Ovid-Part 3

I saw the name Scylla, and immediately thought vicious dragon-thing that kills people. I think I might be getting my mythology a tad mixed up. I could have sworn she was a dragon, though. I mean, she does end up being able to fly, so same thing, right?

I like how in the story of Minos and Ariadne, Bacchus is kind of a hero. Not really, because it is not like he does not anything massively earth-shattering, but he helps out Ariadne when he does not need to. He does seem to be a bit dramatic, though. Apparently, in some versions, Bacchus ends up married to Ariadne, so maybe that is why he helped her out. Also, there could be a bit of foreshadowing there, because he says, “You must shine forever.” Again, in some versions, Ariadne ends up being a minor goddess. Also, I think it is very important and interesting that Ovid mentions that not even Daedalus could figure out the entirety of the maze.

There were two things that Daedalus warned Icarus about: the sun and the water. I know Icarus was an idiot who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death, but it was, in fact, the water that ultimately killed him.

Atalanta is awesome. What does she get for her trouble? Some dudes want to kill her because of her awesomeness. This upsets me greatly. I mean, yes, there is quite a bit of death in this story, but it seems to me that everyone else (more or less) deserves it. At least you can understand defending Atalanta and someone trying to kill her, and then ending up dead themselves.

I wonder why there is an island called Hedgehog Isles. That seems really random and strange, when generally the names are so much more dramatic or meaningful. As opposed to yes, we like hedgehogs.

It is really interesting that Hunger is not, in fact, a goddess, but is, in fact, a spirit. Also, it is really interesting that she is a she. I do not know why. I would just think Hunger would be a he.

OK, let me tell you a thing. Not only do I love Ovid’s description of Cerberus here, but I have a fun fact. So, Cerberus comes from the Greek word “Kerberos,” which means “spotted.” That is right, my friend. Hades, all-powerful Lord of the Dead, named his dog Spot. This makes me insanely happy.

Pygmalion is a story that I really like, but I think that is mainly just because the play “My Fair Lady” is based on the book Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw) which drew its inspiration from this story. (“My Fair Lady” is one of my favorite plays.) It is a surprisingly short and happy story.

I am so so happy we get to meet Atalanta again. Atalanta is fantastic. And she can run faster than all the men, too. I wonder if she is descended from Nike or something. That would be cool. If she is not, though, she is still awesome, because she is the best at everything and does not even brag about it. The only reason she wants to race is so she does not have to marry, or will end up marrying someone worthy. She is seriously fantastic. I wonder if Disney’s “Brave” was partially modeled after Atalanta. Also, it is super interesting that this story is told from Venus’s perspective. That is new. I like it. I wonder why Ovid decided to switch it up?  Hippomenes totally cheated, but it was for a good reason. Atalanta herself said she would marry him if things had been different. And then, poof! They were.

Ovid: Part 2

I found what Romeo & Juliet was based off of, and I like Ovid’s version much better. However, the difference between Pyramus & Thisbe and Romeo & Juliet is that no one else dies because of Pyramus, unlike Romeo. I think the reason for no one else dying in the former is because they actually had a relationship and truly loved each other. They were not necessarily stupid, just hasty—they were actually in love, whereas Romeo and Juliet had no relationship and did not love each other—they really were just stupid, and people died because Romeo could not control himself.

I found out a thing—Ovid actually does use some Greek names that do have Roman counterparts: for example, the god Pan; he uses both terms “faun” and “satyr”; Boreas, the god of the North Wind; Iris, goddess of the rainbow; and the titan Themis, who was actually a good titan.

I think it is really interesting that in this version of Ares and Venus the god who wishes they “could be shamed like that” is not named, and in one version, it’s Hermes (Mercury). I also really like how Ovid mentions that “This story went the rounds of the sky for a long time afterwards.” Also, “afterwards” has apparently always been used, and so has “afterward,” and both are correct, which is really interesting. There are so many interesting things I’m learning today! Maybe this is just me…

Ambrosia, the food of the gods, is finally mentioned.

Whoa, Leucothoe’s father was a very extreme individual. It was clearly not his daughter’s fault that the Sun took her.

I feel like Ovid throws out these little bits of humor. “‘Real gods can do anything!’—Bacchus, however, was not included among them.” Basically, Bacchus? Yeah, he’s not a real god. Shh, don’t tell him. He might get offended. But he sucks. “Daphnis, turned to a rock by a nymph’s proud anger against her rival—lovers can be so wickedly jealous!” Basically, isn’t it so so funny how lovers get jealous sometimes and someone ends up dead? Or they turn in to an animal or an inanimate object! That’s so hilarious! Ovid must have been a crack-up at parties.

I was not expecting such a gruesome death of a baby. That was very unexpected, and kind of depressing, and definitely violent. Athamas should get locked up for that. Or, you know, at least see a therapist or something.

OK, so I think the second Leucothoe is different than the first Leucothoe, if only because the accents on their names are different, but if I am wrong, and they are the same, why do we find out about Leucothoe’s merging before we find out how she came into existence? That does not make sense. Unless they really are different, in which case, why do they have the same name?

Gods and goddesses seem to live by extremes. They do not seem to be happy very often. This might just be because someone always does something stupid against someone else, but this strange rivalry had to come from somewhere.

Another fun fact: Jove is another name for Jupiter. So, when people say “by Jove” they are really saying “by Jupiter” or “by Zeus.”

Why does the Sun have no other name than the Sun or Hyperion’s son? He is called by neither his Roman (Helios) nor his Greek (Sol) name.

I wonder why Venus mentions her Greek name. Does this mean all the gods are aware of their other selves? I wouldn’t be surprised, but that is probably one of the most interesting things I learned.

Ovid

I really like that every single god and goddess has their very own distinct personality. In relation to what we have read before, we did not really learn any specifics, or at least specific character traits, about any of the other gods. I kind of wish the book had a handy-dandy little chart that transposed the Roman version of the character to the Greek version of the character, because I know all of the main gods, but other characters are more difficult, and there are a lot of minor gods, too. I have to think about the Roman version in terms of the Greek version, I do not know why.

I have never really liked Juno (or Hera) but I always more or less understood why she was so grumpy. I think that is emphasized even more in this. More or less the entirety of problems in mythology could have been solved if Jupiter (Zeus) *cough cough* decided to keep himself to himself (and his wife). Instead he had to mess things up by getting involved in (more or less) every possible female he could. It makes so much sense why Juno was upset, because not only was her husband sleeping around, but he was sleeping around and having children. So there were all these children descended from Jupiter that were running around reminding Juno that they were her husband’s, but they were not hers.

I think it is really interesting, that out of all the major gods, Apollo is the only one who does not have name change. I mean, technically he does have two names, but he is referred to by both, more or less equally, and he is still referred to as Apollo. I really want to know why this is. This seems like it could be very significant. Also, Minerva is the only major god(/goddess) that has a different main trait, per se. Athena is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and the goddess of weaving, as well as a few other things. However, the Roman goddess of war is not Minerva. This was a very interesting distinction that was made between the Greek and Roman counterparts, especially since the other major gods more or less all kept their same significant traits. It was very much a purposeful slap in the face to Minerva.

I feel really bad for Callisto. Ovid makes a point that it was very  much not her fault what was done to her, and obviously, she still had to leave Diana, but what happened was not her fault.