Week 2 Reading Diary: Ovid 1

This week I read the Greek Myths: Ovid 1 unit which included stories from Greek mythology pertaining to Ovid's Metamorphoses unit. After reading the brief introduction provided I learned that the reason the epic poem is called Metamorphoses is because it involves myths of transformations.

Deucalion and Pyrrha: Zeus (Jupiter), being angry with the mortals on Earth, wants to destroy the Earth with a great flood, and there are only two survivors remain: Deucalion and Pyrrha. Deucalion and his wife reach out to Themis who advises them to throw the bones of their Mother over their shoulder. The stones turn into men and women. My favorite part of this myth is the ending. The last line reads: "So the toughness of our race, our ability to endure hard labour, and the proof we give of the source from which we are sprung." It alludes to the stones turning to humans and how man-kind came from the Earth and possesses the strength of the Earth.

Io: In this story I found I became very angry with Zeus and his infidelity with a servant to his own wife appalled me. He then tries to cover his own wrong-doings by turning Io into a heifer. I thought it was interesting how Zeus debates what to do when Juno, his wife, wants to keep the heifer as a gift and he must battle between Shame and Armor. He realizes to deny his wife a gift so simple as a hifier would bring on suspision. I also thought the part about Juno taking Argo's eyes and setting them into the feathers of her own bird to "fill the tail with star-like jewels" was amazing in relating it to the creation of the Peacock. Luckily Io is returned to her human form after Zeus convinces Juno she will not be of worry.

Phaethon and the Sun: This was one of my favorite stories I read in this half of the unit! Phaethon learns that his father is Apollo, god of the Sun, and he then searched to find him at his Palace. When arriving there Apollo promises him any wish to be granted to prove he is his father. I think this is interesting in the fact that he must PROVE his kinship. "So that you can banish doubt, ask for any favour, so that I can grant it to you." I find it somewhat ironic that the lesser mortal is asking for proof from the mighty God to claim him as his son. Today if someone found out they were related to royalty they would rejoice and not question for proof or validity in taking their title as royalty. I also found it hard to believe whether Apollo was warning his son Phaethon not to take the journey because of his "fatherly love" like he claims, or for his own selfish reason because he does not want anyone to take over his important role in bringing light to the Earth.

Phaethon's Ride: I felt so bad for Phaethon on his disastrous ride, even though his father did warn him of the hardships he would face. I think this story is important in showing the virtue of being humbled. Phaethon believes that now he knows he is the son of a God that he must be able to do Godly things. When he cannot control the horses and begins to set the Earth on fire, I believe he learns this important lesson in humility. The ending of the story with the Earth crying out to end her misery form the fires was very heartfelt and I could imagine the suffering as if it were a person crying out to be spared from such pain.

The Death of Phaethon: One of my favorite parts of this story was how the death of Phaethon was related to a shooting star in the sky. "But Phaethon, flames ravaging his glowing hair, is hurled headlong, leaving a long trail in the air, as sometimes a star does in the clear sky, appearing to fall although it does not fall." The metamorphoses part of the story comes when his sisters, the Heliads, are turned into trees. My favorite metamorphoses was the one of  Cycnus into a swan. He was stricken with grief at Phaethon's death and his sisters being turned to trees, and was so angry that he became a swan and stayed in water. " He looked for standing water, and open lakes hating fire, choosing to live in floods rather than flames." I loved how he hated everything that the fire stood for so he turned to live his life in the water; the only thing that fire cannot touch.

Callisto: I really enjoyed this story, even if it was another of Zeus's infidelities that brought it about. The woman becomes pregnant with a son. Juno, threatened that Zeus's rape with be exposed, turns Callisto into a bear. Callisto had born a son Arcas, who years later, finds her while he is hunting. As any hunter would do, he aims to kill the bear. Before he can stick his spear into the bear, his own mother, Zeus intervenes and turns them both to constellations in the sky. I loved how, in the end, the son and mother end up together in the heavens and become the Great and Little Bear.

Semele: This is one of the stories I had heard before and enjoyed reading it again. Juno, at this point in the many rapes Zeus has caused, begins to become very angry and rightfully so. She also begins to question her authority and power. I think that she is so threatened by the infidelities of Zeus, and if she feels she no longer has his love, then she must declare that she is still the all-powerful wife of Zeus. "If I am rightly to be called most powerful Juno, if it is right for me to hold the jewelled sceptre in my hand, if I am queen, and sister and wife of Jove, sister at least, then it is her [Semele] I must destroy." She is no longer the only lover of Zeus so she must put herself above all the women he has raped by dominating with her powers. As she is dying, the unborn son, Bacchus, is torn from the mother’s womb and sewn into his father’s thigh. 

Echo: I think every girl can relate to Echo's experience when she sees Narcissus. She has been cursed with only the ability to repeat the last words she hears. When she tries to show her affection toward Narcissus she can only repeat his words and runs away in embarrassment. I think every girl has had that moment when talking to a boy she is mesmerized by and can not find the words to say. I think it was clever to have the story take place in the forest so as Echo fades to just a voice she is literally the "Echo in the forest."

Narcissus: I think the story of Narcissus is one that everybody can take away a strong message from. I believe one of the messages is that we cannot have what we long for in vain. Narcissus wants nothing more that to have the image of himself reflected in the water because of its beauty. My favorite quote reads, "nothing of you is in it [shadow of reflected form]" I think this is another valuable lesson that aims to express that we are not our looks. Nothing of what makes us who we are is contained in our looks that are reflected to the world. In the end Narcissus is turned into a flower with "white petals surrounding a yellow heart". One thing I would like to look up or search more into is if these colors are symbols for something.

Pyramus and Thisbe: I remember this story when reading A Midsummer Night's Dream and was happy to get the chance to read the actual story. Of course it very much resembles Romeo and Juliette, but I did like this version. The line, "the more they kept the fire hidden, the more it burned," made me think of the saying "we want what we can't have." It is a forbidden love that makes the two lovers want it even more. The symbolism was strong in this story. The wall was a physical representation of the separation between the two. The color of the mulberries from white to red also provided a strong color symbolism which I thought added to the story.

Mars and Venus: This story was short but I really enjoyed it and how it can relate to modern day "drama." Venus's husband, Vulcan, creates a trap to imprison the two together during one of their cheating acts. The story says how the Gods laughed at the two bound together in their shame and that "for a long time it was the best-known story in all the heavens." It reminds me of reality TV where husbands or wives try to expose their cheating spouses and it becomes the talk of the town.

Perseus and Andromeda: I have heard this story before and the story of Medusa, but I was intrigued by the part where as Perseus was flying with Medusa's head that the blood dropped down to Earth and became snakes. When Perseus asks to rest and Atlas fears the prophecy of death and denies his request, Perseus turns him to stone and makes him into Mt Atlas. I think it teaches us that when we are too concerned about our own well-being to help someone in need, we will be punished. Perseus almost comes off somewhat cocky and boastful when explaining his feats and how he would not be denied Andromeda's hand in marriage should she be saved from the stone she is bound to.

Perseus and Medusa: Right from the start I enjoyed this story because of the vivid imagery used when describing killing the sea monster to free Andromeda from the stone. After defeating the monster, the celebration begins to celebrate the marriage of Perseus and Andromeda where he begins to tell the story of how he killed Medusa using his metal shield as a reflection to not look directly into her eye. I think the most interesting thing about the story was the explanation of how coral was formed. The nymphs took Medusa's head to the living plants and watched them turn rigid like stone. " Even now corals have the same nature, hardening at a touch of air, and what was alive, under the water, above water is turned to stone."