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Since the beginning of recorded civilization, gods and
demigods have filled the earth with bastard children. This happens when a god or demigod breeds with a mortal. These children have
existed within society often unnoticed. Some of these children did not become
orphans, but were raised by a step-father. In reality most of the children would have been
orphaned, killed, or left alone in nature (and act known as exposure).
Zeus seduces Olympias, which leads to the conception of Alexander. Fresco by Giulio Romano c. 1526-1534, Palazzo del Te, Mantua, Italy.
Consider at
the case of Alexander the Great. His mother, Olympias, claimed she was
impregnated by a god who was disguised as a snake. Later, Alexander consulted
the Oracle of Ammon and claimed the god told him he was his
son. Alexander was a special case, he was able to claim he was the heir of
the mortal Macedonian King Philip II while simultaneously claiming he was the son of Zeus-Ammon. Most of the children of a god and a mortal woman end up being raised
by a single parent, who perhaps later marries, like Mary the mother of Jesus.
Perseus was raised by his mortal mother (Fig. 1) and a fisherman step-father who was the brother of
the king of the island of Serifos.
Gustav Klimt's Danaë, 1907. The mortal mother of Perseus.
The above illustrations are indicative of the stories we
know from mythology. The rarity of such scenarios give one the impression that
most orphans and bastards are unrelated to a deity. It is important to realize
there are many demi-gods who produce mortal children. who go unmentioned.
Nymphs are demi-gods
who mate with gods and mortals alike, producing children from the many unions.
We know of some of these children. Achilles was one of these. His
father was a king who married the nymph Thetis – a rare family unit.
What about the offspring from the numerous unmentioned transient unions of mortal man and female nymph? In the modern age, we never hear of the
children of gods and mortal women. These days, bastards are told that their father is
missing or are given the name of man who is not the biological father.
Fig. 2 The sea nymph, Thetis, dips her son, Achilles, into the river
Orphans are even more suspect. Records may indicate one parent,
usually the mother. Many times the child is never given the name of either parent.
Nymphs, likely the most guilty of creating orphans, are children of
gods. The mortal son or daughter of a nymph is a grandchild of a god
such as Zeus or Nereus. [Click here for my explanation of nymphs (coming soon)]
Here is my message to bastards and orphans: if you find
yourself with one or more super-human abilities, please do not end up abusing
your power. Achilles had the knowledge that he was the son of a demi-god. He shined on the battlefield. He was swift, with the
highest kill rate of all the other Greeks. He knew he was powerful. His passion
was too great for his own good and his rage doomed many of his allies. He was also
a cry baby, sobbing on the beach after Agamemnon took his beloved slave girl. He
was powerful, passionate, stubborn, deadly, and out of control. Alexander the
Great, because of rage and stubbornness, shared a similar persona. Heavy drinking did not help reign in the passions of Alexander - overindulgence and power do not mix.
Demi-gods are capable of much more damage than the average human. Therefore, I have put together some simple rules to follow if you suspect you are an offspring of a god or demi-god.
1.When you discover your abilities, learn to use
them for the greatest good
2.Control your emotions or they will destroy you.
3. Overindulgence and power do not mix.
4.Do not expect the gods to care if you are a
related to them. There are many of you.
---
Fig. 3 Thetis, nymph goddess, bringing armor to her son, Achilles, detail. Benjamin West 1806.
Famous Orphans & Bastards
Cyrus the Great: founder of the Persian Empire
Aristotle
Beowulf
Moses
Jesus
Muhammad
Romulus: legendary founder of Rome
Johannes Kepler
Bertrand Russell
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Possible offspring of musically inclined deities
Louis Armstrong
Johann Sebastian Bach
Ray Charles
Ella Fitzgerald
Faith Hill
John Lennon
Tina Turner Mythological figures born from an immortal and a mortal
Herakles (Lt. Hercules)
Perseus
The Ammon-myth aspects of Alexander the Great
Achilles
Bellerophon
Theseus
Semiramis
I have been fascinated with symbols and their meaning as long as I can remember. I like to look for symbols and I gain pleasure when I pick up on a reference to a past literary work or moment in history. Understanding symbols and why they are used is a part of historical inquiry. It is also a mode of thought. One can become efficient, like an art historian or archeologist, at extracting the story from a visual scene. One investigates a scene like a forensic specialist, but not using science so much as knowledge of the humanities: language, culture, art, religion, philosophy, and law. Expert numismatists (people who study coins) can spend hours unpacking the meaning of a single Roman coin. Roman coins and architecture, in particular, are loaded with large amounts of visual symbolic content. Aside from ancient sources, using popular or retro imagery is a good way to train one's investigative skills.
Let us look at the Smurfs. One doesn't need to smurf very long to discover the symbols and allusions in the imagery and text. Nonetheless, there are many references to explore in the cartoon which the creator of the little blue species left behind for us to discover.
Fig. 1 The Smurfs
Take a look at the hat of the little blue creatures. They are wearing a distinct style that would have been recognizable to the ancients of the Roman-Greco world. The hat is known as the "Phrygian cap." It is a symbol of the free man and was eventually used to embody the principle of Liberty.
Fig. 2 A Roman coin
A Roman coin, commemorating the "Ides of March," depicts the Phrygian cap as a symbol of liberty from Gaius Iulius Caesar's dictatorship and a return to the old Republic. The coin above (Fig. 2) has a Phrygian cap without the characteristic arch of the top of the hat.
Fig. 3 Paris wearing a Phrygian cap
A Smurf as Free-Folk
Apropos, it would appear that the Phrygian cap wearing Smurfs are a free-folk. They all play a specialized role in society which is indicated by their name. I make it sound like pure social engineering, but some have names based on personality traits, not to be always based on functional roles in the tribal subsistence economy. An episode of the comic book explored what would happen if the village was ruled by a king. The character who called himself King Smurf made slaves out of the other Smurfs. Papa Smurf returned from his quest to find a potion ingredient and restored his own leadership by the end of the story. In the tale, the Smurf is originally elected to be the leader in Papa Smurf's absence, after much bribing. Once he is elected he names himself king and begins to abuse his power. This has been considered by some to be a reference to those who win the trust of the public with hollow promises and become a dictator once they are in power, like Adolf Hitler. Hitler came to power with legal means. It wasn't until Hitler created a police state from the spread of fear, invoked emergency powers, and became dictator.
The "created" female
The "created" female is not new to myth. Eve was created from Adam's rib. Athena was created from Zeus' head. How about the False Maria of Fritz Lang's film "Metropolis?" Aphrodite was formed out of the seam foam created by Uranus' dismembered genitals.
Fig. 4 Gargamel and Smurfette
Would you like to know Smurfette's dirty secret? She was not originally blonde. As a matter of fact, she was created by Gargamel as a trick to lure the Smurfs, who were very powerful potion ingredients, to Gargamel.
Fig. 5 Smurfette as Gargamel created her
Smurfette, as she was created by Gargamel, was a force of discord. Not only was she dowdy and non-blonde, she got in the way and caused trouble, like non-attractive women do. Papa smurf re-created Smurfette into a blonde, with eyelashes, a nice dress, and high heels. No joke. She is an addition to the golem in literature, after the the False Maria. The Bride of Frankenstein, the female golem was so much an aesthetic improvement that the Female construct rejected the old male model by screaming in horror at his appearance. The monster then "goes ape." Interesting side note: the actress who played Maria/False Maria in Lang's Metropolis was a candidate for the part of the bride in Bride of Frankenstein, but was not chosen.
The Use of Names
Let us now look at some of the names in the cartoon that have historical or literary significance.
Fig. 6 The evil wizard Gargamel and his cat Azrael
Gargamel - The main antagonist of the story. The name Gargamel is found in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel. The creature Gargamelle, was a female giant in the story by Rabelais; and Gargamel, in the Smurf cartoon, was a giant compared to the blue creatures who were less than a foot in height.
Azrael - Translated from the Hebrew the word means "helped by God." More appropriately, Azrael is the name of the Angel of Death in Jewish and Islamic text.
Fig. 7 Gargamel and his godfather, Balthazaar
Balthazaar - Gargamel's godfather. Also, the name for the famous Neo-Babylonian ruler in the Book of Daniel who saw the writing on the wall and the downfall of the empire.
Fig. 8 Father Time
Father Time - The scythe carrying great wizard in the comics and cartoon. The pairing of father time (Kronos) and the scythe are frequent indicators of Time's toll on each human, which is often personified as the Grim Reaper or Death with his sickle. In Greek mythology, Kronos (Lt. Chronus/Saturn) castrated his father Ouranos (Lt. Uranus, "sky") with just such a weapon.
Beelzebub - In one episode Gargamel evokes the demon Beelzebub and swears an oath to eternally serve the demon in exchange for his services.
Fig. 9 Drawing Fred Barnard, 1846-1896, John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Engraving by Dalziel Brothers.
Plato Republic, Book X 614-621.Translation by Benjamin Jowett
Well, I said, I will tell you a tale; not one of the tales which Odysseus tells to the hero Alcinous, yet this too is a tale of a hero, Er the son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by birth. He was slain in battle, and ten days afterwards, when the bodies of the dead were taken up already in a state of corruption, his body was found unaffected by decay, and carried away home to be buried.
And on the twelfth day, as he was lying on the funeral pile, he returned to life and told them what he had seen in the other world. He said that when his soul left the body he went on a journey with a great company, and that they came to a mysterious place at which there were two openings in the earth; they were near together, and over against them were two other openings in the heaven above.
In the intermediate space there were judges seated, who commanded the just, after they had given judgment on them and had bound their sentences in front of them, to ascend by the heavenly way on the right hand; and in like manner the unjust were bidden by them to descend by the lower way on the left hand; these also bore the symbols of their deeds, but fastened on their backs. He drew near, and they told him that he was to be the messenger who would carry the report of the other world to men, and they bade him hear and see all that was to be heard and seen in that place. Then he beheld and saw on one side the souls departing at either opening of heaven and earth when sentence had been given on them; and at the two other openings other souls, some ascending out of the earth dusty and worn with travel, some descending out of heaven clean and bright.
And they told one another of what had happened by the way, those from below weeping and sorrowing at the remembrance of the things which they had endured and seen in their journey beneath the earth (now the journey lasted a thousand years), while those from above were describing heavenly delights and visions of inconceivable beauty. The story, Glaucon, would take too long to tell; but the sum was this:—He said that for every wrong which they had done to any one they suffered tenfold; or once in a hundred years—such being reckoned to be the length of man's life, and the penalty being thus paid ten times in a thousand years. If, for example, there were any who had been the cause of many deaths, or had betrayed or enslaved cities or armies, or been guilty of any other evil behaviour, for each and all of their offences they received punishment ten times over, and the rewards of beneficence and justice and holiness were in the same proportion. I need hardly repeat what he said concerning young children dying almost as soon as they were born. Of piety and impiety to gods and parents, and of murderers, there were retributions other and greater far which he described. He mentioned that he was present when one of the spirits asked another, 'Where is Ardiaeus the Great?' (Now this Ardiaeus lived a thousand years before the time of Er: he had been the tyrant of some city of Pamphylia, and had murdered his aged father and his elder brother, and was said to have committed many other abominable crimes.) The answer of the other spirit was: 'He comes not hither and will never come. And this,' said he, 'was one of the dreadful sights which we ourselves witnessed. We were at the mouth of the cavern, and, having completed all our experiences, were about to reascend, when of a sudden Ardiaeus appeared and several others, most of whom were tyrants; and there were also besides the tyrants private individuals who had been great criminals: they were just, as they fancied, about to return into the upper world, but the mouth, instead of admitting them, gave a roar, whenever any of these incurable sinners or some one who had not been sufficiently punished tried to ascend; and then wild men of fiery aspect, who were standing by and heard the sound, seized and carried them off; and Ardiaeus and others they bound head and foot and hand, and threw them down and flayed them with scourges, and dragged them along the road at the side, carding them on thorns like wool, and declaring to the passers-by what were their crimes, and that they were being taken away to be cast into hell.' And of all the many terrors which they had endured, he said that there was none like the terror which each of them felt at that moment, lest they should hear the voice; and when there was silence, one by one they ascended with exceeding joy. These, said Er, were the penalties and retributions, and there were blessings as great.And arriving ever and anon they seemed to have come from a long journey, and they went forth with gladness into the meadow, where they encamped as at a festival; and those who knew one another embraced and conversed, the souls which came from earth curiously enquiring about the things above, and the souls which came from heaven about the things beneath.
Now when the spirits which were in the meadow had tarried seven days, on the eighth they were obliged to proceed on their journey, and, on the fourth day after, he said that they came to a place where they could see from above a line of light, straight as a column, extending right through the whole heaven and through the earth, in colour resembling the rainbow, only brighter and purer; another day's journey brought them to the place, and there, in the midst of the light, they saw the ends of the chains of heaven let down from above: for this light is the belt of heaven, and holds together the circle of the universe, like the under-girders of a trireme. From these ends is extended the spindle of Necessity, on which all the revolutions turn. The shaft and hook of this spindle are made of steel, and the whorl is made partly of steel and also partly of other materials. Now the whorl is in form like the whorl used on earth; and the description of it implied that there is one large hollow whorl which is quite scooped out, and into this is fitted another lesser one, and another, and another, and four others, making eight in all, like vessels which fit into one another; the whorls show their edges on the upper side, and on their lower side all together form one continuous whorl. This is pierced by the spindle, which is driven home through the centre of the eighth. The first and outermost whorl has the rim broadest, and the seven inner whorls are narrower, in the following proportions—the sixth is next to the first in size, the fourth next to the sixth; then comes the eighth; the seventh is fifth, the fifth is sixth, the third is seventh, last and eighth comes the second. The largest (or fixed stars) is spangled, and the seventh (or sun) is brightest; the eighth (or moon) coloured by the reflected light of the seventh; the second and fifth (Saturn and Mercury) are in colour like one another, and yellower than the preceding; the third (Venus) has the whitest light; the fourth (Mars) is reddish; the sixth (Jupiter) is in whiteness second. Now the whole spindle has the same motion; but, as the whole revolves in one direction, the seven inner circles move slowly in the other, and of these the swiftest is the eighth; next in swiftness are the seventh, sixth, and fifth, which move together; third in swiftness appeared to move according to the law of this reversed motion the fourth; the third appeared fourth and the second fifth. The spindle turns on the knees of Necessity; and on the upper surface of each circle is a siren, who goes round with them, hymning a single tone or note. The eight together form one harmony; and round about, at equal intervals, there is another band, three in number, each sitting upon her throne: these are the Fates, daughters of Necessity, who are clothed in white robes and have chaplets upon their heads, Lachesis and Clotho and Atropos, who accompany with their voices the harmony of the sirens—Lachesis singing of the past, Clotho of the present, Atropos of the future; Clotho from time to time assisting with a touch of her right hand the revolution of the outer circle of the whorl or spindle, and Atropos with her left hand touching and guiding the inner ones, and Lachesis laying hold of either in turn, first with one hand and then with the other.
When Er and the spirits arrived, their duty was to go at once to Lachesis; but first of all there came a prophet who arranged them in order; then he took from the knees of Lachesis lots and samples of lives, and having mounted a high pulpit, spoke as follows: 'Hear the word of Lachesis, the daughter of Necessity. Mortal souls, behold a new cycle of life and mortality. Your genius will not be allotted to you, but you will choose your genius; and let him who draws the first lot have the first choice, and the life which he chooses shall be his destiny. Virtue is free, and as a man honours or dishonours her he will have more or less of her; the responsibility is with the chooser—God is justified.' When the Interpreter had thus spoken he scattered lots indifferently among them all, and each of them took up the lot which fell near him, all but Er himself (he was not allowed), and each as he took his lot perceived the number which he had obtained. Then the Interpreter placed on the ground before them the samples of lives; and there were many more lives than the souls present, and they were of all sorts. There were lives of every animal and of man in every condition. And there were tyrannies among them, some lasting out the tyrant's life, others which broke off in the middle and came to an end in poverty and exile and beggary; and there were lives of famous men, some who were famous for their form and beauty as well as for their strength and success in games, or, again, for their birth and the qualities of their ancestors; and some who were the reverse of famous for the opposite qualities. And of women likewise; there was not, however, any definite character in them, because the soul, when choosing a new life, must of necessity become different. But there was every other quality, and the all mingled with one another, and also with elements of wealth and poverty, and disease and health; and there were mean states also. And here, my dear Glaucon, is the supreme peril of our human state; and therefore the utmost care should be taken. Let each one of us leave every other kind of knowledge and seek and follow one thing only, if peradventure he may be able to learn and may find some one who will make him able to learn and discern between good and evil, and so to choose always and everywhere the better life as he has opportunity. He should consider the bearing of all these things which have been mentioned severally and collectively upon virtue; he should know what the effect of beauty is when combined with poverty or wealth in a particular soul, and what are the good and evil consequences of noble and humble birth, of private and public station, of strength and weakness, of cleverness and dullness, and of all the natural and acquired gifts of the soul, and the operation of them when conjoined; he will then look at the nature of the soul, and from the consideration of all these qualities he will be able to determine which is the better and which is the worse; and so he will choose, giving the name of evil to the life which will make his soul more unjust, and good to the life which will make his soul more just; all else he will disregard. For we have seen and know that this is the best choice both in life and after death. A man must take with him into the world below an adamantine faith in truth and right, that there too he may be undazzled by the desire of wealth or the other allurements of evil, lest, coming upon tyrannies and similar villainies, he do irremediable wrongs to others and suffer yet worse himself; but let him know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible, not only in this life but in all that which is to come. For this is the way of happiness.
And according to the report of the messenger from the other world this was what the prophet said at the time: 'Even for the last comer, if he chooses wisely and will live diligently, there is appointed a happy and not undesirable existence. Let not him who chooses first be careless, and let not the last despair.' And when he had spoken, he who had the first choice came forward and in a moment chose the greatest tyranny; his mind having been darkened by folly and sensuality, he had not thought out the whole matter before he chose, and did not at first sight perceive that he was fated, among other evils, to devour his own children. But when he had time to reflect, and saw what was in the lot, he began to beat his breast and lament over his choice, forgetting the proclamation of the prophet; for, instead of throwing the blame of his misfortune on himself, he accused chance and the gods, and everything rather than himself. Now he was one of those who came from heaven, and in a former life had dwelt in a well-ordered State, but his virtue was a matter of habit only, and he had no philosophy. And it was true of others who were similarly overtaken, that the greater number of them came from heaven and therefore they had never been schooled by trial, whereas the pilgrims who came from earth having themselves suffered and seen others suffer, were not in a hurry to choose. And owing to this inexperience of theirs, and also because the lot was a chance, many of the souls exchanged a good destiny for an evil or an evil for a good. For if a man had always on his arrival in this world dedicated himself from the first to sound philosophy, and had been moderately fortunate in the number of the lot, he might, as the messenger reported, be happy here, and also his journey to another life and return to this, instead of being rough and underground, would be smooth and heavenly. Most curious, he said, was the spectacle—sad and laughable and strange; for the choice of the souls was in most cases based on their experience of a previous life. There he saw the soul which had once been Orpheus choosing the life of a swan out of enmity to the race of women, hating to be born of a woman because they had been his murderers; he beheld also the soul of Thamyras choosing the life of a nightingale; birds, on the other hand, like the swan and other musicians, wanting to be men. The soul which obtained the twentieth lot chose the life of a lion, and this was the soul of Ajax the son of Telamon, who would not be a man, remembering the injustice which was done him in the judgment about the arms. The next was Agamemnon, who took the life of an eagle, because, like Ajax, he hated human nature by reason of his sufferings. About the middle came the lot of Atalanta; she, seeing the great fame of an athlete, was unable to resist the temptation: and after her there followed the soul of Epeus the son of Panopeus passing into the nature of a woman cunning in the arts; and far away among the last who chose, the soul of the jester Thersites was putting on the form of a monkey. There came also the soul of Odysseus having yet to make a choice, and his lot happened to be the last of them all. Now the recollection of former toils had disenchanted him of ambition, and he went about for a considerable time in search of the life of a private man who had no cares; he had some difficulty in finding this, which was lying about and had been neglected by everybody else; and when he saw it, he said that he would have done the same had his lot been first instead of last, and that he was delighted to have it. And not only did men pass into animals, but I must also mention that there were animals tame and wild who changed into one another and into corresponding human natures—the good into the gentle and the evil into the savage, in all sorts of combinations.
All the souls had now chosen their lives, and they went in the order of their choice to Lachesis, who sent with them the genius whom they had severally chosen, to be the guardian of their lives and the fulfiller of the choice: this genius led the souls first to Clotho, and drew them within the revolution of the spindle impelled by her hand, thus ratifying the destiny of each; and then, when they were fastened to this, carried them to Atropos, who spun the threads and made them irreversible, whence without turning round they passed beneath the throne of Necessity; and when they had all passed, they marched on in a scorching heat to the plain of Forgetfulness, which was a barren waste destitute of trees and verdure; and then towards evening they encamped by the river of Unmindfulness, whose water no vessel can hold; of this they were all obliged to drink a certain quantity, and those who were not saved by wisdom drank more than was necessary; and each one as he drank forgot all things. Now after they had gone to rest, about the middle of the night there was a thunderstorm and earthquake, and then in an instant they were driven upwards in all manner of ways to their birth, like stars shooting. He himself was hindered from drinking the water. But in what manner or by what means he returned to the body he could not say; only, in the morning, awaking suddenly, he found himself lying on the pyre.
And thus, Glaucon, the tale has been saved and has not perished, and will save us if we are obedient to the word spoken; and we shall pass safely over the river of Forgetfulness and our soul will not be defiled. Wherefore my counsel is, that we hold fast ever to the heavenly way and follow after justice and virtue always, considering that the soul is immortal and able to endure every sort of good and every sort of evil. Thus shall we live dear to one another and to the gods, both while remaining here and when, like conquerors in the games who go round to gather gifts, we receive our reward. And it shall be well with us both in this life and in the pilgrimage of a thousand years which we have been describing.
Hundreds of children's bones fill an ancient Athenian well. Some might immediately recall the use of infant exposure among the ancient Greeks. But wait, the bones in the well are filled with the bones of children of all ages, not merely newborns. Also, the bones of the children are mixed with the bones of dogs. How does this tell us this was unrelated to infant exposure? And, what does this tell us about ancient Greek ideas about dog sacrifice?
A show about Plato's Forms and the Personification of human traits into a deity. Pictured above, the Statue of Liberty, given to the United States from France. I am in the process of writing an Ancient Light episode on "Lady Liberty" and her place in both ancient and modern history.
Ancient History Prose & Satire - SpoFest Steve Dotson pt. 1 [11:16]
Introduction - Ancient Joke #1 - "Origin of a Flower" The story of the lovers Apollo & Hyacinthos - "Good Greek Wives Stay in the Attic" Satirical prose about the "Proper" Athenian wife.
Steve Dotson's 1st reading at SpoFest held at Café Blackadder April 1, 2016
Ancient Light #10 Why We Seek Someone Else To Feel Complete [Plato's Gender Creation Myth]
Ancient history & classics themed series presented by history professor, Steve Dotson.
Ever wonder why you feel incomplete? Do you know we are actually only a half of one person, craving to find the other half? You were once one. Search your heart and you will know this is true. As a whole person, humans were once wise and powerful. You once had four arms and four legs, you had two heads. You could use your multitude of limbs to move quickly in any direction by a rolling movement which also produced amazing power. We thought we could rival the gods and Zeus took out his wrath on us, cutting us in two. You have male and female traits, and there is someone else walking around who has an exact combination of male and female traits to balance out your own. This is why we always search for someone else to make us complete. This also explains the great variety of desires among human kind, as one searches for their own unique opposite. Perhaps this could serve as an explanation for transgender issues. But, even more important to understand is the threat that was made if we should continue to defy the gods. In our modern age, some even deny that the gods exist or confidently claim that there is only one god. Humans, in the past two hundred years having been growing too strong, and even taking on the abilities of the gods for themselves: long distance communication, flight, hurling weapons from the heavens, and other scientific advancements. Zeus has already given us a warning if we are to rival the gods again.
Ever see the musical or movie-musical ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’? If you haven’t I wont spoil it for you. It is the story of a rock star “Hedwig” who was the victim of a sex-change operation gone bad. Just watch the movie, you will never forget it, and many of you will discover a new favorite film. One of the musical numbers is an animation of an ancient myth from Plato’s book Symposium. The myth tells of how humans were once complete. Plato has the dead playwright Aristophanes tell his own creation myth, as a way to explain the nature of love. The creation myth is quite fantastic, but when the individual components of the story are broken down, we have a complex theory which addresses the complexity and longings of human existence. By the end you probably be able to determine from which proto-human species you came, and there are three: sun, earth, and moon.
What is symposium? Sum pinein - “to drink together”
The story: we were originally three genders. Male, female, and androgynous. The word androgynous is made of the Greek words for man and woman, the androgynous one contains both of the sexes. The three genders were more complex than today. Of the three entities they were known as children of the sun, earth and moon. The sun children were made of two men, the earth children were made of two women, and the moon children contained male and female parts. Everyone had two heads, which could do two things at once. How many times have you felt like you should be doing more than one thing at a time, we were better multi-taskers. We had four arms and four legs, we must have looked like some depictions of a Hindu god. As of now, you should be able to ascertain that we had double of everything. With our ability to multitask, enhanced brain power, super speed and momentum, we became too proud and began to rival the gods. The gods thought about killing them with thunderbolts, like they did to many of the giant-race of Titans, really their fathers and mothers. Instead, Zeus made use of them as tools of worship, but first he had to weaken them as well as punish. He decided to cut humans in two, so they loose their great advantages. Humans from then on, walked and moved about, with only two legs, two arms, and one head. It is at that point we began to seek others to embrace, kiss, copulate, and a desire to not be alone. But, wait, we were still not the exact physical form we are today. After a while, the text does not say how long, Zeus took pity on mortals, as he watched them attempt to join with each other physically, he came up with a helpful aid for these awkward humans. He made one more anatomical adjustment. Instead of the genitals hanging off the side of the body, like it once did, god moved the genitals of the man and the woman to their front and middle. This way, humans could now join together in copulation while they embraced, kissed and sank into each other’s eyes. Perhaps this is about the time the Kama Sutra needed to be invented. Humans would have to invent new bedroom habits. The physical repositioning must have been very helpful. Acts of love making, with one’s genitals hanging off the side of the body, probably killed most of the intimacy.
Ancient Light #9 How to Speak to the Dead. The Nekyia.#Paranormal #GreekClassics
Ancient history themed podcast presented by Steve Dotson, history professor. In this episode, we are exploring book 11 of the Odyssey and the occult knowledge it contains. The last part of the show is a reading in the original Greek.
Topics in this episode: Necromancy, Ancient History, Greek, Homer, Nekyuia, Odyssey, Teiresias, Circe, Elpenor, mythology, ritual, ghosts, underworld, Hades, sacrifice, blood, magic, magick, occult, ceremony, classics, paranormal.
Odyssey XI. 20-58 In the Odyssey book ten lines 20-58, we are given a glimpse of a Homeric metaphysics of the dead. It is difficult to say if this specific ritual was a real procedure or only a manifestation of oral tradition. The academic study of ritual and religion is particularly enriched by the detailed procedure to evoke, and Odysseus’ interaction with, the dead in the underworld in these passages. The ritual power of fresh blood and the promise made by Odysseus to sacrifice more in the future is nicely illustrative of ancient ideas about the function of blood in ritual. One of the great points about this selection is that the sacrifice is not a customary sacrifice made to a well-known god. Blood does more than please the ambrosia eaters, it holds a power and value throughout the worlds of the non-mortal it would appear through my reading of my translation. Blood seems to give the dead a temporary taste of life force. It is ethereal heroin so to speak. The ritual specifications, ingredients, and corollary instructions from Circe create a detailed set of religious or mythical structures that open up many helpful hints and queues many questions about ancient Greek ideas regarding the afterlife and the nature of one’s non-physical form or soul.
English Trans. S Dotson. Hom. Od.11.20-58 11.20 Then coming to a spot, we beached our ship and took out the sheep 11.21 We were going to the current of Oceanus 11.22 until we are to arrive at the place which Circe told us. 11.23 There Perimedes and Eurylochus held the sacrificial victims. 11.24 I drew my sharp sword from my thigh and 11.25 dug up a pit a great as a cubit from here to there, 11.26 around it I poured a libation to all the deceased, 11.27 first with mild and sweet wine 11.28 the third with water, sprinkling it on white barley-meal. 11.29 I was making much entreat to the powerless heads of the dead: 11.30 when I go to Ithaka, I will throw a barren cow, she being one of my best, 11.31 onto the sacrificial pyre and fill it with goods, 11.32 and to Teiresias alone I will sacrifice separately a ram, 11.33 all black, who was our most outstanding of our fold. 11.34 Then with those vows and prayers, there to the dead, 11.35 I had made my entreat, taking those sheep, I cut their throats 11.36 into the pit, and dark clouds of blood flowed. 11.37 The spirits of the dead gathered out of Erebus; 11.38 young married women, youth, unfortunate old men, tender 11.39 female virgins having endured sorrow in their hearts, 11.40 and many who have been wounded by bronze tipped spears, 11.41 men killed in war, with their armor splattered in blood, 11.42 the multitudes roamed wildly about the pit form one place to another 11.43 with an unspeakable cry. Pale fear was beginning to take me 11.44 there and then I called, rousing my companions with the sheep, 11.45 Those sheep which lie there having been slaughtered with the pitiless bronze, 11.46 to cleave and flay them, and to make prayer to the gods, 11.47 to mighty Hades and dread Persephone. 11.48 I myself drew my sharp sword from my thigh 11.49 and sat. I did not allow the powerless head of the dead 11.50 to go nearer to the blood, until I had inquired of Teiresias. 11.51 The first soul to come was my companion Elpenor, 11.52 for he had never been buried under the broad-wayed earth, 11.53 for we left his body in the hall of Circe 11.54 unlamented and unburied, since another task urged us on. 11.55 When I saw him I took pity in my heart, crying, 11.56 and I began speaking, addressing him with winged words. 11.57 "Elpenor, how did you come from beneath the underworld? 11.58 Coming on foot, you have been faster than me with my black ship."
Ancient Light #8 Who are the Gods You Serve? Plato & Personification
Ancient history themed podcast presented by Steve Dotson, history professor. An explanation & exploration of Plato's Theory of Forms & "Holy" Personification.
Topics in this episode: Plato's Theory of Forms, personification, mythology, religion, literature, Neil Gaiman, Oprah, philosophy, poetry, Martin Heidegger, phenomenology & literature
Link to an earlier performance of the larger poem 'Young Gods' performed live at a SpoFest event in Montserrat Vineyards, Montserrat, Missouri, 2013. The wind was occasionally blowing into the microphone, so it isn't the best quality. Was that you Zephyr? https://youtu.be/WfbzpfXkR7U
Here is the text of the poem at the end of the show
'Young Gods' excerpt
A well known god is known through the ages
New gods born as old gods needs forgotten
Even the offspring of a god and human
are born then die a final breath goodbye
But the children of the union of gods
can only rise and descend never die
The Immortals, once born never vacant
but after their turn home is in Hades
Roaming the back of the minds of mortal
Shadow of the active gods on the earth
Young gods defining the state of the age
As the long-lived can tell you this one truth
The bastards of gods born from mortal womb:
Herakles, Percy, Alex and the Christ
Saw the old Zeus once young once purveyor
Our Olympic heritage from his sire
Zeus long gone from mortal realm remembered
His corpse named Jupiter now well preserved
During the rise of the strong roman hand
And so they did to the corpse of the Christ
Once martyred man Jesus, now sovereign
Images of old gods used as puppets
The operator moves the lips and speaks
The deathly appearance not out of place
When the paint fades from the eyes of Greek statue
