Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [267]
*In the first Persian invasion of Greece, in 490 BCE, the Greeks defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, inspiration for the race of the same name. The second Persian invasion, led by Xerxes, came in 480 BCE. The Persians won at Thermopylae, and Athens was sacked. But the Persians were then defeated in the naval Battle of Salamis; Persian troops withdrew after their loss at Plataea in 479.
*Again, not such a “foreign” or primitive idea. Just think of a small-town, Main Street Memorial Day parade or a St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York, in which every political party, civic group, association, and union usually marches together. And men burning sacrificial meat on open fires? That’s called a “tailgate party” or a July 4th backyard barbecue. Just modern vestiges of an ancient rite.
*These are not the same as the more famous literary Cyclops who appears in Homer’s Odyssey, a one-eyed giant named Polyphemus, a son of the sea god Poseidon, who is discussed on page 250.
*In Greek myths, the cornucopia, or “horn of plenty,” was one of the horns of Amalthaea, the goat who nursed Zeus. The horn produced ambrosia and nectar, the food and drink of the gods. But in Roman stories, the cornucopia was the horn of a river god, which Hercules broke off. Water nymphs filled the horn with flowers and fruit and offered it to Copia, the goddess of plenty.
*A taste of first-century CE Corinth can be found in two of the most famous biblical letters, or “Epistles,” of St. Paul—written to the early Christian Church there. In the first, he writes, “It is actually reported that there is a sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife.” (I Corinthians 5:1)
*The original sun god of ancient Greece was known as Helios, who drove his chariot across the sky each day, journeying back each night in a chariot. Although regarded with reverence, Helios was not a major cult figure. In one legend, his half-mortal son, Phaeton, once asked if he could drive the sun chariot for a day, and Helios agreed. But the boy could not control the horses, which threatened to set the world on fire, so Zeus killed Phaeton with a thunderbolt.
*The famed temple’s sacred status changed with history. The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church about 500 CE, and then a mosque, after the Ottoman Empire captured Athens in the mid-1400s. A sculptural frieze from the front of the Parthenon remains an artistic controversy. Known as the Elgin Marbles after the English Lord Elgin, who removed the sculptures from the Parthenon in 1816, they are now held by the British Museum. But the Greek government believes that the Elgin Marbles are a Greek treasure that should be returned to their rightful place. Their unsuccessful plea was repeated during the 2004 Olympics.
*There is another myth thought to explain the seasons. Another “foreign import,” Adonis was the child of an incestuous relationship, an exceedingly handsome young man who originated in the ancient Near East and was adapted by the Greeks. The name “Adonis” derives from the Semitic word for “lord,” and he is connected with Dumuzi/Tammuz of Mesopotamian fame. Taken by his beauty, Aphrodite finds the infant Adonis and places him in a chest and gives him to Persephone, the queen of the underworld, for safekeeping. Enchanted with the youth, Persephone refuses to return him. Zeus ruled that Adonis would spend part of the year with Aphrodite and part of the year with Persephone. When Adonis stayed with Aphrodite on earth, plants and crops flourished. During his time in the underworld, vegetation died; Adonis supposedly fits into the “dying-rising” vegetation-god theory.
*The Muses are Clio (history), Euterpe (flute playing), Thalia (comedy), Melpomene (tragedy), Erato (love lyrics), Terpsichore (dance), Polyhymnia (pantomime), Urania (astrology), and