Most of the Greek and Roman myths you read in high school were retellings of stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Choose your favorite myth and read Ovid's version of that myth. Read also one of the Ovid myths that you *hadn't* read before. Cite one example for each myth that shows particularly well Ovid's "insight into the human condition."If you want to get the overall picture of the Metamorphoses, see this excellent introduction and commentary by Larry Brown.
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I took this line from the story of Achilles "But the god of the trident, who rules the ocean waters, grieved, with a father’s feelings, for the son changed into a swan, the bird of Phaethon, and, hating fierce Achilles, he nursed an excessive anger in his memory. " is what is told about poseidons feelings toward achilles for what he did for his son, there are plenty of stories of parents holding grudges and anybody wanting revenge for what happens to their children.
Anther from the legend "Nestor tells of the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs" he describes a wedding where wine and alchohal is being server and says "Wine gave them courage" this is to fight after drinking so much one of the Centaurs tries grabbing the guys wife, which leads to a fight, how many stories have you heard about where alchohal led to stuipd decisions to be made.
I liked the line that Jupiter spoke to Juno concerning the love of men and women; that "You gain more than we do from the pleasures of love." Jupiter is probably referring to the control that women can exercise over the men who love them. A man in love will do just about anything for the girl he wants and women know this, have known it forever, and can amuse themselves with the hoops they force the guy to jump through. And the guy would never care, he could lose everything he owns and the respect of his friends and it would never matter as long as the flames of love burn in his heart. And women know this. Tiresias was right to confirm the truth of Jupiter, even if he lost his sight to do so.
The story of Mercury, Battus, and the stolen cattle is another nice one. Taken into the god's confidence and rewarded for it Battus had pledged his secrecy about the cattle Mercury had moved. But Mercury returned quickly, offered double the prize and turned Battus to flint for betraying his word. It shows how loyalty, once bought from someone, is a stained virtue because it can always be enticed by the promise of greater gifts from someone else.
When Perseus saw indeed that, his efforts would succumb to the weight of numbers, he said ‘Since you plan it like this, I will ask help of the enemy. If there are any friends here, turn your face away!’ and he held up the Gorgon’s head.
I've read this myth before. I have heard it before anyway. When he says "since you plan it like this" he is talking about how everything is stacked against him from all sides. He was hated by some of the gods and they made life for him hard but he was able to over come all their obstacles. This shows what the Romans thought of perseverance they hold this story in high regard also I think because he was able to over come a curse of the gods.
Even now our lives are not guaranteed with certainty: the storm clouds still terrify my mind. How would you feel now, poor soul, if the fates had willed you to be saved, but not me? How could you endure your fear alone? Who would comfort your tears? Believe me, dear wife, if the sea had you, I would follow you, and the sea would have me too. If only I, by my father’s arts, could recreate earth’s peoples, and breathe life into the shaping clay! The human race remains in us. The gods willed it that we are the only examples of mankind left behind.’
I had not ever read this before but it is very interesting and it closely resembles Noah's story from the bible. I wasn't aware that their was similar story. I think this line also shows great human emotion because he is pleading and talking of his great woe. He hasn't willed any of this but he was chosen.
"The nearer people are to the sick, and the more selflessly they attend them, the more swiftly they meet their fate, and as the hope of recovery deserts them, and they see the end of their illness only in death, they give way to their desires, and ignore what is good for them, since nothing is any good." This line comes from the plague of Aegina. This shows very well how even in the worst of times people are always willing to help others. Even though helping will probably lead to their death they still will help to hopefully help save the life of someone else.
"Still, Pentheus, the son of Echion, in scorn of the gods, alone amongst all of them, rejected the seer, laughed at the old man’s words of augury, and taunted him with the darkness, and the ruin of his lost sight." This line is comes from Tiresias when he tells Pentheus of the fate that will soon become upon him. This line is Pentheus's response to hime hearing that he will die and it fits how most humans might look at their death or something a long the lines of them having hard times if they keep doing what they are doing. People what to think that nothing can hurt them or bring them down, but in all reality their will be one day that something like this will happen and they will look back and realize that they should have listened to that person that tried to help them and get them to stop what they were doing or about to do, before it was to late.
Eric Bengs
This line is from "Jason wins the Golden Fleece" "She also, who had rendered him safe, was afraid. When she saw the solitary youth attacked by so many enemies, she grew pale, and sat there, suddenly cold and bloodless. And in case the herbs she had given him had not been potent enough, she chanted a spell to support them, and called on her secret arts." It shows a good deal of desperation and despair on the part of Medea in that she feels helpless when Jason is under attack so she tries every last thing she can do in an attempt to help him win this battle, which is a very mortal thing to do, and something we see quite often in this world with wars. A woman can't fight the battle for her husband, or vice versa, but if there is anything they can do to help them in any way they do it.
This next one was taken from "Creation of the Myrmidons" "I shivered, my limbs quaking with fear, and my hair stood on end. Though I kissed the oak-tree and the earth, not acknowledging my hopes, yet I did hope, and cherished my longings in my heart. Night fell, and sleep claimed my care-worn body." This does a great job of once again showing desperation as well as fear, and possibly reverence. He wants a city of his own so bad so he prays to the gods in desperation, kisses the tree in reverence and shivers in fear. It also touches on the idea of hope, another human condition that many people hold on to no matter how bad their life is going at that moment, they always have hope.
i first read the story of Daedalus and Icarus. "...when the boy began to delight in his daring flight, and abandoning his guide, drawn by desire for the heavens, soared higher" he didnt listen to his fathers warning for he began to think him self invicible. not so unlike youth today, doing what they know they shouldent becouse they dont belive something bad can happen to them.
then i read the story of Narcissus "As Narcissus had scorned her, so he had scorned the other nymphs of the rivers and mountains, so he had scorned the companies of young men. Then one of those who had been mocked, lifting hands to the skies, said ‘So may he himself love, and so may he fail to command what he loves!’ Rhamnusia, who is the goddess Nemesis, heard this just request. " i think this shows how cocky youth can be. living by such high standards, and being extreamly shallow, beliving they are better then everyone else.
I particularly liked "The daughters of Minyas reject Bacchus." "While the others are leaving their work, and thronging to this false religion, let us, restrained by Pallas, a truer goddess, lighten the useful work of our hands, and take turns in recalling a story to our idle minds, so that the time will not seem so long!"
It shows the women weaving and clinging to their work. Some women leave for a festival to honor another god, but a few stay weaving to show the rejection of that god. They stick to their religion and cling to its values. This shows how a religion holds strong and the group resorts to telling stories to pass the time.
Rendering the heights of heaven no safer than the earth, they say the giants attempted to take the Celestial kingdom, piling mountains up to the distant stars. Then the all-powerful father of the gods hurled his bolt of lightning, fractured Olympus and threw Mount Pelion down from Ossa below. Her sons’ dreadful bodies, buried by that mass, drenched Earth with streams of blood, and they say she warmed it to new life, so that a trace of her children might remain, transforming it into the shape of human beings. But these progeny also despising the gods were savage, violent, and eager for slaughter, so that you might know they were born from blood
Now the day was past, and the time had come when you could not say that it was light or darkness, but a borderland of light and uncertain night. Suddenly the ceiling shook, the oil lamps seemed to brighten, and the house to shine with glowing fires, and fill with the howling of fierce creatures’ deceptive phantoms. Quickly the sisters hide in the smoke-filled house, and, in various places, shun the flames and light. While they seek the shadows, a thin membrane stretches over their slender limbs, and delicate wings enfold their arms. The darkness prevents them knowing how they have lost their former shape. They do not rise on soft plumage, but lift themselves on semi-transparent wings, and trying to speak emit the tiniest squeak, as befits their bodies, and tell their grief in faint shrieks. They frequent rafters, rather than woods, and, hating the light, they fly at night, and derive their name, ‘vespertiliones’, from ‘vesper’, the evening."
This is the story of the sisters becoming bats. This is a story that i haven't heard before, and it seems very interesting, but very predictable with all the other stories that he tells.
"Who wants to recall the battles he has lost? But, I'll tell you as it happened: since the shame of being beaten is no less than the honour of having fought. It is great consolation to me that the victor was so famous." (Book 9-Achelous wrestles with Hercules) This line made me smile because it shows that is honorable to be defeated by the best. For Achelous, someone famous for their strength in battle like Hercules. It may boost his reputation and confidence to say he was brave enough to fight the great Hercules and put up a good fight.
"Boreas, the north-wind continued to stir the waves violently, and would not grant the warships a crossing, and some thought Neptune was sparing Troy." This line made me think of how the Roman people did not count on the gods for anything. They did not expect them to be on their side. This would not give the Roman people much hope or confidence.
"The final task was to put the dragon to sleep with the magic drugs. Known for its crest, its triple tongues and curved fangs, it was the dread guardian of the tree’s gold."
Jason was able to stop this very dangerous dragon from interrupting his efforts. Regardless of a ferocious dragon gaurding the gold, Jason is still able to get to the treasure. He is able to do all these adventures, even though there are many dangers that await him. Beasts gaurding something he needs and many men that want him dead.
Jason was one of the first heroes that I had heard of when I was first learning mythology. I had a sixth grade English teacher who was obsessed with mythology. Jason was the most popular hero among the students. Before Jason, the only mythological character that most people were familiar with was Hercules. Alex Mason
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