his spirit fled from the body down to Hades,
As Andromache mentioned in the beginning, "seven brothers of mine, swift-footed mighty Achilles sent to Hades, all on a day". This part sort of highlights the bittersweet ending of Hector's life where he gets to be reunited with Andromache's seven brothers as he is sent to Hades.
“Nobody, my friends, is trying to kill me by violence or treachery.”
It was really clever for Odysseus to initially say that his name was "Nobody" so that the other Cyclopses wouldn't help Polyphemus when he called out!
“Then, my gift is this. I will eat Nobody last of all his company, and all the others before him”.
This brings in some humour, as the "gift" the Cyclops was going to give was to eat Odysseus last of all.
The Cyclopes have no council meetings, no code of law, but live in echoing caves on the mountain slopes, and each man lays down the law to his wives and children, and disregards his neighbours.
This describes the Cyclopes as being an uncivilised group, deemed savage or inappropriate.
but if I hid from the fighting like a coward, I would be shamed before all the Trojans and their wives in their trailing robes
This shows that Hector is a hero; he shows courage and determination to fight, as he doesn't want to be seen as a "coward".
striking Achilles’ shield square on, though the spear simply rebounded
As mentioned in mythology unbound, Achilles had immortal armour, which had been crafted for him by the god, Hephaestus!
And they’re so like you, and touched by your semblance, and as often as I see them, my eyes are wet with tears.
As mentioned in Mythology Unbound, a version of this story, popularised by Euripides, has Medea herself killing the children to take revenge on their father. Further this section suggests that the son's resemblance to their father may have led their mother to kill them...
sun’s rays can scarcely reach there
Medea is the granddaughter of Helius, the sun, so perhaps this sentence refers to Helius just being able to help Media escape in his chariot.
Why was that Pelian ship driven forward by youthful arms, seeking the ram of Phrixus?
This refers to when Jason brought back the Golden Fleece from Colchis and also brought back Medea who was the Colchian Princess. We see that Medea reflects back to this time and wishes this event didn't happen; this is quite sad and we can see her pain here.
I am resolved on death
This is really interesting because it shows that Heracles did not expect to be made immortal later on.
arrows dipped in the venom of the hundred-headed hydra.
This is a reference to Hercules defeating the Lernean Hydra as one of his impossible tasks. Interesting they chose this reference as this was a task that Hercules didn't actually "complete" because he had help.
refused to make his journey by sea
Refusing to take the easy journey by sea, Theseus chose the dangerous land route because he wanted to have plenty of opportunities to perform heroic deeds. This shows his fearless side, making him 'worthy' of being Aegeus' son.
wine-skin’s jutting neck
Interesting to learn that, literally, the oracle meant “don’t uncork the wine”. But because the foot of the wineskin is very long and straight, it is also a phallic symbol.
on the father’s side
I wonder who is portrayed as Theseus' father here, as according to the Mythology Unbound reading, Theseus was either the son of Poseidon or the son of Aegeus. Apparently both Aegeus and Poseidon slept with Aëthra on the same night...
six vultures appeared to him
Really interesting here that the number 6 is mentioned instead of 7 that is repeated in both the myths of Thebes and Rome.
twofold tradition.
This two competing myths that have to be reconciled... one that the city was founded by foreigners and the other that the city was founded by indigenous people.
THE FUTURE RACE
Although the foundation of Rome doesn't occur in this narrative, Vergil foreshadows this through "looking into the future" in his poem.
twin brothers, Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus are descendants of Aeneas, connecting the two foundation myths of Rome.
Iulus
It's interesting to hear in the lecture that lulus is supposed to echo ilium, which is an old name for Troy. A lot of meaning really goes in to myths.
Sparti.
The Theban population is partly descendants of the five surviving Spartoi; which shows the combination of the foundation of Thebes by foreign people and autochthonous people.
by the advice of Athena sowed its teeth
Cadmus following Athena's instructions clearly represents her as the Goddess of Wisdom in this text.
He knew he was near his death.
I think that Dionysus crossed the boundary here by making a mother kill her own son without her even realising what she was doing...
And that’s exactly where I showed him how foolish he is. His mind was full of hope instead of reality and so, in his delusion, he thought that he had tied me up but, the fool, he had neither touched me nor hurt me in the slightest.
Deviously, Dionysus allows himself to be easily arrested and taken to Pentheus, where Pentheus realises it's impossible to do. This shows the trickster side of Dionysus, but tricksters are usually defined as being amoral, which Dionysus is not. He is merely trying to clear his mother's name and punish the city for refusing to allow people to worship him...
caring not for Zeus
Perhaps this emphasises that Apollo and Artemis didn't think of their father (Zeus) the same way they thought about their mother (Leto), as they took revenge against anyone who attempted to harm her!
nectar and ambrosia
This has been mentioned a couple of times in previous units as "food for the Gods".
but bright-eyed Athene caught the spear in her hand
This is related to the reference made in mythology unbound where it mentions that although Ares was bloodthirsty, "he was often beaten by others". Interestingly enough, it is his own sister (Athena), that wounds him in battle.
Though the elder two were extremely pleasing, still it was thought they were only worthy of mortal praise; but the youngest girl’s looks were so delightful, so dazzling, no human speech in its poverty could celebrate them, or even rise to adequate description.
This reminds me of Cinderella, with the 2 jealous step-sisters.
So Psyche was given in marriage to Cupid according to the rite, and when her term was due a daughter was born to them both, whom we call Pleasure.’
This kind of mirrors the "happy ending" of fairytales, where the characters live "happily ever after".
What do you think makes this a folktale as opposed to a myth?
I think this passage is more of a folktale as it more of a fictional tale rather than a traditional story that answer's an overarching life question. This passage specifically focuses on how Psyche's life, like a fairytale.
Cytherea.
I think Cytherea refers to Aphrodite, as the Loves cry for sorrow for her loss of Adonis.
Aphrodite, she unbraids her tresses and goes wandering distraught, unkempt, unslippered in the wild wood, and for all the briers may tear and rend her and cull her hallowed blood, she flies through the long glades shrieking amain, crying upon her Assyrian lord, calling upon the lad of her love.
This is the first time I have seen Aphrodite being described as "not put together". This long description of her state shows how much she cared for Adonis, through her voluntary unbraiding and wandering in the wild wood.
She said that she would never go to fragrant Olympus, that she would never send up the harvest of the earth, until she saw with her own eyes her daughter, the one with the beautiful looks.
This part shows how much power Demeter has. She says she will not harvest the Earth if she doesn't see her daughter, and even Zeus is shaken by this. Without harvest, people would be hungry and eventually die out and Zeus would not have sacrifices made to him. This is a wise choice for Demeter to make because she was able to get a deal out of this and see her daughter.
He [Zeus] assented that her daughter, every time the season came round, would spend a third portion of the year in the realms of dark mist underneath, and the other two thirds in the company of her mother and the other immortals.
The two thirds of the year Persephone is with her mother it is spring, summer, and early fall - where plants would grow. The one third where she would live with Hades is late fall and winter - where the plants die... this ties into Demeter's promise of not sending a harvest to Earth when her daughter isn't with her. This depicts why Persephone's story is an etiological myth because it explains the cause/origin of the seasons.
Not once did she take of ambrosia and nectar, sweet to drink, (50) in her grief, nor did she bathe her skin in water.
Ambrosia, as mentioned in the Mythology Unbound reading, is the food of the gods. These lines show the bond between mother and daughter and how much losing her daughter meant to Demeter - shown through her self-restraint of not taking ambrosia or bathing.
I would never wish it that others also suffer with me.
This part shows how kind-hearted Prometheus is, creating a bond between him and the audience/reader as they feel even more sorry for him. It is evident that he is the protagonist of this passage.
Your tongue, Kratos, matches the shape of your body.
This comparison brings about a little humour to the plot.
. These are the wages you’ve been paid for your sin of loving the mortals.
This is interesting because at the end of the day, Zeus is the one having affairs with mortals and having children with them. So it's striking to see that Prometheus is being punished for "loving the morals".
The only thing that stayed within the unbreakable contours of the jar was Elpis [Hope].
This part of the poem is quite interesting because I see it as a rational explanation to why people believe in hope and why it's something everyone can relate to... It is a personification of hope and reflects why people "believe" in her/it.
Nor did Epimetheus take notice [verb phrazesthai] how Prometheus had told him never to accept a gift [dōron]
As mentioned in Mythology Unbound, Epimetheus forgot about his brother's warning, "true to his name". This was quite funny to me.
a gift [dōron], a pain
This part stood out to me because it is sort of an oxymoron... "gifts" usually hold a positive connotation, whereas "pain" is the complete opposite of that.
Zeus gave women as an evil
This really brings about the concept of misogyny in both ancient and modern times. This passage shows Pandora given to men as an object rather than an equal...
greatly displeased
It's interesting to see that Zeus punishes Prometheus for tricking him, but doesn't punish Hermes for tricking Apollo - showing Zeus' egocentric side.
Zeus craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her in his own belly
This clearly shows that the most important thing for Zeus is power, even more important than family.
cast him into wide Tartarus.
Even though Typhoeus was defeated by Zeus, his presence still remains in the natural world. This is interesting because it really ties together "nature" and the "divine" and how everything is related by blood.
One of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and from them projected a hundred dragons’ heads.
This is a great use of imagery where the audience is able to recognise the power and size of Typhon. With this, in addition to Zeus' victory, it help us see how powerful Zeus really is…
Nevertheless Zeus inspired him with lust for Hera, and when he tore her robes and would have forced her, she called for help, and Zeus smote him with a thunderbolt, and Hercules shot him dead with an arrow.
Here we see an important theme in Greek mythology, where there is a power struggle between different generations. Alcyoneus was considered one of the Giants, and Zeus and Hera were part of the next generation. We see Zeus, Hera, and Hercules (son on Zeus) come together to fight the Giants. An example of another time these generations fought was the Titanomachy.