it IS still a mythological hiney! And for more of the story regarding Europa and Zeus-the-Bull, check out this post by the Other Me!

Remember you can still get partial points for identifying the title and artist of this piece! So, go go go! 

March Roars aka SECRET THINGS!

Forged by Fate's cover art got 3 thumbs up from All Things Urban Fantasy on Wednesday! And it is coming out on Tuesday. TUESDAY! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I'm a little bit excited. In fact, I'm so excited about this coming Tuesday that I am posting on Monday with some exciting awesome THINGS which hopefully will make up for the fact that I am not posting properly this month.

But first, I have some OTHER important THINGS to share with you. Let us begin with some photography:

But wait, I hear you saying, this photo is familiar. Didn't you ALREADY post a picture of yourself signing things? Yes. Yes, I did. When I signed my contract for Forged by Fate, I did indeed immortalize it in the digital world with a picture. So what on earth could I possibly be signing now?! Well, there are two important points to this photograph which I'd like to emphasize now. With more photography.

FIRSTLY:

Yes, that is Zeus on my shirt, pitching lightning bolts from the clouds after deflecting a fish with his forehead. This may or may not be a clue as to which of my manuscripts was the impetus of this immortalized moment.

And SECOND:

Yes, that does say Folio Literary Management. And Retainer Agreement. And Michelle Brower. 

And yes, yes I did sign with an agent!

A wonderfully enthusiastic agent, in fact, who makes free with exclamation points the way I had always hoped one would!

This is just the beginning of the story -- and I promise you, there will be a full accounting of "how I got my agent" so definitely check back after Forged by Fate's release for all the details! For now, let me point you to a few new places where you will find me (and I hope you'll follow me!), because I'm embarking on a publication quest in a new genre with Michelle, and that means I get to be TWO authors moving forward. 

So, Friends and Followers, meet Amalia Carosella, my alter ego, who will be pursuing a traditional publishing career writing historical fiction! You'll find us on Twitter, Facebook, and over yonder at www.amaliacarosella.com. 

But don't despair -- Good to Begin Well isn't going anywhere, either! It will still be the same blog it's always been. I just hope you'll add Helen loves Theseus* to your blogrolls as well :)

So! There you have it! DEFINITELY WITHOUT A DOUBT check back on Monday, because you are going to want to know the DEETS surrounding Forged by Fate's party central, aka, this blog. I hope you'll all bear with me through the excess of author enthusiasm and we can reach the other side of this together, at which point, I promise you at LEAST a summary regarding King Gautrek. (So far this Norseman is definitely giving the Greeks a run for their money in the Explicitly Naked Hero department.)

Monday!!! Be here or Be Square!!

*This may or may not be another clue as to which manuscript finally catapulted me out of the trenches of the Query Wars.

Fairy Tales and Greek Myths

We're all familiar, of course, with the basic fairy tales. Most of us are probably far more accustomed to the Disney versions, which while they preserve something of the story, sometimes miss a bit of the meat and all of the horror -- you'll never see a Disney movie about The Maiden Without Hands. Thankfully, I have a copy of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Translated by Jack Zipes (Bantam, 1992), from which to refresh your memories of the important bits for the purposes of this post.

I'd like to start with an excerpt from the fairy tale of Brier Rose AKA Sleeping Beauty.

[...] the queen gave birth to a girl who was so beautiful that the king was overjoyed and decided to hold a great feast. Not only did he invite his relatives, friends, and acquaintances, but also the wise women, in the hope that they would be generous and kind to his daughter. There were thirteen wise women in his kingdom, but he had only twelve golden plates from which they could eat. Therefore, one of them had to remain home.

[...] When eleven of them had offered their gifts, the thirteenth suddenly entered the hall. She wanted to get revenge for not having been invited, and without greeting anyone or looking around, she cried out with a loud voice, "In her fifteenth year the princess shall prick herself with a spindle and fall down dead!"

And maybe we should throw in an excerpt from Snow White as well? Just to make it interesting. Same edition.

She had a magic mirror and often she stood in front of it, looked at herself, and said:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
who in this realm is the fairest of all?"
Then the mirror would answer:
"You, my queen, are the fairest of all."
That reply would make her content, for she knew the mirror always told the truth.

I wouldn't actually recommend to anyone that they sit down to read the Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm all at once. Ever. The redundancy is incredible, and it gets really tiresome well before you hit the half-way point. The Grimm's Fairy Tales are best read in small doses, with some space in between. I was assigned to read it for an English class once and made the mistake of reading it all at the last minute, and while I like having the book sitting on my shelf, I doubt I'll ever pick it up for leisure. So what made me pick it up now? Not only pick it up, but start quoting passages to you, gentle readers? Greek Mythology, of course.

While researching the Trojan War, I found a number of references to The Judgment of Paris, one within Apollodorus's The Libraries -- a fairly excellent catalog of myths and stories about the Olympian gods and demigods. It was an annotated translation, and I read this within the notes:

The story ran that all the gods and goddesses, except Strife, were invited to attend the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and that Strife, out of spite at being overlooked, threw among the wedding guests a golden apple inscribed with the words, “Let the fair one take it,” or “The apple for the fair.” Three goddesses, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, contended for this prize of beauty, and Zeus referred the disputants to the judgment of Paris.

We know that Rome did a lot to spread the influence of the original Greek Myths and heroes, and we also know that Rome's influence reached all the way from Africa in the south to Britain in the North, and certainly the Germanic tribes absorbed a good deal of Roman culture. But until this moment, looking at the Judgment of Paris and reflecting on the fairy tales collected by the brothers Grimm, it never occurred to me how much of it stuck.

At this point, Strife has become the thirteenth fairy, and Paris, poor Paris, the Magic Mirror on the wall. Unfortunately, Paris doesn't possess the impartiality of the mirror. He can be bribed, and the goddesses (I'm sure Hercules would tell us that Hera is the definitive evil step-mother) go about taking advantage of that weakness at once.

I wonder if the Brothers Grimm, educated men that they were, realized the parallels of what they were recording?

***Originally posted on GeekaChicas.com, January 7, 2010.

Heracles, Theseus, and the Gods OR Euripides (II)

D'aww Baby Herc!

In the latter part of his play, Euripides illustrates the bond between Theseus and Heracles. They’re friends, of course, and why wouldn’t they be, being the two most celebrated heroes of their time, and it goes without saying that Theseus is indebted to Heracles for rescuing him from Hades and the chair of forgetfulness. But more than that, they’re cousins. Family. And in Heracles' most desperate hour of need, when he is contemplating for the first time the thought of suicide to revenge upon himself the murder of his wife and children, it’s Theseus* who comes to his aid.

But what’s more interesting to me is the differences in ideology between the two heroes. Heracles takes upon himself all the guilt for the death of his family, in spite of the fact that Hera drove him into madness, removing from him his ability to reason, his ability even to recognize his own children and wife. Theseus feels differently, placing the guilt upon the gods, and arguing that even the gods sin and suffer. Theseus says:

“I cannot counsel you to die rather than to go on suffering. There is not a man alive that hath wholly ‘scaped misfortune’s taint, nor any god either, if what the poets sing is true. Have they not intermarried in ways that law forbids? Have they not thrown fathers into ignominious chains to gain the sovereign power? Still they inhabit Olympus and brave the issue of their crimes.”

It’s true. The gods are absolutely guilty of incest. Zeus and Hera are brother and sister, for starters. Plus there’s Heracles – a living example of weird family relationships.** And then there’s the whole gelding of Cronus. I mean, really.

But Heracles isn’t buying what Theseus is selling. Not in the slightest. He responds:

“For my part, I do not believe that the gods indulge in unholy unions; and as for putting fetters on parents’ hands, I have never thought that worthy of belief, nor will I now be so persuaded, nor again that one god is naturally lord and master of another. For the deity, if he be really such, has no wants; these are miserable fictions of the poets.”

And then, even more tellingly, in regard to Heracles’ own character:

“But I, for all my piteous plight, reflected whether I should let myself be branded as a coward for giving up my life.”

In the end, it isn’t Theseus’ argument that others have suffered what he has, or even the question of his guilt, at all. In the end, Heracles doesn’t kill himself because he doesn’t want anyone to think he was a coward. Because Heracles will not let anyone call him anything other than brave. In the end, all that matters to him is his reputation, and nothing the gods have done to him can even compare.

Related: Euripides' Heracles (I)

*my hero!
**First, some genealogy. Heracles is the son of Zeus and Alcmene, she herself a granddaughter of Perseus, who was, of course, a son of Zeus, thereby making Alcmene Zeus’s great-granddaughter, and Heracles both Zeus’s son, AND his great-great-grandson. 
Just for the record.

Affairs of the Gods: Hades and Persephone

Hi, Followers-of-Amalia! I’m thrilled to be guest blogging here today. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Diana Paz, longtime friend of the spectacularly talented and adorably wonderful, Amalia. [Note From Amalia: Part One, which discusses Hades and Persephone individually, is over yonder on Diana's blog!]

I’m here today to discuss the topic of my current work-in-progress, the Greek myth most commonly known as The Rape of Persephone. I’m excited to share some of my FINDINGS, and indulge in the glorious research that, in part, makes writing such a joy for me. Onward we go, into the Underworld!

Hades and Persephone: A Match Made in the Underworld

NFA: Hades and Persephone are in the HORSE drawn chariot.
I'd guess that's Dionysus above them with the leopards.

In my mind, there could hardly be a more opposite goddess for the harsh and austere Hades than Persephone, goddess of innocence and springtime. Maybe that’s part of what makes this match so appealing to me. Whoever Hades married would be elevated to the status of queen, and the sheltered Persephone seemed hardly prepared to rule. Her life had been spent doing little more than growing flowers and creating beauty. But maybe that’s all Hades really needed.

So. How did this match come about? There are a few variations explaining how she was whisked off. Sometimes Eros shoots Hades with an arrow when he notices him near Persephone, just for kicks. Sometimes Aphrodite was the mastermind behind this, because Persephone was following in Athena’s and Artemis’ footsteps in becoming another virgin goddess, and Aphrodite wasn’t too pleased about having any more mortals taking vows of chastity. But sometimes Hades is the one who asks Zeus about finding a bride, feeling in need of companionship down in the Underworld. And sometimes it’s Zeus who is depicted as orchestrating the whole affair, because he believes his big brother could use a queen.

Whatever the case, Persephone is usually shown gathering flowers when she wanders away from the protection of the nymphs. She’s often out of earshot, which indicates she’s ventured rather far. Most sources tell of an earthquake, which caused a chasm to open up. Again, whether this happened naturally or because of some kind of planning is unclear, but Hades noticed the chasm, and “left his dark domains to and fro, drawn in his chariot and sable steeds, inspected the foundations of the isle. His survey done, and no point found to fail, he put his fears aside” (Ovid, METAMORPHOSES).  The details of what happened next are arguable, but whether by arrow or design, one thing is certain: the sheltered Persephone’s life would never be the same.

Here’s where my curiosity again takes over. A god like Hades, who is foremost about fulfilling his duties and making sure the rules are obeyed, doesn’t seem like the type who would up and decide to abduct Persephone. He could have courted any goddess, and certainly found someone interested in becoming a queen. So perhaps it was Eros’ arrow after all, and Hades was overcome with ARDOR and kidnapped Persephone after all, but considering what I know about Persephone, what exactly led her to stray so far? There are stories of her curious nature, particularly in opening the golden box sent to her by Aphrodite. Could she have been curious about the chasm that opened up? Most likely it was completely different than anything she’d known. 

In my research, I can’t help noticing that the primary focus is often on Demeter’s distress about losing her daughter, not so much on Persephone’s dismay at being carried off by a king among gods. Little is said about her time in the Underworld, with Demeter’s year-long search taking center stage. Add to this the ambiguity about how, exactly, Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds before leaving the Underworld—was it trickery? After an entire year, Hades tricks her? According to the Homeric Hymns, yes:

…but he secretly put in my mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against my will. (Third Homeric Hymn).

But, why didn’t he trick her into eating the seeds sooner than this? And trickery seems pointedly out of character for a god who is so adamant about RULES. Not to mention, some sources show Persephone eating the seeds herself, without realizing:

…for the girl had broken her fast and wandering, childlike, through the orchard trees from a low branch had picked a pomegranate and peeled the yellow rind and found the seeds and nibbled seven. (Ovid, METAMORPHOSES, Book 5).

There are versions in which Hades offers her the seeds without trickery, and she takes them, supposedly not knowing what they’ll do (Apollodorus, for example), but… what if Persephone took the seeds of her own free will? Persephone, having spent an entire year in the Underworld without eating the food of the dead, might have known that something would happen if she did. It seems possible that when Hermes came to deliver her to the sunlit world, maybe she did something rash. She might have missed her mother, but she didn’t mind her life as queen, either. The Underworld could have been a kind of freedom for Persephone from her mother’s overprotectiveness. I can’t help but wonder if she hoped to return.

Like most mythology, there is a lot of room for speculation. I feel like I’ve covered the bases, but maybe I’m way off. Is this simply the abduction of an unwilling goddess and nothing more? Was she a woeful victim sent to the Underworld each winter, longing for the light, or did she return the unlikely affection of a god who wanted nothing more than to make her his divine queen?

~ ~ ~

Diana Paz is a web content writer and aspiring author. She was born in Costa Rica, grew up on Miami Beach, moved to Los Angeles in high school, and went to college in San Diego. Basically, she's a beach bum, but she did graduate from California State University, San Marcos with a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts. She loves old movies, epic fantasy, all kinds of music, and heading to the beach with a good book. Preferably sipping a caramel frappuccino. Find her at her blog:dianapazwrites.blogspot.com or on Twitter @dianapazwrites

The Daughters of Ares

Yesterday morning I read a blogpost over yonder at Firefly Willows about Mars. It's kind of a reflection on what Play might mean to him, and that aspect of his character, and all I could think about was how much I kind of gloss over Ares in my head.* What do I really know about the character of Ares, or his personality? How do I think he plays? Off the top of my head, I would say hard. A god of war seems like he would definitely play hard, and for keeps, too, but I couldn't think of any myths to back up my impressions.

Ludovisi Ares from Wiki Commons

So I did some brief research, which led me to a fascinating discovery. Ares has daughters!

It was while I was writing Helen that I wondered about how many sons the gods had in their affairs. It seemed like everyone had sons, and the reason that Helen was so sought after was in part because she was a rarity. I'm not sure I know anyone who can name another demi-god daughter of Zeus off the top of their heads, and according to Theoi, he only has two: Helen and Herophile (of Libya).**

In contrast, Ares is named as the father of the entirety of the Amazons, and several of their most important leaders in particular (Penthesileia, Hippolyta, and Antiope!) as well as a Queen (Thrassa) of another tribe, and an Athenian girl (Aklippe), who doesn't seem to be of much consequence at all, except for her rape and Ares' murder of the man who did it. Ares fathered and re-fathered an entire people of women!

So what does this tell us about Ares? Maybe it meant he wasn't quite as virile as Zeus, who never once shot a blank, and his only failing was producing two girls out of the 50 named demi-god children (Ares has 30). But maybe it also says something else -- maybe it says Ares wasn't ashamed of the girls he fathered. Certainly it's a rare thing to hear about a god killing a man for raping his daughter. Helen is raped at least twice, and Zeus doesn't so much as grumble. He used her outright to start a war that would result in the deaths of most everyone she ever knew or cared about, in fact. Maybe it says that Ares believed in his daughters, no matter how great or how lowly. Perhaps the god of war had a soft spot for women -- and not only for the pleasure he could take from them, but for their overlooked strengths.

But what else would you expect from the father of the Amazons?

*I can't really see how Mars and Ares could be considered as two separate entities, personally, but I know there are differences, where Mars has his own Roman myths alongside those the Greeks gave to Ares. Not unlike Hercules and Heracles.


** there is also Keroessa, but she's possibly a nymph, not a mortal, so I don't think that counts.

Food for Thought: Jesus vs Heracles

Because seriously, what if Heracles really WAS some portion of Zeus who just really wanted to spend a few years getting laid without hiding it from Hera? (And it would explain why Hera was SO MEAN to Heracles, too, because she was too smart to be taken in by THAT ruse. Guys. For Real. It could have happened.)

Jesus	Heracles
Son of God	Son of a god
Likes the children	Likes the children
Travels around the Country Making Stuff Happen	Travels around the Country Making Stuff Happen
Helps people	Helps people
Expels Demons	Fights Monsters
Takes after dad: Monkishly asexual	Takes after dad: Got it on w/50 sisters, etc.
Tragic Death (crucifixion)	Tragic Death (burned alive)
Ascends to Heaven, recognized as God	Ascends to Olympus, recognized as a god
Performed miraculous feats (water into wine, etc)	Performed miraculous feats (lifted the whole world, etc)
Attracted followers	Attracted followers
Betrayed to his death by someone he trusted and loved (Judas)	Killed by someone he trusted and loved (maybe by accident) (Deianira)

Okay, so the last one might be a stretch, but you've gotta give me the rest, right? Civil discussion in the comments, including any similarities I missed, or, if you'd rather, poke holes in my Jesus vs. Heracles comparisons! Don't be shy! 

Heracles Is Not My Favorite

I don't know what it is about him-- maybe because he's so well-known, but I just don't feel drawn to Heracles, generally. If I were to write a sequel to Helen of Sparta though, I'd end up having to research him. In my Pirithous book, I toyed with the idea of bringing demigods into the modern world. A missing father is really a god called back to Olympus, etc. I didn't actually go with that, because it was a little bit too Percy Jackson, and in the context of the romance the story was supposed to be, it didn't really serve a purpose, but it led me to wikipedia for a refresh of some Heracles basics. (Because obviously Heracles is a god, now, serving as a guardian of Olympus, and nobody ever talks about demigod children of Heracles!)

Specifically, I wanted to know what he looked like -- not the symbols which identified him, like the lion skin or the club or the apples in his hands, but hair and eye color, proportions, his physical self. Of course wikipedia was pretty much useless in this regard, BUT, I did find a couple of pictures of some marble statuary. Roman copies of Greek originals. Which uh, also do not tell me anything about his hair or eye color at this time, but I thought I'd share them all the same.

What I found perhaps even more interesting on the wikipedia page was the list of his consorts and children. Don't get me wrong, I was well aware of the fact that Heracles got around. I mean, who doesn't know that Heracles had multiple wives? I just hadn't realized quite how many other women he was involved with, or how many children he had. And seeing it as a list -- well. Let's just say it sunk in a little bit deeper, and I'm starting to wonder how Heracles had TIME to fight monsters with all the other um, activities, he was engaged in (that Thirteenth Labor must have been real rough on him--I think it deserves an Affairs of the Gods recounting at some future date). But man, it would suck to have been a child of Heracles. I mean, sure, you got the prestige of being the son of (arguably) one of the most famous men in all of history, and the touch of demigod blood probably made your life easier, but when you were competing with that many half-siblings for his time? In most cases, behind his wife's back? Clearly Heracles took after his father, Zeus, and I'm not sure I blame his wife for the poison shirt anymore.

All that said, that statue of Heracles holding an infant in one arm and that club in the other, with that slight smile on his face? I feel like it gives us a great glimpse into the Greek interpretation of Heracles' character. He was a protector, a hero, a great man, but for all that, he was not untouchable or unreachable to the people around him. He was also the kind of man who didn't shy from bouncing a baby on his knee when he wasn't busy saving the world from monsters. And maybe, just maybe, the babies were the reason he went to all that trouble to begin with.

I'm not going to lie, that statue makes me like Heracles a little bit more than I did when I started.

Faith and Mystery

Studying mythology is very much a journey of faith for me. I don't talk about it a lot on here, because I don't like to step on toes-- it isn't really about TRUTH, or one right way, and I've always felt faith and religion are and should be very private things. Whatever my beliefs, they're between me and the powers that be, and the same for yours. We don't have to agree. In fact, the world would be a much less interesting place if we did. I wouldn't be able to study both Classical Myth and Norse Myth along side my own Catholic upbringing, if everyone agreed, and where's the fun in that?

But as a Classicist (and interestingly enough I rarely feel this way about Norse myth), I often find myself wondering why in tarnation anyone would want to worship gods that were so cruel, so arbitrary, so generally unjust. What is there to honor in a god like Zeus, who rapes women as he pleases, or even Athena, the vaunted goddess of reason, when she throws it all out the window to curse Medusa for being unfortunate enough to draw Poseidon's eye. It's so easy to sit back and say we've evolved beyond that kind of thing, as a race. We've wised up enough to realize that worshipping a god like that makes no sense. There is no substance, maybe, or there is no justice, or there is no worth.

It's easy to think, in those unguarded moments of arrogance, that we are much more civilized now as a culture. But in America, we are by and large a culture firmly rooted in Christianity and Judeo-Christian myth. On the surface, the New Testament does present a more genteel deity than the gods that the ancient Greeks worshipped. The Olympians could be called a lot of things, but Champions of Forgiveness and Love they were not, and Jesus and His Father were something of a revelation in that respect. At least to the Greeks and the Romans (and perhaps that's why it took hold in the west, but the east maintains its own much older faiths still).

But if you look at the Old Testament, you can see the same shapes of those Olympians. Punishments were harsh, sacrifices were demanded, and God could be just as cruel to the people who didn't live by His rules as any Olympian. You don't need to look much beyond Genesis for examples: The punishment and banishment of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood, and if I had been Abraham, asked to sacrifice my own son to PROVE something to an all-knowing God, I don't think I'd have gone along with it myself. Beyond Genesis there is much, much more, and I could list them all day-- one of my personal favorites  is the story of Samson, in Judges (a strange thing to say, I know, because Samson is incredibly mean-tempered and cruel. Maybe he reminds me of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, who I love to hate, but I also pity Samson and Delilah both).

In fact, I almost find reading the Old Testament to be even more disturbing than Greek Myth. Maybe because I'm not connected to the Greeks with my own faith. But maybe too, that's part of the point. MAYBE faith is supposed to be about the mystery. MAYBE if we aren't wondering if we're a little bit insane for trusting these crazy gods, we're doing it wrong. Maybe that's what faith is all about-- the mystery of whether or not you're completely sane for going through it all and trusting and believing, in spite of everything.

Of course, all the talk of mystery could just be the Catholic in me. But I think, for all the things that change, we will never give up faith in things that don't make sense.

Pirithous and Persephone, Hubris or Godly Imposition?

The story goes that Pirithous and Theseus made a pact that they should both marry daughters of Zeus, because they were demigods and as such deserving of marriage to women of divine lineage. Leaving aside the fact that a daughter of Zeus would also be Pirithous' half-sister and the marriage slightly incestuous, a demigod deciding he deserves some kind of honor or another for himself is never really a good idea. Hubris is never, ever, ever a recipe for success for any demigod or mortal. The gods just do not put up with it. 

Hades making off with Persephone

BUT, I can certainly see the appeal of a demigod daughter of Zeus for Pirithous and Theseus, both of whom suffered from a certain amount of bad luck when it came to their wives. Even making off with Helen is not such a terrible thing, for the times. Abducting women was a pretty normal activity for demigods. And Helen was still, at the time of her abduction, unpromised. In fact, later on, Helen was so desired, that her suitors were required to swear an oath not to kill the man who won her, or steal her from her rightful husband after the fact, so we know that even stealing wives is not unheard of or unsurprising. Raiding was an accepted part of life, be it for gold, goods, food, cattle, or women. And of course we can't forget that Hades himself carried Persephone off to the Underworld to be his bride in the first place, which resulted in Persephone spending 6 months in Hades, and Demeter's joy which results in the shift in season to spring when Persephone returns to the world and her mother's arms again.

Where Pirithous really went wrong then, was in his play for Persephone, a goddess in her own right as well as the consort of Hades, Zeus' own brother. Theseus merely went after a demigod, and while I won't say he didn't suffer for his pact in that regard, he certainly did not suffer for it to the same extent that Pirithous did. It's said, however, that Pirithous went after Persephone because Zeus SENT him, for the sole purpose of seeing him punished.

When Jove saw that they had such audacity as to expose themselves to danger [kidnapping Helen], he bade them in a dream both go and ask Pluto on Pirithous’ part for Proserpine in marriage (Hyginus, Fabulae, 79).

 So it wasn't even the pact to marry daughters of Zeus that provoked the gods, so much as how they went about kidnapping Helen herself. Now, Hyginus also says that Heracles pulls them both back out of the underworld, but Apollodorus says otherwise in The Libraries:

And being come near to the gates of Hades he found Theseus and Pirithous, him who wooed Persephone in wedlock and was therefore bound fast. And when they beheld Hercules, they stretched out their hands as if they should be raised from the dead by his might. And Theseus, indeed, he took by the hand and raised up, but when he would have brought up Pirithous, the earth quaked and he let go.

Pirithous being Pirithous, I'm not sure it would surprise me all that much if he got it into his own head that Persephone wanted him, and it would be a good idea to go steal her, for which he would then deserve the punishment of being trapped in Hades for eternity. But if he only went after Persephone because of Zeus? Well, that changes things. Why shouldn't Pirithous follow the direction of the King of the Gods, with all hope of success in his venture? With Zeus' blessing, how could he fail?

It makes you wonder. How many sins did the gods first impose upon their heroes, just for the excuse of punishing them? And was Pirithous a victim of his own Hubris, or the gods' desire to remind the world about just WHO exactly was boss?

Pirithous, Son of Zeus. King of the Lapiths

The story goes that Pirithous, having heard of Theseus' prowess in battle, wanted proof of his courage and strength, and so, as all good heroes do, he went out to rustle some of Theseus' cattle in order to test him. A time honored tradition among demigods! Plutarch tells the rest of the story in his essay on Theseus:

[...]when the news was brought that Theseus pursued him in arms, he did not fly, but turned back and went to meet him. But as soon as they had viewed one another, each so admired the gracefulness and beauty, and was seized with such respect for the courage of the other, that they forgot all thoughts of fighting; and Pirithous, first stretching out his hand to Theseus, bade him be judge in this case himself, and promised to submit willingly to any penalty he should impose. 

And that, as they say, was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. From that day forth, Theseus and Pirithous were like brothers, allies in everything and as you might recall from Ovid's Heroides, rather inseparable. Of Pirithous alone, we have very little information. Most of what is preserved is only in relation to his adventures with Theseus, in which, to my prejudiced readings, he comes off as the instigator of some foolish endeavor, inevitably resulting in trouble for both of them (the primary example being the abduction of Helen, and the subsequent trip to Hades so that Pirithous might steal Persephone for his own bride, because that is just the kind of overconfident, arrogant piece of work that Pirithous was).

Which guy is Pirithous and which is Theseus, I couldn't say.

But the most famous story of Pirithous is the story of his wedding to Hippodamia, which unfortunately for everyone involved was something of a disaster. A good summary (still Theseus-centric, but what can you do?) of the story was preserved in Apollodorus' The Libraries [E.1.21]:

And Theseus allied himself with Pirithous, when he engaged in war against the centaurs. For when Pirithous wooed Hippodamia, he feasted the centaurs because they were her kinsmen. But being unaccustomed to wine, they made themselves drunk by swilling it greedily, and when the bride was brought in, they attempted to violate her. But Pirithous, fully armed, with Theseus, joined battle with them, and Theseus killed many of them.

Not exactly an idyllic occasion. I imagine that Pirithous had some trouble from the Centaurs from then on, after slaughtering so many of them. I also imagine he had a very, very, very unhappy bride that night. Pirithous strikes me as the kind of man who takes advantage of weeping women by letting them cry on his shoulder and then copping some feels on the sly, and I highly doubt that this instance was any exception.

But don't misunderstand me! Pirithous might be something of a cad, but who can resist the scoundrel who is also a hero? True, we don't really have much information on any actual HEROIC deeds, outside of rescuing his wife from the centaurs, but it's clear that Pirithous was along for the ride with Theseus often enough that he must have done SOMETHING honorable to make a name for himself. It can't all have been abducting women and cattle rustling...

Then again. Maybe Pirithous was more pirate than king, after all.

Affairs of the Gods!Norse Edition: Odin Likes the Ladies Too

Keeping with the generally Norse Tuesdays, Classics Fridays theme, I thought it might be appropriate to offer a very special AFFAIRS OF THE GODS: NORSE EDITION today instead!

who can resist this guy?

Now we all know that Odin liked the ladies as much as any Olympian, and we'd definitely be doing the All-Father a disservice if we didn't mention him as one of the more amorous All-Fathers. Odin's by-blows are all over Asgard. In fact, the only son of Odin in the Prose Edda who is explicitly named as the son of Frigg (Odin's wife) is Balder! Thor, Vidar, and Vali are all sons of giantesses, for whom Odin seems to have a soft spot. Hod is called the brother of Balder, but the name of his mother is never mentioned. Hermod is generally thought to be a son of Odin, though the sources are somewhat conflicting about even that much, never mind who mothered him, and Bragi is sometimes a son of Odin and other times a human made into a god later. Basically it seems like anyone who isn't a Vanir-- and even sometimes when they are Vanir-- is somehow related to Odin at some point in time or another. I guess Odin's seed is just that potent that anyone with an ounce of Awesome must have spawned from his loins!

But Odin doesn't limit himself to giantesses and Aesir goddesses for affairs and all of his supposed children don't make it into the exclusive list of the 12 14 Aesir, either. The Volsung family tree descends directly from Odin according to the Saga of the same name, though it skips neatly over the details, and of course there are other kings, here and there with the same claim.

Odin sold his body for Poetry

But the differences between Odin, King of the Aesir, and Zeus, King of the Olympians, are these: when Odin carries on an affair, Frigg doesn't get in line to torment them. EVEN after her own son is murdered. (Of course, Frigg didn't really have to get in line to torment Hod after Balder's death, because Odin was way ahead of her on that one, supposedly siring Vali for the sole purpose of murdering Hod in revenge.) Odin does not seem to bother with thinking up new and ever-more-devious disguises to hide his affairs, either. Nor do we find an extensive account of exactly how Odin seduced/raped the giantesses/goddess/lady in question. Sometimes there's some passing mention of the affair itself-- like Gunnlod, with whom Odin traded some All-Father lovin' in exchange for the mead of poetry-- without getting into what exactly that entailed, but mostly we get a generic "it was said that he was a son of Odin" or even less interesting, Snorri just throws it into one of the kennings for that particular person as some back-of-the-book afterthought. Putting names to the mothers of his sons is incredibly difficult across the board, outside of the big three (Thor, Balder, and Vali). All we hear about are the sons, and how they went about their lives, conquered, failed to conquer, or died. It's like nobody cares about how these kids were conceived, or even who by, only that they lived.

I'm not sure what this says about women in the world of Norse Myths, or if it is something on which we can base any commentary at all. In any event, for those of you who were hoping for some lurid details of Odin's seduction: Sorry to disappoint but I just can't provide it! If you want, we can blame Snorri. That dude's a jerk.

Affairs of the Gods: Zeus and Europa

Europa on the back of her Bull

Europa was the daughter of King Agenor* of Tyre, in Phoenicia who happened to catch Zeus's eye one day while frolicking around on the shore with her father's herd of cattle and some friends. Zeus, determined to have her for his own, turned himself into a beautiful and gentle white bull among the herd in order to get close to her. Europa, evidently finding nothing strange about a bull so tame she could weave flowers around its horns, was taken in by the ruse.

Really, Europa? Nothing odd at all about an alarmingly beautiful and perfect bull wanting to be petted and fondled? I mean. Normally I am not all about blaming the woman but... c'mon, now! I'm not sure I can buy the fact that she really had no idea what she was doing, no matter what Ovid says--it sounds kind of like, well, bull-honky.

Apollodorus tells us:

Zeus loved her, and turning himself into a tame bull, he mounted her on his back and conveyed her through the sea to Crete. There Zeus bedded with her, and she bore Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys;

And Ovid goes into greater detail in The Metamorphoses (book 2):

And, now perceiving all her fears decay'd,
Comes tossing forward to the royal maid;
Gives her his breast to stroke, and downward turns
His grizly brow, and gently stoops his horns.
In flow'ry wreaths the royal virgin drest
His bending horns, and kindly clapt his breast.
'Till now grown wanton and devoid of fear,
Not knowing that she prest the Thunderer,
She plac'd her self upon his back, and rode
O'er fields and meadows, seated on the God. 

He gently march'd along, and by degrees
Left the dry meadow, and approach'd the seas;
Where now he dips his hoofs and wets his thighs,
Now plunges in, and carries off the prize. 

Now, Europa did get on the bull's back of her own accord, but she clearly hadn't anticipated being whisked away to parts unknown. Fortunately for her, Hera didn't seem to notice any of this mess, and after Zeus, ahem, revealed himself and left her on Crete, she ended up marrying one of the Cretan princes who didn't care that she'd been knocked up by Zeus first, and her son Minos became King of Crete afterward.

Minos, son of Zeus, really isn't much of a demigod. Certainly he was no hero, and he had some pretty bad luck when he came to power, all stemming from the moment he broke his promise and didn't give Poseidon his bull back in sacrifice, after the god helped him to claim the kingship of Crete. Minos' wife was cursed to fall in love with that bull, which resulted in the birth of the Minotaur (the Minotaur was actually named Asterion, if you were wondering). Then, on top of that, Minos' son was killed in Athens over some silly jealousy issue, and of course we all know what happened after Athens started sending youths to Minos in payment for that crime. Theseus. Minotaur. Fall of Crete. Etc.

So what if Europa and her friends had seen the signs and realized that the bull was Zeus before she climbed on its back? Well. Somehow I don't think it would have stopped Zeus from having his way. Honestly, Europa really lucked out. If you have to get kidnapped and raped by a god, ending up royalty in another kingdom is definitely not the worst that could happen as a result.

The Moral of this Story: Don't accept rides from bulls you don't know! Especially when they're acting all weird. It is no doubt a god in disguise, and you can't count on Hera not noticing that trick a SECOND time. (She's got a nose for cheating husbands.)

*Sometimes Europa is the daughter of someone else-- Apollodorus says Phoenix. It doesn't really matter that much, one way or another, for the outcome.

Affairs of the Gods: Zeus and Callisto

Thanks to Valerie for reminding me of this particular myth!

Pretty commonly, when Zeus wanted to get it on with a lady forbidden to him (either by his marriage to Hera, or parental control, or virginal vows), Zeus took the form of something else to disguise himself. Sometimes this disguise was for the benefit of those who might be watching for his next infidelity, but sometimes it was to deceive the woman he wanted, grant her a false sense of security, and then do the deed once she was in his power.

One such instance was the rape of Callisto. But this time, Zeus pulled a different trick. He didn't take the shape of an animal, or come to her as her husband. Callisto was a sworn virgin, a nymph of Artemis. So what did Zeus do?

Seriously followers and friends, this is by far the most underhanded of Zeus's tricks in my opinion, and I find myself slightly outraged by even reading about it. Zeus took the form of Artemis herself in order to get close to Callisto, and then when he had her in his grasp, he took her virginity and impregnated her. A sworn virgin and devotee of a virgin goddess!

Oofda. I'm not even sure I can find a way to swing that into something less than terrible! Holy Buckets, Zeus!

Apollodorus (3.8.2) presents the story this way:

Now Zeus loved her and, having assumed the likeness, as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo, he shared her bed against her will, and wishing to escape the notice of Hera, he turned her into a bear. But Hera persuaded Artemis to shoot her down as a wild beast. Some say, however, that Artemis shot her down because she did not keep her maidenhood. When Callisto perished, Zeus [...] turned [her] into a star and called it the Bear.

I'll say this-- if he approached her as Apollo, it's slightly less offensive. But notice here that nobody has minced words about the nature of Zeus' conquest. This affair was most definitely rape.

Bad form, man. Bad form.

The real tragedy of this whole situation is the fact that Callisto was the one who suffered for it, ultimately paying with her life. And this is also pretty typical of these kinds of affairs. Zeus sweeps in, has his way, and leaves the woman to deal with the consequences on her own. When Hera decides to go for blood, Zeus rarely prevents it, and why is Hera going after these women anyway, when it's Zeus who is the instigator?

What the behavior of the gods says about the treatment of rape in ye olden days and the culture of the Greeks is pretty awful. Granted, these were the gods, and as such their morality was-- well-- they weren't expected to behave in a civilized manner, it seems. Yet, in other instances we see the gods punishing men for cannibalism (Zeus, even), or smiting men for the murder of immediate family members. One moment, they are so reasonable in their behavior and expectation, their morality, and in the next...

In the next, Hera and Artemis are killing a young woman for the bad luck of capturing the carnal attention of Zeus, and suffering his imposition without consent.

I have to remind myself that we can not hold the divine to human standards, but I always kind of expect/hope that it's because the divine are something better and greater. In this case, Zeus and the Olympians prove me wrong.

Affairs of the Gods: Zeus and Leda

Google Image Search Leda and the Swan at your own risk.

To say that Zeus has a reputation for raping and seducing women would be an incredible understatement. You really can't turn around without hearing about some woman Zeus* made off with/made love to/brutally raped in the guise of some animal or other in Greek mythology, and Leda is really no exception.

The story is that Leda (perhaps laying by a stream) was hanging out when Zeus came to her in the guise of a swan (possibly fleeing from an eagle who may or may not have been Aphrodite, or else perhaps chasing after a goose-who-was-Nemesis), and when Leda took him into her arms, he ah-- took advantage of her. From there, Zeus took off, as is his usual MO, and she went home to her husband Tyndareus, King of Sparta**, and, uhm, engaged with him, too.

Apollodorus (3.10.7) tells us:

But Zeus in the form of a swan consorted with Leda, and on the same night Tyndareus cohabited with her; and she bore Pollux and Helen to Zeus, and Castor and Clytaemnestra to Tyndareus.***

Consorted.

Raped.

Seduced.

Really, it's hard to say what kind of relationship Leda had with Zeus-the-swan. Obviously to catch the eye of Zeus, Leda must have been some kind of beautiful. But I don't know that being beautiful does anyone any favors when it comes to the gods.

Isocrates offers this opinion on Zeus's relations with Leda (and other women):

[...] and in the guise of a swan he took refuge in the bosom of Nemesis, and again in this form he espoused Leda; ever with artifice manifestly, and not with violence, does he pursue beauty in women.

It just sounds a little bit idealized to me, is all. Zeus never struck me as a very considerate lover. He is after all a god, and I'm sure felt he was well within his rights to take whatever he wanted from whoever he wanted, and if that meant making a--ah--deposit in someone else's wife or daughter, I'm not really convinced he was interested in doing said woman any favors in the process. And he wouldn't really have had the time, anyway, with Hera sniffing around, ready to punish him, the poor woman, or both.

Ovid gives us a few lines, capturing a very romantic view of Leda's experience as well:

Arachne drew the fam'd intrigues of Jove, 

[...]

And shew'd how Leda lay supinely press'd, 

Whilst the soft snowy swan sate hov'ring o'er her breast, 

What's really fascinating about the mythology of Leda and the Swan, is how obsessed with it artists seemed to become in much, much later history! We have a TON of imagery reflecting the myth. Why is it so interesting? What makes it so captivating a subject? I'm not sure I have any kind of answer to those questions, still. Certainly I don't find Leda anywhere near as interesting a character as Helen or Pollux or even Tyndareus. But I do wonder if being a reputed beauty herself--beautiful enough to catch the attention of Zeus!-- Leda bore a certain amount of jealousy toward Helen.

So why do you think Leda and the Swan captured the imagination of artists?

(I've talked a little bit about the mythology of Leda and Zeus in the past, concerning the births of Pollux and Helen in my novel.)

*To be fair, the same could really be said of Apollo. Holy Buckets.
**and interestingly enough, though Sparta was afterwards inherited through it's women, it seems like Leda married into the Queenship of Sparta, going off of Apollodorus (3.10.5).
***The Greeks were all about giving people two fathers.

What do Pollux and Romulus have in common?

They both lost a brother. Because Being a Twin? It SUCKS.

Ill-fated twins pop up all over the place, often enough that you'd THINK being born a twin would immediately start people panicking over the future results. Three  Two (Thanks Wendy!) case studies today!

Romulus and Remus
Growing up they were heroes (according to Plutarch) and so honorable that after they helped Numitor (their grandfather) win back his kingdom from his-brother-their-uncle-who-deposed-him, they set off at once so that they wouldn't pose a threat to Numitor's rule. When they began founding their own city, however, the trouble started. Romulus and Remus both had different ideas for how Rome should be built and determined to settle it FAIRLY by letting the gods decide via the number of birds in the sky. Remus saw 6 Vultures. Romulus claimed to have seen 12. Remus, believing his brother had lied, began obstructing the building of the city wall by Romulus's design, and generally made a problem about it. He jumped over the wall, and was struck down, either by Romulus, or by Romulus's friend Celer. Either way, Remus ended up dead.

Tragedy Factor: 4 out of 5 if Romulus committed the murder, 3 out of 5 if his buddy Celer did. If Romulus lied about the vultures, then killed his brother for calling him on it, he's a real piece of work. I'm not sure I'd be too proud of him as a founder of MY city. Remus really got a raw deal.



Castor and Pollux
Absolutely inseparable twins, also known as the Dioscuri, and brothers to Helen of Sparta/Troy. Pollux was a son of Zeus and Castor was a son of Tyndareus (presumably--more on their paternity issues HERE). Castor and Pollux were by all accounts incredible hunters, horsemen, and very admirable men, running about the Greek countryside performing heroic deeds, raiding cattle, and stealing women (in the great tradition of all Greek heroes!), including the rescue of Helen from Theseus's clutches (or something). On one of these expeditions, they were caught in the act of raiding and Castor was killed by a spear. Pollux avenged his brother's death by killing the men who fought them, and then may or may not have been saved from death himself by Zeus-his-father. After this, Zeus offered Pollux the choice of giving Castor half his immortality, or to leave his brother and join the gods on Olympus. Pollux chose to share his immortality, so that he would never be parted from his brother. (can I get an "Awwww!")

Tragedy Factor: No more than a 2. Yeah, it's sad that Castor died, but that's the risk you take when you're stealing other people's livestock! Besides, they got a happy ending. Who can REALLY complain about spending half your time partying together on Olympus, even if the other half is spent in Hades? But see, this is why I do not understand how Theseus didn't get a sweet afterlife offer! I guess only the sons of Zeus get the hook-up to the Olympus after-party.

Any other famous and ill-fated twins that you can think of?

Some (Disorganized?) Thoughts on The Cypria Fragments.

I hadn't intended on reading The Cypria Fragments, but while perusing the wikipedia article on Helen of Troy, there was a reference to it that intrigued me. Namely, the comment that the marriage of Helen to Meneleus heralded the beginning of the end of the age of heroes, and Zeus intended to destroy men and in particular, the heroes among them through the Trojan War. I have to add, too, that the phrasing was very Tolkien-esque, in the article. Anyway, this motive for the Trojan War as a way to destroy man wasn't something I had heard of before and in light of the archaeological evidence of Mycenae's inexplicable destruction following the epic, it seems quite meaningful. So I followed the reference to its source in the Cypria and dug in.

So far, I haven't found anything specific to that particular reference, but I have found what seems to me to be an event not dissimilar to Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac in the old testament. Agamemnon offends Artemis, and in order to restore himself and his expedition to her favor, he offers his daughter, Iphigeneia as a sacrifice to the goddess. At the last moment, Artemis stops him by removing Iphigeneia and replacing her with a stag instead for the sacrifice. In the old testament, the angel of God stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac at the last minute, and a ram is discovered nearby to replace his son as the sacrifice. Of course, Isaac wasn't swept away and made immortal, but the trope is still there. Willingness to sacrifice one's own blood without hesitation is more important than the sacrifice itself. I can only imagine the emotional scarring that Isaac and Iphigeneia might have ended up with, at finding themselves on the wrong side of the altar. I bet they would have got on famously if they had ever met.